And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth [month], the tenth of the month, [that] certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Jehovah, and they sat before me.
Ezekiel had been in exile for years when Israel's leaders came to him for a word from God. They never got their answer — God refused to be asked, and the reason lay in their hearts.
Everything about the scene looked right, and one writer lets that appearance make its case first:
Things looked good for these men who came forward from among the elders of Israel. They came to inquire of Jehovah: was not this faith? They sat before Ezekiel: was not this the reverent humility that honours Him in His servant?
Ezekiel marks the date to the day. But the question these men came to ask never appears in the text.
We have a new date now, which is significant... Once more a delegation of elders comes to inquire of Jehovah, and once again their inquiry gets no answer — one would say it is never even spoken. Their inquiry shows what they stand for: the correct religion that the people they lead claim to hold. But God has nothing to say to them; that is, He has nothing that will answer to their expectations. They are looking for good, and He has nothing but evil to announce to them.
God's refusal turned on what He saw under the posture:
He who searches the inmost thoughts and the heart saw that there was no exercise of conscience before Him. Why answer where there is only hollowness and hypocrisy? It was beneath Him to allow such trifling any longer.
Another writer names what their hearts were set on:
They came with pious, religious pretensions. It sounded well to inquire of the Lord and seek the prophet-priest for that purpose. Their hearts were full of evil. While their lips spoke of asking the Lord, their hearts were full of idolatry. They liked idolatry.
One writer names what was missing, and what would have opened God's ear:
If there had been repentance for their sins, and brokenness of spirit, the Lord would gladly have given them His ear. But He knew their low moral condition and the hypocrisy of their approach to Him.
Instead of a reply, God tells Ezekiel to lay out the sins of their ancestors. There is a purpose in that:
At the same time it pleases Him to justify His ways. If the prophet would plead for them (or take them to task), God tells him to set their fathers' abominations before them. So God goes to the source of the mischief. The people must judge the evil not just in its effects but in its root.
That history yields one unbroken pattern, and only one thing can break it:
What is most clear here is the moral sameness of the generations which followed one another. There is a perfect monotony of evil all the way through, from the nation's birth in Egypt to Ezekiel's time. We can expect nothing else until God acts in the sovereignty of His own grace, to fulfil His promises at last despite this continuous rebellion.
The same writer hears this plea again centuries later:
We cannot help remembering how, in the Lord's time, the scribes and Pharisees pleaded in the same way as these men did — their right to be exempt from the judgment coming for their fathers' deeds. The Lord met them with this: "Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers" (Matthew 23:31-32).
This verse opens a long prophecy that reaches back to Egypt — and forward past the refusal:
Ezekiel 20 begins a new prophecy. With its subdivisions, it continues to the end of chapter 23... Here the Spirit traces Israel's sin again, above all its idolatry — the sin of the people as a people — from their time in Egypt. Even then they had begun with their idolatry. For His own name's sake God had brought them up from there, and given them His statutes and His sabbaths... But God comes in at the end in His own ways. He will gather them out from among the nations, and they shall understand that Jehovah has worked for the glory of His name, and not according to their wicked ways.
- Posture — They came, they sat, they looked the part. Every outward mark of seeking God was there, and none of it moved Him.
- X-ray — God reads the heart, not the visit. Where there is no exercise of conscience, He answers nothing.
- Opening — Repentance and a broken spirit would have opened His ear at once. The door was shut by their condition, not by His unwillingness.
- Root — Instead of a reply, He sends them to their fathers' sins. They must judge the evil at its source, not just in its results.
- Grace — The history shows unbroken rebellion from Egypt onward. Only God, acting in His own sovereign grace for His name's sake, can end that pattern and keep His promise.
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
Leading men of Israel come to Ezekiel to ask God a question. God does speak — but the word comes to His prophet, and the message is not the answer they came for.
One writer notes that the section opening here sets Israel's sin inside a much longer frame:
The new division opens with a full and solemn exposure of Israel's sin. It shows that sin not only in the light of Jehovah's present estimate, but in the light of His ways with them in the past and in the future. In fact, we never judge our real condition properly unless we are subject in this way to the mind and purpose of God. We must weigh where He placed us at the first. He also wants us to look on to His end, if we are to be wise as He counts wisdom. Then we feel all the better how our state matches each of them.
Everything about the visit looked commendable:
Appearances looked promising for those who presented themselves from among the elders of Israel. They came to inquire of Jehovah: was not this faith? They sat before Ezekiel: was not this the reverent humility that honours Him in His servant?
God's reply looks past the posture to what was inside them:
He who searches the inmost thoughts and the heart saw that there was no exercise of conscience before Him. Why answer where there is only emptiness and hypocrisy? It was beneath Him to allow such trifling any longer. At the same time He is pleased to justify His ways, and He directs the prophet to set their fathers' abominations before them. God goes in this way to the very source of the trouble, and the people must judge the evil not only in its effects but in its root.
