The sins of Jerusalem
1 The word of Yahweh came to me in these terms,
2 “Son of man, will you judge them? Will you judge the city of blood? Charge her with all her detestable practices.
3 Say: This is Yah weh’s word: City of bloodshed, your hour has come. You who made your own idols to defile your self, you are nearing your last days, the end of your years has come.
4 That is why I am making you an object of horror for the nations and a laughing-stock for every country.
5 Those both near and far will mock you, for your name is defiled and you are full of tumult.
6 The leaders of Israel, each according to his strength, have one intent – to shed blood.
7 In you, Israel, father and mother are treated with contempt, in you the alien is oppressed, the fatherless and the widow are wronged.
8 You have despised my holy things and profaned my sabbaths.
9 In you, men slander to shed blood; in you, they go to eat on the hill sanctuaries and act shamefully.
10 In you are those who defile their father’s bed, in you are those who violate women when they are un clean.
11 One man commits a de testable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shame fully dishonors his daughter-in-law, another violates his own sister, his fa ther’s daughter.
12 In you, men accept bribes to shed blood. You exact interest and usury and you rob and exploit your neighbor, and you have forgotten me. It is Yahweh who speaks.
13 See, I will clap my hands at your dishonest profit, and the blood you have shed. Will your courage hold out, will your hands be steady when I shall come against you?
14 I, Yahweh, have spoken and I will act accordingly.
15 I will scatter you among the nations, I will disperse you in other countries to rid you of your uncleanness.
16 Then you will be dishonored in the eyes of the nations and you will know that I am Yahweh.”
17 The word of Yahweh came to me in these terms,
18 “Israel has become for me like dross; some were like silver, bronze, tin, iron and lead; but in the furnace only dross is left.
19 The Lord Yahweh has spoken: This is how I am gathering you together in Jeru salem.
20 As they place silver, bronze, iron, lead and tin in the fires of a furnace to be smel ted, so in my anger will I assemble you, put you in the furnace and smelt you.
21 I will gather you in Jerusalem, stir up the fire of my wrath and smelt you in it.
22 As silver is smelted in the furnace so will you be smelted and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my fiery wrath against you.”
23 The word of Yahweh came to me in these terms,
24 “Son of man, say to Jerusalem: You are a land without rain, a land without a show er on a day of wrath,
25 a land where the princes have been like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour people; they take trea sures and precious objects and increase the number of widows.
26 Your priests have broken my laws and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between what is holy and what is common; they have not taught what difference there is between the clean and the unclean. They have ignored my sabbath and I have been dishonored by them.
27 The officials of the city are like wolves who tear their prey, shedding blood and kill ing people for unjust gain.
28 As for the prophets, they white wash everything by means of false visions and lying predictions, saying: ‘Yahweh has spoken’ when Yahweh has not spoken.
29 The lords of the land have practiced extortion and robbery, oppressing the poor and needy, molesting the alien and denying him justice.
30 I looked for a man among them to build a wall and stand on the breach to protect the land lest I destroy it, but I found none.
31 So I have poured out my wrath against them; I have destroyed them in the heat of my fury bringing down on their heads all they have done – it is Yahweh who speaks.”
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Comments Ezekiel, Chapter 22
• 22.1 In this chapter, from his place of exile Ezekiel addresses the people of Jeru salem.
In you… in you… in you… All kind of crimes are committed in Jerusalem. Your prin ces, your priests, your leaders, the people: they all took part in evil.
Israel has become for me like dross (18). The trials that we endure are like a furnace used to purify gold and other metals (1 P 1:7). In the case of Jerusalem, he uses the comparison of the furnace to make a different point: the siege of the city allows the destruction of a people who did not carry out their mission. What cannot be purified is to be burned (Mt 3:10).
The blood you have shed (vv. 9 and 13). The blood shed by the murderer stained the earth until the blood of the murderer was shed (Dt 19:12). The Hebrews, violent as they were, had a keen sense of justice and of the sacred character of life. Today there are ways of causing death quietly and without soiling the hands of entire nations: the day will come when blood will cry out for vengeance against affluent people who considered themselves innocent.
I looked for a man among them to build a wall between them and me. Note verse 30 which brings to mind 13:9. Not everyone has the same understanding of the mystery of God, nor is everyone called to the same responsibilities. There is a need for intercessors who are in solidarity with others, feel compassion for them and become responsible for them before God. Thus prayer appears crucial. All prophets discover that this is to be their role.
This understanding of how God saves has led many friends of God to “withdraw” into solitude; surrendering to the love of God through prayer and suffering.