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Ezekiel, part 23, Important Things in Tribulation

Ezekiel 7:13–16 describes the collapse of economic security, military defense, and confidence in Jerusalem’s walls. Those who escape appear as grieving fugitives, brought face to face with their own iniquity. We read in Ezekiel 7:13,

¹³ Indeed, the seller will not regain what he sold as long as they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.

Verse 13 continues the warning to buyers and sellers in verse 12. Even surviving the invasion would not guarantee a return to one’s former possessions. The coming displacement would interrupt the ordinary arrangements by which property was bought, sold, and recovered.

Jubilee Applications

There is a possible connection with the Jubilee law. Leviticus 25:13, 23–28 provided for the return of hereditary land, because the land belonged ultimately to God, and no man has the authority to sell his land permanently. But here the seller could not count on recovering his holding during his lifetime. Exile would prevent him from enjoying the return he might otherwise expect in a normal Jubilee cycle of 49 years.

The law itself had warned that persistent rebellion would bring removal from the land, allowing it to enjoy its neglected Sabbaths (Leviticus 26:33–35), and the promise of inheritance could not be used to evade the covenant’s judgments. Hence, the law of Jubilee had to be fulfilled in another way, probably in terms of multiple Jubilee cycles.

An example of this would be in Daniel’s “seventy weeks” (of years) in Daniel 9:24. Seventy weeks, or Sabbath years, was a period of ten Jubilees (10 x 49). It dated from the decree of Persian King Artaxerxes (458 B.C.) to the crucifixion of Christ (33 A.D.), which allowed all to return to the inheritance that was lost through Adam’s sin.

More long-term, the 120^th Jubilee from Adam extends from October 1986 to 2035. Yet if we count from the first conquest of Jerusalem in 604 B.C., we note that 53 Jubilees takes us to 1994. This correlates with the 40^th Jubilee of the Pentecostal Age (33 to 1993-1994 A.D.), and it marks the end of Saul’s reign and the return of “David.” It is, in that sense, the Jubilee of overcomers, represented prophetically by David.

The closing statement in Ezekiel 7:13 about maintaining life through iniquity exposes another false refuge. Wealth, influence, and schemes built upon wrongdoing would fail to preserve those who depended on them. The Hebrew is difficult, but the central point is clear: their guilt undermines their security.

The Unanswered Trumpet

Ezekiel 7:14 says,

¹⁴ They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all their multitude.

The trumpet sounds the summons to battle, and preparations have been made, yet no one goes out. The outward machinery of Jerusalem’s national defense remains, but the ability or courage to act has collapsed. Ezekiel identifies the decisive reason: God’s wrath is against the multitude (of Judah).

This reverses the expectation expressed in Numbers 10:9, where Israel was instructed to sound the trumpets to summon the people for battle. In a righteous war fought by an obedient people, the trumpet represented the word of God (a call to arms), which would guarantee deliverance. But in Judah’s case, the disobedient people would not see victory, because God fought on the side of their enemies.

A comparable warning appears in Deuteronomy 28:25. Religious observances and military might could not compel God to switch sides and support Jerusalem and Judah.

Outside and Inside

Ezekiel 7:15 says,

¹⁵ The sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city.

The open country exposes people to the invading army; the fortified city exposes them to starvation and disease. Jerusalem’s walls could restrict the enemy’s entrance, but they could not produce food or prevent pestilence. This closely follows Deuteronomy 32:25, where the sword bereaves outside while terror reigns within. Ezekiel again presents the invasion as the fulfillment of the Mosaic warnings in the law of tribulation.

The three judgments also recall Ezekiel’s divided hair in chapter 5. What he had enacted symbolically is now described in terms of the people’s approaching experience.

Survivors Mourning Like Doves

Ezekiel 7:16 says,

¹⁶ Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, each over his own iniquity.

The survivors flee to the mountains, where their cries resemble the mournful cooing of doves. The comparison emphasizes their distress and vulnerability. Isaiah likewise uses the dove’s voice to express grief and suffering (Isaiah 38:14; 59:11).

