And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
Ezekiel 22 has already accused Jerusalem twice: first of her bloodshed, then under the picture of a furnace. Now a fresh word arrives from the Lord, and what follows spares no rank in the city.
This verse is a hinge. The chapter falls into three parts, and this word opens the last of them.
The sharpened sword of justice and punishment is about to do its dreadful work. First the Lord uncovers the guilt and evil of the city. He lays bare the corruption of her prophets, priests, and princes, and of the people too. Verses 1-16 reveal the violence and the detestable deeds of Jerusalem. The smelting furnace in verses 17-23 stands for Jehovah's burning anger against the city and everyone in it. The closing section of chapter 22 (verses 23-31) fully uncovers the corruption of the prophets, priests, and princes.
Up to now God has spoken in pictures — a sword, a furnace. With this new word He drops them.
The closing verses drop these images and speak in the plainest terms… Jerusalem was guilty and now given up to judgment. She was like land without human farming or God's natural supplies — morally a mere waste.
Foreign armies were the visible threat to the city. The section just closed names a deeper cause, and shows how faith takes it.
Whatever bloody horrors go with the sword, the fire of God's indignation must mean something worse even for this world. The prophecy itself goes no further. But it was Jehovah's doing, because of Jerusalem's sins. It was not merely the Gentiles' doing because of their power. Faith seizes this and bows before Him.
Why does God speak now, and not sooner? The answer lies in how He times judgment.
We turn again to Jerusalem and see once more the open corruption that is bringing in the judgment. God does not judge until the corruption is out in the open. He lets evil come to its head before He strikes it. Then He is plainly right in judging it, and clear when He is judged. So what we have here is no longer history. It is not even the sins of the fathers showing up in their children. It is the present condition of things — the causes which made necessary what was at hand.
This is a word from God. Yet the list it introduces shows why words alone can no longer help.
The evil speaks for itself. What we have is a list of crimes among high and low. The apostle says of such crimes that the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles through them. We need not wonder at this. It follows the constant rule that privileges get perverted, and what is done in the dark elsewhere is now done in full daylight. And instead of expecting the judgment that was certainly coming, they hardened their hearts against it. That fits everything else. Nothing but the actual pouring out of wrath would help now. Words alone were useless. Deeds had to take their place.
The message opened here ends with God looking for one person to hold back the ruin. Even in a chapter full of charges, that search tells us something about Him.
In Ezekiel 22 Jehovah sums up and reviews the sins of what He now calls "the bloody city" (Ezek. 22:2), and of the princes, the prophets, the priests, and the people of Israel. Yet He says, "I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none" (Ezek. 22:30). Judgment must have its way. But one cannot help noticing God's tenderness towards His people before the blow fell. It strikingly recalls the blessed Lord's words at a later date: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not" (Luke 13:34).
- Word. A fresh message from the Lord opens the final section of the chapter (verses 23–31). There the corruption of prophets, priests, princes and people comes fully into the light.
- Plain. God drops the sword and furnace pictures. He now speaks plainly of a city as barren as land no one farms.
- Ripe. God does not judge until the corruption is out in the open. He lets evil come to its head, so that He is clear when He is judged.
- Deeds. Hearts had hardened against the warning. Words alone were useless, and deeds had to take their place.
- Sought. Before the blow fell He still looked for one man to stand in the gap — the same tenderness heard later in "How often would I have gathered your children together."
Son of man, say unto her, Thou art a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
Earlier in this chapter God exposed Jerusalem as a city of bloodshed. Then He pictured her as metal melted in a furnace. Now a fresh word comes, and He calls her a land with no cleansing and no rain. Two questions follow. What does such a land picture? And what sort of anger is "indignation"?
One commentator notes the change of tone here, and reads the land as a picture of Jerusalem's moral state:
The closing verses drop these images and speak in the plainest terms… Guilty, and now given up to judgment, Jerusalem was like land without man's cultivation or God's natural supply — morally, a mere waste. The prophets conspiring among her people were like roaring lions tearing at prey. The priests not only twisted the law but profaned the sanctuary. The princes were no better than greedy, bloodthirsty wolves, and all for unjust gain. Look higher or lower, and nothing better was to be found.
