Reflections on Ezekiel 7

Ezekiel 07 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The LORD God said:
   
2. Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Israel that I am saying: Israel will soon come to an end! Your whole country is about to be destroyed
   
3. as punishment for your disgusting sins. I, the LORD, am so angry
   
4. that I will show no pity. I will punish you for the evil you've done, and you will know that I am the LORD.
   
5. There's never been anything like the coming disaster.
   
6. And when it comes, your life will be over.
   
7. You people of Israel are doomed! Soon there will be panic on the mountaintops instead of celebration.
   
8. I will let loose my anger and punish you for the evil things you've done. You'll get what you deserve.
   
9. Your sins are so terrible, that you'll get no mercy from me. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have punished you.
   
10. Disaster is near! Injustice and arrogance are everywhere,
    
11. and violent criminals run free. None of you will survive the disaster, and everything you own and value will be shattered.
    
12. The time is coming when everyone will be ruined. Buying and selling will stop,
    
13. and people who sell property will never get it back, because all of you must be punished for your sins. And I won't change my mind!
    
14. A signal has been blown on the trumpet, and weapons are prepared for battle. But no one goes to war, because in my anger I will strike down everyone in Israel.
    
15. War, disease, and starvation are everywhere! People who live in the countryside will be killed in battle, and those who live in towns will die from starvation or deadly diseases.
    
16. Anyone who survives will escape into the hills, like doves who leave the valleys to find safety. All of you will moan because of your sins.
    
17. Your hands will tremble, and your knees will go limp.
    
18. You will put on sackcloth to show your sorrow, but terror will overpower you. Shame will be written all over your faces, and you will shave your heads in despair.
    
19. Your silver and gold will be thrown into the streets like garbage, because those are the two things that led you into sin, and now they cannot save you from my anger. They are not even worth enough to buy food.
    
20. You took great pride in using your beautiful jewelry to make disgusting idols of foreign gods. So I will make your jewelry worthless.
    
21. Wicked foreigners will rob and disgrace you.
    
22. They will break into my temple and leave it unfit as a place to worship me, but I will look away and let it happen.
    
23. Your whole country is in confusion! Murder and violence are everywhere in Israel,
    
24. so I will tell the most wicked nations to come and take over your homes. They will put an end to the pride you have in your strong army, and they will make your places of worship unfit to use.
    
25. You will be terrified and will desperately look for peace--but there will be no peace.
    
26. One tragedy will follow another, and you'll hear only bad news. People will beg prophets to give them a message from me. Priests will stop teaching my Law, and wise leaders won't be able to give advice.
    
27. Even your king and his officials will lose hope and cry in despair. Your hands will tremble with fear. I will punish you for your sins and treat you the same way you have treated others. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
    
    

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    The appeal and attraction of those things that lead us down a path to destruction become distasteful to us once we see their result. The people of Jerusalem pursued wealth - silver and gold - the pursuit of which led them into all sorts of wickedness. They also used the silver and gold to make their detestable idols. But when destruction came as a result of their conduct, the silver and gold became to them "like something filthy" that they threw into the streets. These objects of their trust were "unable to save them in the day of the LORD's wrath. They will not satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs, for these were the stumbling blocks that brought about their iniquity." (7:19) Even those who were able to escape to the mountains and avoid the plight of those who died from plague, hunger, or sword, would find themselves "moaning, each over his own iniquity." (7:16) They would be grieved over their sin that led to this result.
    
    But the time had arrived for their punishment. For years prophets had warned them of the outcome if they continued in their sin, but they had ignored it - even killed the prophets who sounded the warning. So God's message through Ezekiel was that "The end is now on you; I will send My anger against you and judge you according to your ways. I will punish you for all your abominations." (7:3)  Ezekiel repeated, "The time has come; the day has arrived," and because of it, "Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn, for wrath is on all her multitude." (7:12) Those who were forced to sell property needed not mourn the transaction for they would have lost it anyway to the Babylonians, and those who bought property should not rejoice over their gain, for they would lose what they had gained. Life as they knew it was over. The confidence they held in their safety due to the presence of God's temple in their midst was soon to be lost. God proclaimed through Ezekiel, "I will turn My face from the wicked as they profane My treasured place (the temple). Violent men will enter it and profane it." (7:22) God held His people in higher esteem than His "treasured place." If He would not withhold His hand of judgment from the people, neither would He keep His temple safe.
    
    Once the people saw destruction strike them they would know it was from God and would be ready to seek His instruction from a prophet. "They will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priests and counsel from the elders." (7:26) The time for instruction from the Lord was past. They had missed their chance.