Глава 22

Ezekiel 22:1–3. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: If thou wilt judge the city of blood, and show it all its iniquities, and say: This saith Adonai the Lord: God again turned his speech to Jerusalem, and commanded the Prophet, like a judge, to convict her of lawless insolence. He calls Jerusalem a city of blood for the many unjust murders committed. Why again gives it the same names and calls out, saying: Oh, hail! shed blood among yourself, before the time comes, and make idols on yourself, if you defile yourself, that is, you brought these misfortunes upon yourself, O city, by being led by thoughts, bringing them into execution, being defiled by them and filled with unjustly shed blood. The Prophet called it a time of calamity. Ezek.22:4. In the blood that you shed, you sinned, and in your thoughts that you did, you became defiled, and you shortened your days, and brought the time of your years: For the iniquity committed often shortens the period appointed by Divine forbearance. This, as you can see, happened under Noah. For, having given a hundred and twenty-year period for repentance to the people who lived then, and seeing the increasing wickedness, God shortened this period and punished with a flood in the hundredth year. He made this clear here too, saying: “And you have shortened your days, and brought in the time of your years.” Then he describes the fruits of the crime. For this reason I have given you to be reproached with the tongue, and to be reproached by all countries, Ezek.22:5. Those who are near you, and who are far from you, Therefore, says God, I will make you a laughing stock for the inhabitants of neighboring cities and adjacent countries, and for those living in distant countries. and they will mock you and cry out against you: O you unclean, notorious and abundant in your iniquities. Rejoicing at your misadventures, they will call you unclean, criminal, famous for wickedness. Then he counts the types of vices. Ezek.22:6. Behold the elders of the house of Israel, each of them mingling with their own little creatures in you, so that they may shed blood: The accusation begins with the princes: because the princes will be followed by their subordinates. When the head is sick, it is necessary for the body to become a part of the weakness. Therefore, God says that they did not spare their relatives, but, violating the rights of kinship, they committed unjust murders. Ezek.22:7. I slander the father and mother in you, and speak falsely to the stranger in you: I have wronged the orphan and the widow in you. Even “I slander your father and mother,” and this was one of those prohibited by law. And “I address the stranger with lies in you.” And the law forbade this, saying this: “and do not embitter the stranger: for the strangers are in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 22:21), that is, from what you yourself have suffered, learn to love mankind. But you fearlessly transgressed this law, and then another: “You have offended the orphan and the widow.” But the good God legislates the completely opposite of this. For it is said: “Judge the orphan and justify the widow” (Isa. 1:17); and the law says: “Thou shalt not spoil thy vineyard again; let them be unto the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow” (Deut. 24:21). And with you, not only did they not lend them any good, but they also treated them badly and dared to commit even more serious crimes. Ezek.22:8. And I have despised My Holy One, and I have desecrated My Sabbath in you, that is, they trampled My laws, with lawless work they desecrated the day dedicated to rest from work. And what’s more evil than that? Ezek.22:9. The robber men are raging within you, so that they may shed blood, poison within you on the mountains, For among your inhabitants you have those who live lawlessly, murderers and bloodsuckers, who bow to demons on the mountains, who live luxuriously in idol churches. Then he talks about this in detail. Ezek.22:10. The father's shame has been revealed in you, and the uncleanness that sits in you has been cursed, that is, they had communication with stepmothers; for this is what the Prophet called the discovery of shame; This is what this was called in the law, where it is said: “Do not reveal the shame of your father’s wife: the shame of your father is” (Lev. 18:8). Being very lustful and extremely immoderate, you did not abstain from wives who suffered from the flow of blood, which is not only illegal, but also extremely unclean. Then he continues to accuse him of lust. Ezek.22:11. Every man has committed iniquity against his wife, and every man has defiled his daughter-in-law in wickedness. And this is the highest degree of crime. For it is not the same thing: to have intercourse with another man’s wife is to plot against the purity of one’s own son’s bed, but just as much as adultery is worse than fornication, so much so is intercourse with one’s daughter-in-law worse than adultery. And every one of you cursed your sister, your father’s daughter. And here he clearly showed the excess of the crime, presenting as an example a husband and wife born of the