1. Denunciation of wickedness.
2. Promise of punishment.
Notice how the land is addressed by God rather than its inhabitants. A survey of the religious corruption of this time will show that there were shrines and temples and so on in every valley, on every hill there was. So, it is as if the land had been polluted by this idolatry.
Not only individual people were polluted, but it was so extensive that the whole nation, even as it were the whole land itself was polluted.
In Isaiah 1, Mountains are involved in a court case. The idea of God being opposed to their idolatry. Ezekiel 13:7 / Ezekiel 21:2 / Ezekiel 25:2 / Ezekiel 28:21 / Ezekiel 38:2.
‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.’ Proverbs 14:34.
These high places, ‘bamot’, were not a new thing but an old problem. They at one time had been tolerated by the prophets, 1 Samuel 9:14 / 1 Kings 3:4, but then they were condemned and reformed, 2 Kings 23:1ff. Their condemnation is clearly outlined in these verses. Notice how they are addressed. They are not God’s places of worship at all, but:
Your high places.
Your incense altars.
Your altars.
Your idols.
Four times God says, ‘And ye shall know that I am Jehovah’, Ezekiel 6:7 / Ezekiel 6:10 / Ezekiel 6:13 / Ezekiel 6:14.
It is used 54 times directly in the Ezekiel and 18 times indirectly. Indicates that they are going to die pleading before their idols when the siege take place. This would desecrate them, unclean’. This is what sin does. This is what idols cannot do. This is what God will do, because God is superior.
In Isaiah 44:9-20 and Jeremiah 10 refers to the people cutting down trees and using some to carve out a god and from the same tree use wood to make a fire. The Mount Carmel incident with Elijah proved God is superior.
Even so, a remnant will survive. But they will have a changed attitude. There is a further denunciation of the idolatry amongst the people.
Note verse 9, the idols spoken of are a favourite of Ezekiel. They are Hebrew, ‘Gillulim’, which are described as large idols. Ezekiel uses this word for idols 38 times. It is used only 9 other times in the Old Testament outside this book. The Hebrew word comes from two roots, one meaning a detested thing, the second referring to a pallet of dung.
Note, Ezekiel 6:7 / Ezekiel 6:10 / Ezekiel 6:13-14, also Ezekiel 7:4 / Ezekiel 7:9 / Ezekiel 7:27.
‘They, you, shall know that I am the Lord.’ This statement is a common one in Ezekiel. God is asserting His authority here not only by His words but by his acts.
Here is Jehovah, Yahweh, revealed to Moses at the bush. Exodus 3:6 / Exodus 3:14 / Exodus 6:7. This name was the name which identified God to the Israelites. The people would not recognise the identity of God, they were looking for others.
This was an early problem, in that they would not give God his place. They would not let God be God. Isaiah 49:9-11. This section of Isaiah proclaims the fact that those of His people who rejected Him, He would reject. The promises would then be given to others.
"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."