Ezekiel 22:10-11
In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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Ezekiel doesn't just list sins; he highlights specific violations of purity laws that were deeply offensive to God and destructive to community. The phrase "her that was set apart for pollution" points to women ritually unclean due to menstruation, meaning these men not only engaged in sexual sin but defied God's explicit commands about whom one could approach. This shows that their depravity wasn't just general lawlessness, but a calculated disregard for God's sacred boundaries.
Ezekiel is exposing Jerusalem's deep corruption, listing the city's sins like a legal indictment. This verse reveals the utter breakdown of sexual morality and familial respect within the city, pointing to incest and defiling women during their impurity, both explicitly forbidden by God's law. These shocking acts are presented as evidence of the city's total apostasy, setting the stage for God's impending judgment.
Certain acts were so shocking, they were considered unspeakable. Ezekiel names one of the most profound taboos in ancient society – and God declares it's happening in Jerusalem.
The Deepest Taboo
Ezekiel 22:10 starts with "In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness." This isn't just about adultery; it's about incest, specifically lying with a father's wife (a stepmother or perhaps another woman associated with the father's household). This was a sin so grievous, so fundamentally violating family and societal order, that it was considered an 'uncovering' of the deepest shame.
Why Such Shock?
Ancient Near Eastern cultures placed an enormous emphasis on lineage and family structure. To violate the purity of the father's line was to invite chaos and curse. The Old Testament law explicitly forbids this (Leviticus 18:7-8, 20:11), associating it with a curse.
This sin represented a complete breakdown of respect, order, and holiness within the very core of society – the family. It was a sign that the people had not only ignored God's law but had plunged into the most debased behaviors imaginable.
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Beyond the shocking taboo of incest, Ezekiel points to another disturbing sin: violating women during their impurity. This reveals a callous disregard for God's design and laws.
Defiling God's Order
The second part of the verse reads: "in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity." This refers to sexual relations during a woman's menstrual period.
The Law's Intent
Under Mosaic Law, a woman during her period was considered ritually unclean (Leviticus 15:19-24). This wasn't about moral corruption, but about maintaining a clear distinction between the holy and the common, the pure and the impure, especially concerning God's presence and worship. Intimacy during this time was forbidden.
A Double Transgression
For the people of Jerusalem to engage in this act meant two things:
This sin highlights a society that had become insensitive to God's boundaries and had lost its sense of reverence, treating sacred times and relationships with contempt.
Understand the original words
ervah · Hebrew Noun
A Hebrew idiom referring to sexual relations, typically used in prohibitions against incest and forbidden sexual unions.
niddah · Hebrew Noun
Ceremonial or ritual impurity, specifically related to bodily discharges; it does not necessarily imply moral sin in every context, but requires purification to approach the holy.
tōʿēbāh · Hebrew Noun
A term used in Scripture to describe acts, practices, or rituals that are morally detestable, repugnant, or idolatrous to God. It often refers to grave violations of God's covenant law, particularly concerning sexual immorality and idolatry.
zimmāh · Hebrew Noun
Refers to shameful, depraved, or wanton conduct. In a biblical context, it denotes a brazen disregard for moral boundaries, often associated with sexual sin or moral corruption.
ṭāmēʾ · Hebrew Verb
To make ritually or morally impure. It signifies the corruption of something consecrated to God or the violation of sacred moral standards, rendering the person or object unfit for God's presence.
ʿānāh · Hebrew Verb
To act violently, force, or treat with abuse. It signifies the violation of a person's body or boundaries, particularly in a sexual context, demonstrating a complete lack of reverence for the divine image in others.
Ezekiel's prophecy, delivered during the Babylonian exile, confronts Jerusalem with the depth of its depravity, highlighting sins that violated both divine law and basic human decency, ultimately sealing its doom.
c. 1440 BC
Mosaic Law Given
The Law given through Moses on Mount Sinai includes prohibitions against incest and sexual relations during menstruation, establishing clear boundaries for sexual morality.
c. 931 BC
Division of the Kingdom
Following King Solomon's death, the united kingdom of Israel splits into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. This division often led to increased religious and moral decline.
c. 722 BC
Fall of Samaria
The Assyrian Empire conquers the northern kingdom of Israel, deporting many of its inhabitants. This event served as a stark warning to the southern kingdom of Judah about the consequences of persistent sin.
597 BC
First Deportation to Babylon
Babylonian forces under Nebuchadnezzar conquer Jerusalem and deport King Jehoiachin and many of the Judean elite to Babylon. This marks the beginning of the Babylonian exile.
c. 593 BC— this verse
Ezekiel's Call to Prophesy
Ezekiel, already in exile in Babylon, receives his prophetic call. His ministry is aimed at both the exiles and those remaining in Jerusalem, addressing their spiritual state and impending doom.
586 BC
Destruction of Jerusalem
Babylonian armies, under Nebuchadnezzar, destroy Jerusalem and its temple, ending the southern kingdom of Judah and leading to a further, larger deportation of its people.
This passage directly prohibits the specific incestuous act of uncovering the nakedness of a father, which Ezekiel 22:10 calls out as a sin rampant in Jerusalem.
Leviticus 18:19This verse addresses the prohibition against approaching a woman during her menstrual impurity, directly mirroring the second transgression listed in Ezekiel 22:10.
2 Samuel 16:22This passage describes the shocking act of incest with a father's concubine, providing a historical example of the 'uncovering of nakedness' that Ezekiel condemned.
Romans 1:29-31Paul lists a similar catalogue of severe moral failings, including incest and other sexual sins, showing that such deep corruption was a recurring theme throughout biblical history.
gillEzekiel 22:10: "In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution."
In thee have they discovered their father's nakedness,.... Or, "he discovered" (b), or "uncovered", it being in the singular number; though the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read in the plural; this, though committed, was done but by a few; it being a sin not so much as named among men, as for a man to lie with his father's w…
cambridgeEzekiel 22:10: "In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution."
10 . Leviticus 18:7 ; Leviticus 20:11 ,—defiled their father’s wife, i.e. their stepmother, or some of their father’s concubines; cf. 2 Samuel 16:22 . set apart for pollution ] unclean from her impurity , ch. Ezekiel 18:6 ; Leviticus 18:19 ; Leviticus 20:18 .
Ezekiel doesn't just list sins; he highlights specific violations of purity laws that were deeply offensive to God and destructive to community. The phrase "her that was set apart for pollution" points to women ritually unclean due to menstruation, meaning these men not only engaged in sexual sin but defied God's explicit commands about whom one could approach. This shows that their depravity wasn't just general lawlessness, but a calculated disregard for God's sacred boundaries.
Ezekiel is exposing Jerusalem's deep corruption, listing the city's sins like a legal indictment. This verse reveals the utter breakdown of sexual morality and familial respect within the city, pointing to incest and defiling women during their impurity, both explicitly forbidden by God's law. These shocking acts are presented as evidence of the city's total apostasy, setting the stage for God's impending judgment.
Ezekiel is exposing Jerusalem's deep corruption, listing the city's sins like a legal indictment. This verse reveals the utter breakdown of sexual morality and familial respect within the city, pointing to incest and defiling women during their impurity, both explicitly forbidden by God's law. These shocking acts are presented as evidence of the city's total apostasy, setting the stage for God's impending judgment.
"In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his s…" — Ezekiel doesn't just list sins; he highlights specific violations of purity laws that were deeply offensive to God and destructive to community. The phrase "her that was set apart for pollution" poin…
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