Bible Studies
The Judgment Cannot Be Averted (Ezek. 14:12-15:8)
Series: God Speaks to Our People In ExileIntroduction:
1. Through Ezekiel God has predicted the immediate judgment upon Jerusalem. It will be delayed no longer. 2. But perhaps one might recall the prediction of the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah in Gen. 18:23ff. Abraham had asked, “Lord will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? What if a few righteous are left, maybe then you will preserve the city?” 3. God gives His answer in five declarations in 14:12ff.Discussion:
I. Each of the five declarations indicates that none would be spared. The righteous can only deliver themselves and no one else. The city will not be spared (14:12-23).A. The first declaration: “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness, they could only deliver themselves,’ declares the Lord God.”
1. The first four declarations involve a hypothetical situation.
2. If Noah, Daniel and Job were in the midst of the country that God intended to destroy, even their presence would not prevent the destruction.
3. Abraham understood God’s graciousness, therefore his petitions in Gen. 18.
a. If 50 righteous are present . . .
b. If 45?
c. If 40?
d. If 30?
e. If 10?
4. God said he would not destroy Sodom if there were 10 righteous persons there. But 10 could not be found.
5. Only Lot and his wife and two daughters. And God rescued them.
6. God knows how to rescue the righteous. 2 Pet. 2:7-9: “If He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.”
B. There are three men identified here that are known for their righteousness: Noah, Daniel and Job.
1. These men are well known to Bible students today. They were also well known among those of Ezekiel’s day.
2. The identification of Noah and Job is universally accepted.
3. Some have questioned whether this Daniel is the contemporary of Ezekiel and author of the Book of Daniel. Why would a man younger than Ezekiel and contemporary with that generation be singled out as a model of righteousness of the caliber of Noah and Job?
a. They have suggested another Daniel, a renowned figure known in Phoenician and northern Canaanite tradition (see Block, NICOT, p. 448).
b. But this man was not a worshipper of God. He was more at home with the Canaanites than with the people of God and cannot stand with the likes of Noah and Job with the people of God. He simply does not fit the context.
c. The Daniel of Ezekiel’s day was well known among the Hebrews. His character and devotion to God exemplary. He was known as a man of extraordinary faith and virtue. He may have been specifically chosen as an example because of his renown among the people of his day.
4. Each of these men may be selected because of their “fit” in the literary structure of this material. The point is that one’s righteousness does not have the power to save others.
a. Noah was only able to save his family.
b. Daniel was able to save his three friends. He was a powerful influence in Nebuchadnezzar’s court and may have helped to ease the Israelite burden in the exile.
c. Job was not able to save even his children.
d. Noah, Daniel and Job together could not save the Jerusalem.
C. They could not save it from wild beasts, sword, or plague (15-20).
1. They could not deliver the country. They could not deliver their son or their daughter.
2. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.
D. But what is this righteousness? The righteous and the unrighteous are described in Ezek. 18:5-13.
1. The righteous (18:5-9).
2. The unrighteous (18:10-13).
3. There is a clear contrast here. It is not about sinless perfection, but about the course and direction of one’s life. We know which side of the dividing line we fall on.
E. A summary declaration is given in 14:21-23.
1. Four judgments are coming: sword, famine, wild bests and plague.
2. There will be survivors left that will join those already in exile.
3. Ezekiel would be comforted in the sense that he would recognize that God’s judgment was fair when he saw the evil conduct and actions of those survivors.
II. Jerusalem had become like a useless vine (15:1-8).A. You cannot even make a peg from it.
B. It is like a charred vine burned on both ends. Good for nothing!
C. The reason: “They have acted unfaithfully.”
III. What do we learn here?A. Israel was experiencing just what God had said would take place. He had identified what was going to happen during the days of Moses (Deut. 28:22-28; cf. Lev. 26:22, 25, 26). God’s word is sure!
B. God’s judgment is sure!
C. God delivers the righteous.
D. He is just in all His ways.
1. Men may struggle with the justice of God when they witness human suffering resulting from His judgment.
2. But He does not operate arbitrarily or without cause.
3. His actions are founded upon what is right. If people experience His wrath it is because the wages of sin is death.
4. He always rescues the afflicted and afflicts the afflicters (2 Thess. 1:6-9).
E. You cannot bank on someone else’s righteousness for your deliverance. Each person is responsible for his/her own spiritual condition.
Conclusion:
1. The judgment on the guilty will not be averted. 2. He removes every branch that does not bear fruit and casts it into the fire (Jn. 15:6), but grafts in both wild (Gentiles) and natural branches (Jews) who place their trust in Him (Rom. 11:17ff).
