Ezekiel 20 Commentary
Ezekiel 20 recounts the history of rebellion against the LORD by Israel. Israel hasn’t listened to the LORD at all – right from the beginning. Consequently, the LORD won’t listen to the elders. Reading between the lines, you could guess the LORD is waiting for ‘sorry’ from Israel.
If there are pockets of righteousness here and there in Israel’s history, it is because the LORD intervened and sought to preserve His Name. Won’t the saint look back and appreciate the many interventions of the LORD in his or her life?
Think about it; your ‘good record’ in heaven isn’t exactly your work. The LORD has worked night and day to keep you on the rails!
“My laws, by which the person who obeys them will live,” is repeated severally in this long chapter to emphasize what Israel has failed to do.
The conquest of Canaan, the Promised Land, was messy because of Israel’s rebellion. The land of promise was meant to represent a model of ‘getting back to Eden’. A land flowing with milk and honey was instead flooded by sweat, blood from conflicts, and enemy oppression – the Book of Judges.
Then the LORD gets tough. Israel won’t live like the nations around it. The saint’s life is different; you are judged differently. Your standards are also different. You won’t experience the same ‘grace’ with sin as the world does. Who will let you go by in your sins unchecked? You belong to God!
“For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD, there in the land all the people of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them.” Verse 40a.
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