Ezekiel 22:1-16

Ezekiel 22:1-16

Verses 1-16 are descriptive of the "abominations" that were taking place in Jerusalem at that time, and of God "striking His hand" in judgement against Jerusalem because of them. 2 Kings 21:16 informs us of the amount of blood that was shed throughout Jerusalem, and how wicked Judah was under Manasseh, king of Judah's reign:

[16] Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (‭‭2 Kings 21:16).

Manasseh was King Hezekiah's son. King Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but Manasseh led Judah to commit more evil than the nations that God had driven out before the Israelites. Because of Manasseh's wickedness, God said at that time that He was going to bring disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah, turning it upside down, forsaking the remnant of His heritage, and giving them into the hand of their enemies (2 Kings 21).

Ezekiel was warning Judah that what God had promised during Manasseh's reign was on the horizon.

A Bit of Jerusalem's History 

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. Archeological evidence has been found which suggests that it was first established between 3000 and 2800 B.C. A list of ancient Egypt's enemies, called Execration Texts that have been discovered, refer to the city as Rusalimum, around 2,000 B.C.

The Armana Letters refer to the city as "Ursalim". The Armana Letters are clay tablets containing correspondence between Egyptian leaders and their representatives in Canaan and the Ammonite kingdom, Amurru. They are believed to span a thirty year period dated between 1360 and 1332 B.C., which is after Joshua and Israel entered the land. Many of the letters were written by Canaanite rulers who were concerned and in fear because a mysterious people they called the Habiru were conquering all the land. 

The Hebrew name "Yerushalaim",  or "Jerusalem" in English, evolved from the ancient name, Ursalim. "S-L-M" in the name, is believed by some to mean, "peace", and by others, "Shalim's City", or "Established by Shalim". Shalim was Canaan's god of dusk.

What we know from the Bible is that Jerusalem was in the land of Canaan, and that it was inhabited by the Amorite tribe, the Jebusites. The Bible also refers to it as "the city of Jebu."  

Jebusites were included among the people whom God had commanded Israel to utterly destroy when He brought them into the land of Canaan because He did not want Israel to intermarry with them. If they did, the Canaanites would turn them from following Him to serving other gods (Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Joshua 3:10).

After Joshua conquered Jerusalem and gave it to the tribe of Judah as their inheritance, they failed to completely drive the remaining Jebusites out of the land. Therefore, they dwelt among the Israelites  (Joshua 15:63).

After Israel had subdued the land of Canaan, there were still seven tribes that had not received their inheritance by taking possession of it, therefore Joshua instructed them to survey the land, and to return before the Lord in Shiloh where he would cast lots for their land division. The region that contained Jerusalem, or Jebus, fell to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18).

After Joshua died, the Israelites asked God who should go first to fight for them against the Canaanites. God answered, "Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered them into His hand" (Judges 1:1-2). 

Judah took Jerusalem by the sword, and they set it on fire (Judges 1:8). But the tribe of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites, so they continued to dwell together in Jerusalem (Judges 1:21). They required the Jebusites and the other nations they did not completely drive out to pay them tribute (Joshua 1:30) and forced them into slavery (Joshua 17:12-13). However, Israel later departed from God and no longer had control of the land. They intermarried with the Canaanites, worshipped their idols, and became like them. 

Later, when David became king of Israel, he took of the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites, finally bringing it under Israel's total control, and making it Israel's capital from where he reigned (2 Samuel 5:6-7).

Israel had shared Jerusalem with the Jebusites for approximately 400 years (+-1400 B.C. to +- 1000 B.C.). From Israel's control under King David to the beginning of Ezekiel's ministry was about 407 years (+- 1000 B.C. to 593 B.C.). That's a total of over 800 years! Now, during Ezekiel's time, God said that he was going to scatter Israel, and destroy Jerusalem. This would be the first time in approximately 800 years that Jerusalem would not be in Israel's possession. 

Canaan's Influence on Israel 

Many people including Christians are challenged by the fact that God would command His people to totally destroy another people, as He did with Israel and Canaan. Because God did this, many think that He is a racist monster who committed a genocidal act against the Canaanites because they weren't of Hebrew ethnicity. Others find it hard to believe that an all loving God would do such a terrible thing; it doesn't square with their image of God. 

To justify God's actions, many people will say that, that was the God of the Old Testament; the God of the New Testament is all loving, and merciful, and graceful, and kind, implying that He would not commit such a seemingly heinous act. That is to say that God had changed, which contradicts the Bible which says that God never changes; He is the same yesterday,  today, and tomorrow. But that is another issue for another day. 

To stay on point, let's look at the influence that Canaan's idolatry had on Israel, which led to their wickedness, and then their destruction:

In order to keep Israel from turning to the idolatry of the surrounding nations, God commanded them to destroy the surrounding nations when they went into the land. They were not to dwell with them or intermarry with them. 

