Ezekiel 22:6-12: a reflection

6“‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 7In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 9Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. 10In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. 11One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel sets out a grim catalog of the sins that filled Jerusalem: bloodshed, contempt for parents, oppression of the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, the profaning of holy things, bribery, dishonest gain, and much more. It is a picture of a society come apart, where the vulnerable are wronged, the sacred despised, and greed rules. And at the end of the list, God names the root beneath it all: and you have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD.

Notice how the catalog of wrongs ends: you have forgotten me. Beneath all the specific sins, the oppression, the violence, the greed, the contempt for what is sacred, lies a single root: they had forgotten God. When God is forgotten, the restraints that hold a society and a soul to justice and compassion give way, and the wrongs multiply. The forgetting of God was not one sin among many, but the root from which the others grew.

That diagnosis reaches beyond ancient Jerusalem. When God is forgotten, whether in a society or in a single heart, the bonds that hold us to justice, compassion, and reverence begin to loosen, and wrongs of every kind find room to grow. Much that goes wrong in how we treat others traces back, in the end, to forgetting God, losing sight of him and of our accountability to him. Guard, then, against forgetting God, for it is the root from which much evil grows. Keep God before you, remember him and your accountability to him, and let that remembrance hold you to justice, compassion, and reverence. The wrongs Ezekiel names grew from a forgotten God; do not let God be forgotten in your own heart, but keep him in view, for the remembrance of God is a guard against the wrongs that flourish where he is forgotten.

Lord, Ezekiel set out a grim catalog of Jerusalem's sins, the oppression of the vulnerable, violence, greed, contempt for what is sacred, and named the root beneath them all: and you have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD. Show me that diagnosis, which reaches beyond ancient Jerusalem. When you are forgotten, whether in a society or in a single heart, the bonds that hold us to justice, compassion, and reverence begin to loosen, and wrongs of every kind find room to grow. Much that goes wrong in how I treat others traces back, in the end, to forgetting you, losing sight of you and of my accountability to you. Guard me against forgetting you, for it is the root from which much evil grows. Help me keep you before me, remember you and my accountability to you, and let that remembrance hold me to justice, compassion, and reverence. The wrongs Ezekiel names grew from a forgotten God; do not let you be forgotten in my own heart, but help me keep you in view, for the remembrance of you is a guard against the wrongs that flourish where you are forgotten. Keep me from forgetting you, Lord.