same father. After this he moves on to accusations of covetousness. Ezek.22:12. I will take gifts from you, as if they will shed blood, that is, they did not stop selling justice and giving away innocents to kill for money. I will charge interest and excess in you. If this was placed in last place, not as the most serious crime, it was nevertheless included on a par with what was said before, and thus sufficiently taught and convinced those indulging in this vice to avoid greed of this kind, as associated with very wicked and criminal deeds, because the covetous were ranked among murderers, idolaters, lusters and the most indecent people. Thus, the Prophet, having described the types of vices, finally announces future punishment. And you have ended the end of your malice, even in violence, but you have forgotten Me, says the Lord Adonai Ezekiel 22:13–14. Behold, I will strike with My hand against the hand of that which thou hast done, and that which thou hast done, and upon thy blood that was in the midst of thee. If your heart stands, and if your hands overcome in these days, what will I do in you? God says about Himself that in an expression of anger, as the Lord and Judge, He will strike with His hands. since, He says, you have forgotten Me, and did not want to bring to your memory either My good deeds or My laws, then I will bring such disasters upon you that your hands will weaken, and your heart, filled with all confusion, will despair of salvation. Then he shows that what was said was not false. I am the Lord, and I will create, that is, the dignity of the Speaker confirms what was said. Having found out who said it, it is enough for you to be convinced of what was said. Ezek.22:15. And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will scatter you throughout the countries, Then the benefit resulting from this is shown. and your uncleanness will disappear from you, Ezek.22:16. and I will rule over you before the eyes of tongues, as I am the Lord. When you become captives and exiles, then experience will teach you to be more chaste, and, having ceased to indulge in your former iniquity, you will know that I am your God and Lord, and you will be called My inheritance, and through you, those nations with whom you will be in exile will know My dignity and My power. Ezek.22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Ezek.22:18. son of man, behold, the house of Israel was all mixed for me with copper, and with iron, and with pure tin, and with lead; in the midst of the furnace the silver was mixed together. This people, God says to the Prophet, are like unclean silver, in which there is a large admixture of copper, iron, tin and lead. God said this through the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah: “The silver has been rejected from them, for the Lord has rejected them” (Jer. 6:30). And with the substances calculated above he depicted all possible types of evil. And this again can be learned from the Prophet Jeremiah, because he, blaming the Jews for this, said: “The skin from the fire is empty, the tin is rotten, the forger forges silver in vain, for their wickedness is not worn out” (Jer. 6:29). That’s why he added: “The silver has been rejected; give them away, for the Lord has rejected them.” He called fur the effectiveness of God, and fire - either an admonishing and cleansing word, or actual punishment; but divine power acts on both. He also called the prophetic teaching “forge” and punishment as lead, because lead is put into molten silver to destroy the mixture in it, and punishment is imposed on the worthy so that they become pure from sin. And here God threatens to do this. Ezek.22:19. For this reason, this is the word of Adonai, the Lord, until all are quickly mixed into one; for this reason, I will receive you into the midst of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 22:20–22. Just as silver, and copper, and iron, and lead, and pure tin are accepted into the middle of the furnace, if you blow on the fire, so that they merge, so I will receive you in My anger, and in My wrath, and I will gather you, and I will cast you, and I will merge you, and I will blow on you into the fire of My wrath, and you will be merged in the midst of it: just as silver is merged in the midst caves, so you will merge in the middle of it, and you will know that the Lord has poured out My wrath on you. Since, says God, you have received an admixture of vice and, having become like unsound silver, have turned out to be unclean due to all kinds of wickedness, I will make Jerusalem a smelter for you, and I will throw your enemies into it like coals; I will set My effectiveness and My will in motion like some kind of bellows, and together I will merge you in order to destroy those who are incurably ill, like foreign substances, and make those who accept healing as if purified by some kind of silver. Ezek.22:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Ezekiel 22:24. Son of man, say to him: you are a rainless land, and rain will come upon you in the day of wrath. since, as a result of the war, it remained uncultivated, did not accept either rain or plow, and