THIRD PROPHETIC VISION. chapters 20-23
THE IDOLS OF EGYPT — chapters 20:1-31
THE portion which now lies before us (chs. 20-23) with its various subdivisions contains much that is morally instructive as well as dispensationally interesting.
In the seventh year of Jehoiachin’s captivity “certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before” Ezekiel. This seemed sincerity on their part, but the Lord that searches the heart detected an utter lack of conscience. “As I live, saith the Lord, I will not be inquired of by you” (vers. 3:31). The Spirit of God has here in view Israel as a nation, and not Judah only, as in chapter 8.
The actual condition of Israel is viewed in the light of their past history, and with special reference to that evil spirit of idolatry which was always their special snare.
Even in Egypt, before the mighty hand of God had interposed on their behalf to bring them from under Pharaoh’s iron bondage, they had defiled themselves with their idols: “Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (vs. 7). But in vain: “They rebelled against Me, and would not hearken unto Me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.” God then threatened them with judgment in the land of Egypt: “Then said I, I will pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.”
But God wrought for His own name’s sake. Israel was His people in spite of all their faithlessness, and what would the heathen say, in whose sight He had made Himself known in bringing His people forth out of the land of Egypt, if now He cast them off? (vers. 5-10).
So He brought them into the wilderness, and there He gave them His statutes and His judgments: there, too, He gave them the Sabbath to be “a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” But Israel’s heart remained as rebellious as ever; they walked not in His statutes, they despised His judgments, and they polluted His Sabbaths. There, too, in the wilderness God was going to pour out His fury upon the guilty people, and consume them. But again He wrought for His name’s sake, lest it should be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight He had brought them out (vers. 10-14).
But the heart of Israel still turned away from Jehovah: “Their heart went after their idols;” so that God lifted up His hand to them in the wilderness that He would not bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. “Nevertheless Mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness” (vers. 15-17).
The fathers were incorrigible. God now deals with the children: “I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them; and hallow My Sabbaths,” &c. But, alas! the children were no better than the fathers; the same persistent course of disobedience and idolatry characterized them. Whether in Egypt or the wilderness, whether the fathers or the children, nothing but rebellion and stiff-nakedness on the part of Israel, nothing but patience and long-suffering on the part of the Lord. And is it not the same with us today? And that in spite of higher blessings and greater privileges!
Many a time would God have destroyed the idolatrous people, but He remembered His covenant with Abraham, and wrought for His own glory; this alone prevented the execution of His just and righteous vengeance. But if He spared, He must chastise; otherwise it would but prove indifference to the evil: “Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live” (vs. 25). These, it need hardly be said, were not those contained in the law of Moses. That law was “holy, and just, and good,” as we are told in Romans 7. The statutes referred to in verse 25 were the idolatrous and degrading practices of the heathen nations described in verse 26, into which the favored nation had fallen, so low was the pit into which they had sunk (vers. 13-26).
Was their conduct any better in the land of Canaan? Their captivity in Babylon was the answer. “Even unto this day” it was the same story; and yet in utter deadness of conscience they came to inquire of the Lord as though all were right between them and Him. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.”
A great moral principle lies here. To enter God’s presence in prayer is always good, but we must remember that to be real it is into His presence that we must get, and there our hearts are searched: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23, 2423Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23‑24)). Had the elders of Israel drawn near to the Lord in this spirit, He would have hearkened to their cry, and wrought a mighty deliverance on their behalf, in spite of their continued and persistent course of disobedience. His arm was not shortened that it could not save.
And is it not so with us to-day? How much prayer seems to go for nothing! Is it not because the Spirit of God is often grieved by our carelessness and worldliness, both individually and collectively? “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21, 2221Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (1 John 3:21‑22)). Oh for hearts set on keeping His word and pleasing Him!