Two lacks are named here, and each has its own source: no cleansing from man, no rain from God. This verse also opens the last section of the chapter, which one writer maps out:
Before the sharpened sword of justice and retribution does its dreadful work, the Lord uncovers the guilt and vileness of the city. He lays bare the corruption of her prophets, priests, and princes, and of the people as well… The smelting furnace in verses 17-23 is the symbol of the Lord's fiery indignation against Jerusalem and its people. The closing section of chapter 22 (verses 23-31) uncovers in full the corruption of the prophets, priests, and princes.
Hebrew has several words for anger, and they do not all mean the same thing. One writer sorts them out and defines the word behind "indignation":
Za-am is indignation, punitive anger against evil… Aph, anger, wrath. Ke-tzeph, the breaking forth of wrath; from cutting, breaking. Kharah (he kindled) heat of anger.
The same writer lists where za-am appears, and this verse is on the list:
We have za-am (punitive anger) in Psalms 38:4; 69:24; 78:49; 102:11… Ezekiel 21:36; chap. 22:24, 31.
So the "day of indignation" is not a mood or a burst of temper. It is anger that punishes evil.
Why did this day fall when it did, after so many warnings? One commentator points to God's own concern to be clear when He judges:
We return now to see once more in Jerusalem the open corruption that is bringing in the judgment. As has been said elsewhere, God does not judge until the corruption is fully out in the open. He lets evil come to its head before He strikes it, for He will be justified in judging it, and clear when He is judged. So what we have here is no longer history. It is not even the sins of the fathers showing themselves in the children. It is the present state of things — the causes that made what was coming necessary.
That shapes how we read this verse. God is not raking over the past. He is naming what the land is now.
The same writer explains why the message has moved from appeal to sentence:
Along with this, the people did not expect the sure judgment that was coming; they hardened their hearts against it instead. That fits everything else here. Nothing but the actual falling of wrath would do any good now. Words alone were useless. Deeds had to take their place.
Before the indignation fell, God looked for one man to stand in the gap. One writer sets the whole chapter beside words the Lord Jesus later spoke over the same city:
Ezekiel 22 recapitulates the sin of Jerusalem, of her prophets, her priests, and her princes. The eye of God sought for someone to stand in the gap before Him, and found none. His indignation should consume them. What force the prophecies give to those words of the Lord, "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"
- Plain. God drops the images of sword and furnace here and speaks to Jerusalem in the plainest terms.
- Waste. No cleansing, no rain: a city left without man's care or God's supply — a moral wasteland.
- Measured. "Indignation" translates a word meaning punitive anger against evil, not an outburst.
- Ripe. God withholds judgment until corruption is fully out in the open, so that He is clear when He is judged.
- Deeds. Hardened hearts made words useless. No one stood in the gap, so only judgment was left.
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they devour souls; they take away treasure and precious things; they increase her widows in the midst of her;
Ezekiel 22 works through Jerusalem class by class. Verse 25 starts at the top, with the men who claimed to speak for God. The charge is not carelessness but appetite. These prophets acted together, and the people paid for it with their lives and their property.
The verse belongs to a final section where God names names before the blow falls. One commentator sets the scene for the whole chapter:
The sharpened sword of justice and retribution has not yet done its dreadful work. First the Lord uncovers the guilt and vileness of the city. He lays bare the corruption of her prophets, priests, and princes, and of the people too. Verses 1-16 show the violence and the vile acts of Jerusalem. The smelting furnace in verses 17-23 stands for the Lord's burning anger against Jerusalem and its people. The closing section of chapter 22 (verses 23-31) uncovers the corruption of the prophets, priests, and princes in full.
