In those days Israel had no king. The record of this historic event begins and ends with abject condemnation of Israel. Many Israelites allowed no one, not even God, to rule them. What ensues is an account of how unruly people engage in savagely cruel and exceedingly brutal behavior in futile pursuit of satisfaction by means of yielding to their every whim.
While this is a straight-forward factual account, this is not a story you want to read to your children as you tuck them in at night. However, review of this episode in our history is crucial to understanding Israel’s decent into a type of Babylon. Therefore this, like the rest of the Bible, should be viewed as required reading among Christians. Today we should note that, instead of being taken captive by a “foreign Babylon”, this attack comes from within the “so-called” family of God.
Through it all, God is present, not condoning, but present, among His chosen people. When invited into the conversation, God grants His people sound instruction. His solution, while on the surface may seem barbaric in itself, is actually God’s loving hand in purging evil and delivering His people from this type of Babylon; this captivity in sin.
I will scatter you among the nations and purge you of your wickedness. Ezekiel 22:15 NLT
