1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 "Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,"
Now God wants Ezekiel to face southwest and begin to prophecy.
3 "And say, 'Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; "Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places."'"
This destruction will not be the doing of the heathens, though they will be the tool God uses. This is the work of the Almighty Himself.
4 "'"And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols."'"
Idolatry in a nation is the same thing as adultery in a marriage. This idolatry was the main reason God was mad and going to destroy them.
Of course, you can’t really separate sins because one sin leads to another. Idol worship usually requires sexual ceremonies (adultery, fornication) and the philosophy of any man-made religion promotes self-worship (greediness, selfishness, laziness). Israel (both kingdoms) has sinned in all these areas.
5 "'"And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars."'"
You want sacrifices given to your idols? I’ll toss your dead bodies at their feet.
6 "'"In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7 "'"And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the Lord."'"
Again, there was no doubt that this was the work of the Almighty.
8 "'"Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries."'"
God wasn’t completely done with Israel yet. He still needed that Messianic line for Jesus to come from as well as someone to preserve His Word. He will spare a small number of Israelites to do these two jobs, but destroy the rest.
9 "'"And they that escape of you shall remember Me among the nations where they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which has departed from Me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations."'"
Those that survive were embarrassed and ashamed of how their people treated God.
10 "'"And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them."'"
11 Thus says the Lord God; "Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, 'Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.'"
Now God wants Ezekiel to throw a tissy-fit to demonstrate God’s frustration and anger with His people.
12 "He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish My fury upon them."
Remember Ezekiel’s hair?
13 "Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savor to all their idols."
God doesn’t act without telling us ahead of time what He is going to do. Israel will know it was God that sent prophets to yell at them when they saw this slaughter fulfilled.
14 "So will I stretch out My hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the Lord."
Duiblath is Moab (modern day South Arabia). God laid waste all the land from Moab to Jerusalem and made it all as desolate as the Arabian Desert. Uhh, well, it IS the Arabian Desert now.