Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see.’
Ezekiel has just fallen on his face and begged God to spare what was left of Israel. Verse 9 is the answer he gets. God offers no relief. He gives reasons: the size of the guilt, the state of the land and the city, and the verdict the people had passed on God Himself.
An Answer, Not a Reprieve
Ezekiel's cry was genuine and it came from a heart in touch with both God and the faithful few. What it could not do was change the verdict.
Edwin N. CrossEzekiel the priest cries out on behalf of the residue, the remnant, the few reserved survivors of a great people. He was a man of compassion who cared for the nation, for God's people, and he is also horrified at the defiling of God's sanctuary. He was very concerned and fell on his face. Sadly, the nation's sin had gone too far to avoid disaster. The people had had enough time to repent and leave idolatry. Instead they used that time to multiply their perversity. His urgent cry to the Lord God shows that Ezekiel was in communion not only with the remnant, but also with God.
What "The LORD Does Not See" Means
This was not a careless remark. It was a settled position, and it went deeper than bad behaviour.
William KellyThey had stopped even holding the truth while living in unrighteousness, bad as that is. They had sunk lower still — to denying the attributes God must have. This was Jewish apostasy. They said, "The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land."
Where did such a thought come from? From God's own patience, twisted into evidence.
J. N. DarbyHere is what shows the moral state of heart of the wicked, and what made them give free rein to their sin. The LORD had not stepped in against their sins. That silence worked on what they believed, until they said, "The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see." This was hardness of heart.
The Fatal Mistake
Only those who grieved over the evil were spared. The rest reasoned from God's silence to God's indifference — and that step was the error.
W. T. P. WolstonGod orders the vengeance they so deeply deserved to fall on those who had sinned. He would spare only those who sighed and cried over the abominations being done — no one else. The mass of the people showed their moral depravity by saying, "The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see." He had not yet judged their sin, so they concluded that He did not care about it. Fatal mistake!
Nothing Was Ever Hidden
God's reply answers the charge that He does not see.
Edwin N. CrossGod's reply brings out how exceedingly sinful sin is. How little we understand what a great offence sin is to God. Men would learn that no sin is done in secret or goes unnoticed. God is there and sees everything, above all what bears His name. Men may think they can get away with profanity or murder. But God's eye sees all of man's perversity and wickedness.
Blood and Perverseness
Two charges measure the guilt. The land is full of blood; the city is full of injustice — justice twisted out of shape.
The Bible Treasury"The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice" — that is, the twisting of judgment. In the prophet's day the same crimes that made Jezreel notorious under King Ahab marked the whole land. So in judgment the LORD takes away His blessings.
An Old Sentence, Still Repeated
The same words can come back in another form. One writer hears them again whenever people speak as if the Holy Spirit no longer stays with believers.
The Bible TreasuryTo say that the Spirit's presence is interrupted — except as far as our own unbelief is concerned — or to claim His influence and not His person, is to make a gap in what the Lord calls continuous: "He will be with you forever." Is that not taking up the old language of unbelief, "The LORD has forsaken the land" (Ezek. 8:12; 9:9)?
Summary
- Delay — God held back His judgment. They read His patience as proof He had gone.
- Denial — Saying He does not see is not a mood. It strips God of the attributes that make Him God.
- License — Once they thought Him blind, sin ran free. The land filled with blood, the city with justice bent out of shape.
- Discovery — God's answer names the sin. Nothing done in secret was ever unseen, least of all where His name is.
- Decree — Ezekiel prayed, but the nation had spent its time multiplying evil. Nothing could turn the judgment aside now. Only those who grieved over the sin were spared.