View source for Ez 20:1-26

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'''Idolatry in the past''' (Eze 20:1-26)

Ezekiel records another occasion when the leaders of the exiles came to him with certain questions. God told him not to waste time dealing with their questions (Eze 20:1-3). 

Rather Ezekiel was to deal with the more important issue of the people’s false understanding of God. Since wrong attitudes had been passed on from generation to generation, Ezekiel began to recount Israel’s history from the time the people were in Egypt (Eze 20:4-6). 

Even in Egypt they had been attracted to idols and had displayed the rebellion that was to characterize their long history. God could rightly have destroyed the people then, but he refrained. He did not want the Egyptians to misunderstand his actions and accuse him of evil (Eze 20:7-9).

In his grace God saved the people from Egypt and gave them his rules for right living. He also gave them the Sabbath rest day as a sign that they were his people by covenant (Eze 20:10-12). 

Again they rebelled and again God withheld his judgment when he may have justly destroyed them (Eze 20:13-17). 

Time and time again they rebelled, but God still withheld his judgment (Eze 20:18-22). 

He warned them that if they persisted in their disobedience and idolatry he would scatter them among foreign nations. He would leave them to harm themselves by following heathen customs such as child sacrifice (Eze 20:23-26).