The word "conspiracy" points to men working together by plan. One writer shows these prophets working with the priests, while the people were glad to have it so:
The prophets living when the nation had turned away from God show most clearly how much influence such men had. Jeremiah in Jerusalem and Ezekiel by the river Chebar both found them the greatest obstacle to people receiving the word of the Lord... "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so" (Jeremiah 5:30-31). "And from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely" (Jeremiah 6:13).
Follow the chapter down from the prophets to the priests and princes. The picture does not improve:
The prophets who plotted together in the city were like roaring lions tearing their prey. The priests not only twisted the law; they also treated the sanctuary as something common. The princes were no better than greedy, bloodthirsty wolves, and all this for dishonest gain. So there was no distinction for the better, whether one looked higher or lower.
Notice what the prophets carried off: souls first, then treasure and precious things. Where religion becomes a trade, people themselves become the merchandise:
"And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep" (2 Peter 2:3). Here he exposes religious pretension to the core. Babylon sells the souls of men (Revelation 18:13). It is a serious thing to be linked in practice with such a state of things. By greed and hypocritical words these false teachers would sell Christians as goods for their own gain. This points to what people call simony — the sale of souls. But God's judgment should overtake all such.
Verse 25 opens what one writer calls a dark catalogue. He explains why the prophets and priests at its head are the worst detail of all:
The final word returns once again to the corruption itself. It is complete, and it runs through every class. Here the prophets and priests above all come into the dark catalogue, for when they are corrupt, hope is gone entirely. Among all these not one man was left. "And I sought for such," says the Lord. There was no one to build up a fence to keep out the coming desolation, no one to stand in the gap before Him, so that He would not destroy the land.
The verse ends with widows — the cost paid by ordinary people. The crimes listed run from the top of the nation to the bottom:
The evil speaks for itself. What we have is a list of crimes in high and low. The apostle says of such crimes that the Gentiles blasphemed the name of God because of them. We need not wonder at this. Misused privilege always works this way: what happens in the dark elsewhere happens here in full daylight.
- Office. God starts at the top — prophets, then priests, then princes, then people. He exposes a city's guilt where its guides went wrong.
- Collusion. "Conspiracy" means a plot, not an accident. The prophets prophesied lies, the priests ruled at their direction, and the people loved it so.
- Appetite. Men set apart to speak for God fed on the people instead, like lions. They took souls first and treasure after.
- Cost. The widows are the receipt. Misused privilege does in daylight what others do in the dark, and the Gentiles blasphemed God's name because of it.
- Verdict. When the prophets and priests are corrupt, hope is gone. God looked for one man to stand in the gap, and found none.
her priests do violence to my law, and profane my holy things they put no difference between the holy and profane, neither do they make known [the difference] between the unclean and the clean, and they hide their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Ezekiel lists, class by class, why Jerusalem must fall. Here the charge lands on the priests. Their whole calling was to guard the line between what belongs to God and what does not. They did not just break rules; they erased the line. The verse names the cost: His own people treated God Himself as common.
The charge is not vague religious failure. The prophet measures the priests against the written law of Moses, a standard his hearers already had. The verses around this one are full of quotations from it.
In Ezekiel 22:26 it says, "Her priests have done violence to My law." Here the prophet does not use the word "law" in a general sense, of any religious teaching given by God. He means "The Law." That is clear from the detail that comes before and after the words quoted… In these few verses there are at least twenty-nine references to the Pentateuch — really quotations from it — from Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.
Telling holy from common was not an extra duty added to a priest's work. It was the work itself, and it grew out of his nearness to God. Older wording calls the common "profane."
Once priesthood is established, there comes the discernment between holy things and profane, the judgment of defilements, and what had to be done to purify defiled people. Only this nearness of separation to God can discern in this way. Such is the service, and always the duty, of priests.
A blurred line starts somewhere other than the line itself. It starts in the person, with whatever he lets cloud his own soul.
