Standing in the Gap

Because of its people’s sins, the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent. In faraway Babylon, some Jewish exiles came to the prophet Ezekiel to ask about the destiny of their nation (Ezekiel 20:1).

In God’s response, spanning four chapters (20-23), He declared that He had searched among His people for someone who would “make a wall, and stand in the gap” (Ezekiel 22:30). Because He had found no such person, He would allow the Babylonians to destroy Judah and Jerusalem.

What did God seek? What does standing in the gap mean?

Standing in the gap as a metaphor

Ezekiel’s initial audience would have understood this expression immediately. These words were a metaphor drawing on military imagery.

In the ancient world, unwalled cities and villages were vulnerable to attack, but a walled city was a secure one. At times, however, portions of walls collapsed, either due to military conflicts or to natural aging.

Any breach in the walls needed to be repaired, but while that was happening, soldiers had to be positioned at all these weak spots to make the city secure. For the people of that time, standing in the gap meant defending the city.

A literal fulfillment

More than a century after Jerusalem and its walls were destroyed by the Babylonians, Nehemiah spearheaded the effort to rebuild the city and its walls. He began this task with the authority granted him by Artaxerxes, the Persian king (Nehemiah 2:1-6).

Sanballat, a local official, opposed Nehemiah’s efforts to rebuild the city (Nehemiah 4:1). The biblical account does not specify Sanballat’s reason, but it may have been that he had hoped to govern the province of Judea himself and saw Nehemiah as an obstacle to be removed.

Nehemiah, however, became aware of the plot of Sanballat and his allies to “attack Jerusalem and create confusion” (verses 7-8). It is this moment that provides us with a real-life biblical example of standing in the gap.

Under the direction of Nehemiah, the returned exiles continued building the wall, but also took up guard positions wherever there were openings (verse 16).

Like Moses, we can intercede with God through prayer. Like so many of God’s people, we can act boldly but always in accordance with God’s will. Half of the workers “loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon” (verse 17).

The other half stood guard “from daybreak until the stars appeared” (verse 21), which would have been unusually late, highlighting the zeal of the people.

All of them were literally standing in the gap.

There are other examples of standing in the gap as well.

Moses interceding for Israel

Psalm 106 describes Moses as someone who “stood before [God] in the breach” (verse 23). Standing in the breach has the same meaning as standing in the gap.

In the incident described by the psalmist, Moses was reacting to God’s decision to destroy Israel for creating and worshipping a golden calf (verses 19-23). Exodus provides more detail regarding this incident.

That account shows Moses pleading with God, pointing out that destroying Israel would lead the Egyptians to believe that God had “brought [Israel] out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth” (Exodus 32:12).

Moses could have become the father of a new nation (verse 10), but he was more concerned about God’s honor than his own status. As a result of the bold action of Moses, “the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people” (verse 14).

Moses had stood in the breach, saving his nation.

Phinehas standing in the gap

Another example of an individual taking action to save the nation is Phinehas, whose story is also a part of Psalm 106. The psalmist wrote that “Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped” (Psalm 106:30).

This plague was the result of the gross immorality and idolatry of Israel. The people had “joined themselves also to Baal of Peor” (verse 28), a god worshipped through “harlotry with the women of Moab” (Numbers 25:1) and their allies, the Midianites.

Phinehas intervened after he saw an Israelite man brazenly bringing a Midianite woman into the camp of Israel, presenting her to the people (verse 6). Phinehas followed the pair into the tent, plunging his javelin into both, executing them for their blatantly sinful acts. Phinehas’ zeal resulted in the plague being stopped (verses 7-8).

Moses had interceded with God in conversation, whereas Phinehas took bold action to begin ridding the nation of those who would compromise with God’s law. What links these two brave men is their concern for God’s honor and His will.

Other biblical heroes standing in the gap

Scripture is filled with examples of men and women “standing in the gap,” though not generally describing them with these words. Here is a short list of some of these biblical heroes:

• Abraham interceded for Sodom (Genesis 18:16-33). Concern for his nephew Lot, who lived among the Sodomites, was a factor, but it seems Abraham’s concern was also for God’s reputation. This is seen in his question, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (verse 23) and his follow-up statement, “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this” (verse 25).
• Aaron intervened for the people of Israel after they had complained about his and Moses’ leadership (Numbers 16:41-50). Aaron did so by standing in the midst of the people as a plague from God engulfed them. Censer in hand, Aaron ran into the midst of the people and made atonement for them. He literally “stood between the dead and the living,” stopping the plague (verse 48).
• David faced Goliath, a giant from Gath (1 Samuel 17:23). David knew that killing this enormous man would bring him personal honor, but what really motivated him was the desire to remove “the reproach from Israel,” resulting from an uncircumcised Philistine standing before them to “defy the armies of the living God” (verse 26).

No one to stand in the gap

In the waning days of the kingdom of Judah, God sought righteous people among a population that had been in spiritual decline for years. They had consistently set aside His laws, and they had worshipped idols instead of the true God.

Sadly, when the Jewish elders already in captivity asked Ezekiel to “inquire of the LORD” (Ezekiel 20:1) about their nation, God’s forthright response shattered their hopes for a restored kingdom. God proclaimed, “But I found no one” among them to stand in the gap (Ezekiel 22:30).

God had looked for people who would work to rebuild the moral fabric of society and people who would bravely stand up for what is right. He had searched Jerusalem for “anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth” (Jeremiah 5:1), but He did not find what He was looking for.

Why nations and empires fall

The history of the world is replete with stories of nations and empires rising and falling. Will and Ariel Durant, a well-known husband-and-wife team of historians, addressed this issue in The Lessons of History.

In their work, they attribute the decline of civilizations to the decline of morality. The lack of moral constraints is deadly, not just to individuals, but to nations.

Cut off from such guidance, according to the Durants, “an unmoored generation surrenders itself to luxury, corruption, and a restless disorder of family and morals, in all but a remnant clinging desperately to old restraints and ways” (1968, p. 93).

In the final days of Judah, God found no one standing in the gap.

Scripture tells us that humans have a great deal to do with the downfall of nations. Ultimately, though, it is God who “makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them” (Job 12:23).

What this means for today’s Christian

Today, Western nations especially have witnessed a shocking decline in morality during the past few decades. Behaviors that shocked and disgusted most people not that long ago are now embraced in the name of tolerance.

God expects Christians to resist social pressures to be more accepting of these behaviors. He expects us to live our lives in such a way that we glorify God, which will lead others to glorify Him when Christ returns (1 Peter 2:12).

Like Moses, we can intercede with God through prayer. Like so many of God’s people, we can act boldly but always in accordance with God’s will.

It takes brave men and women to stand against the tide of immorality, deceit and wickedness. Will you be among God’s people standing in the gap?