Ezekiel 14 explained: No Hiding Behind Good People

Leaders with hidden idols (vv. 1-5)

Some of Israel's leaders come to Ezekiel, who lives among the exiles in Babylon, to ask for a message from God. God tells him their hearts belong to other gods, so he will answer them himself in a way that matches their idolatry, aiming to win back a people who have drifted from him.

A call to turn back (vv. 6-8)

Before the warning comes an invitation: turn away from the idols, both inwardly and outwardly. Anyone, Israelite or foreigner living among them, who seeks God while holding on to idols will find God himself set against them, and their fate will become a warning to others.

Prophets who play along (vv. 9-11)

In a hard passage, God says that if a prophet gives these people the answer they want, it is God who has led that prophet astray, and the prophet and the one asking will share the same guilt. Many readers take this as God letting people who want to be fooled be fooled, and the stated goal is that Israel would stop straying and be God's people again.

Even the best cannot shield others (vv. 12-20)

Noah, Daniel and Job were famous for their goodness, yet if they lived in a land facing famine, wild animals, war or plague, they could save only themselves, not even their own children. Scholars are unsure whether this Daniel is the one from the book of Daniel or an ancient righteous hero named Danel known from older stories.

Jerusalem's fate and survivors (vv. 21-23)

Jerusalem will face all four disasters at once, and the text is blunt about the killing of people and animals. Some survivors will reach the exiles, and seeing how they live will convince the exiles the disaster had a cause, though interpreters differ on whether that means the survivors' own wrongdoing shows why judgment came.

Key verse: Ezekiel 14:14

Something to think about

When have you asked someone for advice while already hoping for one particular answer, and how did that shape what you were able to hear?