Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 7

Verses 1-9

Ezekiel 7. The End is Nigh.

Ezekiel 7:1-9 . The visions of doom, so vividly described in the three preceding chapters, reach their climax in this chapter, charged with emotion and palpitating with the sense of the approaching end. That end was yet more than four years off, but already Ezekiel sees it in all its horror— that day of the pitiless anger of Yahweh, who by His terrors would teach His wicked and idolatrous people who and what He was.

Verses 10-18

Ezekiel 7:10-18 . That dreadful day, which would extinguish their political existence, would no less bring to an end all their social and commercial life. The proud blossoms of Judah would soon be smitten and withered. Buyers need no more rejoice when they made a good bargain, nor need sellers be sorry when they came off badly, for very soon they would all be levelled in one common catastrophe. The enemy would come, the alarm of war would be raised, but none would have the courage to go forth to the fight, so that destruction in its every form would reign unchecked, alike on those who remained in the city, and on those who escaped to the mountains, and everywhere would be seen the signs of mourning (sackcloth, shaven head, etc.). (This passage bristles with textual obscurities, which would not repay discussion here. Suffice it to say that in Ezekiel 7:10 the “ rod” is probably Judah or the royal house, and Ezekiel 7:13 is referred by some to the property of the expatriated nobles: also in Ezekiel 7:13 for “ the vision is touching” read “ there is wrath upon.” )

Verses 19-27

Ezekiel 7:19-27 . In the dread day of the siege, when ruthless Babylonian hands would profane Yahweh’ s secret (or rather cherished) place, i.e. the Temple, famine would reign, and then not all their silver and gold, of which they had been so haughtily proud, could buy for them a bit of bread, nor could their gilt and silvered gods deliver them. Nor was it only the idolatry of their worship, but the violence, the cruelty, the injustice of their lives, their “ bloody crimes,” that had brought this desecration upon the holy places. All the civil and religious leaders would be at their wits’ end, and, in the absence of true leadership the common people would be helpless. Then, when they are reaping the reward of their sin and folly, “ they shall know that I am Yahweh.” (In Ezekiel 7:23 the words rendered “ make the chain” are obscure and uncertain.)