Read Ezekiel
7-9 & Hebrews
10:24-39
To discover:
As you read note what has
so provoked God.
To ponder:
God’s word now
comes to Ezekiel, declaring the end of the land under God’s anger, and his
judgement without pity at the practices conducted there – again, so that the
people will know he is the LORD (7v1-9). Here God pictures a rod, which would
be used for punishing children, budding with arrogance and violence. This may
refer to how these sins have led to the punishment, or how God will use the
arrogance and violence of Babylon
against the people. God’s promise is that the time for punishment has arrived,
no people or wealth will be left, and those who have sold land will not be able
to recover it as they will die. And so even though the people may prepare for
battle, it is pointless as they will not be able to fight (7v10-14).
Once more we see the division
between famine and plague in Jerusalem ,
and the sword outside it. What is added is a description of those escaping to
the mountains moaning in terror at what their sins have brought on them, and
acting as those who are in mourning. Their silver and gold is described as
unclean because they used it to make idols and images. But they are told that
on the day of God’s wrath they will discard it as useless as it won’t be able
to save them. Rather, the foreigners attacking them will take it as loot and
defile it, and most serious of all, they will desecrate God’s treasured place –
the temple (7v15-22).
What we are seeing, is just how
utterly God’s judgement destroys all the false securities of this world. Only
his word, and our relationship with him that is based on it, endures forever.
At this point Ezekiel is told to
prepare chains as a symbol of the people being taken into exile. Because of the
violence in the land and in Jerusalem ,
God says he will bring the most wicked nation against Israel ,
taking their houses, humbling the mighty, and desecrating their sanctuaries –
presumably their places of false worship. The people are told that they will
seek peace but will receive only calamity and rumour – perhaps rumours of more
to come that will leave them constantly unsettled. They will be without God’s
word or wisdom by prophet, priest or elder, and so without guidance or hope. So
the king, prince and people will despair and tremble, as God judges them by
their conduct. And only then, on experiencing God’s wrath at their sin in
fulfilment of his word, will they know he is the LORD (7v23-27). We should note
here, that a lack of those who teach God’s word in the church today implies it
is a church under judgement.
Chapter 8 begins a new section. By
noting the date of what follows, Ezekiel stresses its importance. Whilst
sitting in his house with some elders God’s hand came upon him and he was
transported in a vision to the temple in Jerusalem .
He describes a figure matching the one in the earlier chariot. This is God
himself, which is why he is careful to say the figure had an “appearance” of a
man and “what looked like” a hand, for God is spirit and only embodied in the
Lord Jesus. Ezekiel records God lifting him by the hair and the Spirit lifting
him between heaven and earth – probably meaning that he was up high in the air.
He is taken to the temple gate the king would pass through, where God tells him
to look north and see an idol that had been set up (8v1-4). It is “of jealousy”
presumably because it provoked righteous jealousy in God for inhabiting his
temple and drawing the affections of his people. There is a sense in which all
idols can therefore take this title. God asks Ezekiel if he sees the detestable
things being done here, no doubt in worship of this idol, and explains it is
this that will send him far from his sanctuary. He then gets Ezekiel to dig
through a wall where he sees what seems to be a secret doorway to a room. There
70 elders and a prominent leader offer incense in front of idols and carvings
of detestable animals, which may have been the snake-gods of surrounding pagan
cultures (8v5-11). God notes that these people each have their own idol and
assume the LORD doesn’t see and has forsaken the land. Returning Ezekiel to the
north gate, he then points out women engaging in the cultic practice of
mourning Tammuz, a Sumerian god. The note with each scene that Ezekiel will see
even more detestable things, highlights just how bad Israel ’s
idolatry was. And so, Ezekiel is finally brought to the inner court where he
sees 25 men with their backs to the temple, the place of God’s presence, bowing
to the east in worship of the sun (8v12-16).
Even in the church of today, the
gods of other religions are worshipped and prayed to in so called multi-faith
services. Although it is considered intolerance in our pluralistic culture, we
should note that this too is detestable to the Lord.
In the light of all this, God asks
Ezekiel if it is trivial that Judah
are doing these things, adding that they also fill the land with violence. It
is for these reasons, he says he will act in anger towards then, not showing
pity even if they shout in his ears (8v17-18). The meaning of “putting a branch
to their nose” is uncertain. Perhaps it refers to them bringing harm upon
themselves. Whatever the case, we are being shown that the terrible destruction
of Jerusalem that we have read of,
was a just punishment for the most appalling idolatry and evil.
At this point God calls 6 guards to
come from the north with deadly weapons. With them is a man in linen, the
priestly garment. God’s glory then moves from above the cherubim (as in chapter
1) to the threshold of the temple. The sense is that he is about to leave as he
tells the man to put a mark on the foreheads of all in the city who grieve over
the idolatry, calling the guards to kill everyone else without pity, starting
with the elders in the sanctuary, and fill the temple courts with the slain, so
defiling it. This idea applies to the final judgement too (see Rev 7v3, 1 Pet
4v17). In response Ezekiel cries out, asking God whether he is going to kill
all those remaining from the once significant Israel ,
and the LORD replies that he will not show pity because of how great the
people’s sin is (9v1-11).
Praying
it home:
Praise God that he
is a jealous God, loving his people that intently. Pray that the church in the
west would be clear in its rejection of other religions and gods.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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