"Ye are standing this day all of you before the LORD your God" etc. "that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the LORD" etc. "that He may establish thee this day unto Himself for a people, and that He may be unto thee a God" etc.
The question posed by the Jews in the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel, was asked by believing Jews, since the parable they use begins with describing God as their Master, i.e. "they came to enquire from the merciful God." They wanted to know whether in view of their Master having sold them, the basic relationship between God and the Jewish people had undergone a change. It was this possibility that Ezekiel denied so vehemently. He explained that Gods intent was merely to exercise His rule over them through making them suffer privations. Re-establishment of the former "loving care" relationship could begin only after repentance of their abominable deeds. The references in that chapter to what had occurred in the desert after the Exodus, are only to stress that just as at that time the eternal character of the Israel/God relationship had not been severed, so there would once again come a time when Israel would learn the error of its ways and then an in-gathering of the exiles could take place.
Individual heresy, discussed in our Parsha also, (29,17 et al) may be understood thus. Man is compared to the tree of the field (Deut. Just as a garden may contain many trees, some bearing fruit though poisonous, although all are drawing their nourishment from the same brook flowing nearby, so the waters of Torah too, being the source of our sustenance do not produce the same results in all people. Where there is a rotten core, even the purest form of nourishment can become contaminated. Our Parshah deals with individuals who may have a rotten core, in whom even the study of Torah sooner or later leads to undesirable results. This is why the Talmud in Chullin 133, tells us that students of bad character should not be given instruction, as it would be foolish to accord honour to a fool, or worse still, to further heresy. The fool is he who professes to believe that the strictures we read in the Torah apply only to believers, to people who had first affirmed the tenets of the Jewish religion. They think that those who have never accepted the Torah as a yardstick for their personal conduct, are exempt from Gods retribution. It is to such individuals that the Torah addresses itself in our chapter. Contrary to what they think, such people will be singled out for special attention. They would not even be able to enjoy the blessings bestowed by God on His people due to the people's overwhelmingly loyal adherence to God and His Torah. In verse eighteen, the thought processes of the evil hearted people are described. "In order that the well watered confer its benefit on the dry by mere proximity." The Torah describes the following scenario: Two fields thrive, due to the presence nearby of a natural water supply. A third field nearby requires artificial irrigation. The owner of the third field, relying on the proximity of his field to the other two which enjoy a natural source of water supply, neglects to irrigate his field by failing to install the necessary mechanism. The Torah, by describing the punishment of such a farmer as particularly harsh, i.e. "He will wipe out his name," (29,19) stresses that this kind of penalty is reserved for individuals. In exploding the myth that since the community will prosper, the individual cannot suffer regardless of his conduct, the Torah merely applies to Israel the promise of God after the deluge. Likewise, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had taught this lesson about evil minded communities. The Torah completes the chapter by explaining that the function of the Jewish Court of Law is to act as Gods representative for crimes committed publicly, but that transgressions which occur in private, and cannot be dealt with by the judiciary, will be taken care of by God personally.