Scripture Daily

Context No. 2596 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 22:1-5: in context

1Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 2“You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. 3You shall say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! 4You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. 5Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

God sends Ezekiel to confront Jerusalem, which he calls the bloody city, and the commission is pointed: will you judge her? Then make her know all her abominations. Ezekiel is not to speak in vague generalities but to name the city's sins to its face, its bloodshed, its idols, the specific ways it has defiled itself, so that it can no longer pretend not to see.

There is a hard mercy in being made to know your abominations. The city had grown comfortable with its sins, keeping them unnamed and out of focus, and God will not leave them there in the fog. He has the prophet spell them out. It is uncomfortable, and it is kind, because sin left vague and unnamed cannot be repented of. We do the same thing in miniature, keeping our own failings general, admitting we are not perfect while never letting any particular sin be named. God's way is to bring it into the light and call it what it is. Naming the abomination is the first step toward being free of it.

Am I keeping my sins vague and unnamed, or will I let God bring them into the light and name them specifically, as the first step toward repentance?

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