God wanted everyone to understand why he was going to destroy Jerusalem. Like an aggrieved husband in a divorce proceeding, God made his case through the prophet Ezekiel.

Israel had been unfaithful to God. More than that, she had been abusive toward the children he gave her. She didn’t care when the Lord confronted her; she went on being unfaithful and abusive. The people of Jerusalem either didn’t believe anything bad was going to happen to them or they didn’t care.

But God remained fair and just toward them. He warned them and offered them ways to escape the coming destruction. As the prophet Amos pointed out,

“Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7

God’s wrath never fell upon the earth without warning.

Secret Sins

Ezekiel prophesied to the Israelites exiled in Babylon and he kept them well informed about what God was doing. Some of the elders came to inquire of the Lord through Ezekiel, which appeared to be very pious, but God knew the contents of their hearts told a different story.

“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?” Ezekiel 14:3

The Lord decided that he would answer them, but according to what was in their hearts, not according to their words or outward appearance.

“Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! When any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel separate themselves from me and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer them myself. I will set my face against them and make them an example and a byword. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Ezekiel 14:6-8

False Prophets Let People Down

If people didn’t like what Ezekiel said they went to false prophets instead.  God might play along for a while, but when the false prophet didn’t stop his or her lies, God punished the prophet as well as the people who went to that prophet.

“Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign God.” Ezekiel 14:11

Israel was like an unfaithful wife who pretended to be faithful so she could avoid the consequences, but God knew the truth about his people.

Jerusalem, An Unfaithful Wife

When Moses gave his final address to Israel in Deuteronomy, he talked about how God chose them to be his special people.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

“The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

“But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 7:6-8

God Remembers

In Ezekiel 16 God talked about what it was like for him to choose Israel. Their ancestors lived in Canaan and when the Israelites became a clan and then a nation, no one cared about them. For all the rest of the world cared, the nation of Israel could have died at birth, like an unwanted child discarded in an open field.

Instead God gave Israel a home and raised her up to be a queen among the nations. He blessed her with wealth and power and all the nations came to her to trade and even worship God. But Israel became unfaithful and adopted the gods of those nations. She forsook her covenant relationship with God.

“You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!” Ezekiel 16:32

God was insulted that Israel gave herself away so readily and that she even rewarded the nations that led her astray.

Judgment on Unfaithful Jerusalem

God gave Israel many chances to change their ways and become faithful to him again. He was willing to forgive them and restore the relationship, but for the most part they were not willing. They resisted God and disobeyed his commands no matter how much he appealed to them. He finally turned them over to their foreign lovers and they experienced what those unscrupulous people could do to them.

“I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines . . .” Ezekiel 16:39

God became very graphic about what would happen to Jerusalem in the hands of the pagan nations. The things he talked about were shocking but familiar to the people of Jerusalem because they were part of the sin and idolatry that filled the city. Immorality and violence had been part of their lives for a long time.

God compared the sins of Jerusalem to the sins of Sodom and Samaria and said that Jerusalem was far worse.

“You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.” Ezekiel 16:47-48

Patient God

If God could be amazed and grieved by anything it was by Israel’s infidelity to him. But it was hard for him to let them go. He waited year after year for them to repent and return to him, and when they didn’t, he carefully laid out the case against them before he took action.

Sometimes people blame God for acting against sin in the Old Testament, but he was very patient and moved very slowly. Before The Lord took any action he warned people so they could escape with their lives. He invited them to reconcile with him. He grieved over them and when he finally let his wrath fall, it was short-lived. He limited his power so he didn’t utterly destroy his people and while he acted he also developed the plan of redemption for them.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you . . . Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Lord.” Ezekiel 16:59-63

People who realized how great their sins were and who were forgiven were left speechless. There was nothing to boast about, except the great grace and love of God. When they opened their mouths again, it would be to praise him for his goodness.