Ezekiel 22:24

24 "Mortal man," he said, "tell the Israelites that their land is unholy, and so I am punishing it in my anger.

Ezekiel 22:24 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 22:24

Son of man, say unto her, thou land
Thou land of Israel, as the Targum: thou art not cleansed;
from filthiness, by the fire of divine judgments; or reformed from sins, by the instructions, cautions, and exhortations of the prophets; none of these things had any effect upon her to make her wiser and better. So the Targum,

``a land not cleansed it is, and good works are not done in it, to protect it in the day of cursing:''

nor rained upon in the day of indignation;
no cooling shower to quench the fire of divine wrath; nothing to avert or stop the judgments of God; no refreshment and comfort from the doctrines of the prophets, which fell like rain: it is a judgment upon a people to have no rain, either in a temporal or spiritual sense; see ( Zechariah 14:17 Zechariah 14:18 ) . In the Talmud ^F8, this text is brought to prove that the flood did not come upon the land of Israel.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 113. 1.

Ezekiel 22:24 In-Context

22 They will be melted in Jerusalem the way silver is melted in a furnace, and then they will know that they are feeling the anger of the Lord."

23 The Lord spoke to me again.

24 "Mortal man," he said, "tell the Israelites that their land is unholy, and so I am punishing it in my anger.

25 The leaders are like lions roaring over the animals they have killed. They kill the people, take all the money and property they can get, and by their murders leave many widows.

26 The priests break my law and have no respect for what is holy. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. They do not teach the difference between clean and unclean things, and they ignore the Sabbath. As a result the people of Israel do not respect me.