Horrifying Decrees

“Indeed, I gave them no-good decrees, and laws that did not offer them life.” Ezekiel 20:25

No-Good Decrees – Brevard Childs, professor of Biblical theology at Harvard, says that this verse is an example of “the clearest sign of the brokenness of the Old Testament covenant . . . once given as a source of endless joy [but now] a burden and a means of destroying the nation.” If this is true, all those who believe in the eternal value of Torah are certainly lost. Did God really give them rules that would destroy them? Are we to abandon the Torah because God made it a means of loss of life?

Daniel Block’s commentary on Ezekiel treats this most difficult passage head-on. He makes a crucial point about a change in the one particular word. When Ezekiel speaks about God’s normative instructions for life, he uses the word huqqot (feminine plural). But here, in this difficult verse, he uses the word huqqim (masculine). It is not what we would expect and therefore, it tells us Ezekiel is using a variation of the normal expression that has a special nuance. In translation, the root word hoq looks the same for both derivations. The plural (huqqot) describes God’s torah. It’s found in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Judges and the prophets. Huqqot are good. They are life-giving. They are a sign of the covenant with Moses and the people. Paul tells us huqqot are an expression of the goodness of God, given for our benefit.

But apparently huqqim are something entirely different. We just would never see the difference at all in translation. Since Ezekiel is not writing history, he is not attempting to describe the events preceding giving the Torah. Ezekiel is concerned with the present day results of disobedience. He uses a verbal strategy to jump from the beneficial intention of Torah to the disastrous consequences of Torah rejection. In other words, as it turns out the huqqot God gave have become huqqim in the lives of the people. The people have turned what gives life into something that produces death. But God will use this change to bring about His purposes anyway.

There are two very important lessons here. The first is exegetical. Dig deeper! The surface of the text is sometimes not the message of the text. God often thinks (and speaks) things we cannot anticipate. To know Him and His will, we must seek.

The second lesson is behavioral. The goodness of torah can become the horrifying specter of death if we reject it. Life and death are both attached to the same instruction. Our rejection of God’s direction pushes us from blessing to curse, both corporately and individually. God is patient. He was with Israel and He is with us. But don’t be fooled. Don’t let huqqot become huqqim in your life.

Topical Index: law, rules, blessing, curse, huqqim, huqqot, Ezekiel 20:25