Quickness of moral perception depends on keeping up a separation from everything that might cloud our souls… Suppose a believer forgets his heavenly calling and gives in to earthly pleasures. He is "drunk with wine" instead of being "filled with the Spirit." Then he cannot tell apart things that differ, or see what is morally suitable to God. There is no greater mistake than to expect a right judgment on moral questions from worldly Christians. They may be entirely sincere and upright. They may even want to see the truth. But they have lost their spiritual discernment.
The verse names one thing in particular that they set aside: the sabbaths. That day was Israel's public sign of whose they were.
The sabbath was Jehovah's sign to Israel… "Moreover I gave them My sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies them."
The verse ends with God as the one wronged. Men who handle holy things every day can drift into treating them cheaply.
The higher the relationship, the greater the danger where God is not before the soul. Sin in such people is not only more serious; they are also more exposed to it. A priest has to walk not just as a man outside the sanctuary should, but as one who goes into it… familiarity with the presence of God, unless a man keeps it up in His fear, borders on contempt… Hardness of conscience follows habitual carelessness about God, while a man still keeps up appearances.
The chapter ends with God looking for one man to stand in the breach, and finding none.
The corruption is complete, among all classes. The prophets and priests especially come into the dark list here; for when they are corrupt, hope is gone entirely. Among all these not one man was left. "And I sought for such," says the Lord. Not one could build a fence to keep out the coming desolation, or stand in the breach before Him, so that He might not destroy the land.
The same words come back later in the book. There they describe restored priests doing what these men refused to do.
"And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean… and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My assemblies; and they shall hallow My sabbaths."
- The standard — "My law" means the law God gave through Moses. The charge quotes Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy again and again. God judges the priests by a text they already held in their hands.
- The sight — telling holy from common flows out of nearness to God. It is not an extra duty of priesthood but its ordinary service.
- The blur — the eye goes first. Earthly pleasure clouds the soul, and even a sincere man loses the ability to tell things apart. This verse shows what a whole class looks like when that happens.
- The dishonour — being at home with holy things, without the fear of God, slides into contempt. That is how men reach the point where God says He is profaned among them.
- The repair — when prophets and priests are corrupt, no one is left to stand in the breach. Yet the same words return later in the book as a promise: the difference taught again, the sabbaths kept holy.
Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
Ezekiel 22 sums up Jerusalem's guilt before judgment falls. Verse 27 puts the rulers in the dock: the men who should guard the nation act like wolves, and their motive is money.
The verse names an animal everyone knew. Its habit, not just its fierceness, is the point.
Scripture calls this well-known animal ravenous. It hunts its prey in the evening. Wolves are very destructive among sheep, harassing and killing more than they can eat. This makes the wolf a fitting emblem of the wicked. They trouble the sheep and lambs of God's flock, and even creep in among them.
The wolves here were not foreign invaders. They held office over the very people they tore.
Others might plunder their enemies and enrich their followers at their neighbours' expense. But the civil and religious chiefs of Israel were degraded and depraved. They preyed on the flesh and blood of their own brothers for their own greed and gain, and the defenceless poor fared worst of all.
This corruption did not appear overnight. One writer traces it back through generations of rulers, and then points ahead to a promise.
The oppression of the ruling classes had grown worse since the days of Solomon. Ezekiel found the princes of the land "like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain" (Ezek. 22:27). Many passages in the prophets confirm how widespread such oppression was. They show how deep and vile the corruption was — religious, moral, and civic. It destroyed the life of both kingdoms, Israel and Judah, until there was no remedy and the unsparing stroke of judgment had to fall. How good to know that this evil will not darken the day of restoration — "My princes shall no more oppress My people."
Verse 27 does not stand alone. The charge names the prophets, the priests, the princes and the people. No group can point at another.
The sharpened sword of justice and retribution is ready to do its dreadful work. Before it falls, the Lord uncovers the guilt and vileness of the city. He lays bare the corruption of her prophets, her priests, her princes, and her people.
When the men at the top do the damage, the nation has no defence left. God searched for one man to stand between Himself and the land.
