Ezekiel 14:1-23

14:7-10 | As typically translated, I the LORD have induced makes it sound as if God Himself caused the prophet to cooperate with the idolater and then judged him for doing so. But according to the Hebrew verb form, this is better translated, “I will induce,” emphasizing the certainty of the judgment. In this case, the Lord used deception to judge a deceptive prophet (1 Kgs. 22:20-22; PS. 18:26; 2 Thess. 2:11-12).

14:10-11 | The Lord’s purpose for judgment is to purify His wayward people so that they might turn from their sin to Him.

14:22-23 | In His grace, God promised to spare a remnant of the people of Jerusalem, even though they still had not yet repented. When these disobedient sons and daughters arrived as exiles in Babylon, the Israelites already in Babylon would see the depths to which their countrymen had fallen morally – and then would agree that God had acted in righteousness when He sent the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem.