Ezekiel 7:23 - Meaning and Application

Here is the prisoner brought before the court. A chain is made to drag the criminal into the place of judgment, and he stands in shackles like a notorious offender, ready to hear his sentence. When people break God’s law and throw off his commands, they will find themselves bound by his judgments, which they cannot break or escape. The chain may point to the siege of Jerusalem, to the slavery of those taken into exile, or to the fact that all were already held for God’s righteous judgment.

Next comes the charge against the prisoner. The land is full of bloody crimes, that is, guilt that comes from bloodshed, often done under the cover of justice and legal process. The innocent blood Manasseh, a king of Judah, shed in this way was likely the sin that filled up Jerusalem’s measure of guilt (2 Kings 24:4). Or the meaning may be that the land was full of crimes that the law said deserved death, such as idolatry, blasphemy, witchcraft, and sexual sin. When such sins spread through a nation, there is no remedy except the nation itself being cut off.

Blood crimes bring blood judgments. The city of David, the holy city that should have protected righteousness and punished evil, is now full of violence. Its rulers, because of their power and honor, have become even greater oppressors than others. This is deeply sad. How has the faithful city become a prostitute!

Then comes the judgment on this charge. God will deal with them not only for defiling his sanctuary, but also for twisting justice between people. Holiness belongs in his house, and the righteous Lord loves what is right and opposes what is wrong. Since they had lived like the nations around them, and even worse, God would bring the worst of those nations against them, the most brutal and merciless, to destroy and lay waste the land. Some nations are worse than others, and God sometimes uses the worst of them as a rod against his people, because he intends to destroy those nations too when his work is done.

Since they had filled their houses with wealth gained by injustice and used their power to crush the weak, God would hand their houses over to strangers. Their possessions would be enjoyed by others, and the pride of the strong would come to an end. No longer would their leaders dazzle the weak with wealth or use power to override what is right, as they had done.

Since they had polluted the holy places with idols, God would pollute them with his judgments. Since they had set up images of false gods in the temple, God would remove the signs of his own presence from there. When holy places are abandoned by God, they are soon defiled by enemies.

Since they had piled one sin on top of another, God would bring one judgment after another. Destruction is coming, total destruction, and trouble will follow trouble. News will come after news, like waves in a storm, one after another. Sinners marked for ruin will be pursued until judgment finishes its work, because God always wins when he judges.

Since they had disappointed God’s expectations, he would disappoint their hopes in him. They would not get the rescue they expected. They would look for peace, desire it, pray for it, and try to gain it, but there would be none. Their efforts to win over their enemies or defeat them would fail, and their trouble would only grow.

They would also not get the guidance they hoped for in their distress (Ezekiel 7:26). They would seek a vision from a prophet and want assurance that things would turn out well. They did not want a vision that exposed their sin or warned them of danger, only one that promised deliverance. But the law would be gone from the priest, meaning he would have no word of counsel or comfort for them. They had refused to hear God when he spoke to convict them, so now he had nothing to say for their encouragement. Counsel would fail from the elders too, the leaders who should have known how to guide the nation in that hard time. It is a terrible thing when those who should advise a people do not know how to think clearly, talk together, or help at all.

Since they had stirred one another up to sin, God would break their courage and leave them unable to stand against his judgments. Every class of people would sink down together under the burden (Ezekiel 7:27). The king, who should have given life and hope, and the prince, who should have led the attack, would mourn and be filled with ruin. Their minds would fail, and so would their courage. Then it is no surprise if the hands of the people, who should fight for them, grow weak. No one strong enough to help would know what to do.

What can people plan or do for themselves when God has left them and stands against them? All must weep, and all must be troubled, when God judges them according to what they deserve. In this way he makes them know, to their great loss, that he is the Lord, the God to whom vengeance belongs.