Idols Broken, a Remnant Remembers

In Ezekiel 6 God tells the prophet to set his face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy. The hills, watercourses, and valleys were where the people had built high places for idols, often on every high hill and under every green tree. God speaks to the land itself, because the land had been filled with false worship.

The message is judgment on idolatry. The high places would be destroyed, the altars desolate, the idols broken, and the incense altars cut down. Ezekiel was even told to strike with his hand and stamp with his foot and cry out alas because of the evil abominations of the house of Israel. The idols the people trusted would be shown to be powerless.

Yet a remnant would remain among the nations. Those who escaped would remember God and realize how he had been grieved by their wandering hearts. They would loathe themselves for the evil they had done. That is the beginning of real repentance. The repeated refrain that they will know that he is Yahweh shows the goal: not only punishment, but people truly knowing God. In the New Testament, 1 John 5:21 gives a short warning: Little children, keep yourselves from idols.