For My Name's Sake, in the Wilderness
1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh, and sat before me. 2 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Is it to inquire of me that you have come? As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I will not be inquired of by you.”’ 4 “Will you judge them, son of man? Will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. 5 Tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, ‘I am Yahweh your God;’ 6 in that day I swore to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. 7 I said to them, ‘Each of you throw away the abominations of his eyes. Don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’ 8 “‘“But they rebelled against me and wouldn’t listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes. They also didn’t forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt. 9 But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 So I caused them to go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 I gave them my statutes and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he will live in them. 12 Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. 13 “‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14 But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. 15 Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, 16 because they rejected my ordinances, and didn’t walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I didn’t destroy them. I didn’t make a full end of them in the wilderness. 18 I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers. Don’t observe their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. 19 I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, keep my ordinances, and do them. 20 Make my Sabbaths holy. They shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.’ 21 “‘“But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and didn’t keep my ordinances to do them, which if a man does, he shall live in them. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew my hand and worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. 23 Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, 24 because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. 25 Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they couldn’t live. 26 I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused all that opens the womb to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh.”’ 27 “Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Moreover, in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. 28 For when I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There they also made their pleasant aroma, and there they poured out their drink offerings. 29 Then I said to them, ‘What does the high place where you go mean?’ So its name is called Bamah to this day.”’
Elders come to inquire and are given a history lesson instead, and its refrain is that God did not destroy Israel because of what the nations would have concluded.
The elders sit down to inquire and are refused: As I live... I will not be inquired of by you. What they get in place of an answer is the nation's history, retold in four movements. In Egypt. In the wilderness with the first generation. In the wilderness with the second. And in the land. Each movement has the same shape. A command is given, the people rebel, God says he will pour out his wrath, and then he does not.
The reason he does not is stated at each turn in the same words, and it is not the one a reader expects. But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations. Not because they repented, and not because he pitied them, though the book says elsewhere that he did. The restraint is exercised for a different reason. The watching nations would have drawn a conclusion about a God who brought a people out and then destroyed them.
One strand in the history is worth marking. In Egypt the command was to throw away the abominations of their eyes, and they didn't all throw away the abominations of their eyes. The rebellion is dated before the exodus. Whatever else the wilderness generation was, it was not a people corrupted after the rescue; it was a people who brought Egypt's idols out with them.
The Sabbath is named twice in the chapter as the covenant sign: I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. It is also listed among the things they profaned, in the wilderness and in the land, alongside the statutes and ordinances. What the day signified is stated in that verse, and it is not what a reader might guess. It marks not their loyalty but his work on them.
The hardest verses in the chapter are the two about statutes that were not good and ordinances in which they couldn't live. The context settles what is meant. The people had refused the statutes by which a man lives Ezekiel 20:11, and had insisted on the practices of the nations. What follows is that they were given over to the ordinances they had chosen. The horror named is the one they were already committing: children passed through the fire, which the book states three times God had never commanded and which never entered his mind Jeremiah 7:31. God is not the author of a law demanding child sacrifice. The verse describes people handed over to what they insisted on, and the stated purpose is that they should be made desolate to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh.
held with reason What this mark means