When the Watchmen Are Wolves Text: Ezekiel 22:23-31
Introduction: The Anatomy of a Collapse
When a nation rots, it rots from the head down. A fish stinks first at the head, and a culture collapses first in its leadership. We are living in a time of profound civilizational crisis, and many are tempted to point fingers at the rabble, at the moral decay in the streets, at the general populace. But God's diagnosis, delivered here through the prophet Ezekiel, is far more precise. He lays the blame squarely at the feet of those who were entrusted with the health of the nation: the prophets, the priests, the princes, and the people of the land who followed their corrupt example. The problem is not simply that the sheep have gone astray; the problem is that the shepherds have become wolves.
This passage in Ezekiel 22 is a divine autopsy of a dying culture. It is a spiritual MRI, revealing the cancer that has metastasized through every organ of Israel's leadership. And we must pay close attention, because the sins of Jerusalem then are the sins of Washington, London, and Moscow now. The same pathologies are at work. The same covenantal breakdown is on full display. God is giving us a checklist for societal collapse, and as we go through it, you will find that it reads like a summary of the evening news.
The central charge is a failure of nerve, a failure of duty, a failure of distinction. The leaders, who were called to be a wall of protection for the people, have become ravenous beasts tearing the people apart. Those who were meant to stand in the breach have created the breach. And when God looks for just one man, one righteous leader to intercede and repair the wall, He finds none. The result is inevitable: divine indignation, the fire of fury, and a nation consumed by its own sin. This is not just a history lesson; it is a solemn warning. When the guardians of a culture become its predators, judgment is not a possibility; it is a certainty.
The Text
And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no separation between the holy and the profane, and they have not made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get greedy gain. And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, beholding worthless visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken. The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have mistreated the afflicted and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. And I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the breach before Me for the land, so that I would not bring it to ruin; but I found no one. Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My fury; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh.
(Ezekiel 22:23-31 LSB)
The Unclean Land (v. 23-24)
The indictment begins with a description of the land itself.
"And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 'Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’" (Ezekiel 22:23-24)
The land is described as "not cleansed." This is covenantal language. The land itself is defiled by the sins of the people. In the Mosaic law, certain sins, particularly bloodshed and sexual immorality, polluted the land (Numbers 35:33-34). The land itself becomes unclean, crying out for judgment. This is not poetry; it is a spiritual reality. A nation's sin soaks into its very soil.
Furthermore, it is a land "not rained on in the day of indignation." This is a direct reference to the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28. God promised that if Israel obeyed, He would send rain in its season and bless the land. If they disobeyed, He would shut up the heavens (Deut. 28:23-24). A spiritual drought always precedes a physical drought. When a nation is spiritually parched, when the pulpits are dry and the people are thirsty for lies, do not be surprised when the clouds withhold their blessing. The weather patterns are ultimately under the command of a covenant-keeping God.
The Treason of the Elites (v. 25-28)
God then moves from the general condition of the land to the specific culprits, beginning with the spiritual leaders.
"There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her." (Ezekiel 22:25)
The prophets, who were meant to be the voice of God, have formed a "conspiracy." This is not just individual failure; it is a coordinated effort. They are a cartel of corruption. And their nature has changed. They are not shepherds; they are roaring lions. Their goal is not to feed the flock but to feed on the flock. They "devoured lives," not just physically through inciting wars for profit, but spiritually by devouring souls with false doctrine. They have turned their ministry into a machine for extracting "treasure and precious things." This is the sin of mercenary ministry. They see the people as a revenue stream, not a sacred trust. And the result is devastation: "many widows." Their false prophecies of "peace, peace" led the men of Israel into disastrous wars, leaving their wives widowed and their children fatherless.
Next, the priests are brought into the dock.
"Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no separation between the holy and the profane, and they have not made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them." (Ezekiel 22:26)
The primary job of the priest was to teach the law and to help the people make crucial distinctions. They were the guardians of God's categories. But they have done "violence to My law." They have twisted it, ignored it, and violated it. Their central failure was the failure to distinguish. They "made no separation between the holy and the profane." This is the essence of worldliness. It is the blurring of the line that God has drawn. When the church begins to look, talk, think, and entertain itself just like the world, it is because the priests have failed. They have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean. They have told the people that it doesn't matter, that God is not that particular. And in doing so, "I am profaned among them." To erase God's distinctions is to profane God Himself.
Then come the civil magistrates.
"Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get greedy gain." (Ezekiel 22:27)
The princes, the government officials, are no better. They are not lions, but "wolves." They operate in packs, with cunning and rapacious greed. Their entire political machinery is geared toward one thing: "greedy gain." They shed innocent blood, not just in unjust wars, but through corrupt judicial systems that condemn the innocent and exonerate the guilty for a price. They destroy lives through oppressive taxation, confiscatory policies, and crony capitalism. Government, which was instituted by God to be a terror to bad conduct, has become a terror to good conduct (Romans 13).
And the prophets are right there to enable it all.
"And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, beholding worthless visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken." (Ezekiel 22:28)
Here we see the court prophets, the kept men of the establishment. Their job is to provide a religious justification for the corruption of the princes. They are the whitewashers. The princes build a crooked, unstable wall of policy, and the prophets come along and slap a coat of paint on it to make it look respectable. They do this by claiming a word from God that God never gave. They stamp "Thus says Lord Yahweh" on the devil's agenda. This is the unholy alliance of throne and altar, where the state uses the church to sanctify its sins, and the church uses the state to secure its comfort.
Trickle-Down Corruption (v. 29)
The corruption of the leadership inevitably infects the entire populace.
"The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have mistreated the afflicted and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice." (Ezekiel 22:29)
Sin, like righteousness, is never purely private. When the leaders model corruption, the people will follow. A culture of oppression and robbery becomes normalized. The common man begins to treat his neighbor the way the princes treat the nation. The most vulnerable are the ones who suffer: the afflicted, the needy, and the sojourner. Justice is not just denied at the top; it disappears from the streets. When the fear of God is gone from the halls of power, it will not remain in the marketplace for long.
The Vacant Breach (v. 30-31)
This brings us to the tragic climax of the diagnosis. God has surveyed the total moral ruin, and He looks for one point of resistance, one man to turn the tide.
"And I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the breach before Me for the land, so that I would not bring it to ruin; but I found no one." (Ezekiel 22:30)
The image is of a city wall that has been broken down, leaving a breach for the enemy to pour through. God is looking for a man with the courage of a soldier and the skill of a mason. He is looking for someone to "build up the wall," to restore the standards of righteousness and justice. And He is looking for someone to "stand in the breach," to intercede for the people, to place himself between the wrath of God and the sinful nation, pleading for mercy. This is what Moses did at Sinai (Psalm 106:23). This is what Phinehas did when the plague broke out (Numbers 25). God is looking for just one. One man of courage, one man of prayer, one man of integrity.
And the most terrifying words in the passage follow: "but I found no one." The leadership was universally corrupt. There was no remnant of righteousness in a position of influence. The failure was total. And because the breach is empty, the judgment is inevitable.
"Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My fury; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh." (Ezekiel 22:31)
God's judgment is not arbitrary. He simply gives them what they have chosen. He brings their own way "upon their heads." This is the law of the harvest. You reap what you sow. They sowed violence, greed, and injustice, and they will reap the whirlwind of God's fury. God's indignation is not a petty tantrum; it is the settled, holy, righteous opposition of a creator to the rebellion of His creatures. When there is no one to stand in the breach, the fire of that fury will consume the rotten structure.
The Man in the Breach
This passage is a grim and terrible indictment. And if the story ended here, we would have no hope. If God is still searching for a man to stand in the breach for our corrupt and dying culture, He will find none. We are all compromised. We have all participated in the sins of our nation. "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10).
But the good news of the gospel is that God did not leave the breach empty. When He looked and saw that there was no man, when He wondered that there was no one to intercede, His own arm brought salvation (Isaiah 59:16). God provided the Man. God became the Man.
Jesus Christ is the one who came to build up the ruined wall of humanity. He is the one who stood in the ultimate breach. On the cross, He stood between the holy wrath of God and the sin of His people. He absorbed the full fury of God's indignation. The fire that should have consumed us consumed Him. He did not just stand in the breach; He filled it with His own body. He is the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in (Isaiah 58:12).
Because He stood in the breach for us, we are now called and enabled by His Spirit to stand in the breach for our land. We are not the saviors, but we are the watchmen. We are called to be the prophets who speak truth, not lies. We are called to be the priests who teach the difference between the holy and the profane, starting in our own homes. We are called to be the citizens who demand and practice true justice. We do this not in our own strength, hoping to avert God's wrath, but in the strength of the One who has already satisfied it.
The question for us is this: Will we be the generation where God finds no one? Or will we, by His grace, repent of our complicity, turn from our whitewashed religion, and stand our ground on the wall? God is not looking for a committee. He is looking for a man. By His grace, let Him find one here.