“Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made, and at the blood that has been in your midst. 14 Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And you shall be profaned by your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
17 And the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have poured out my wrath upon you.”
23 And the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.” Ezekiel 22: 13-31 ESV
Ezekiel 22: 13-31 Dross
…118You reject all who stray from Your statutes, for their deceitfulness is in vain. 119All the wicked on earth You discard like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies. 120My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.… Psalm 119:119
13-16 Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made - Israel was His people that were called and set apart from all other peoples. This is like the address to the seven churches in Revelation. They have the word of God, the temple and the prophets, yet they have disregarded God's word, made a token of the temple and feasts, and killed the prophets. The religious leaders, the false prophets and the priests were all in it for filthy gain, killing for power and money. God is putting the people that do things in His name on notice.
…19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me. 21To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.… Revelation 3: 19-21
I will consume your uncleanness out of you - Our God is a consuming fire, and He will remove the unclean from that which is supposed to be sacred. The temple and religious life of that day was unpleasing to God, and He has indicted them on many serious charges. It is the same in the church today, the tares grow up along side the wheat, but the day of His reckoning will come.
…28‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. So the servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”… Matthew 13: 28-30
17-22 The house of Israel has become dross to me - Dross is the impurities found in metal when you are refining it. The silver or gold is brought to a high temperature which causes it to melt and separate from the impurities, some of which burn off into a vapor. The goal is to be left with pure gold or silver.
…2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap. 3And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. 4Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by.… Malachi 3: 2-4
Bronze, tin, iron and lead - These metals were found in more abundance and at less cost, so they were all of lower value, but still of use.
Their being tin denotes the hypocritical profession of piety with which many of them cover their iniquity; they have a specious show, but no intrinsic worth. Their being iron denotes the cruel disposition of some, and their delight in war, according to the character of the iron age. Their being lead denotes their dulness, sottishness, and stupidity: though soft and pliable to evil, yet heavy and not movable to good. How has the gold become dross! How has the most fine gold changed! So is Jerusalem's degeneracy bewailed, Lam. 4:1. Yet this is not the worst; these metals, though of less value, are yet of good use. - Matthew Henry
With the fire of My wrath - No one will stand proud, with a breath they will all melt, and from their idolatrous shape they will be found a puddle.
As silver is melted in a furnace - He will purify His people, removing the unrepentant, the proud, and the church will be left with those that could not even look up, but pounded their chests, and said, "have mercy on me, O Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." The, as silver, is a great hope, a promise, that not all will be dross, that the Father has called some, and provided a Way for them to survive the furnace.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. Psalm 51: 7-17
4Remove the dross from the silver, and a vessel for a silversmith will come forth. 5Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.… Proverbs 25: 4-5
23-31 The conspiracy of her prophets - Much like today's false prophets, politicians and apostate teachers, they conspired together, giving each other heaps of praise. "He has the anointing on him, the spirit of healing is with her, that one is wise," all smoke and mirrors to draw the people away from God's true prophets, away from the word of God that they could already see contradicted the lives of these charlatans. They were there for the money, fame and power, and since that was their idol they had no problem abandoning the less popular truth. They know what sells, the heart is wicked and deceitful above all things, and it will immediately resonate with flattery, why? Because it thinks too highly of itself. It will cherish the message that does not confront it's sin, that justifies it's anger, it's rage, it's lust and greed. It is like being a politician that attracts attention with impossible, even damaging promises, but then the media is on your side, the rich, famous, influential are backing your lie, and at some point the people turn off their discernment and everyone goes with the flow.
They have devoured human lies - Their false prophecies have led to more death and devastation. "they have made many widows".
The unclean and the clean - The job of the priest was to guide the people with instruction from God's word, to rightly divide the word of truth. They were supposed to be teachers, instructing the people in righteousness, and making them aware of these wolves. The priest were shepherds, and these false prophets should have been easily recognized, but instead the priests were easily bought. It is worse now because they had the light of this from records of past failures in the priesthood, from the strange fire of Nadab and Abihu, to the evil of Phinehas and his brother.
12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”
17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they[b] were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt. 1 Samuel 2: 12-17
Her princes - These were her politicians, royalty, killing to get what they want, using violence as a tool for gain.
Prophets smeared white wash for them - They spun it in such a way as to cover over that which could not be hidden from God, only from men. It was like the poorly built wall in previous chapters, white washed to cover up it's inferior materials, it's inward decay.
Thus says the Lord God - Only, He hadn't said it. "I Did Not Send Them"
They have oppressed the poor and needy - It is the poorest of souls that does this, for they will be happy in this world at the expense of others, yet in the next Christ will not know them.
…39When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ 40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ 41Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.… Matthew 25: 39-41
I sought for a man among them - Now this is a signal, for He has said before that: 14then even if these three men— Noah, Daniel, and Job— were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 14:14
Moses and Aaron were shadows standing between the people and destruction, Job realized his need of a mediator, but even as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. These people cannot save themselves, and there is no one among them up to the task.
1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.… 1 John 2: 1-3
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