Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Character
- Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person. It is hearing from God and obeying. It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.
Ezekiel 22
speaks greatly to the character of the Hebrew people at the time of the
Babylonian exile. We begin with the leaders. Do you notice how the leaders are held
accountable? They extort the
people. Their policies are responsible
for making widows – in other words, they probably engage in much warfare. They encourage idol worship. They ignore God. They aren’t doing much right.
But it isn’t
just the leaders who are suffering from a poor character. The people extort. The people commit robbery. They oppress the poor. They mistreat the sojourner in their
midst. They don’t care about justice.
But here’s
the real kicker. Up until now, we’ve
really been talking more about human nature and sin than we’ve been talking
about character. How does God make His
point about character to Ezekiel? God
says it in only a few words. He looked
for someone to stand in the gap and could find nobody. In a nation full of people that are supposed
to be His, He couldn’t find a single person to stand in the gap.
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