Bird's-eye view
In this sharp and sobering passage, the prophet Ezekiel confronts the false hopes of the pathetic remnant left in Judah after the fall of Jerusalem. With the city in ruins and the best of the people in exile, those who remained cobbled together a carnal and presumptuous theology to justify their claim to the land. Their argument was simple: if God gave the whole land to one man, Abraham, then surely He intends for them, being many, to possess it. God’s response through Ezekiel is a swift and brutal demolition of this fantasy. He holds up the mirror of His law, revealing a people steeped in idolatry, violence, and immorality. He demonstrates that their claim to the Abrahamic inheritance is utterly fraudulent because they have abandoned the Abrahamic faith. The passage is a formal, covenantal lawsuit where God lists their capital crimes and then pronounces the sentence: not possession, but utter desolation by sword, beast, and plague. The ultimate purpose of this final cleansing is the vindication of God’s own holy name, so that all would know that He is Yahweh, a God who judges sin and does not trifle with hypocrites.
This is a permanent warning against the folly of trusting in a religious heritage while living in rebellion. It is a declaration that covenant promises are not automatically transferred by bloodline or geography. They are apprehended by faith, and a living faith is never found apart from a life of repentance and obedience. The remnant in Judah wanted the assets of the covenant without the Lord of the covenant, and God declares them spiritual squatters who are about to be violently evicted.
Outline
- 1. The Arrogant Claim of the Remnant (Ezek 33:23-24)
- a. The Word of Yahweh to the Prophet (Ezek 33:23)
- b. The Flawed Logic of the Squatters (Ezek 33:24)
- 2. The Divine Indictment (Ezek 33:25-26)
- a. First Charge: Contempt for God's Law (Ezek 33:25)
- b. Second Charge: Trust in Violence and Immorality (Ezek 33:26)
- 3. The Covenantal Sentence (Ezek 33:27-29)
- a. The Oath and the Threefold Curse (Ezek 33:27)
- b. The Desolation of the Land (Ezek 33:28)
- c. The Doxological Purpose of Judgment (Ezek 33:29)
Context In Ezekiel
This passage arrives at a critical juncture in the book of Ezekiel. For 32 chapters, Ezekiel has been a prophet of doom, warning the exiles in Babylon that their beloved Jerusalem was going to be destroyed because of its covenant infidelity. At the beginning of chapter 33, a fugitive finally arrives with the news: "The city has been struck down" (Ezek 33:21). The prophet's grim ministry of warning is now vindicated. His mouth is opened, and his role shifts. But before he can deliver the great promises of restoration that will follow (e.g., chapters 36-37), God has him deal with a lingering and cancerous false hope among the survivors left behind in the land. They saw the exile of their countrymen not as a judgment on the whole nation, but as their own personal opportunity. This section serves to extinguish that last pocket of self-righteous pride, clearing the ground completely so that the foundation for true restoration, based on grace and repentance, can be laid.
Key Issues
- Presumptive Faith vs. True Faith
- The Conditions of Covenant Possession
- The Nature of Abrahamic Sonship
- The Relationship Between Theology and Morality
- The Purpose of God's Judgment
- The Inviolability of God's Holiness
Spiritual Squatters
The argument made by the survivors in Judah is a classic example of what happens when men want the promises of God without God Himself. They treat the covenant as a real estate contract and their lineage as a title deed. Their reasoning is a kind of brute, carnal arithmetic: if one righteous man, Abraham, was enough to secure the deed to the land, then certainly a multitude of his descendants, regardless of their character, have an even stronger claim. They remembered that they were sons of Abraham, but they forgot to be sons of Abraham. They wanted the inheritance that came through faith while utterly repudiating the life of faith.
This is the central lie of all dead religion. It is an attempt to claim the privileges of relationship without the responsibilities of that relationship. John the Baptist would later confront this same mentality when he told the Pharisees not to say, "We have Abraham as our father," for God could raise up children for Abraham from the stones (Matt 3:9). The apostle Paul dismantles it completely in Romans and Galatians, showing that the true children of Abraham are those who share his faith in the promise, not simply his DNA. The remnant in Ezekiel's day were squatters, living on property they did not own, and the Owner was about to show up with an eviction notice written in blood and fire.
Verse by Verse Commentary
23-24 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, they who inhabit these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one, yet he possessed the land; so to us who are many the land has been given as a possession.’
