Ezekiel 22:24

22:23-31 All orders and degrees of men had helped to fill the measure of the nation's guilt. The people that had any power abused it, and even the buyers and sellers find some way to oppress one another. It bodes ill to a people when judgments are breaking in upon them, and the spirit of prayer is restrained. Let all who fear God, unite to promote his truth and righteousness; as wicked men of every rank and profession plot together to run them down.

Son of man, say unto her, thou land,.... Thou land of Israel, as the Targum: thou art not cleansed; from filthiness, by the fire of divine judgments; or reformed from sins, by the instructions, cautions, and exhortations of the prophets; none of these things had any effect upon her to make her wiser and better. So the Targum, "a land not cleansed it is, and good works are not done in it, to protect it in the day of cursing:'' nor rained upon in the day of indignation; no cooling shower to quench the fire of divine wrath; nothing to avert or stop the judgments of God; no refreshment and comfort from the doctrines of the prophets, which fell like rain: it is a judgment upon a people to have no rain, either in a temporal or spiritual sense; see Zechariah 14:17. In the Talmud (h), this text is brought to prove that the flood did not come upon the land of Israel. (h) T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 113. 1.

Ezekiel 22:24-25 . Thou art the land that is not cleansed nor rained upon, &c. — Though God’s judgments have been as violent floods, and as hottest fires, thou hast not been cleansed from thy wickedness by the punishments I have sent upon thee, nor purified by the instructions and admonitions which I have given thee by my prophets; which, if they had been duly received, would have been instrumental in cleansing thee from all thy filthiness, as the heavy rains wash away the filth that lies upon the earth: see Isaiah 4:4 ; John 15:3 ; Ephesians 5:26 ; 1 Peter 1:22 . Or this latter clause, nor rained upon, may be taken literally, and signify that God had withheld rain from them, which was one of the judgments wherewith God punished them in the day of his wrath, Jeremiah 14:4 . There is a conspiracy of her prophets — That is, of the false prophets: a contrivance to speak all alike, smooth words, and to utter promises of peace and safety: they are all agreed together to deceive the people, and to plot the ruin of the true prophets, and those that favour them. They have devoured souls — They have brought men to ruin and destruction, by deceiving them with their false predictions; and taken away their lives, by false accusations and evil practices. They have taken the treasure and precious things — As a reward of their lies.

(24) That is not cleansed. —The third and last Divine communication of this chapter begins with Ezekiel 22:23 , and contains a further enumeration of the sins of Israel, showing that they have been committed by all classes alike, and ending, like the others, with the prophecy of the outpouring of God’s wrath. There is much difference of opinion as to the meaning of the clause “that is not cleansed;” the most probable view is that it speaks of the land as neglected and uncared for—the stones not gathered up and the weeds allowed to grow. It has had neither human care, nor has it received the Divine blessing of rain.

24 . the land … not cleansed ] A land. The words “not cleansed” are parallel to “not rained upon.” In the east, however, raining upon is not a figure for cleansing, but for removing the curse and judgment, and blessing with fertility ( Jeremiah 3:3 ). LXX. has “not wetted by rain” here, which most moderns accept, cf. ch. Ezekiel 34:26 ; Leviticus 26:4 ; Deuteronomy 11:14 ; 1 Kings 8:35-36 . Ezekiel 22:24

Thou; the land of Israel. Is not cleansed, nor rained upon; though God’s judgments have been as violent storms and floods, though they have been as hottest fires, yet neither thy filth hath been carried away, nor thy dross melted out of thee by them, still thou retainest both. Therefore is indignation kindled against thee, and thou shalt be deprived of the dews of heaven, the rain that should cool thy thirsty land shall be withholden, that rain that should make the ground fruitful shall not descend.

24. land … not cleansed—not cleared or cultivated; all a scene of desolation; a fit emblem of the moral wilderness state of the people. nor rained upon—a mark of divine "indignation"; as the early and latter rain, on which the productiveness of the land depended, was one of the great covenant blessings. Joel (Joe 2:23) promises the return of the former and latter rain, with the restoration of God's favor.

The corrupt state of all classes in the kingdom is the immediate cause of its destruction. - Ezekiel 22:23 . And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ezekiel 22:24 . Son of man, say to it, Thou art a land which is not shined upon, nor rained upon in the day of anger. Ezekiel 22:25 . Conspiracy of its prophets is within it; like a roaring lion, which rends in pieces the prey, they devour souls, take possessions and money; they multiply its widows within it. Ezekiel 22:26 . Its priests violate my law and profane my holy things; they make no distinction between holy and unholy, and do not teach the difference between clean and unclean, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Ezekiel 22:27 . Its princes in the midst of it are like wolves, which rend prey in pieces, that they may shed blood, destroy souls, to acquire gain. Ezekiel 22:28 . And its prophets plaster it with cement, seeing what is worthless, and diving lies for them, saying, "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah," when Jehovah hath not spoken. Ezekiel 22:29 . The common people offer violence and commit theft; they crush the wretched and the poor, and oppress the foreigner against right. Ezekiel 22:30 . I seek among them for a man who might build a wall and step into the breach before me on behalf of the land, that I might not destroy it, but I find none. Ezekiel 22:31 .

Therefore I pour out my anger upon them; I destroy them in the fire of my wrath, I give their way upon their head, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - To show the necessity for the predicted judgment still more clearly, in the third word of God contained in this chapter a description is given of the spread of deep corruption among all classes of the people, and the impossibility of saving the kingdom is plainly shown. The words אמר־להּ, "say unto her," are taken by most of the commentators as referring to Jerusalem, the abominations of which the prophet is commanded to declare. But although the clause, "thou art a land," etc. ( Ezekiel 22:24 ), could unquestionably be made to harmonize with this, yet the words of Ezekiel 22:30 , "I sought for a man who might stand in the gap before Jehovah for the land," indicate most unquestionably that this word of God is directed against the land of Judah, and consequently להּ must be taken as referring to ארץ which follows, the pronoun is this case being placed before the noun to which it refers, as in Numbers 24:17 . Any allusion to the city of Jerusalem would therefore be somewhat out of place, inasmuch as in the preceding word of God the object referred to was not the city, but the house of Israel, or the nation generally, from which a transition is here made to the land, or the kingdom of Judah.