The LORD Sought for a Man and Found None (Ezekiel 22)

Scripture reading – Ezekiel 21; Ezekiel 22

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* Please note that words and phrases in brackets are the author’s amplification.

Ezekiel 22 examines Jerusalem’s sins and wickedness, which provoked the LORD’s wrath. As a people, Israel enjoyed God’s favor above all others, yet they sank into the depths of sin and depravity. As you read Ezekiel 22, I suggest you ponder the sins of your nation’s capital and ask whether the sins of Jerusalem are being repeated in our day.

Ezekiel 22

An Indictment of Jerusalem and Her Citizens (Ezekiel 22:1-5)

Today’s Scripture begins with the LORD summoning Ezekiel to serve as His prosecutor and asking him, “Son of man, wilt thou judge [denounce; pass judgment], wilt thou judge the bloody city?” (Ezekiel 22:2a). The LORD answered that question, telling His prophet, “Yea, thou shalt shew her all her [Jerusalem’s]abominations” (Ezekiel 22:2b).

As the LORD’s prosecutor, Ezekiel was commanded to charge the people of that city with two crimes deserving death: Violence, for “the city sheddeth blood” [i.e., murder], and Idolatry, for the people “maketh idols” (Ezekiel 22:3). Ezekiel 22:4-5 reveals that the consequences of Jerusalem’s sins were fourfold, as the LORD declared the people guilty and defiled, “a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries” (Ezekiel 22:4-5).

National Sins That Sealed Judah’s Fate (Ezekiel 22:6-12)

The LORD commanded Ezekiel to proclaim the gravity of Jerusalem’s sins, as the leaders denied the people justice, abused their authority, and murdered the innocent (Ezekiel 22:6; 2 Kings 21:16; 24:4). There was also a breakdown in the home, as the sons and daughters neglected and dishonored their parents (Ezekiel 22:7a). 

The nation was guilty of extorting the strangers (non-Hebrews) who lived among them (Ezekiel 22:7b; Exodus 22:21) and of neglecting the orphans and widows (Ezekiel 22:7b). They despised what the LORD declared holy and sacred and desecrated the Sabbath (Ezekiel 22:8). They ruined the reputations of good men through slander (Ezekiel 22:9a; Leviticus 19:16) and committed gross immorality (Ezekiel 22:9b). 

They committed incest with their fathers (Ezekiel 22:10a; Leviticus 18:6-18) and dishonored women who were set apart during their menstrual cycle or childbirth (Ezekiel 22:10b; Leviticus 12:2). They were adulterers with women who were not their wives (22:11a) and were guilty of incest with family members (Ezekiel 22:11; Leviticus 20:10-12).

They were covetous and bribed men to commit murder (Ezekiel 22:12a). They abused the poor by charging exorbitant interest and blackmailed others for gain (Ezekiel 22:12b; Ezekiel 18:8; Exodus 22:25-27; Leviticus 25:35-37).

* Please take a moment to reflect on the sins of Judah and contemplate whether they are still prevalent today. These include acts such as lawlessness, corruption, dishonoring parents, extorting non-citizens for personal gain, abuse of orphans (including child trafficking and pedophilia), turning the LORD’s day into a time for entertainment, slandering virtuous individuals, immorality, incest within families, greed, murder, exorbitant interest rates (particularly on bank credit cards exceeding 20%), and blackmail. 

God’s Judgment (Ezekiel 22:12c-22)

Jerusalem’s wickedness was summed up in this: The people had forsaken and “forgotten” the LORD (22:12c), and their sins demanded His judgment. The LORD clapped His hands in disgust at the people because they provoked Him to anger with their “dishonest,” fraudulent gain (Ezekiel 22:13).

The Jews, once a mighty and valiant people, had become weak and cowardly (Ezekiel 22:14). Therefore, the LORD determined to scatter His people among the nations of the world (Ezekiel 22:15a) and declared that He would consume their wickedness in His wrath (22:15b). All this would be done so that the children of Israel might turn back to God and confess and acknowledge Him as “LORD” (Ezekiel 22:16).

The LORD then revealed to Ezekiel that He would bring His wrath upon Israel and purify His people from their sins (Ezekiel 22:18). They had become like worthless dross, impure and unholy (Ezekiel 22:18). In His wrath, the LORD declared that He would drive His people to seek shelter in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 22:19). However, they would find the city a boiling caldron of fiery judgment (Ezekiel 22:20-21; 2 Kings 25:9).

To what end would this great judgment befall Jerusalem? Ezekiel was to declare, “As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you” (Ezekiel 22:22).

Indictment of Jerusalem’s Leaders (Ezekiel 22:23-31)

A consequence of Judah and Jerusalem’s sins was the LORD withholding rain, leading to thirst and famine (Ezekiel 22:23-24). The [false] prophets failed the people and became ravenous lions, driven by greed; they devoured the people’s souls, enriched themselves by taking their wealth, and abused the weakest among them [“her many widows”] (Ezekiel 22:25).

The priests, Jerusalem’s spiritual leaders, violated the Laws and Commandments and desecrated the Temple by introducing idols and sacrifices (Ezekiel 22:26). They neglected the Sabbath and failed to sanctify it (Ezekiel 22:26). The “princes” (political leaders) of Jerusalem and Judah, like ravenous wolves, shed the blood of the innocent to increase their “dishonest gain” (Ezekiel 22:27).

Among the people were false prophets who “daubed” their sins with “untempered morter” [i.e., whitewashed their sins]. They lied, made empty promises, deceived others, and claimed to speak the words of the LORD “when the LORD hath not spoken” (Ezekiel 22:28). 

Finally, there was an indictment of the people themselves, who, like their leaders, were guilty of extortion, theft, oppressing the poor and needy, and denying justice to the “stranger” [non-Jewish people] (Ezekiel 22:29).

Closing thoughts –  

Was there any hope for Jerusalem? Were there any whom God might use to condemn the nation’s sins and call the people to repent? The answer to those questions was found in Ezekiel 22:30. The LORD declared,

“I sought for [searched and attempted to find] a man among them, that should make up the hedge [a wall], and stand in the gap [in the breach] before me for the land, that I should not destroy it [to annihilate; desolate]: but I found none [no one]” (Ezekiel 22:30).

Once again, we are reminded that a single righteous person can alter the course and eternal destiny of a family, institution, community, or country (Genesis 18:22-33; Psalm 106:23; Isaiah 59:16; Jeremiah 5:1-6). One man might have made the difference for Jerusalem, but the king, the leaders, and the people rejected and scorned the LORD’s true prophets, such as Jeremiah. Tragically, all was lost, and the wrath of God would not be appeased (Ezekiel 22:31).

What about you? Are you willing to forsake your sin and answer God’s call for your generation? Will you be the one to “make up the hedge and stand in the gap”?

Copyright © 2026 – Travis D. Smith 

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