What Does Ezekiel 20:3 Mean?
Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD. Have you come to seek me? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be sought by you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.THE KEY
One Hebrew root turns their act of seeking into God’s refusal to be sought: arriving with a question does not compel an answer.
THE MEANING
You can come carrying a question and still hear no: God is not compelled to answer by your arrival. Here the LORD states his refusal with the force of an oath: “As I live… I will not be enquired of by you.” The living God remains free to withhold an answer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that approaching God with a question makes an answer owed.
THE ROOT
לִדְרֹשׁ
lidrosh
GROWS FROM
דרשׁ
D-R-Sh
To seek out, inquire of, or require.
“seek / sought” in this verse is lidrosh. The first form is active: “to seek” or “to inquire.” The second is passive: “to be sought” or “to be inquired of.” The same root carries the elders’ seeking into God’s refusal to be available for their inquiry; approaching and gaining access are not the same thing.
ALSO GROWS
darash: Seek, inquire, or require.
דָּרַשׁ
This is the active form behind the elders’ question about coming to inquire.
midrash: Inquiry, study, or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
This branch keeps the sense of seeking and examining that lies inside the elders’ stated purpose.
ʾiddāresh: I be sought or inquired of.
אִדָּרֵשׁ
This passive form appears in the LORD’s reply, turning the question from what the elders do to whether he will receive their inquiry.
THE PATTERN
Approaching God with a request does not by itself secure an answer; scripture ties response to the way a person seeks or asks.
Son of man, these men have lifted up their idols upon their heart, and set the stumbling block of their crookedness before their face. Should I be sought at all by them?And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.You ask, and do not take, because you ask badly, so that you may use it up upon your pleasures.THE THREAD
For when you lift your gifts, when you make your sons pass through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your idols, even to this day. And shall I be sought by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be sought by you.This verse repeats the same root, דָּרַשׁ (darash, seek or inquire), and the same sworn refusal. The repetition makes the refusal the hinge of the inquiry, not an unexplained failure to answer.
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