For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Deceived Elders   

Ezek 14:1-6

1 Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. 2 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? 4 Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. 5 I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’

6 “Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!

A. Find Out

1. Who met with Ezekiel? v.1
2. What did the Lord say and ask about them? v.3
3. When did the Lord say He would answer directly? v.4
4. Why will he do and what is the need? v.5
5. What does he call them all to do? v.6

B. Think:

1. Why do you think these men came to Ezekiel?
2. They were under what misapprehension?
3. What did they find was the truth?

C. Comment:

We come to a strange confrontation, strange in that it starts with some elders of Israel, now living there in Babylon after having been taken there by Nebuchadnezzar, along with Ezekiel himself, who dare to come to meet with Ezekiel, a prophet of the Lord, although their hearts are clearly far from the Lord. When we allow our hearts to be taken by wrong things, the outcome of such deception can be a completely wrong way of thinking. Presumably they come to Ezekiel hoping for some form of reassurance.

However they have yet to learn that their (real) God is One who knows all things and knows what they are really like, and so the Lord speaks with Ezekiel. Some versions say they are simply worshipping idols in their hearts, and if they think they can hide this from the Lord and Ezekiel, they are wrong.  Should I bother to listen to them at all, is basically the Lord’s response.

The lord points out a double folly here, first of taking on board idol worship but then of assuming they could go to ‘orthodox religion. God’s prophet and pretend everything is all right. No, that cannot be tolerated so the Lord Himself will go directly to them and judge them as a just response to their idolatry. When the Lord does this, the truth will be seen and it will cause some to return to the Lord. The call, therefore, to all, is to repent of such folly, i.e. forsake such false religion and renounce all such wrong thinking and turn back to God.

D. Application:

1. Deception often means self-delusion. Beware.
2. The call for all is to repent of our godless, self-centredness.

Deceived prophets  

Ezek 14:7-11

7 “‘When any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel separate themselves from me and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer them myself. 8 I will set my face against them and make them an example and a byword. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

9 “‘And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the Lord have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10 They will bear their guilt—the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. 11 Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

A. Find Out

1. What sin does the Lord say he will directly judge? v.7
2. How will He deal with such people? v.8
3. How will He deal with any prophets led astray? v.9
4. How will there be a double-guilt? v.10
5. What will be the outcome of His correction? v.11a
6. What will be the restoration outcome? v.11b

B. Think:

1. How does v.7 reiterate v.4?
2. What is the double sin covered by this passage?
3. How does God very strongly  deal with it?

C. Comment:

The chapter continues to focus on this folly found in some of the Israelites there in exile in Babylon, the folly of believing that they can harbour idol-worship in their hearts (and no doubt practices) while thinking that they can still appear faithful to God. What is even worse they think they can use God’s prophets. Presumably there were some (false) prophets around who could twist His word and prophesy wrongly, but Ezekiel is not one of them!

He continues to receive God’s word of correction which now focuses on these false prophets. Not only will the Lord judge the unfaithful Israelites, He will utterly remove any such false prophets because (implied) they should know better. Moreover the Lord Himself will have revealed them for what they are – bringers of lies – and then deal with them by destroying them.

The result of this will wake Israel up to the truth (v.8b) and they will turn from their sinful behaviour and return to the Lord (v.11a) and thus be returned to the position that the Lord originally designed for them, to be His covenant people.

We need to remind ourselves that although, as we’ve previously noted, these words come in the time of Zedekiah’s reign they actually are spoken to the Israelites who have already been taken into captivity and exile and who are living in Babylon. The Lord is there are well!   

D. Application:

1. God’s messengers who go astray are seriously judged.
2. God speaks to all His people, wherever they are.

Not even the righteous

Ezek 14:12-20

12 The word of the Lord came to me: 13 “Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals, 14 even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.

15 “Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts, 16 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.

17 “Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass throughout the land,’ and I kill its people and their animals, 18 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.

19 “Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it through bloodshed, killing its people and their animals, 20 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.

A. Find Out

1. What form of judgment against unfaithfulness comes first? v.13
2. Who could only save themselves? v.14,16,18,20
3. What second form of judgment is mentioned? v.15
4. What third form is mentioned? v.17
5. What fourth form is mentioned? v.19

B. Think:

1. What are the four forms of judgment God uses shown here?
2. What point is He making mentioning the four men?
3. What warning do you think is being conveyed here?

C. Comment:

There is a repetition in these nine verses that makes it easier to understanding. First, observe the reference to the three men – Noah, Daniel and Job. Noah and Job stood out in the distant past as those who stood faithfully for righteousness in their generations, but Daniel was in the present, already there in Babylon standing faithfully for God in the alien court. The point that God is making throughout this passage is that it wouldn’t matter if any or all of these three men were there interceding for their people, only they could be saved. We have to ask, why? Well, although it is not said in these present verses, it has been said earlier in the chapter and is said throughout the Bible, only repentance will hold back the judgment of God on Sin. (Distinguish this from the Passover lamb and Jesus, both saving sinner from impending judgement, for both only apply when accompanied by faith, which is the equivalent of repentance.)

But then note the cause of judgment on the people of God – unfaithfulness. For the rest of the world it is simply unbelief, but for the covenant people of God the cause is unfaithfulness, the rejection of God in the face of the relationship that they purport to have. Four forms of judgment from God are shown: famine, wild beasts, the sword, and plague, each of them the fruit of wrong living and then the active hand of God bringing them about. The goal of all such judgments are to bring repentance and if that is not forthcoming, death.

D. Application:

1. God’s judgments are always to curtail sin and self-destruction.
2. God’s judgments always give time for repentance.

Some Survivors 

Ezek 14:21-23

21 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals! 22 Yet there will be some survivors—sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought on Jerusalem—every disaster I have brought on it. 23 You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

A. Find Out

1. On where does the Lord then focus? v.21
2. Who will come to them in Babylon? v.22a
3. What will their coming bring? v.22b
4. What does he reiterate they will experience? v.23a
5. Why? v.23b  

B. Think:

1. What is the bad news for Jerusalem?
2. Yet what good news is there?
3. What truth will eventually sink in to his listeners?

C. Comment:

So in the previous passage we saw the Lord speaking of the inevitability – in the absence of repentance – of God bringing four different forms of judgement: sword from the invaders, famine as a result of siege, wild beasts reproducing and roaming wild in the barren land after invasion, and plague that follows siege and all forms of hygiene and sanitary cleansing being abandoned in such a siege, now reiterated in v.21.

Now the point of this focus is to say, this IS what is yet going to happen to Jerusalem (back home), and it will be terrible but after the siege and the collapse of Jerusalem, there will be some survivors and they will be brought, like you, here to Babylon to live out their exile. The fact that there will be some survivors, added to you who are already in this land, will be some consolation. Greater numbers, even taken into a foreign land, are comforting.

Now there is something else significant about this passage: “when you see their conduct and their actions”. This is not explained but it may suggest two things. First they may be glad they were taken earlier and missed the horrors of the siege, and second, when they listen to those survivors who will no doubt be thoroughly chastened by their ordeal, they may realise that all the words that Jeremiah and Ezekiel had been bringing were absolutely true, and God had warned and warned them so many times to repent to avoid this very thing happening but in their folly they had failed to heed His warnings. This was God!!!

D. Application:

1. Chastening brings clarity, but why wait until it is needed?
2. God’s laws are immovable; obey them.