Yechezkel 20 | "With an Outpouring of Fury, I Will Rule Over You"

The elders of Israel sat before Yechezkel, in an attempt of seeking God. It is possible that this was a regular gathering, intended to provide ongoing guidance and a continuous connection to God. Alternatively, it may have been a specific event for which they sought divine direction. One possible interpretation is that they were attempting to introduce religious changes in the worship of God while in exile. This idea is supported by Yechezkel’s response: "And that which is in your thoughts will never be. You say: We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, serving wood and stone’” (20:32). This suggests that there was a desire among the people to assimilate other nations in some regard, perhaps by altering the way they worship God.

Another perspective considers the date given at the beginning of the chapter: "And it was in the seventh year in the fifth month on the tenth day of the month" (20:1). The timeline in Yechezkel is counted from the exile of Yehoyakhin, meaning the seventh year of exile corresponds to the sixth year of Tzidkiyahu’s reign. What happened in the month of Av of Tzidkiyahu’s sixth year? In truth, nothing — and that is precisely the point. In the fifth month of Tzidkiyahu’s fourth year, Chananya son of Azur had prophesied that the exile of Yehoyakhin would end precisely within two years: "In the fifth month of the fourth year, that Chananya son of Azur the prophet, who was from Givon, spoke to me in the House of the Lord, in full view of the priests and all the people. He said (Yirmiyahu 28). The time when the elders sat before Yechezkel was exactly when Chananya’s prophecy should have been fulfilled, and they may have been asking him what they should do now.

God’s response is harsh. He declares that He will not respond to their seeking and instead commands Yechezkel to recount their sins — the very reasons why He will not be sought by them. Yechezkel’s historical review is neither comprehensive nor objective. As with any historical account, the narrator must decide what to include, what to omit, in what order to present events, and how to connect them.

Yechezkel’s account begins with God’s revelation in Egypt. It becomes evident that even then, God had contemplated destroying the people but chose to have mercy upon them. This motif recurs throughout the review: the people deserve destruction, yet God repeatedly shows them mercy. The prophecy repeats the central theme found in previous chapters — God is abundantly merciful, continually giving, yet the people remain ungrateful.

As Yechezkel delivers his prophecy, he also interweaves the perspective of the people, against which he argues: "And that which is in your thoughts will never be. You say: ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, serving wood and stone. As I live, declares the Lord God, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with outpouring of fury, I will rule over you” (20:32–33). The people are in Babylon, and there is a faction among them that seeks to assimilate to the other nations. Yechezkel proclaims that this will not happen — God is our King, whether we wish it or not. Within his vision of redemption, Yechezkel employs expressions from the exodus from Egypt, such as "with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with outpouring of fury", as well as the notion that the people will be brought into the wilderness to be judged there. The same power that God used to redeem us from Egypt, He will use to reign over us once again.