A Catalogue of Sins
Ezekiel's manner was bold and brazen. He did not soften his speeches with gilt edging or mitigate the meaning of his words by inserting "perhaps", "maybe" or "supposedly". His words are point blank; at places, they are even crass.
Behold, the rulers of Israel, each man by his might, have been in you (Jerusalem) in order to shed blood. 22:6. The only reason you have kings is so that by their authority they may commit murder.
In you (Jerusalem) they (the rulers of verse 6) have despised father and mother. reckoned among the very Heathens as next to contempt of God, and disobedience to him; is directly contrary to a law of God, and threatened with a curse, and a severe punishment. Exodus 20:12. Gill.
In your midst, they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. On this subject isn't it interesting that the Syrian refugees, and others from that area, are now seeking asylum with the white skinned people rather than looking for help from their own religion's people. There is no arguing the fact that there is still a lot of good left in the people of Europe and North America.
In you (Jerusalem) they oppressed the orphan and the widow. 22:7. Would you "kick a man when he is down"? Some humans have a tendency to do that.
You have despised My holy things, (desecrated churches, temples and mosques and other sacred places and ridiculed their holy books).
and have profaned My sabbaths. 22:8. immorality and dishonesty are commonly attended with a contempt of religion and the worship of God. Matthew Henry. It was only about a generation ago that preachers talked about the sinfulness of watching professional sports on Sunday. Now, Sundays are set aside for that purpose, and some Christians, without giving it a second thought, miss attending Church just to go to "the game".
In you (Jerusalem) are men of slander (lawyers who concoct situations which make the innocent appear to be guilty) to shed blood. 22:9. In you (Jerusalem) they (the lawyers and judges) have taken bribes to shed blood. 22:12.
In you they have uncovered their fathers' nakedness; 22:10. In Ezekiel's time, the men in Jerusalem, practised that kind of immorality which later caused Paul to write, it is reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even named among the nations, (the heathen and the Gentiles don't even do this) so as one to have his father's wife. 1 Cor. 5:1.
And a man has done abomination with his neighbor's wife; and a man has defiled his daughter-in-law in unchaste acts; and a man has humbled within you his sister, his father's daughter. 22:11. North America, which was built on Christian principles, finds that these sins are now prevalent in her own society; the Lord will not let nations, which are guilty of this kind of wickedness, go unpunished.
You have taken usury (charged interest) and increase, (insist on taking more than the original agreement) and you gained by extortion of your neighbors, and you have forgotten Me, says the Lord Jehovah. 22:12. How little Jehovah and His Son are in our minds! There are so many material things we would rather pursue.
Her priests have broken My Law and have defiled My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the common. 22:26. A while ago there was a story in the news about a lady pastor in the United Church of Canada who, by her own admission, is an atheist, but she wanted to keep on preaching in the church anyway. Speak of defiling My holy things and not putting a difference between the holy and the common, she sounds like a real prize winner!
her prophets have daubed themselves with lime. 22:28. To make themselves appear to be clean and white. Christ, speaking to the Pharisees said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Mat. 23:27.
I Jehovah have spoken, and I will act. And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you in the lands, and will destroy your uncleanness out of you. And you will be profaned in ... the eyes of the nations, and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 22:14-16. The terrorist groups are eyeing North America and, no doubt, the sins of our people will somehow or other be punished.
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