Why would God give "statutes that were not good" in Ezekiel 20:25? Canonical Text (Ezekiel 20:24-26) “Because they did not practice My ordinances but rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on the idols of their fathers, I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live. I let them become defiled through their gifts— the sacrifice of every firstborn— so that I might devastate them, that they would know that I am Yahweh.” Immediate Literary Context Ezekiel 20 recounts centuries of covenant unfaithfulness (vv. 5-24). At each historical waypoint—Egypt, the wilderness, the land—Israel spurned divine instruction. Verse 25 is God’s climactic judicial response: He “gave” (Heb. nātan) them over to “statutes … not good,” culminating in child sacrifice (v. 26). The rhetoric contrasts sharply with v. 11 (“I gave them My statutes, which if a man does, he will live”) to underscore the tragic exchange of life-giving law for death-dealing idolatry. Historical Background 1 Kings 11; 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 23:10 document Israeli adoption of Near-Eastern cults (Molech, Baal, Asherah). Excavations at the Hinnom Valley (Jerusalem) and Topheth (Carthage, Sidonian colony) reveal charred infant remains in urn burials—archaeological testimony to the very “gifts” Ezekiel indicts. Israel’s monarchy had legalized these practices; thus, the “statutes” were historically real, humanly enacted edicts that God, in judgment, allowed to rule them. Biblical Parallels of Judicial Abandonment Psalm 81:11-12—“So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts.” Romans 1:24-28—“God gave them over to shameful passions.” Acts 7:42—Stephen cites Amos regarding Israel’s wilderness idolatry: “God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven.” These passages confirm a consistent divine pattern: persistent sin invites God’s handing people over to self-chosen futility. Theological Resolution 1. God’s Law Remains Good: Isaiah 5:20 warns against confusing good and evil; Ezekiel employs irony to highlight the difference between God’s holy Torah and pagan decrees. 2. Divine Holiness and Human Freedom: When a nation spurns grace repeatedly, holiness requires judgment (Leviticus 26:14-39). God respects human agency to the point of allowing devastating consequences. 3. Did God “command” evil? No. He judicially permitted Israel to follow the evil commands they preferred, thereby exposing sin’s inherent destructiveness and vindicating His righteousness (Ezekiel 20:26b “that they would know that I am Yahweh”). Early Jewish and Christian Commentary • Targum Jonathan renders v. 25, “I delivered them into the hands of the worshippers of idols.” • Philo (On the Cherubim 27) speaks of God “withdrawing His legislative power” from rebels. • Jerome, Epistle 129, calls the statutes “sinful ordinances of the nations, not of God.” • Augustine (City of God 18.47) interprets the verse as divine abandonment, not prescription. Archaeological and Textual Reliability Note The Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scroll fragment 4QEzra, and the Septuagint agree substantively; there is no textual instability that forces a convoluted reading. This uniformity underscores that the apparent difficulty lies in theology, not manuscript corruption. Practical Implications for Believers and Skeptics • Moral Law Is Not Culturally Plastic: Cultures can legislate evil; legality ≠ morality (Isaiah 10:1-2). • Sin’s Inevitable Consequences: When individuals or societies insist on autonomy from God, He may permit full exposure to their chosen paths, leading to moral, psychological, and social breakdown—empirically observable in modern addictions, family dissolution, and violence (cf. behavioral-science data on fatherless homes and substance abuse). • Christ’s Redemptive Contrast: Where Ezekiel shows death from exchanged statutes, the New Covenant offers life by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 10:10). Summary Answer In Ezekiel 20:25 God did not invent wicked laws; He judicially “handed over” a rebellious people to the very idolatrous regulations they craved. These statutes were “not good” because they led to death, most horrifically through child sacrifice. The episode showcases divine holiness, human accountability, and the life-or-death stakes of covenant loyalty, ultimately pointing to the need for the Messiah who fulfills the law and offers the Spirit-empowered obedience Israel lacked. |
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