although God taught him the rain of teaching through the holy prophets, they did not accept it, but rejected it, and like any stone they did not allow the irrigating rain to enter, he rightly called Jerusalem “a rainless land.” Then he blames the princes again. Ezek.22:25. His elders are among him, like lions, roaring, admiring admiration, souls, consuming violence, accepting wealth and honor, and your widows multiplying in your midst. Since the husbands were killed, it is clear that widowhood has found its place. After this, God addresses the priests with an accusatory speech. Ezek.22:26. And his victims rejected My law And this is the greatest lawlessness: those who should have guided others continue to be blind themselves. and desecrated my holy one, that is, they performed religious services illegally. Then he shows how the law was broken. I will not separate between the holy and the unclean, and I will not separate between the unclean and the pure, that is, they did not distinguish and teach what is holy and divine, and what is “unclean” and human. For here “unclean” does not mean anything unclean, but something that is in common use and separated from the divine. He calls clean and unclean what is separated by the law, and also prohibited by the law, not only in foodstuffs and sacrifices, but also in clothing, and in other things that happen voluntarily or against the will, such as: the outpouring of semen, monthly cleansing, touching leprosy, touching the dead, all carrion and beast-eating, and everything else that the law prohibits. To this God adds: And I have veiled my eyes from My Sabbaths, and have defiled Me in the midst of myself. For seeing that the Sabbath day was clearly being defiled, and illegal work being carried out on the day of rest, they did not want to expose those who dared to break the law, but, as if closing their eyes, they seemed not to see what they constantly saw. Returning again to the princes, God says: Ezek.22:27. His princes are among him, like ravening wolves, who steal away blood and destroy souls; that is, having assumed power, they turned unjust murders into a means of profit; and those who were supposed to be defenders of the offended, they themselves joined the offenders. After this, God turns to the Prophets, saying: Ezek.22:28. And his prophets anointing them God said this above, making it known that the wall poorly built by the people will be “anointed” even worse by false prophets (Ezek. 13:10), that is, the so-called prophets reinforce that bad things are being done by princes, using flattering words, and learning to serve the authorities. Then he announces the punishment that threatens them. Those who see vain things will fall, those who practice false magic, saying, “This is what Adonai says, the Lord, but the Lord does not speak.” For, imitating the true prophets, they attributed their false prophecies to the face of God, and attributed lies to the Source of truth. They said this Ezek.22:29. The people of the earth are oppressed by unrighteousness, and admired by admiration, poverty and wretchedness are violent, and do not live with the stranger in court, that is, they told lies and prophesied to please the princes, wanting to acquire the right to offend the poor, turning lies into a means of profit. Ezek.22:30. And they sought from them a man who lived rightly, and who stood in the breach of the fence before Me during the time of the earth, so that he would not be completely destroyed, and he would not find it. God declares the same thing through the mouth of Jeremiah, saying: “Walk in the ways of Jerusalem, and look and search on its hills; If you find one who does justice and seeks faith, I will be merciful to him” (Jer. 5:1). Therefore, here he says that among the princes, priests and everyone else, he was looking for one, at least, a man who could stand in the breach of the fence, that is, he was able to withstand the threatening punishments with truthfulness, and to block and wall up the gap and passage to punishment made by lawlessness, “and did not find it.” Therefore he says: Ezek.22:31. And I poured out My wrath into the fires of My wrath that I would put to death: And showing the justice of the punishment, he added: “I have given their paths upon their heads,” says the Lord Adonai. For those who took a bad and lawless path also found an end corresponding to their path. From this one can discern not only the excess of God’s goodness, but also the wickedness of the Jews. For God promised Sodom that if he found five righteous people in it, he would keep the whole city unpunished, but here he was looking for one and did not find it. Why, having betrayed him to the hostile, made him ruined. Therefore, we, knowing that God’s mercy is associated with judgment, for it is said: “I will sing mercy and judgment to You, O Lord” (Ps. 100:1), we must not remain any longer in sinful endeavors, not neglect God’s long-suffering and not store up “wrath for ourselves on the day of the wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will reward anyone according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:5, 6). Glory to God forever and ever! Amen.