Be Different - Ezekiel 19-24

Be Different

Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

Ezekiel has been speaking about the failures of Israel. In this section of his message he is condemning citizen, city, king and priest for their disobedience to God’s commands and plans.  In the above verse we see one of the reason why the nation, as a whole, went astray.   The priests, who were given to God to be the messengers for God, did “violence” to the Law of God.    That is a very powerful word to use in regard to disobedience.   God counts His Word as holy.   When the priest profane the Law and disobey it they do “violence” to it.  Here is Vine’s definition of the Hebrew word used, hamas:

ḥâmas; a primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat: — make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.

As a result of this “violence” to God’s Word, they failed to teach the main thing they are to teach: A difference between God and evil.  They were to teach the difference between good and evil.  They were to teach the difference between the holy and profane.   They were to teach the difference!!  Yet, they didn’t.  Therefore they lead the nation to act “common.”   The word, “common,” here is used to mean anything NOT holy.   So, we see that the entire issue was that since the priest did not lead the nation toward holiness, looking and acting like God according to His Law, it lead the nation to act common, unholy, like the world around them.  This is why the wrath was being poured out on them.    They were not different.   For today’s Christian, here is what we read:

1 Peter 1:13-16
Called to Be Holy
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

We, too, are called to be holy.  We are called to be different.  This is why God is sanctifying us.  He wants us to be holy.   He wants us to be different.