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There was to be no favored class of people among them. The Lord declared, through the words of the prophet that the spiritual leaders, the priests were also caught up in works of unrighteousness. The very ones who had a knowledge of the will and the Law of the Lord, were in violation of the righteousness of the Law. They were not afraid to change its precepts and to use the vessels and the holy places to fit their own needs and desires. They no longer made a difference between that which was holy and consecrated to the Lord and that which was unclean and unholy. They looked the other way at the desecration of the Holy days which had been established by the Lord for special days of worship unto Him. The Lord was dishonored among them and very much felt their adverse attitude toward Himself. Eze. 22:26 This particular class of their society in that day could have made a difference by proclaiming the truth of the Word which, as priests, was a very essential part of their life and training for the priesthood. The responsibility for a standard of righteousness rested directly upon them. Even as today, the model of a righteous life and the teaching of the holiness of the Word is the requirement of the spiritual leaders of the church.
This segment of the book of Ezekiel is a display of the total degradation to which those who were responsible as leaders had deteriorated. The political arm of leadership was totally overwhelmed by a spirit of selfishness and greed. They were like wolves, pulling to pieces their constituents thus shedding the blood of the innocents. They were without compassion, interested only in their own gain as they deliberately set out to ìfeather their own nests,î by means of dishonest gain. Eze. 22:27 Their actions were not ignored by the Lord. He is patient and longsuffering always giving mankind an opportunity to repent and change their ways. It is obvious as we read the words of this prophecy that the day of reckoning had arrived and they were about to pay the price of their wrong doings.
Not unexpectedly, the people followed the example of their spiritual and political leaders. They became fraudulent in their seeking of worldly wealth and their business activities were corrupt. The method used in seeking gain made no difference to them. Fraud was the order of the day. Extortion and oppression became a way of life. Robbery of the most delicate kind to the most demanding was practiced among them. Their society was completely out of control. The teachings of the Word which would have enabled them to have a peaceful and profitable life were completely ignored until they had deteriorated to such a degree that the Lord was about to show His judgments. Eze. 22:29 Does any of this sound familiar?.