The final word returns once again to the corruption itself. The corruption is complete, and it runs through every class. This dark list names the prophets and priests above all, for when they are corrupt, hope is gone. Among them all, not one man remained. "And I sought for such," says the Lord. No one could build a fence to keep out the coming desolation, or stand in the breach before Him, so that He would not destroy the land.
The same appetite still tests leaders today. Greed for money makes a man unfit to lead, just as violence does.
Men in authority often fall into another fault, and it is unworthy of an overseer. He must not seek gain by low means. He must stand firm against greed for money. A man called to rule before God among His people must watch against this degrading evil. He must guard against it at least as much as against sins of violence. If he is guilty of it himself, how can he rebuke those sins? Yet that is his duty.
- Wolves. The image points to appetite. Wolves kill more than they can eat, so Scripture makes them the emblem of the wicked who harass God's flock.
- Prey. These rulers did not plunder enemies. They preyed on their own brothers for gain, and the defenceless poor fared worst.
- Gain. Dishonest gain drove them. The corruption of the ruling classes had been deepening since Solomon's day, until there was no remedy.
- Guilt. God exposes prophets, priests, princes and people together. Where the leaders are corrupt, no one remains to stand in the breach.
- Grace. Judgment ends this corruption, but the story does not stop there. God promises that His princes will no longer oppress His people.
And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered [mortar], seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah! and Jehovah hath not spoken.
Ezekiel 22 goes through Jerusalem group by group — princes, priests, prophets, people — and names what each has done. Verse 28 reaches the prophets. Their work was to cover the rot with a coat of plaster and sign it with God's name.
The corruption did not start with the prophets. But when the preachers go too, the last voice that could call the nation back is gone.
The final word returns once again to the corruption itself. It is complete, and found among all classes. This dark list names the prophets and priests above all, because once they are corrupt, hope is gone entirely. Among all of them, not one man was left. God says He looked for such a man — someone to build a fence against the coming desolation. He looked for someone to stand in the breach before Him, so that He would not destroy the land. So the anger He warned of for so long is poured out at last.
A survey of the same ruin elsewhere makes the point in one line: every rank had failed, and God searched the nation for one man to stand in the breach.
Ezekiel 22 recapitulates the sin of Jerusalem, of her prophets, her priests, and her princes. The eye of God sought for someone to stand in the gap before Him, and found none.
The whitewash of this verse is untempered mortar in older translations — plaster that was never mixed properly. Spread over a wall, it hides the cracks and looks solid until the weather comes.
Mortar was made by treading the clay. The false prophets promised peace to Jerusalem while God was threatening to bring judgment. Their work is compared to building a wall and daubing it with untempered mortar. God's wind would blow the wall down (Ezekiel 13:10-15). This teaches a needed lesson: everything built for God must be built with God's materials, or it will not stand.
The prophets signed the message with God's name. That is rarely raw invention — it is God's own word bent to fit what people already want.
It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and lies. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval for its own desires. That is why the prophets who would say, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken, were so popular. We should not suppose that these prophets were always inventing lies. They corrupted the word of God and made it suit man's taste (2 Corinthians 2:17). They had to copy many of the real prophets' expressions. Yet in the end they only produced their own empty ideas.
Smooth preaching sells. It spares people the one thing they least want: a conscience disturbed by God.
When the people of God go wrong, the spirit of false prophecy is always at work. It wants them to believe that all goes well. Men in authority do not like to be discouraged: see the opposition to Jeremiah in Jerusalem. The false prophet helps them here. He keeps the conscience from turning back to God, who would use chastening to bring the conscience into direct contact with Him. The spirit of falsehood would persuade them that they are very happy. Those who call them blessed are the misleaders. Those who are so called, and believe them, are swallowed up.
The same plaster gets spread over Christendom — the whole world of Christian profession. There too, smooth preaching is the popular kind.
