Idolatry Will be Punished
October 20, 2021
Commentary
At the beginning of this chapter a group of the elders in exile came to Ezekiel to seek counsel of the Lord (vv. 1-3). It appeared that they were finally been convinced that judgment was coming to their brethren still at Jerusalem. The context indicates that the question in their mind was whether God would spare Jerusalem for the sake of a few righteous within it. But these elders were not motivated by a pure heart. Though not outwardly practicing idolatry, they were still enamored with idolatry. God condemned these elders for worshiping idols in their hearts and then daring to come to God’s prophet for advice. On the outside they appeared to worship God, making regular trips to the temple to offer sacrifice, but they were not sincere. He saw their hearts and asked them to repent and turn from their multitude of idols. The Bible’s principle is that when a person or a nation is irreversibly set in a downward way, as it was in this case, God must bring judgment. However, God does it in grace in order that those in error will see their wicked way and turn to the Lord.
It seems that the people of Judah, though eager to accept the message of false prophets, considered the presence of a few God fearing men as an insurance policy against disaster (vv. 6-11). In a jam they could always ask God’s prophets for advice. But merely having God’s people around doesn’t help. Each person is responsible for his own relationship with God. God never turns from an individual who repents of his sin. He receives him in grace, no matter how vile his heart is. But those in Jerusalem were still openly and defiantly serving other gods. Judgment must be administered in such a case. God says I will set my face against that man that continues in his rebellious way, but He is ever open in grace to the one who repents (vv. 6, 8, 11)
It is easy for us to criticize the Israelites for worshiping idols when they so clearly needed God instead. But we have idols in our hearts when we pursue wealth, acceptance, reputation, or sensual pleasure with the intensity and enthusiasm that should be reserved for serving God.
Application
I must never let anyone or anything captivate my imagination or allegiance in such a way to replace or weaken my devotion to God.
Ezekiel 14:1– 11 (NET)
1 Then some men from Israel’s elders came to me and sat down in front of me. 2 The Lord’s message came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek me? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When anyone from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry. 5 I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.’
6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations. 7 For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the resident foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally. 8 I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
9 “‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word—I, the Lord, have made a fool of that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10 They will bear their punishment; the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it 11 so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Illustration: Moody America is Full of False Gods
You don’t have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol. (D.L. Moody – in Who said that? By George Sweeting, p. 270).