Ezekiel 38

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Ezekiel 38:1

The Doom Has Gone Forth

The announcement of the day of the LORD resounds again (Ezekiel 7:10). The many repetitions of the announcement of judgment place great and serious emphasis on its immutability. “Behold, it is coming”, is also said several times (Ezekiel 7:5; 6; 10). The warning sounds over and over again. It should be an incentive for us to warn those around us of the judgment that is coming, for “the Judge is standing right at the door” (James 5:9b).

The “doom has gone forth” because the king of Babylon is about to move into the land. “The rod has budded” means that God’s discipline – symbolized by the rod – is about to assert itself in the coming of the armies of Babylon. “The arrogance has blossomed” means that Babylon will act in the arrogance of its heart.

Instead of acknowledging the rod of God’s discipline and bowing to it, violence has risen like a rod (Ezekiel 7:11). The wickedness of God’s people has caused the rod to rise. They rely on violence to maintain themselves. Their rod is a rod of wickedness. Therefore, the judgment that God brings on them through the king of Babylon will leave nothing of them. All their wealth, all their eminence, all their boastfulness will disappear.

Once again the warning is repeated that the time of judgment has come and the day of judgment has approached (Ezekiel 7:12). In such a time of threat, people do want to sell their stuff, because it will be of no use to them. It is possible that Paul was thinking of this section when he wrote to the Corinthians that the time is short and that they should view buying and using resources in that light (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).

Buyers like to take advantage of the misery of others to get a lot of property at extremely low prices. They are warned not to rejoice in this. Enrichment at the expense of the misery of others is repaid by God. They too will not escape the judgment that strikes the whole crowd. The seller should also not worry about the loss of his possessions. He would do better to worry about his soul (Luke 12:13-21).

The seller will never see his possessions again, even if both he and the buyer were still alive (Ezekiel 7:13). The vision of the judgment of exile “regarding all their multitude will not be averted”, for it is certain. Both the seller and the buyer have lived in iniquity. They will not be able to maintain their life, but perish.

Ezekiel 38:2

The Doom Has Gone Forth

Ezekiel 38:3

Response to Judgment

In a desperate attempt to avert judgment in the form of the oncoming enemy, they have blown the trumpet to mobilize the warriors (Ezekiel 7:14). But no one has the courage to go to war, even though they are ready for it. They are paralyzed. That is because of the wrath of the LORD against them. Death is everywhere (Ezekiel 7:15). Outside the city, in the fields, the violence of war makes its victims. In the city, death and destruction reign through plague and famine.

Some will manage to escape and think they have a safe haven in the mountains (Ezekiel 7:16). They are like defenseless doves, whose natural abode is the valleys, but have fled from there for fear of the enemy to seek refuge in the mountains, where they feel alone and not at home. There they will each mourn over his own iniquity. They may be able to escape the violence of war around them, but the deep-seated fear of the enemy and ultimately of the LORD will torment them and make them restless day and night. They will realize that through their own sins they have brought this suffering upon themselves.

They will be without strength, while water – here a euphemism, i.e. mild expression, for urine – runs down their knees (Ezekiel 7:17). They are utterly demoralized and powerless to resist. Their appearance is the epitome of mourning, shuddering, shame and baldness (Ezekiel 7:18). Any attractiveness has disappeared and been replaced by signs of mourning and misery.

The silver and gold on which they cling so much and of which they have made idols, they will cast away as unclean (Ezekiel 7:19; cf. Isaiah 2:20). They will see how useless those things are in saving them from the wrath of the LORD (Proverbs 11:4; Zephaniah 1:18). All this filthy lucre does not satiate the soul or fill the stomach. Gold and silver do not appease God’s wrath (cf. Psalms 49:7-9; Proverbs 10:2). Their silver and gold led them to iniquity, as wealth so often does with people today.

Instead of honoring God in “the beauty of His ornaments”, which is the temple, and thereby showing Him that He is outstanding to them, they have made His temple an idol temple and defiled it (Ezekiel 7:20). Therefore, He now hands it over into the hands of the enemy who will further profane it. He has made His temple an object of uncleanness for them. God does not tolerate outward worship accompanied by idolatry, for that is an attack on the very essence of worship. All worship belongs exclusively to God. God does not tolerate an object of worship outside of Himself (Matthew 4:9-10).

He will deliver them “as plunder” into the hands of the foreigners and “as spoil” to the wicked of the earth, that is, the Babylonians (Ezekiel 7:21). These will enter God’s ornaments, His temple. Their unholy acts will profane the temple and thereby bring profanity upon them. He will turn His face away from them, meaning He will no longer look upon them in favor (Ezekiel 7:22). He will surrender His temple, “My secret place”, which they boast of so much (Jeremiah 7:4), to the Babylonians. These will violently invade it and profane it.

Ezekiel is to perform another symbolic act. He is to make a chain to indicate with it that the remnant of God’s people will be taken away into exile (Ezekiel 7:23; Jeremiah 39:7; Jeremiah 40:1). God can no longer maintain them in His land, for they have made it full of blood by killing innocents. The city of Jerusalem is full of violence of one against the other. The rights of the other are not taken into account.

God will send “the worst of the nations”, that is, Babylon and the nations it subdued, to Israel (Ezekiel 7:24). These will take possession of their homes and thus deprive them of all security. The pride of the strong ones, that is the princes, the leaders, will cease. They will have nothing left to boast of. Those who sanctify them, their false priests, will have no more influence. They will lose their special status of holiness.

Anguish will overtake them and rule over them (Ezekiel 7:25). Desperately they will search for peace, but there will be none. External disasters will follow one another in rapid succession (Ezekiel 7:26). In addition to what they are experiencing, they will hear rumors of even more calamity, which will drive them inwardly to despair (cf. Ezekiel 21:7; Jeremiah 51:46; Matthew 24:6). Rumors are beyond your control.

The three sources of knowledge to know what to do will fail. The prophet no longer receives a vision or revelation, the priest no longer teaches from the law, and the elders no longer have wisdom to give counsel. No one has an answer to the calamity that befalls them because the connection to heaven has been severed (cf. Micah 3:7). The silence of the grave prevails.

The highest authority, the king (Zedekiah), mourns (Ezekiel 7:27). The prince (high government official) is in despair. They are powerless and unable to provide a solution. As a result, the common people are paralyzed with terror and unable to do anything.

God deals with His people according to their own way. They reap the fruits of their sinful walk of life. He judges them according to their own regulations according to which they have arranged and lived their lives. There is no arbitrariness in His dealings. Everything He brings upon them, they have brought upon themselves. Through everything that happens to them because of the LORD, they will know that He is the LORD (Ezekiel 7:4; 9). They have to deal with Him, not with Nebuchadnezzar.