Context No. 3678 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 7:15-22: in context

15“‘The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field will die by the sword. He who is in the city will be devoured by famine and pestilence. 16But of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity. 17All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water. 18They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. 19They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing. 21I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they will profane it. 22I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it.

In this severe word of judgment, one line cuts through: they will fling their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as an unclean thing; their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.

When judgment comes, the wealth people trusted and hoarded proves utterly worthless; it cannot buy safety or satisfy the soul. The very silver and gold they had made into idols, or trusted in place of God, becomes a stumbling block, and then a thing they throw away in horror. There is a sobering truth here about where we place our security. Money and possessions, however much we accumulate, cannot save us in the day that finally matters; they cannot deliver the soul or buy peace with God. Those who trust in riches find them useless when they most need deliverance. Only God can save; wealth avails nothing in the day of his wrath, and the one who trusted it is left with hands full of what cannot help.

Where am I placing my security, in wealth and possessions that cannot deliver me in the day that matters, or in the God who alone can save?

Sources

Ezekiel 7:19: "They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing... Their silver and their gold won't be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath."
Ezekiel 7:19: "They won't satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity."
Proverbs 11:4: "Riches don't profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."