What is the context?
The Lord addresses the children in the wilderness and tells them not to repeat their fathers’ ways. They are to follow His statutes and keep His Sabbaths as a sign of belonging to Him.
They too rebel. Once again, He withholds the destruction He had resolved upon, for the sake of His name. But He also swears that they will be scattered among the nations because they reject His ways and fix their attention on inherited idols.
The BSB then says that He gave them over to statutes that were not good, followed by a charge concerning the sacrifice of firstborn children. This stands in sharp contrast with the life-giving ordinances described earlier.
The difficult statement must be read alongside Scripture’s explicit rejection of child sacrifice. Leviticus 18:21 prohibits giving children to Molech, and Jeremiah 7:30–34 says that burning children was something the Lord never commanded.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley understands the bad statutes as harmful practices God permitted the people to make for themselves after rejecting His good laws. Henry likewise explains judgment through people being given up to their own sinful desires, while denying that God is the author of sin.
The Cambridge discussion of verses 25–26 considers a misuse of the firstborn laws: the requirement concerning offerings was wrongly extended to children, although firstborn sons were to be redeemed. It reads the resulting delusion and destruction as judgment. The USCCB notes likewise connect the words with destructive child sacrifice and discuss the claim that the Lord accepted or required it.
These readings explain the relation between God’s judgment and the people’s practices differently. They do not make the earlier description of His life-giving laws disappear, and the explicit prohibitions prevent treating child sacrifice as an acceptable way to worship Him.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Acts 7:37–43 recalls Israel receiving living words through Moses, refusing to obey and turning back toward Egypt in their hearts. Stephen says that God then gave them over to worship the host of heaven.
Acts is not explicitly quoting Ezekiel 20. It develops the same theme of rejected revelation and judgment through being handed over to the worship people choose. The history warns against confusing the possession of God’s word with a faithful response to it.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.