I know people do not like to hear such teaching. Smooth things are far more agreeable and more popular. But we must speak the truth. We dare not try to prophesy smooth things. We dare not cry peace, peace, when there is no peace, but obvious ruin and imminent judgment. What possible use is it to daub the wretched walls of Christendom with the untempered mortar of human thoughts and opinions? "Use," did I say? It is positive cruelty. As surely as God is in heaven, those walls will soon be demolished and swept away by the storm of divine judgment.
The alternative is a short list of rules for anyone who works with souls.
Never daub the wall with untempered mortar, saying, Peace! peace! when there is no peace. Never hurry a soul into confession. Never treat sin lightly. Preach truth as well as grace. Emphasize repentance.
- Cover-up. The prophets plaster over cracks that are already splitting the nation. The ruin underneath is never treated.
- Counterfeit. The plaster is God's name on man's message. These men copy real prophecy, soften it, and make it suit what listeners want.
- Comfort. It sells because it keeps the conscience away from God, and those flattered by it are the ones swallowed up.
- Collapse. Untempered mortar cannot face the storm. Build for God with God's materials, or the wall falls.
- Cure. Jerusalem needed one man to stand in the breach and had none. What is needed now is preaching that gives truth as well as grace and never treats sin lightly.
The people of the land use oppression and practise robbery; and they vex the poor and needy, and oppress the stranger wrongfully.
Ezekiel has been exposing the guilt of Jerusalem's leaders. Here the charge reaches the ordinary people as well. What happens to a society when injustice is no longer the crime of the powerful, but the habit of everybody?
The crimes here belong to every level of society. One writer says the evil needs no explaining, and that these crimes made the nations blaspheme God's name.
We need not spend many words on interpreting what is plain. The evil speaks for itself. What we have is a list of crimes in high and in low. Of these very crimes the apostle says that through them the Gentiles blasphemed the name of God. We need not wonder at this. Perverted privileges always work this way: what people do in the darkness elsewhere they now do in the full light.
Oppression is not an abstract word. One commentator brings it down to wages: what a master pays, and when he pays it.
He forbids dishonesty and untruthfulness, above all when His name is profaned. And He denounces the oppression of one's neighbour — even if it is only holding back a poor labourer's pay for a single night. Wealthy Jews were guilty in this way: is it limited to men of Israel? The employment of labour is often conducted in a hard spirit, grinding the faces of the poor. In God's eyes this makes up for nothing. It only makes things worse when masters give generously to so-called Christian or charitable causes what has been wrung out of tears and curses.
God's law names the stranger first, then the poor. Israel's own past was meant to shape how they treated both.
The stranger comes first. The memory of what they had been in the land of Egypt was to govern how they behaved toward such people. They had suffered bitterly under the hard slavery of Pharaoh's iron yoke. So they could enter into the feelings of those who are strangers in a strange land... The two following directions concern the poor. The first saves him from extortion and stops the rich from making gain of his poverty. The second secures him from being left destitute and naked.
Unpaid wages are not the end of the matter. One writer shows that the debt itself cries out, even when the powerful hear nothing.
They are charged with deliberate cruelty and fraud in their dealings with the labourers who reaped their fields. Their very wealth tempts the rich to hold back the wages of the poor. Only their own affairs matter in their eyes. They put off to a convenient time the claims of people who live from hand to mouth. But the debt cries aloud to Him who always feels for the poor. The One who alone made Him fully known showed this. Yes, the cries of the reapers may not have reached the rich. But they entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts, and His blow would fall when least expected.
Jerusalem's ruin was not sudden. This catalogue of crimes explains the timing of what came next.
We return now to see once more in Jerusalem the obvious corruption which is bringing in the judgment. As noted elsewhere, God does not judge until the corruption shows itself fully. He lets evil come to its head before He strikes it, for He will be justified in judging it, and clear when He is judged. So what we have here is no longer history: it is not even the sins of the fathers showing themselves in the children. It is the present condition of things — the causes which made necessary what was at hand.
