Ezekiel will “preach” today, although God is his Coach!
Ezekiel chapter 22.
“Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the BLOODY city? Yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.” Verse 1, from the King James Version.
Thus begins the “bloodiest” chapter in the Book!
Yes, “blood” as a noun occurs 10 times here, and the adjective “bloody” once more. (Although Ezekiel’s Prophecy uses the words “blood” or “bloody” a lot, a total of 56 times, much more than Isaiah or Jeremiah. And Daniel does not use it at all!)
“The Bloody City!”
Alexandria, Babylon, Sodom?
No, not here anyway … JERUSALEM!!!
Why?
The “light” value she attaches to “life.”
“The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come.” Time of judgment, verse 3, where “sheddeth” means “to pour out, to spill.” Lots of blood! (Sounds like God “measures” the amount of innocent blood that any place wastes! Weighing it against the day of judgment!)
Looks to me like there is also “linkage” between this rampant “bloodshed” … and an accompanying sin into which Judah had fallen, “idol worship.” Verse 4: “Thou art become guilty in thy BLOOD that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine IDOLS which thou hast made.” And such a nexus does exist, idol worship in those days often included “child sacrifice,” burning a baby alive to appease the god of the weather or of luck or of health! That would involve “bloodshed,” certainly.
Verse 9 likely refers to men who go to court as witnesses (and lie, commit perjury) in a capital case, helping convict a man (to be stoned to death) who was not guilty! “In thee (Jerusalem) are men that carry tales (lies, slander) to shed blood.” To (illegally) get possession of that innocent (but now dead) man’s land, for example! His farm!
Furthermore … the rich of Jerusalem have so taxed (charging wickedly exorbitant interest rates) the widows and other abjectly poor people … so much that: “They have taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion.” Verse 12, starved to death, “killed” via financial fleecing! (I wonder if anyone died from hunger last night, anywhere in our world, because they lost their job or home or health? Because nobody cared?) Yes, Ezekiel is counting starvation as “shedding” blood, since it was done deliberately … “to make someone else rich!”
Yes, God clearly knew of … “the dishonest gain which they had made, and at the blood which hath been (shed) in the midst of them.” Verse 13.
Then Ezekiel uses a “word picture,” not a flattering one either! He likens Jerusalem to the “dross” (the “slag”) the “impure filth” that is thrown way (skimmed off the top) when metals are purified!
“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become DROSS: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the DROSS of silver. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.” What a metaphor, verses 17-22, Judah as “trash!”
For the sin of shedding innocent blood!
Even Judah’s Prophets, her “Preachers” have taken part in the treachery, verse 25! “There is a conspiracy of her PROPHETS in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; THEY have devoured souls; THEY have taken the treasure and precious things; THEY have made her many widows in the midst thereof.” If you make a lady a widow, you have killed her husband! Thousands of America’s so-called “clergy” have become abominable, too, in God’s Eyes! (As far as I am concerned, an abortion advocating preacher is a shedder of innocent blood!)
Another telling line about those false preachers: “They say; Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.” Verse 28, liars, or at least deceived apostates!
Then a summary verse: “The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.” Verse 30, where any one of these wicked acts could have caused bloodshed.
God appreciates the value of Blood!
Oh, by the way: “The BLOOD of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1st John 1:7
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
One more thing. It looks like God wanted someone to “pray” for backsliding Jerusalem here. To “intercede” on her behalf. (Like Moses did for Israel once, Exodus 32. Or Abraham did for Sodom, Genesis 18.) God is talking, lamenting: “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it … BUT I FOUND NONE.”
Wow, not even one!