22:1-2 Another message came from the Lord instructing Ezekiel to remind the residents of the bloody city of Jerusalem about all their abominations (cf. 20:4). A list of specific sins was necessary for him to pronounce judgment on them. Jerusalem was bloody because of all the blood its residents had shed, the blood of innocent people.
Shedding blood was Jerusalem's primary offense according to this prophecy (cf. vv. 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13), and it had its roots in idolatry. The pagan religious practices that God's people had adopted did not curb their abuse of other people much less encourage altruistic living. Idolatry even promoted the taking of other people's lives through human sacrifice. Whenever people disregard the revealed will of God, crimes of violence and bloodshed follow.
"Seven times in this prophecy the word blood' or bloodshed' (Hebrew, damand damim) occur as characterizing the crimes against God's covenant that had been occurring routinely in Jerusalem. These words have a special idiomatic meaning in Hebrew that their usual translation does not entirely convey in English. They connote harm' or hurt,' and that is what much of verses 1-16 is about: the harm or hurt done by people in power in Jerusalem (and by implication elsewhere in Judah) to those who have no power, such as the poor, the sick, the uneducated, etc. By extension, blood' and bloodshed' also come to mean in Hebrew anything violent' or just simply vile,' even if it does not actually involve causing physical harm to another person."304
22:3-5 Yahweh regarded Jerusalem as a city that shed blood in its midst and crafted defiling idols contrary to her own interests. For these sins her time of judgment would come. She had brought judgment on herself. Yahweh would also make her a reproach and a source of mockery among nations near and far because of her bad reputation for turmoil (cf. Rom. 2:24). Here the general population of Jerusalem is in view.
"When a righteous people follow the world's ways, as Judah had done, the world ends up laughing at her."305
22:6 In verses 6-12 Judah's rulers are the main focus of indictment. The rulers of Israel had been guilty of shedding blood, each in his own sphere of authority, through the misuse of power (cf. Exod. 20:13). Evidently judicial murders were common (cf. 2 Kings 21:16; 24:4) as were child sacrifice (16:21; 20:26, 31; 23:37) and acts of personal violence.
22:7-9 Judah's leaders had undermined parental authority (cf. Exod. 20:12; Lev. 19:3). When children stop respecting their parents, it is not long before citizens stop respecting their rulers. They had taken advantage of the helpless--aliens, orphans, and widows--people particularly in need of protection by those in positions of power (cf. Exod. 22:21-24; 23:9; Lev. 19:33; Deut. 24:17). The rulers had also despised what God considered holy and had failed to observe the Sabbath Days (cf. Exod. 20:8; Lev. 19:3). Some of them had resorted to slander to get their way and to premeditated murder (cf. Lev. 19:16). Jerusalem's leaders had also worshipped idols at mountain shrines (cf. Deut. 12:1-2; 16:21-22) and practiced sexual sins in connection with their idolatry (cf. Lev. 18:6-23; 20:10-21).
"Ritual sex was another great attraction of idolatry. Most of the ancient Near Easterners believed that all things that came into being were borninto being. This was a major tenet of their belief system. They believed that not only animals were born, but also plants. (This is the reason that they sowed their field with two kind of seed,' i.e., male and female seed as they thought of it; see Lev. 19:19.) What was born into being started, they believed, with sex on the part of the gods--specifically Baal and Asherah, the god and goddess of fertility according to the Canaanites. They also thought that if a person bringing an offering to Baal and/or Asherah would have ritual sex with a prostitute at the shrine as part of worship (!) this would help stimulate the divine powers of nature to have sex, and thus more animals and crops would be born, and the agriculture would flourish. Outlandish as this sounds to us, it was the pinnacle of theology among the Canaanites--and was what the Israelites readily accepted at Baal-Peor."306
22:10-11 Sexual impurity, adultery outside and inside the family, and incest all occurred in Jerusalem (cf. Lev. 18:7-8, 19; 20:11, 18; Deut. 22:30; 27:20). There was a total breakdown of moral purity in the city.
22:12 Taking bribes to kill people, taking interest and making a profit at the expense of a fellow Israelite, and oppressing a neighbor for personal gain also took place there (cf. Exod. 23:8; Deut. 24:6, 10-12; 23:19-20; 27:25). At the heart of all this, the Jerusalemites had forgotten about Yahweh. This was the root problem, and the Lord presented it as the last nail in Jerusalem's coffin.
"Since God is at the center of all moral relations, all social and moral rights and proprieties are secure only when God is recognized in His sovereign rule."307
22:13-14 The financial corruption and physical violence that marked Jerusalem disturbed God so greatly that He pictured Himself as striking His palm with His fist. The hearts of the people would not be able to bear up under His coming judgment of these sins nor would they be able to maintain their physical strength.
22:15-16 The Lord promised (1) to scatter the people of Jerusalem among the other nations and to disperse them in other lands. He would (2) refine their sinful practices away.308They would (3) not be able to maintain their holiness in exile, and the nations would regard them as unclean. Then they would know that Yahweh was the only true God. This was His primary purpose in judging them.
