“Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.”
My Notes
What Does Ezekiel 20:16 Mean?
"Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols." God identifies three sins that produced the wilderness judgment: despising God's judgments, not walking in God's statutes, and polluting God's sabbaths. Then He names the ROOT cause behind all three: their heart went after their idols. The three visible sins have one invisible cause — heart-idolatry. The external disobedience flows from internal misdirection.
The three sins form a progression: DESPISED (active contempt for God's judicial standards), WALKED NOT (passive failure to follow God's instructions), and POLLUTED (active contamination of God's sacred time). The progression moves from rejection to neglect to desecration — from contempt to passivity to active corruption.
The phrase "their heart went after their idols" (libbam acharei gilulehem halakh — their heart walked after their dung-idols) names the root: the HEART went somewhere. It WALKED after something. The something was idols — and Ezekiel uses the most contemptuous Hebrew word for idols: gillulim (literally 'dung-balls' or 'pellets of excrement'). The heart pursued dung. The deepest human faculty chased the lowest possible objects.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What is your heart going after — and is it worthy of the pursuit?
- 2.How does the progression from despising to neglecting to polluting describe the escalation of sin?
- 3.What does the heart-idolatry being the ROOT (not the symptom) change about how you address disobedience?
- 4.What does Ezekiel calling idols 'dung-balls' teach about the true value of what the heart chases?
Devotional
They despised God's judgments. They didn't walk in His statutes. They polluted His sabbaths. And the reason underneath it all: their heart went after their idols. Three visible sins. One invisible root. The heart went somewhere else — and everything else followed.
The three sins progress from contempt to neglect to desecration: first, they DESPISED — held God's judicial standards in active contempt. Then they WALKED NOT — failed to follow God's instructions, not because they couldn't but because they chose not to. Then they POLLUTED — actively contaminated the sabbaths, turning sacred time into profane time. The progression is logical: contempt leads to neglect, and neglect leads to desecration.
The 'their heart went after their idols' is the diagnosis underneath the symptoms: the three sins are SYMPTOMS. The heart-idolatry is the DISEASE. The despising, the not-walking, and the polluting all flow from one source: the heart that went after something other than God. Fix the heart and the symptoms resolve. Leave the heart and no amount of behavioral correction changes anything.
The word for 'idols' — gillulim — is deliberately disgusting: Ezekiel calls them 'dung-balls.' The most contemptuous term available. The heart — the most precious human faculty, the seat of desire and decision — went after DUNG. The highest pursued the lowest. The deepest part of the human being chased the most worthless objects available. The heart that was designed for God settled for excrement.
What is your heart going after — and is it worthy of the pursuit?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths,.... Which were just causes…
The probation in the wilderness. The promise was forfeited by those to whom it was first conditionally made, but was…
The history of the struggle between the sins of Israel, by which they endeavoured to ruin themselves, and the mercies of…
polluted my sabbaths profaned.
went after their idols Exodus 32; Numbers 25; Hos 9:10; Amo 5:25 cannot be appealed to…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture