Ezekiel 20:3

Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

When the elders of Israel came to inquire of Him, the Lord answered that He would not be inquired of by them. His refusal came because of their continued rebellion, for Israel had wandered from God into idolatry and had violated His Sabbath to an alarming extent. The chapter sets forth the Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, joining large promises to obedience and dreadful curses to disobedience. Before the Babylonian captivity the nation gave very little regard to the Sabbath, and idolatry combined with Sabbath desecration brought trouble and captivity upon them and the destruction of Jerusalem.

Words and Historical Setting

God's reply was given when the elders of Israel came to inquire of him, and in it he declared that he would not be inquired of by them. That declaration stands at the opening of the Lord's word addressed to those elders. It belongs to the prophetic warnings uttered before the destruction of Jerusalem, in the portion of Ezekiel occupied with correction, denunciation and reproof.

It belongs likewise to the record of the Dark Ages of the Jewish church, a time of apostasy in idolatry in which the faithful were persecuted and which was followed by the captivity of the Jews. The whole chapter in which it stands is an account of God's dealings with Israel.

Sabbath and National Apostasy

Ezekiel 20 sets forth the importance of the Sabbath by setting dreadful curses connected with disobedience to it opposite large promises connected with obedience. It is a chapter in which sin in its awful wickedness is rebuked, in which God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him, and in which He is revealed as Sanctifier and Redeemer. It belongs to the testimony of the prophets in which the Father most solemnly enjoined observance of the Sabbath, proving that He did not lightly esteem it but honored it ever since its sanctification in Paradise.

The word to the elders of Israel set forth the Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel. That sign was fitting because Israel was the only people on earth that acknowledged the Creator while the nations worshiped false gods, and it expressed faith in God as Creator who made heaven and earth in six days and rested the seventh. The Sabbath therefore points back to the close of the creation week for its origin, and is not a memorial of the flight out of Egypt nor a Jewish institution beginning after that event.

Israel wandered from God, forgot His Sabbath, and turned to idolatry. The Hebrew people continued to violate the Lord's Sabbath to an alarming extent during the forty years in the wilderness. Before the Babylonian captivity, when the Jewish nation had gone into idolatry, they gave very little regard to the Sabbath. Idolatry combined with Sabbath desecration brought the people into trouble and captivity, recounting the steps that led Israel into exile. When the Jewish church apostatized, it trampled on the Sabbath and turned to pagan times, and Jerusalem was destroyed as a consequence.

Judgment Warning and Application

The refusal to be inquired of belongs to the prophetic warnings given before the destruction of Jerusalem, in that portion of Ezekiel given to correction, denunciation and reproof, and it declares that sin must be forgiven or it will be consumed. That condition of Israel came as the result of continued rebellion against God in a dark age of the Jewish church marked by apostasy in idolatry, persecution of the faithful, and followed by captivity. The chapter recalls earlier unfaithfulness to remind that the fathers' sins brought God's judgment, which explains why profaning the Sabbath was warned to bring further wrath upon Israel. That apostate condition stands as a parallel and warning to the dark age of the Christian era when the apostate church persecuted and slew the conscientious. Because the Father from Paradise onward solemnly enjoined and honored the Sabbath, Jesus in healing on the Sabbath was only following the Father's perfect example from the beginning and gave no ground for a charge of Sabbath-breaking. The chapter is profitable reading on departing from God and misrepresenting religious practices, for calling Sunday the Sabbath does not make it the biblical Sabbath, just as giving false worship the Lord's name cannot make it true, and the account of God's dealings with Israel in the reply to the elders who came to inquire, that He would not be inquired of by them, strengthens faith in the truth when studied.

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