The generation who Moses led into the wilderness suffered because of Egypt's influence of idolatry. They left Egypt, but Egypt did not leave them. God knew that they would struggle with idolatry, so when they were at Mount Sanai, He commanded them, 

[3]"You shall have no other gods before Me. ‭‭[4] You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. [5] You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God..." (Exodus 20:3-5).

To understand why God wanted Israel to destroy the Canaanites, we have to understand that God is a jealous God, and that His people are not to have any gods before Him. Deuteronomy 13 says that when someone is attempting to lead others to worship other gods, they are to be put to death. And Exodus 22:20 says, 

[20] “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction" (‭‭Exodus 22:20).

Israel's idolatry was an "abomination" to God; it was a BIG deal to Him. This is key to understand. If we don't grasp this, then we won't grasp any of the issues that God had with Israel throughout their history. 

This first generation did not turn away from their idolatry, and therefore God did not allow this generation to receive the inheritance He had promised to them. 

The generation who Joshua led into Canaan to take possession of, renewed their covenant with God, and knew Him, but they did not obey God's command to destroy the Canaanites, and they dwelt among them and intermarried with them.

After Joshua and that generation died, a generation arose that did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel. So, the children of Israel were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of God by serving the Baals and forsaking the Lord the God of their fathers. They followed other gods from among the gods of the people all around them. And they bowed down to them and they provoked the Lord to anger (Judges 2:11-15).

To demonstrate the wicked influence of idolatry that Canaan had on Israel, Judges provides a very disturbing account of just how wicked one tribe of Israel had become due to their idolatry:

A Levite had traveled from Ephraim to Bethlehem to retrieve his concubine who had "played the harlot against him, and had went away to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah, for four whole months."

When he and his concubine were returning to Ephraim, his servant tried to persuade him to spend the night in Jebus, "the city of the Jebusites" (Jerusalem), because it was getting late. However, the Levite refused to go into "a city of foreigners who are not of the children of Israel", and therefore they continued to Gibeah which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. 

Upon arriving in Gibeah, they met an old man who was staying there, who was also from the mountains of Ephraim, however the men who resided there were Benjamites. When the old man saw the travelers in the open square, he brought them into his house because he did not want them to stay in the open square. 

While there, "certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, 'Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!'"

But the old man went to them and tried to persuade them not to do such a "vile thing" and offered them his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine, to do whatever they pleased with. They would not heed him, so the Levite gave them his concubine whom they "knew" and "abused" all night until morning, then they let her go. She went back to the house but fell at the door, where she laid until her master found her dead in the morning. 

The Levite picked her up and took her back to the mountains of Ephraim, where he cut her into twelve pieces and sent them throughout the land of Israel. When they received her, all the other tribes gathered together with the Levite to find out what had happened. When they heard what the Benjamites had done in Gibeah, they went all throughout Benjamin, demanding that they deliver the perverted men in Gibeah, so they could be put to death and removed from Israel. 

However, Benjamin would not listen to their brothers, the children of Israel, but instead, they all gathered in Gibeah to go to battle against them. After three attempts, and three days, Israel finally defeated Benjamin, killing everyone they found and burning every city they came to. Afterwards, Israel mourned for those who had survived of Benjamin because they had been cut off from Israel, so they made peace with them, and came up with a plan for wives for them so they could multiply (Judges 19-21).

This gruesome story gives us insight into some of the detestable practices of the Canaanites, and demonstrates exactly why God's judgement had come upon them. Furthermore, it is an example of the influence that the surrounding nations had on Israel, and why He wanted them to destroy them.

As we see in the story, Jerusalem was occupied by the Jebusites, and neighbored the Israelite city of Gibeah. The Levite knew the wickedness of the Jebusites and probably thought they would be safe staying in a city occupied by Israel. However, the wickedness of the Jebusites influenced the nearby Israelites, just as God said they would, so they became just as wicked as the Jebusites. 

Relatively speaking, it was only a few men from the tribe of Benjamin who participated in the vile, and gruesome act. However, the entire tribe of Benjamin revolted when its leaders were directed to hand over the men involved to the other eleven tribes. They went to war with the other eleven tribes to defend the actions of these men, indicating that the entire tribe had succumbed to the wickedness of their Canaanite neighbors. It was not just a few rogue men from Benjamin, but the entire tribe who had become perverted and rebelled against God's law. This is a good example of Romans 1:21-32, and how God had given Israel over to the lusts of their hearts, dishonorable passions, and a debased mind, as presented in a previous chapter. 

The other tribes reacted according to God's command to put them to the sword (Deuteronomy 13:15), however they disobeyed God's command of not rebuilding the city (Deuteronomy 13:16), by making peace with the survivors and finding a way for them to have wives in order to multiply so that the tribe would not become extinct. 

Through this story,  which is a part of Israel's history, we get a glimpse of the influence that the Canaanites had on the Israelites, and why God wanted them destroyed. Israel was His kingdom of people, set apart for Himself to bear the fruits of justice and righteousness.But they failed to completely destroy them and drive them out, so they became like the Canaanites, the very ones whom God was judging.