Ezekiel 14 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application

Ezekiel 14 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• We aren’t given an exact date for the revelation given to Ezekiel in chapter 14. It seems safe to assume it was in the same year or shortly after the vision of chapters 8-11, which would date it to 591 BC.

• Below is a list of kings of Judah and dates for their reign:

  • Amon (642-640 BC)

  • Josiah (640-609 BC)

  • Jehoahaz (also known as Shallum, 609 BC)

  • Jehoiakim (initially known as Eliakim, 609-598 BC)

  • Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah or Coniah, 598-597 BC)

  • Zedekiah (His reign ended when Babylon conquered Judah, (597-586 BC)

WHAT WE STUDIED PREVIOUSLY

• Ezekiel 1 – Ezekiel had a vision of 4 living creatures, 4 wheels, and God’s throne.

• Ezekiel 2 – God commissioned Ezekiel to be a prophet to his rebellious countrymen.

• Ezekiel 3 – The end of the heavenly vision. Ezekiel ate a scroll of God’s words, and God called him to be a watchman over the people of Judah.

• Ezekiel 4 – Ezekiel prophesies with an object lesson in the street by laying on his side for 430 days, eating rations of bread, and creating a siege scene with a brick that represents Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 5 – After the 430 days, Ezekiel cut off his hair divided it up into 3 parts and used it as a symbol for what would happen to the people of Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 6 – Ezekiel prophesies against the idol worshipers in Judah, telling them their bodies will be thrown at the feet of their powerless gods.

• Ezekiel 7 – God spoke to Ezekiel about the day of His judgement. The end was near for the citizens of Jerusalem, and their doom was on the horizon.

• Ezekiel 8 – Ezekiel saw a vision of the Temple in Jerusalem. God guided him through the courts and gates of the Temple and showed him the secret idolatries that filled God’s house.

• Ezekiel 9 – God sends a man with a writing case to mark the foreheads of those who hated the idolatries of Judah. Afterwards, God sends 6 executioners to kill everyone in Jerusalem who didn’t have the mark.

• Ezekiel 10 – God’s glory departed the inner sanctuary of the Temple and ascended to His throne carried by the 4 living creatures.

• Ezekiel 11 – God announced judgement on the wicked rulers of Judah. They thought they were safe in Jerusalem, like meat in a cauldron, but God promised to bring them out for death and captivity. At the end of the chapter, God spoke of a future day, when He would regather a remnant of His people and give them a new heart and new spirit.

• Ezekiel 12 – Ezekiel prophesied about the downfall of King Zedekiah by carrying his possessions out of his house as if he were going into exile. God promised that His judgement was near, and anyone who suggested otherwise would be put to shame.  

• Ezekiel 13 – God confronted the false prophets and sorceresses amongst the people of Judah. The false prophets falsely claimed to speak with the authority of God, and the sorceresses hunted the souls of God’s people through witchcraft and divination.

OUTLINE:

• IDOL WORSHIPERS SEEKING A WORD FROM THE LORD (14:1-11):

  • Some of the elders of Judah approached Ezekiel seeking a word from God, but God rebuked these men, because in their hearts, they loved their idols more than Him.

  • The word that God gave to these idolatrous men was “repent!” He would not tolerate the divided devotion of His people any longer.

  • Anyone who was devoted to idols who approached a prophet hoping to hear from God would be cut off from the nation.

  • If a false prophet was approached, God would use that false prophet’s words to destroy him and the inquirer.

  • In doing this, God would rid the land of this defiling behavior.

• NOAH, DANIEL, AND JOB (14:12-23):

  • God told Ezekiel that if He had determined to destroy a nation because it was overrun with evil, not even a great man of faith could save it.

  • God already told Jeremiah (Jer 15:1) that the prayers of men like Moses and Samuel could not save Judah from destruction.

  • In Ezekiel 14, God told Ezekiel that not even the presence of men like Noah, Daniel, and Job could convince Him to withdraw His hand of judgement.

  • God repeated this sentiment 4 times, each time describing one of His acts of judgement.

  • If God sent famine into a land, Noah, Daniel, and Job could not save it.

  • If God sent wild beasts into a land, Noah, Daniel, and Job could not save it.

  • If God sent a sword of violence into a land, Noah, Daniel, and Job could not save it.

  • If God sent disease into a land, Noah, Daniel, and Job could not save it.

  • “…even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness” (14:20).

  • The full weight of God’s “four disastrous acts of judgment” was going to be brought on Jerusalem, but God told Ezekiel He would allow some people to survive.

  • These people would be a remnant, but not a righteous remnant, they would be a wicked remnant. And when those who murmured about God’s harsh judgement on Jerusalem saw the ways and deeds of these people, they would be convinced and “consoled” that God’s judgement was just.

APPLICATION:

• Be extremely cautious before you cast judgement on the activity and work of God.

• It was only because God spared some of the wicked people of Jerusalem and exposed their sins that those who murmured about God’s harsh judgement were finally able to understand that God was right all along.

• If God hadn’t spared and exposed them, I suppose the murmurers would have continued for generations talking about how unfair God had been.

• The thing is, God doesn’t always expose all His reasons to us for every action He takes.

• Our miniscule, time-confined, elementary perspectives are so limited that we have no business calling the actions made by the infinite and eternal perspective of God into account.