One writer ties the refusal to what was missing in their approach:
The captives of Babylon were no more godly than the remnant left in the land. When "certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord" through the prophet Ezekiel, the word of Jehovah came to him saying, "Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you" (Ezek. 20:1–3). Had there been repentance for their sins, and a broken spirit, the Lord would gladly have given them His ear. But He knew their low moral condition and the hypocrisy of their approach to Him.
Another writer compares this group with an earlier one who came to inquire:
These elders are not described as the same group that came earlier to inquire of the prophet, but they are met in the same way, for there is no moral difference. God will not allow any more inquiry from them. What right do they have to ask? The terms on which He alone can be with them had been set fully before them. The prophets God raised up pressed those terms on them again and again, and they broke them the whole time. Their own consciences would testify that their hearts were untrue in the inquiry itself. So there was no need to do anything but remind them of their fathers' abominations: in them they would find a mirror of their own.
The refusal is not God's last word to Israel. One reason repeats through the long history that follows, and it is why the nation still has a future:
Jehovah then recalls His ways with Israel, going back to the time of their captivity in Egypt. He also looks forward to the time when He will bring them into the fullness of the blessing He had promised, despite all they have been. The secret of God's goodness and patience lies in the words spoken four times: "But I acted for the sake of my name."
- Inquiry offered. Men in authority came to ask God a question and sat before His prophet. The outward act had every mark of faith and reverence.
- Inquiry read. God answered the heart, not the gesture. He saw no conscience at work — only emptiness and hypocrisy — and would allow no more trifling.
- Inquiry refused. The closed ear was not God's unwillingness. Had there been repentance and a broken spirit, He would have listened gladly.
- Inquiry answered anyway. Instead of the reply they wanted, God holds up their fathers' abominations as a mirror. They already knew His terms, and had broken them all along.
- Inquiry outlived. What carries the nation past this refusal is not their asking but God's own name. Four times He gives it as the reason He still acts for them.
Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Are ye come to inquire of me? [As] I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.
The elders of Israel, exiles in Babylon, sit down before the prophet as if ready to hear from God — and God's first word back is a refusal. Why turn away people who look like they are doing the right thing?
Everything about the visit looked right. Kelly names the two things in their favour:
Appearances looked promising for those who presented themselves from among the elders of Israel. They came to enquire of Jehovah: was not this faith? They sat before Ezekiel: was not this the reverent humility that honours Him in His servant?
God reads the heart, not the posture. Kelly explains why there was nothing for Him to answer:
He who searches the inner thoughts and the heart saw that there was no exercise of conscience before Him. Why answer where there is only hollowness and hypocrisy? It was beneath Him to allow such trifling any more. At the same time He is pleased to justify His ways. If the prophet would plead for them (or take them to task), God directs him to set their fathers' abominations before them. God goes to the source of the mischief, and the people must judge the evil not just in its effects but at its root.
So God does not answer their question. He sets their fathers' sins before them instead.
God had no objection to being asked. One writer names what was missing:
The captives of Babylon were no more devout than the remnant left in the land … Had there been repentance for their sins, and brokenness of spirit, the Lord would gladly have given them His ear, but He knew their low moral condition and the hypocrisy of their approach to Him.
The text never tells us what the elders wanted to ask. Grant makes that silence part of the point:
We have once more a delegation of elders coming to inquire of Jehovah, and once again their inquiry goes unanswered — they do not even speak it, one would say. They represent, as we see by their inquiry, the professed orthodoxy of the people whose leaders they are. But God has nothing to say to them; that is, He has nothing that will match their expectations. They are looking for good, and there is nothing but evil to announce to them.
God answers by retelling their history from Egypt onward. Grant sums up what that record shows:
What is most obvious here is the moral unity of the generations which followed one another. There is a perfect monotony of evil all the way through, from the nation's birth in Egypt to Ezekiel's time. We can expect nothing else until God acts in the sovereignty of His own grace, at last to fulfil His promises despite this continuous rebellion.
The closed door is not closed forever. One writer points to a phrase God repeats as He tells the story:
Jehovah then recalls His ways with Israel, going back to the time of their captivity in Egypt. He looks forward to the time when, despite all they have been, He will bring them into the fullness of the blessing He had promised. The secret of God's goodness and patience lies in words He speaks four times: "But I acted for My name's sake."
- Approach — They came to enquire and sat before God's servant. It looked like faith and reverent humility.
- Search — The One who reads the heart found no exercise of conscience there, only hollowness and hypocrisy. So He had nothing to answer.
- Silence — Their question is never even recorded. They wanted good news; God had only evil to announce.
- Mirror — Instead of a forecast He sets their fathers' sins before them. They must judge the evil at its source, not just in its effects — one unbroken monotony of evil from Egypt to Ezekiel.
- Hope — Repentance and a broken spirit would have won His ear. Even without it He acts in sovereign grace, "for My name's sake," and keeps His promise at last.