“And you will know that I am Yahweh when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, on every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they offered sweet savour to all their idols. And I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah throughout all their habitations. And they shall know that I am Yahweh.”
Had Yahweh protected the city and the temple of a grossly disobedient people He would not have been revealed as Yahweh, God of the covenant Who required obedience. He would have been seen as but a powerful local God Who could be treated lightly and presumptuously. But when they saw their slain among their idols, round their altars, then they would know that He is Yahweh, and that He had done this. Their idols in which they trusted could not protect them, but they would know that Yahweh could have done so, but had chosen not to do it, as He had warned them beforehand. Thus would they know that it was because of their sins and disobedience that this had happened, and they would know that He is a righteous God Who will not endure sin. They would know that He is Yahweh.
The picture of bodies strewn about everywhere is a vivid one. They had blasphemed God everywhere and their dead bodies would lie everywhere.
‘On every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they offered sweet savour to all their idols.' Compare 2 Kings 17:10. High places were so abundant that they could be described as ‘on every hill --- and under every green tree'. They were everywhere. Trees also were seen as containing something of the life of Baal, the one who was raised from the dead at the commencement of the rainy season bringing life to the barren earth and fruit and leaves to the trees. Thus under green trees was also seen as a suitable place for their altars. And so flagrant were they that wherever there was a green tree there they would consider building an altar. ‘Under every green tree'. The exaggeration brings out the enormity of their behaviour. And these were His covenant people Who professed to worship Yahweh.
Ancient oaks were especially used for burial sites (Genesis 35:8; 1 Chronicles 10:11) and favoured for the offering of incense to Baal. Thus many would be buried under them and they may well have been seen as suitable sites for ancestor worship. Their shade also made them attractive. As Hosea describes the situation, ‘they sacrifice on the tops of mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because their shadow is good' (Ezekiel 4:13). But here ‘good' may include the idea that they saw their shadows as beneficial because of the presence of the gods.
‘The place where they offered sweet savour to all their idols.' In the very place whey had offered their sweet savour to idols through sacrifices, this was the place where they would lie slain. So much good had their offerings done them. The offering of sweet savour would include sacrifices and drink offerings, especially the whole burnt offering (Genesis 8:20-21; Exodus 29:18; Exodus 29:25; Exodus 29:41; Leviticus & Numbers regularly. See for drink offerings Numbers 15:7; Numbers 15:10).
‘And I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness to Diblah throughout all their habitations.' Diblah is nowhere else mentioned. In view of the similarity in ancient Hebrew between ‘d' and ‘r' Riblah has been suggested as an alternative, and there is some manuscript evidence to support it.
Riblah was the place where king Zedekiah and his sons and nobles would be brought before the king of Babylon, and he would be blinded and his sons slain before his eyes (2 Kings 25:6-7; Jeremiah 39:5-6; Jeremiah 52:9-11). Others too would be brought there to be slaughtered after the destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:18-21; Jeremiah 52:24-27). It was a staging post on the way back to Babylon where the returning troops mustered. It would be well known to Ezekiel's compatriots, and thus a very suitable illustration. It was on the River Orontes in Hamath which was seen as the farthest reaches of the land (Amos 6:14). ‘From the wilderness to Riblah' would then be seen as the whole extent of the land of promise. Thus wherever His rebellious people had lived would be made desolate and waste.
‘Desolate and waste (semama u mesamma)' This phrase, like tohu wa bohu (waste and empty) in Genesis 1:2 is a combination that depends on similarity of sound so that it is all one thought, a desolated waste.
‘And they shall know that I am Yahweh.' This is the constant refrain in Ezekiel. This was God's purpose. That they might know Him for Who and What He was, One Who demanded obedience to His covenant, One Who demanded righteousness and holiness, One Who hated idolatry and what it did to His people, and yet as One Who in the end would show mercy on them, for that was why He had chosen Ezekiel as His prophet.