Ezekiel 22:30

30 And I sought of them a man, that should set an hedge betwixt, and stand set against me for the land, that I should not destroy it, and I found not. (And I sought someone among them, who would make a hedge between, and would stand against me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.)

Ezekiel 22:30 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 22:30

And I sought for a man among them
among the princes, priests, prophets, and people of the land, who acted the part as above described; for otherwise, no doubt, there were good people in the land, as Jeremiah, Baruch, and others, but not among these: that should make up the hedge;
that was broken down by the transgressions of the people, who exceeded all bounds of law and justice; one that would restrain them from sinning, and reform them, and set them a good example; one, as the Targum has it,

``whose works were good;''

a good man, that would endeavour by his influence to stop the breaking in of sin, and the consequences of it: and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy
it;
in the gap that sin had made, at which the Lord was entering as a man of war to destroy the transgressors; one that should present himself to the Lord on the behalf of the people; seek mercy for them, as the Targum; interpose between God and them, and act the part of an intercessor; pray for them, as Moses did for the people of Israel, that he would not destroy them; see ( Psalms 106:23 ) : but I found none;
no reformer of them, no repairer of the breach, nor restorer of paths, to dwell in; no intercessor for them, as Abraham for Sodom, Moses for Israel; or any, like Aaron, that stood between the living and the dead to stay the plague.

Ezekiel 22:30 In-Context

28 Forsooth the prophets thereof pargeted them without tempering, and saw vain things, and divined leasings to them, and said, The Lord God saith these things, when the Lord spake not. (And its prophets mortared them without tempering, and saw empty and futile things, and divined lies for them, and said, The Lord God saith these things, when the Lord did not speak.)

29 The peoples of the land challenged false challenge, and ravished by violence; they tormented a needy man and (a) poor (man), and oppressed a comeling by false challenge, without doom. (The peoples of the land oppressed, and robbed with violence; they tormented the needy and the poor, and oppressed newcomers, without justification.)

30 And I sought of them a man, that should set an hedge betwixt, and stand set against me for the land, that I should not destroy it, and I found not. (And I sought someone among them, who would make a hedge between, and would stand against me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.)

31 And I shed out on them mine indignation, and I wasted them in the fire of my wrath; and I yielded the way of them on the head of them, saith the Lord God. (And so I poured out my indignation upon them, and I destroyed them in the fire of my anger; and I gave back their ways onto their own heads, saith the Lord God.)