Catholic Commentary on Ezekiel 6

“Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars.” (Ezekiel 6:13)

Against the Mountains of Israel

Ezekiel is told to prophesy against the mountains of Israel: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD God! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars smashed; your slain will fall in front of your idols. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak. Yet I will spare some, for some will escape the sword when you are scattered. Then in the nations where they are in exile, they will remember me.

The Catechism identifies the recurring phrase then you will know that I am the LORD, which appears over sixty times in Ezekiel, as the goal of all divine action in history: the revelation of God's identity through his acts (CCC 2059).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, then you will know that I am the LORD. The purpose of every divine act in Ezekiel is recognition: that the nations, and especially Israel, will come to know who God is. Disaster is not meaningless in Ezekiel; it is revelatory. The question after every catastrophe is: have we come to know that he is the LORD?

Prayer

Lord God, let every event in our lives, whether blessing or disaster, bring us to know more deeply that you are the LORD. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

6
Judgment against Idolatry
(Deuteronomy 4:15-31; Deuteronomy 12:29-32)
1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.
 
3 You are to say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
 
6 Wherever you live, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works blotted out. 7 The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
A Remnant to Be Blessed
 
8 Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.
 
9 Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me-how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations. 10 And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.
 
11 This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and famine and plague. 12 He who is far off will die by the plague, he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains will die by famine. So I will vent My fury upon them.
 
13 Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and leafy oak-the places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols. 14 I will stretch out My hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah.* 6:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; Vulgate and a few Hebrew manuscripts Riblah Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

*6:14 6:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; Vulgate and a few Hebrew manuscripts Riblah

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