Ezekiel 22:19
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
The background is priestly apostasy into paganism, in which the priests violated the law and profaned the Sabbath, their worship of the sun going with the replacement of the Sabbath by Sunday. The declaration stands within the rebuke of false prophets whose unchanging cry in seasons of peril has been peace and assurance. Because all have become dross, they are to be gathered into the midst of Jerusalem for judgment.
That gathering is a putting into a furnace to be melted in the fire of divine anger until they know that fury has been poured out upon them, so that judgment is pictured as the purging away of impure metals by fire. In the symbolism of the surrounding verses lead is the base and heavy metal that stands for sin. In its latter-day sense the chapter portrays the professed people of God in the last days, where Israel denotes the people of God and remnant denotes the last part. It concerns the same time and people as Jeremiah 6:9-19.