“And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.”
My Notes
What Does Ezekiel 20:26 Mean?
This is one of the most theologically challenging verses in Ezekiel: "I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb." God says He polluted them — made them unclean through their own gifts (offerings). Specifically, the gift was child sacrifice: passing firstborn children through fire.
The theological complexity is extreme: God allowed Israel to practice the worst possible sin — child sacrifice — as a form of judgment. The giving of children to Molech was Israel's choice, but God's withdrawal of restraint permitted the descent. He "polluted them in their own gifts" by allowing their corrupt worship to reach its logical, horrifying conclusion.
The purpose clause — "that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD" — frames even this horror within God's pedagogical purposes. The desolation produced by child sacrifice will eventually teach them who God actually is — in contrast to the Molech they were serving.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How do you understand God 'allowing' terrible consequences rather than preventing them?
- 2.What does it mean that reaching the bottom can produce knowledge that gentler methods didn't?
- 3.Have you ever had to hit bottom before you could see where your choices were leading?
- 4.How do you hold God's sovereignty and human responsibility together in a verse like this?
Devotional
God allowed them to reach the bottom. He let their corrupt worship run to its most horrifying conclusion — sacrificing their own children — so that the horror of where false worship leads would finally teach them who the real God is.
This is one of the hardest verses in Scripture because it attributes to God a role in the worst human behavior. God didn't command child sacrifice — He abhors it. But He allowed the trajectory of Israel's idolatry to reach its logical endpoint. When you worship gods of death long enough, you end up giving them your children.
The phrase "polluted them in their own gifts" means God let their offerings defile them. The gifts they thought were worship became the mechanism of their pollution. The children they offered to Molech didn't earn divine favor — they earned divine revulsion. And God let it happen so that the depths of the revulsion would eventually produce the knowledge the gentle warnings didn't.
This is the terrifying dimension of free will: God sometimes lets you reach the bottom of your choices. Not because He endorses the bottom but because you won't turn around until you see it. The gentle approaches failed. The daily prophets were ignored. The kind corrections were dismissed. All that's left is letting you see where the road actually goes.
If God is allowing you to see the consequences of your choices — fully, horribly, without intervention — it may be the hardest form of love He has left.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And one polluted them in their own gifts,.... Suffered them to defile themselves; or declared them to be, and treated…
The probation in the wilderness. The promise was forfeited by those to whom it was first conditionally made, but was…
I polluted them in their own gifts - I permitted them to pollute themselves by the offerings which they made to their…
The history of the struggle between the sins of Israel, by which they endeavoured to ruin themselves, and the mercies of…
might make them desolate Or, destroy them; less probably: horrify them (ch. Eze 32:10). The train of thought is the same…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture