(10) Rated “R” for Retribution

Suppose you were considering watching a particular movie so you read a review to see if it would be appropriate. "This film features apocalyptic thematic sequences and gratuitous violence against women, children, and the elderly. One disturbing scene shows executioners filling a courtyard with their victims. By the end of the movie, everyone is either dead or grieving." If Ezekiel 9 were part of a movie many of us wouldn't watch it. The chapter is undeniably distasteful.

But Ezekiel 9 portrays a scene that we must see. In the previous chapter God repeatedly asks if Ezekiel could see his peoples' sin. The words "see" and "seen" are found more often in Ezekiel 8 than in any other Old Testament chapter. Now we are forced to see sin's consequence. In chapter eight the wicked make a self-fulfilling prophecy: "The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land" (8:12)." Now God's eye will not spare. And he will abandon the land.