Ezekiel 6:1-7 - Set your face against the mountains of Israel

6:1-7

“The word of the Lord came to me” implies the beginning of a new section. “Set your face against the mountains of Israel”. Why the mountains? The mountains were where many of the “high places” were, which was where idol worship took place. The Canaanites had their shrines for idol worship on the mountains. There would be an altar for sacrifice, an image of some idol or other, such as Asherah, and sexual immorality would often play a part in the proceedings. When Israel took over the land they often adopted these high places. They were then ostensibly places where the Lord was worshipped. After the temple was built they were told not to worship any longer at these places. However, when Israel split into two nations, Israel, the northern kingdom, established her own places of worship. Later Judah, while having the Jerusalem temple, still worshipped at the high places, and this “worship” degenerated more and more into idol worship. Prophet after prophet spoke out against them, but to very limited effect. In 1 and 2 Kings we often read about good kings but with the rider “but they did not remove the high places”. Hezekiah did remove many high places, but Manessah, his successor, promptly reinstated them. Anyway, this is why the Lord tells Ezekiel to speak against the mountains.

The kings of Judah had failed to remove the high places, so God will do it Himself. When we are told to do something we should do it, the alternative is that God will come and do it Himself, and that is usually not a good thing for us! Why so much talk about bloodshed? Well, one of the ways of getting rid of a high places was to put the bones of the dead on it, then the place was considered to be desecrated. So God would desecrate the high places with the dead bodies of the Israelites. There would also be muc physical destruction. 

“And you will know that I am the Lord”. This is the purpose of God’s actions. Elsewhere it refers to the nations that were not God’s people as well. God’s purpose is that the whole world will know that He is the Lord. We can either know Him as saviour, or as judge.