1 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 "Also, thou son of man, thus says the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land."
Of course, neither the land of Israel nor the City of Jerusalem were actually square, or even rectangular. “Four corners” is a colloquialism still used today that simply means the whole thing.
3 "Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send Mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations."
We don’t know how much time passes between each time God spoke to Ezekiel. Here, He is once again telling the Jews how badly they have sinned and what He is going to do about it.
4 "And Mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord."
5 Thus says the Lord God; "An evil, an only evil, behold, is come."
There will be no good at all about what is fixing to happen.
6 "An end is come, the end is come: it watches for thee; behold, it is come.
7 "The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwells in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains."
The morning is the dawning of a new day, the day of punishment. There was not the sound of the joy of harvest or holidays in the mountains, nor mere echoes. There was the sound of war throughout the land.
8 "Now will I shortly pour out My fury upon thee, and accomplish Mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations."
God was going to give Israel what she deserved.
9 "And Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smite.
10 "Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded."
It was time to harvest what had been planted. The Jews planted wickedness. They are fixing to reap destruction.
11 "Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their’s: neither shall there be wailing for them."
There won’t even be anyone left to mourn.
12 "The time is come, the day draws near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof."
Seller’s mourn because their poverty and debts force them to sell. There was no need to mourn the loss anymore because they will realize the Chaldeans would have taken it all anyway.
The buyer rejoices because he has made a good deal and increased his riches with new property. There was no longer a reason to rejoice because Nebuchadnezzar took it all.
13 "For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life."
It was the law in Israel that property would return to its original family at the Year of Jubilee. God tells Ezekiel that even if the seller should survive the coming siege, famine, disease, and live to the next Year of Jubilee, he won’t get his property back because he will be in captivity.
14 "They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for My wrath is upon all the multitude thereof."
Though Israel was preparing for war they wouldn’t really get a chance to fight because God wanted to wipe them out.
15 "The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him."
There were no safe places.
16 "But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity."
The tiny remnant that did escape realized this punishment was due to Israel’s sin and repented and mourned for their people.
17 "All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
18 "They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads."
This was no glorious war or battle between equals. It was a slaughter, an embarrassment.
19 "They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity."
Israel’s wealth made them arrogant. They thought they didn’t need God and had gotten their riches on their own. They then used this wealth to create gods to worship. Now that same wealth didn’t do them any good. What good could it possibly do when there simply wasn’t any food to buy? Money’s no more than pretty rocks and shiny metal when you are hungry.
They also weren’t able to bribe the Babylonians to leave them alone.
Money is useless if no one wants it.
I can’t help but think of America today. We think we are rich because we are smarter or free-er than others, when the truth is that we are rich because our Founding Fathers sought God’s will in our founding. They read His Word and based our laws on His principles. As long as we held to those principles we grew and prospered. Now that we are leaving them and using our wealth to make idols of entertainment and leisure, we are beginning to falter. If we don’t correct our course, I see no other future than the same one God sent Israel and every other country that has had this attitude.
20 "As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them."
Israel made beautiful ornaments and idols and worshiped them. God removed them.
21 "And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22 "My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute My secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it."
What was Holy (the Temple) was polluted and destroyed. It won’t be a point of pride anymore.
23 "Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
24 "Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their (Judah’s) houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
25 "Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26 "Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients."
There wasn’t even the option of learning God’s way.
27 "The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord."
Many people say I deserve [this or that good thing]. The truth is that we all deserve exactly what God gave Israel; total destruction. It is a wondrous blessing that He lets us live and even offers us the opportunity of Heaven and eternal life instead of what we deserve.