Page 117 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XXII. I ll
sabbaths, and I am profaned among them/ Her princes
in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey,
to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest
gain. And her prophets have daubed them with un­
tempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto
them, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, when Je­
hovah hath not spoken. The people of the land have
used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed
the poor and needy; yea, they have oppressed the
stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among
them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the
gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy
it; but I found none.” (Ver. 23—30.) Guilty and
now given up to judgment, Jerusalem resembled land
without man’s culture or God’s natural supplies, a mere
waste therefore morally. The conspiring prophets in its
midst were like ravening and roaring lions; the priests
not only perverted the law but profaned the sanctuary;
the princes were no better than rapacious and blood­
thirsty wolves, and this for unjust gain. Thus there
was no distinction for the better, whether one looked
higher or lower. The prophets glossed over men’s
sins and presumptuously claimed Jehovah’s word for
their misleading lies; while the people of the land, not
preserved from evil in their lowliness, practised all sorts
of violence and rapine. Not a man did Jehovah find
to build up the wall or stand in the gap before Him
on behalf of the land; alas! there was none. “ There­
fore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I
have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; their
own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith
the Lord Jehovah.” (Ver. 31.)