Judgment against Idolatry
(Deuteronomy 4:15-31; Deuteronomy 12:29-32)
6:1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
The Word of God came to Ezekiel. Jehovah is the covenant-keeping, promise-keeping God.
6:2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy unto them,
Ezekiel was to proclaim prophecies of opposition to the mountains of Israel. Mountains were the high places where idolatry was practiced.
6:3 and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
Idolatry was practiced in the mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys of Israel. These centers of idolatry were to be destroyed by the sword.
6:4 And your altars shall become desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
Israel dwelt deeply into sun worship. The sun worship priests would be killed.
6:5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
The Hebrew word for “idols” is גִּלּוּלִים (gillulim), meaning balls of excrement. Jehovah was not a seeker-friendly-southern-gentlemen type of pastor. He used profanity to describe the reality and filthiness of demonic idols. Jehovah would scatter the bones of Israel among these heathen balls of excrement. This was the most extreme type of defilement for a citizen of Israel.
6:6 In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your sun-images may be hewn down, and your works may be abolished.
All of the altars and cities of Judah would become desolate places, because of Israel’s addiction to sun worship idolatry.
6:7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
When God slays the nation of Israel and scatters their bones among the idols, then Israel would know that Jehovah was the covenant-keeping, promise-keeping God. God would deliver the Jews into Babylon, which was the origin and center of idolatry. The Jews would then grow sick of idolatry.
A Remnant Shall Be Blessed
6:8 Yet will I leave a remnant, in that ye shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
God always preserves a surviving and believing remnant.
6:9 And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
The reaction of the remnant was that they would remember the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They would also remember the causes of the judgment, which was breaking God’s heart with idolatry. This Babylonian exile would cause later Jews to loathe idolatry and to loathe themselves for worshiping idols. The Babylonian Captivity would cause the Jews to become sick of idolatry.
6:10 And they shall know that I am Jehovah: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
The Jews would know that God means what He says. God does not bluff.
6:11 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas! Because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Clapping the hand and stamping the foot was an ancient Jewish custom of delight and emotional outburst of anger and rejection. The punishment by God would be the triad of death by sword, famine, and disease. The reason for the judgment was the evil worship of demonic idols by Judah.
6:12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath upon them.
Those who were far away would die by the pestilence. Those who were near would die by the sword. Those in the city would die by famine. God would accomplish His purposes.
6:13 And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered sweet savor to all their idols.
When Israel observed slain men scattered around the altars of the mountains, then Israel would know that their demonic idols were useless to save anyone. They would also know that Jehovah alone is God, because His prophets predicted the details of this destruction.
6:14 And I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Jehovah.
After Jehovah stretches out His hand, then the land will become desolate. This desolation will extend from the wilderness in the south to Diblah in the north. This predicted desolation was also prophesied by Amos. When the Jews saw this devastation from north to south, then they would know that Jehovah is God.