The words “each over his own iniquity” make the mourning personal. National catastrophe does not erase individual responsibility. Each must confront his own participation in the sins that brought judgment.

This recalls Ezekiel 6:9, where survivors remember God and become disgusted with their former conduct. Yet mourning can include both grief over sin and anguish over its punishment. The Hebrew word for iniquity, ‘avon, can encompass guilt and its consequences. We should therefore avoid assuming that physical escape or sorrow alone proves full repentance.

In fact, repentance is inherent in the law of Jubilee, because the Jubilee trumpet was to be blown on the Day of Atonement—the great day of repentance. Hence, without repentance, no one can hope to benefit from the Jubilee. God applies the Jubilee to the repentant ones only.

Here the distinction concerning the remnant of grace matters. These survivors are not automatically identified with all who inherit the promise. Romans 11:5–7 distinguishes the elect remnant from the rest, and Galatians 4:28 identifies the heirs as children of promise. Deliverance into the promised inheritance comes through Christ and the New Covenant. Ezekiel’s fugitives illustrate the humbling of human confidence; participation in that inheritance requires more than surviving the fall of Jerusalem.

Hands and Knees Fail

Ezekiel 7:17 says,

¹⁷ All hands will hang limp and all knees will become like water.

Limp hands describe the loss of strength and the inability to act. This develops verse 14, where the trumpet sounds but no one goes into battle. Their courage has collapsed.

Ezekiel’s description of knees becoming like water conveys extreme weakness. More literally, the Hebrew says that the knees “run with water.” Some translators understand this as a graphic reference to involuntary urination from terror; others retain the imagery of trembling or weakness. Either way, the picture is of overwhelming fear and physical helplessness.

The language recalls Deuteronomy 28:65, where divine judgment brings a trembling heart, failing eyes, and despair. Ezekiel describes the bodily effects of the terror Moses had foretold.

Clothed With Mourning and Shame

Ezekiel 7:18 says,

¹⁸ They will gird themselves with sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces and baldness on all their heads.

Sackcloth was a coarse garment associated with grief, humiliation, and penitence. Here, the people also become figuratively clothed with horror. Shame covers their faces, and their shorn heads display their mourning. Their former confidence and outward dignity give way to public humiliation.

The baldness concerns a mourning practice rather than ordinary hair loss. Amos 8:10 similarly joins sackcloth and baldness when describing festivals turned into mourning. These outward expressions establish the depth of their distress, but they do not by themselves establish repentance. As Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 7:10, sorrow according to God produces repentance, whereas worldly sorrow produces death. Grieving over lost possessions or national defeat must deepen into an acknowledgment of sin and a turning to God.

Discarding Wealth

Ezekiel 7:19 says,

¹⁹ They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.

Their silver is thrown into the streets because it can no longer provide what they urgently need. During siege and famine, possessing money does not guarantee that food is available. Gold cannot nourish the body or purchase deliverance from God’s sentence. This closely parallels Zephaniah 1:18, which declares that silver and gold cannot deliver in the day of the Lord’s wrath. It also illustrates Proverbs 11:4. Riches provide no ultimate refuge when judgment comes.

The word translated “an abhorrent thing” is niddah, meaning impurity or something treated as unclean and shunned. It is used in the Torah for ritual impurity, particularly menstrual impurity. Here it describes the reversal in their estimation of gold. What they had treasured would be useless in time of war. They should have stored up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20).

The closing explanation goes deeper than wealth’s practical uselessness. Their riches had become a stumbling block associated with their iniquity. This anticipates Ezekiel 14:3, where the elders set up idols in their hearts and place the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. The fundamental problem was the allegiance expressed through their possessions. Wealth had helped sustain pride, false worship, and confidence apart from God.

The passage therefore calls for more than abandoning valuables in an emergency. The necessary change concerns the heart and releasing the false trust that made those possessions an idol. Paul gives the corresponding instruction in 1 Timothy 6:17–19. Those with riches must place their hope in God and use what they possess generously.