The warning does not stay in the ancient world. One writer applies it to courtrooms and to Christian gatherings alike.
The judges ought not to favour the wicked. They ought to judge on behalf of the poor and needy, defending them from the persecution of the wicked and delivering them from the hands of cruel oppression. We need this same exhortation today in many of our courts of justice, and even in the professing church of God. There, those held in outward honour are too often guilty of oppressing ordinary people.
- Everyone. The crimes run "in high and in low." Leaders and ordinary people share the guilt, and the nations blaspheme God's name because of it.
- The crime. Oppression shows up in real things: unpaid wages, hard dealing, profit squeezed out of the weak.
- The stranger. Israel had once been slaves in Egypt. That memory was meant to govern how they treated the stranger and the poor among them.
- The cry. Held-back wages cry out. The appeal the rich never heard reached the Lord of hosts, and His blow falls when least expected.
- The verdict. God waits until the corruption is fully out, so that no one can question His judgment. The same test of justice toward the poor still stands over courts and churches today.
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.
God searches Jerusalem for one person who will repair the broken wall and stand between Him and the coming ruin. He finds no one. Why does God look for a man before He judges? And what does it mean that He found none?
The verse closes a long list of crimes by princes, priests, prophets and people. One writer notes that God waits until the evil is undeniable:
As has been said elsewhere, God does not judge until the corruption is plain for all to see. He lets evil come to its full height before He strikes it. He will be shown right in His judgment, and clear when men judge Him. So what we read here is no longer history. It is not even the sins of the fathers showing up in the children. It is the state of things right now — the causes that made the coming judgment necessary.
The most alarming part of the list is who stands in it — the men who were meant to teach and guard the nation:
The last word turns back once more to the corruption itself. It runs through every class of people, and the prophets and priests are named in this dark list too. When they are corrupt, hope is gone. Among all of them not one man was left ("and I sought for such," says the Lord) who could build up a fence to keep out the coming ruin, or stand in the breach before Him, so that He would not destroy the land.
The search itself shows God's heart. He is not eager to strike. One writer hears in it a note Jesus sounded later:
Judgment must have its way, but one cannot help noticing God's tenderness toward His people before the blow fell. It is a striking reminder of the blessed Lord's words at a later date: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"
To stand in the gap is to pray for people under God's anger. Jeremiah did this — until God told him to stop:
Let us remember that the Lord is "slow to anger." Jeremiah faced outrageous provocation, and much of it was aimed at him — the insults meant for the Lord fell on him. Yet poor Jeremiah could appeal to God, and tell Him how he had stood in the gap to turn away His anger from the people. Then the Lord said to him, "Do not pray for this people," and the anger took its course. For intercession is always the place for the one who has the mind of God. It is how he makes a way for God's love, until the place for intercession is closed.
Israel had known such a man before. That memory makes the empty search here sadder — and the writer leaves something for those who feel unequal to the task:
In days of old God said that He would destroy Israel "had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him, to turn away His wrath from destroying them" (Ps. 106:23)… How sad this is! The Lord is seeking for one man to be true to Him, one man to stand in the breach like Moses or Paul, but He found him not. Perhaps our day seems like this, as we see the enemy coming in like a flood (Isa. 59:19). And though we may not have the faith or courage to follow these noble servants of old, we may at least "be grieved for the breach" that we see all around us today. In Ezekiel 9:4 we see that the Lord puts His special mark on those who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done.
Isaiah records the same search, with the same result — and then God acts Himself. That changes everything for today:
"He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought Him salvation" (Isa. 59:16)… We cannot now say, "there is no man," for there is a Man at the right hand of God, who is the Head of the assembly… We cannot now say, "there is no intercessor." Christ died for us, God raised Him up again, and He is now "at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Rom. 8:34)… He is able to save His own completely, and He "always lives to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25).
- Searched. God does not strike while the evil is in doubt. He lets it come out into the open. Then He looks for one person to stand between Him and the ruin.