The scene is set. The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel to address a specific, cancerous idea that has taken root among the survivors. These are the folks picking through the rubble, the ones who escaped the sword and the deportation. And in the ruins, they have concocted a theology of pride. Their logic is simple and profoundly wrong. They look back to the head of the covenant, Abraham, and note that he was just one man, and yet God gave him the whole land. They then look at themselves, and though they are a remnant, they are still "many" compared to that one man. Their conclusion: the land is ours. This is a complete misreading of redemptive history. They see the promise as a mathematical or demographic reality, entirely detached from the moral and spiritual character of the recipient. They claim the title deed from Abraham while possessing none of his faith.
25 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “You eat meat with the blood in it and lift up your eyes to your idols as you shed blood. Should you then possess the land?
God's rebuttal is swift and devastating. He begins the cross examination. The formula "Thus says Lord Yahweh" establishes this as a formal, divine verdict. He lists three representative sins. First, they eat meat with the blood. This was a direct violation of the Mosaic law (Lev 17:10-14), and it showed contempt for the sanctity of life, which the blood represented. It was a rejection of the entire sacrificial system that pointed toward atonement. Second, they "lift up their eyes to idols," a poetic way of saying they are practicing blatant idolatry. Third, they "shed blood," meaning they are violent and murderous. After listing these capital crimes, God poses a rhetorical question that drips with holy sarcasm: "Should you then possess the land?" The question is the answer. A people who despise His law, worship other gods, and murder one another have forfeited any and all claim to His holy land.
26 You stand on account of your sword, you do abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?”’
The indictment continues, broadening the scope. "You stand on account of your sword" means their ultimate trust is in their own strength, their own ability to take and hold by violence. This is the opposite of faith, which trusts in God to be our shield and defender. "You do abominations" is a catch all term for the detestable practices associated with pagan worship. And finally, "each of you defiles his neighbor's wife." Adultery was rampant, indicating a complete breakdown of the family, the basic building block of a healthy society. When a nation's worship is corrupt, its social fabric will always unravel. God then repeats the thunderous question: "Should you then possess the land?" He is driving the point home. Their lives are a complete contradiction to the covenant they claim to inherit.
27 Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence.
Having laid out the charges, God now pronounces the sentence. He begins with a solemn oath, "As I live," grounding the certainty of the coming judgment in His own eternal existence. The judgment will be comprehensive and inescapable. He lists the classic trio of covenant curses. For those huddled in the ruins of the cities, the sword. For those trying to survive in the countryside, the wild beasts. For those hiding out in fortified places or caves, pestilence. There is no place to run, no place to hide. God's judgment will find them wherever they are. This is not chaos; it is the orderly execution of the covenant penalties they had agreed to at Sinai (Lev 26:22, 25).
28-29 I will make the land a desolation and a desecration, and the lofty pride of her strength will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I make the land a desolation and a desecration because of all their abominations which they have done.”’
The judgment on the people extends to the land itself. God will turn it into a "desolation and a desecration." The pride they had in their military strength and their heritage will be utterly broken. The land will become so empty and forbidding that travelers will avoid it altogether. And here we find the ultimate purpose for this terrible judgment. It is not simply punitive; it is doxological. "Then they will know that I am Yahweh." God's reputation was on the line. Had He been unable to protect His people from the Babylonians? Was He a lesser god? No. This final, cleansing judgment would prove that He is the holy Lord of the covenant who does not tolerate sin, who keeps His word, and whose justice is as certain as His mercy. He vindicates His own name by judging the people who profaned it.
Application
The weeds of this ancient heresy grow just as vigorously in the soil of the modern church. The logic of the remnant in Judah is the native language of the nominal Christian. "I was baptized." "I am a member of a church." "I was raised in a Christian home." "I live in a Christian nation." We say, "Abraham was only one... so to us who are many..." We point to some external marker, some accident of birth or geography, and we presume upon the grace of God. We want the comfort of the inheritance without the character of the heirs.
God's response to us is the same as it was to them. He holds up the mirror of His Word and asks, "Should you then possess the land?" Do you trust in your own sword, your own resources, your own political savvy? Do you lift your eyes to the idols of comfort, security, and entertainment? Are your relationships marked by covenant faithfulness or by serial adultery and selfish gratification? God does not honor claims of ownership from those who live like rebellious tenants. He is not impressed by our religious pedigrees.
The only valid claim to the inheritance is through faith in the true Son of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that faith is a living, active, and repentant faith. It does not make excuses for sin; it puts sin to death. It does not presume upon grace; it is humbled by grace. The great promise of the new covenant, which Ezekiel himself would later prophesy, is that God would give His people a new heart and put His Spirit within them, causing them to walk in His statutes (Ezek 36:26-27). That is our only hope. We do not inherit the kingdom because of who our fathers were, but because God, for Christ's sake, has made us new creatures.