Ezekiel 6:1 - Meaning and Application

Here, first, the prophecy is directed against the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 6:1, Ezekiel 6:2). The prophet must turn his face toward them. If he were looking from far away toward the land of Israel, the mountains would be the first part he could see, so he is told to look straight at them and speak firmly. It is like a judge facing a prisoner while passing sentence. Even though the mountains of Israel were high and strong, he must set his face against them, because God was about to speak judgment that would shake them.

These mountains had once been holy, but the people had polluted them with their high places, their pagan worship sites. So God set his face against them, and the prophet must do the same. Here, Israel means the whole land, not just the ten tribes. The mountains are called to hear the word of the Lord to shame the people who would not listen. The prophets might get as much attention from the mountains as from that stubborn and rebellious people, to whom they had stretched out their hands all day long in vain. “Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s case” (Micah 6:1, Micah 6:2), for God’s cause will be heard whether people listen or not.

From the mountains, the word of the Lord echoes to the hills, rivers, and valleys. This shows that the whole land is involved in what is being said. The whole land will also stand as a witness against this people, because they were clearly warned about the coming judgments, but refused to take them seriously. Worse still, they argued against the message and persecuted the messengers. So God’s prophets would have spoken more safely and more peacefully to the hills and mountains than to the people.

Second, the prophecy threatens the complete destruction of the idols and the people who worshiped them, and both by the sword of war. God himself is the commander of this attack against the mountains of Israel. He says, “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you” (Ezekiel 6:3). The sword of the Chaldeans, the Babylonian army, was under God’s command. It went where he sent it, came where he brought it, and struck where he allowed it.

In that war, the idols and everything connected with them would be destroyed. The high places on the mountain tops would be leveled and left in ruins (Ezekiel 6:3, Ezekiel 6:6). They would no longer be decorated or crowded with worshipers as before. The altars where they sacrificed and burned incense to false gods would be smashed and wasted, and the images and idols would be broken down and cut off. All the beautiful and costly things around them would also be destroyed (Ezekiel 6:4, Ezekiel 6:6).

This teaches several things. War brings terrible ruin, and even the places, people, and things treated as most sacred are not spared. The sword destroys one thing as well as another. God sometimes brings idol worship to an end through idolaters themselves, for the Chaldeans were idolaters too. Yet people often admire the gods of their own land while mocking the gods of others. It is only right for God to turn into ruins what we make into idols, because he is a jealous God and will not share his place with rivals. If people do not destroy idolatry as they should, God will, sooner or later, find a way to do it.

Even after Josiah, the godly king of Judah, had torn down the high places, altars, and images with the sword of justice, the people set them up again. Now God would destroy them with the sword of war, and then let people see who dares restore them.

The worshipers of idols, and all who supported them, would also be destroyed. As all their high places would be laid waste, so would all their cities and homes (Ezekiel 6:6). Those who had profaned God’s dwelling place could expect him to abandon their own dwellings (Ezekiel 5:11). If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy that person (1 Corinthians 3:17).

The prophecy says their slain would fall in the middle of them (Ezekiel 6:7). Many would die even in the places they thought safest. It is especially striking that they would fall before their idols (Ezekiel 6:4), and that their dead bodies would lie and their bones would be scattered around their altars (Ezekiel 6:5). This would pollute the idols and desecrate the places they had honored. If they would not defile the coverings of their carved images, God would do it (Isaiah 30:22). Throwing the bodies among them like rubbish shows that these were only rubbish gods.

It also shows that the idols were dead things, unfit to compete with the living God. The dead bodies of men, who like the idols have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear, were the right company for them. The idols would be mocked by their helplessness to save their worshipers, and the idolaters would be shown how foolish it was to trust them. It seems that some were killed by the enemy while they were actually in front of their idols, asking for help and putting themselves under their protection. Sennacherib was killed by his sons while worshiping in the house of his god.

This detail also makes the punishment preach its own message. The slain men are thrown before the idols to show that they die because they worshiped those idols (Jeremiah 8:1, Jeremiah 8:2). Let the survivors notice it and take warning not to worship images. Let them see it and know that the Lord is God, and that the Lord alone is God.