- Sought. The search itself is mercy — the same heart that later said, "How often would I have gathered your children."
- Standing. To stand in the gap is to intercede — to make a way for God's love. Moses did it. Jeremiah did it, until God closed the door on his praying.
- Silence. When prophets and priests are corrupt, hope is gone. No one is left to build up the fence.
- Supplied. What Ezekiel could not find, God provided in Himself. There is now a Man at God's right hand who always lives to intercede.
And I will pour out mine indignation upon them; I will consume them in the fire of my wrath their own way will I recompense upon their head, saith the Lord Jehovah.
God searched Jerusalem for one man to stand in the breach for the land, and found no one. This verse is the sentence that follows that silence: the anger had been held back a long time, the fire is His own wrath, and what falls on the people is their own conduct handed back to them.
This wrath is not sudden temper. There is a reason it falls at this point and not earlier.
God does not judge until the corruption is fully shown. Evil is allowed to come to its head before God strikes at it, for He will be justified in judging it, and be clear when He is judged. So what we have here is no longer history. It is not even the sins of the fathers showing up in the children. It is the present state of things — the causes of what was about to happen.
The verse opens with "Therefore." The reason lies in the search just before it.
The final word returns once again to the corruption itself. It runs through every class. This dark list names the prophets and priests above all; and when they are corrupt, hope is gone entirely. Among all these not one man was left — "and I sought for such," says the Lord — who could put up a fence to keep out the coming desolation. Not one could stand in the breach before Him and keep Him from destroying the land. So then the indignation, so long warned of, is at last to be poured out.
Judgment was certain, and still God looked for someone who could hold it back.
In Ezekiel 22 the Lord sums up again the sins of what He now calls "the bloody city." Yet He says, "I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." Judgment must have its way, but one cannot help noticing the tenderness of God for His people before the blow fell — strikingly like the Lord's own words at a later date: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"
Warning after warning had only hardened them. Here the speaking stops and the doing begins.
Instead of expecting the sure judgment that was coming, they hardened their hearts against it — which fits everything else. Nothing but the actual infliction of wrath would now be of any use. Words alone were useless. They had to be replaced by deeds.
The fire, though, is not mere destruction. It has a purpose of restraint:
God surely has purification in mind, but what is here is the wrath itself — a wrath that limits and holds down what cannot be changed. And such will be the fire of hell; corruption will at last be permitted no longer... A fitting and necessary penalty, carefully measured, will be God's firm way of holding down what will never be allowed to break out again. Man's ways come to an end then, and God comes into His own, finally and fully.
The door for intercession was open for a long time. This verse marks the moment it shut.
Let us remember that the Lord is "slow to anger." The provocation was outrageous, and much of it fell on Jeremiah himself; the reproaches aimed at the Lord landed on him. Yet poor Jeremiah could appeal to God that he had stood in the gap to turn the indignation away from them. Then the Lord said to him, "Do not pray for this people," and the indignation took its course. For intercession is always the place for the one who has the mind of God, to make a way for God's love, until the place for intercession is closed.
God once spared Israel because Moses stood in the breach. The search did not end with Ezekiel's day.
In days of old God said He would destroy Israel "had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them." In Ezekiel 22:30 we read: "I sought for a man among them... but I found none." How terribly sad! The Lord is looking for one man to be true to Him, one man to stand in the breach like Moses, and He did not find him. Perhaps our day seems like this, as we see the enemy coming in like a flood. And though we may not have the faith or courage to follow these noble servants of old, we may at least "be grieved for the breach" that we see all around us today.
- Delayed — God does not judge until the corruption is out in the open, so no one can question His verdict.
- Sought — First He searched every class for one man to stand in the breach; the search shows His tenderness.
- Silent — He found no one. Warning had only hardened them, so words gave way to deeds.
- Poured — His own fire falls, and hands people back their own way; it holds down what can never break out again.
- Yours — The gap is still the place for anyone with the mind of God; where we cannot stand like Moses, we may at least be grieved for the breach.