There are truths in Scripture that are presented almost casually or as an aside that I, for one, sometimes breeze over and fail to grasp. Only through my repeated readings of a passage is God able to get my attention and cause me to notice what I have heretofore missed.

This is what has happened in my reading of Ezek 6. As I mentioned in my last post, what started out to be a quick reading of the least well-known of the major prophets has stalled at chapter 16 and especially at chapter 6. Recalling one of my old soldiers – a Bible that has been set aside for a newer, crisper Bible that I just couldn’t live without – I began reading chapter 6 again and noticed that v. 9 was not only underlined but highlighted:

Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations.”

This verse appears in a passage that describes the lengths to which God will go to make His people understand that He, and He alone, is God. But Yahweh also gives us a truth in this verse that He does not repeat in this chapter: He has been hurt. God has been hurt by the adulterous, idolatrous hearts of His people.

That is simply an unbelievable truth to me.

The concept that the Lord of the universe, the Creator of everything that is, the Sustainer of creation, and the Savior of the world can be affected by my – and your – behavior is incomprehensible for my little mind. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-everything; He is in need of nothing and is fully complete in Himself – and yet He has made Himself emotionally vulnerable to the behavior of His people. He who is can be hurt by me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.” – Ps 139:6

The Hebrew word chosen by Yahweh through His prophet is shabar (I’m sure you will never forget this) and its definitions deepen the understanding of God’s “hurt”:

07665 rbv shabar shaw-bar’

a primitive root; TWOT-2321; v
AV-break 115, destroy 9, break in pieces 8, break down 4, hurt 3, torn 2, give birth 1, crush 1, quench 1, misc 6; 150

1) to break, break in pieces
1a) (Qal)

    1a1) break, break in or down, rend violently, wreck, crush, quench
    1a2) to break, rupture (fig)

1b) (Niphal)

    1b1) to be broken, be maimed, be crippled, be wrecked
    1b2) to be broken, be crushed (fig)

1c) (Piel) to shatter, break
1d) (Hiphil) to cause to break out, bring to the birth
1e) (Hophal) to be broken, be shattered

The stem in Ezek 6:9 is niphal, which yields a meaning of “broken, maimed, crippled, wrecked, or crushed.” Since we know that God cannot change (i.e., He is immutable – Mal 3:6), this must be a figurative use of shabar. Note the severity of the word: this is not some trivial emotional upset inflicted upon God but a deep wound to His heart. He is deeply and profoundly grieved by the unfaithfulness of His children.

I made the point in my earlier post but it bears repeating here: the essence of idolatry and unfaithfulness is not found in the tangible displays of our waywardness but in our hearts.

3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all?
4 “Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols,
5 in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.”‘

We may go to a prophet or pastor for help and guidance but, says Yahweh, it will be God Himself who will answer us. The answer may not come in the form of an audible voice (unlikely) or a specific verse or passage of Scripture (more likely), but in an act of judgment that opens our eyes to the pain we have cause our God and Savior.

We all have idols in our hearts. It may be a relationship with a husband or wife, the need for approval and recognition from our peers, a pursuit of career goals and success, the pride of knowing Scripture and understanding it better than most. None of these things are inherently evil; all of these things are intrinsically good: we make them evil when they become more important to us than our relationship with God. None of these things are necessarily in competition for our attention or desires: we make them so by elevating them to the position of goals rather than viewing them as responsibilities and privileges given to us by God.

We are quite adept at glossing over our idols or dressing them up and making them an acceptable totem of Christendom. Who is it that populates many of our elder and deacon boards? Is it not the financially successful? the knowledgeable? the up-and-comers? Again, such things are not wrong in and of themselves, but when such outward signs become more important than character and love of God we have baptized our idols and set them alongside the Person of God.

We wound God when we pursue and value such empty idols. He is a God who has made Himself vulnerable to us and has provided us with everything necessary to live a life of faithfulness to Him. Our adultery, our idolatry, our unfaithfulness pierce the heart of God and invite discipline from Him that will cure us of our wanderings.

It is a painful lesson for us to learn but one which He will faithfully teach us when necessary. But amazingly, it is also a painful instruction for God to endure. Such is the heart of Yahweh.


2 Cor 1:13