My First Bible #11: Ezekiel 7:20

 

They took pride in their beautiful jewellery
   and used it to make their detestable idols.
They made it into vile images;
   therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them.
Ezekiel 7:20 (NIV)

Once they were proud of their beautiful jewels, but they used them to make disgusting idols. That is why the Lord has made their wealth repulsive to them. Ezekiel 7:20 (GNB)

In my Good News Bible, this verse came complete with a picture!  A rather funny-looking fellow caressing his many jewels with a bit of the vibe of Tolkien's Gollum.  

In this section of Ezekiel, the prophet is speaking about what is to come to Israel - to Jerusalem. In Chapter 7, we see a catalogue of judgement.  There is economic disruption, violence, famine and plague.  Presumably this is the effects of the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem that is to come later.   This comes just before Chapter 8, when Ezekiel sees a vision of the temple being filled with idolatry and the glory if God leaving it.  

The section from which this verse comes speaks of the futility of our displays of wealth and beauty.  Verse 19b says: their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.  However, what captured my attention in verse 20 was not just the futility, but the fact the concept of these things becoming detestable, and unclean.  The word translated is 'unclean' is 'nida' - the word used in all the purity laws of the Old Testament.  It's the opposite of Holy - being fit for, and set apart for, worship of God.  But it's not the gold, silver and other precious metals and stones which are unclean in themselves, but the use to which they have been put.

In the creation of the Tabernacle, and later the temple, many materials were used and dedicated to God's service.  However, here those same goods have been melted down to create idols - statues to worship, representing either the gods of other nations, or maybe Yahweh himself (both things idolatrous).  Rather than being a blessing, this aspect of their material wealth had lead them to devastation.

When I wrote this verse, I was probably considering vanity in appearance, the words 'beautiful jewellery' popping out at me, aided by the image my Good News Bible.  It should probably be no less of a concern now.  Considering this now, I wonder about all the other assets we have - both material and immaterial, financial and otherwise, and whether they are being used for living in covenant with God, or idolatry.

Regarding the nature of clean and unclean, Jesus said this in response to questions about food and ritual washing:  'what goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’ (Matthew 16:11). We could widen his application - whatever touches us does not make us unclean, but what we do with our hands (the things we make or destroy and the impact we have) - that is what makes us unclean.  The words that fall from our lips and the works of our hands are, after all, expressions of our hearts.

But when offered to God, the very things we have become clean.   As Paul writes (in response to those who argue that certain foods need to be abstained from): For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:4). And not just the things we use, but ourselves - Paul also writes to Timothy: In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. (2 Timothy 2:20-21).

But it was not so for the riches of Jerusalem in Ezekiel's time - they were made unclean by their usage.  They became worse that useless, a bringer of judgement, and something to which the people were enslaved.  Let it not be so for us - let us bring all things to God, for him to bless them and use for his kingdom.

The summer I was 17 years old I read my Bible cover to cover for the first time.  I was captivated and completed the whole thing in 4 months.  Although I clearly read it at quite a pace, I still jotted down passages that sprang out to me in my still relatively new faith.  I still have that Bible, and the scraps of paper are still there, bookmarking each verse.  So I decided to go through, 18 years later, and visit each of them.  They are from the Good News Bible.