We are not told why the elders come and sit down in front of Ezekiel. If they are anticipating a cozy fireside chat, they are about to be disappointed. Three times God says that these elders have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces (14:3–4, 7). This, however, refers to more than the practice of idolatry. Perhaps the elders have just heard Ezekiel’s narration of the temple idolatries that he saw in a vision. “How awful, how blasphemous,” they might have said among themselves. However, in seeing the sliver in the Jerusalemite’s eye they have missed the plank in the deportee’s eye.

If the exiled elders were practicing idolatry, the text would say so in straightforward language. By using the description it does, the text suggests that their sin is …