Read Ezekiel 4-6 & Hebrews
10:1-23
To discover:
As you read note why God
says he is bringing judgement on Jerusalem .
To ponder:
God instructs
Ezekial to draw Jerusalem and act
out a siege against it as a sign to Israel .
The iron wall between the prophet and the city, with the ramps and siege works
in place most likely signifies the strength of God’s hostility as he turns his
face to Jerusalem (4v1-3). We
should remember that although Ezekial is in exile, the siege of Jerusalem
during king Zedekiah’s reign was yet to happen (see 2 Kgs 25). Next, Ezekial is
to lie on his side to bear the sin of Israel
and Judah
respectively. The numbers are much debated. The 390 days probably refers to the
years of rebellion of both the north and south since the days of Solomon, with
the 40 days referring to the extra years Judah
rebelled on her own after the northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria
(4v4-6). The point is that the coming destruction of Jerusalem
was a long time in coming, and a fitting punishment for such persistent sin.
Indeed, God himself says he will tie Ezekial with ropes until he has finished
lying on each side, signifying that the siege of Jerusalem
will not end until the people’s sin is fully paid for (4v7-8). Likewise, the
experience of unbelievers at the final judgement will be in proportion to their
sin.
The call of Ezekial to prophesy with
“bared arm” is a military gesture demonstrating that God is fighting against
his own people (4v7-8). The meagre rations the prophet must live on demonstrate
the scarcity of food during the siege, and the use of human excrement
(considered ritually unclean) for fuel, speaks of the defiled food that would
then be eaten in exile, and so the loss of the ritual cleanliness which was
necessary to be a worshipper of God (4v9-16). The point is that the people will
then be just like the nations. In kindness, however, God changes his
stipulations for Ezekial because of his concern at being defiled. Here the
prophet’s anxiety contrasts the flippancy of the Jews with regard to true
worship.
In what follows, Ezekial has to
shave and divide up his hair into three and deal with each in a way that
signified those dying in the city by plague or famine, by the sword outside,
and those scattered to the nations (5v1-2, 12). From the latter hairs, Ezekial
is to tuck some away implying that a remnant of the exiles will be kept safe.
But by then burning a few of these, he shows that God’s anger against Jerusalem
would spread to those amongst the exiles and remnant too – referring, perhaps,
to the final judgement of any who do not truly love God (5v3-4). At this point
God declares through Ezekial that Jerusalem
had actually rebelled in her idolatry more than the countries around her, which
is why God will inflict a punishment on her, the like of which will never again
be seen, in which the people will resort to cannibalism, and God will withdraw
his favour without pity (5v5-12). After this, he says his anger will cease and
the people will know that he himself had spoken through Ezekial, and with zeal,
ie. passionate anger at Israel ’s
sin (5v13). The city will then be a ruin, rebuke and warning amongst the
onlooking nations, presumably of the consequences of sin (5v14-17). In speaking
to the exiles, Ezekial is no doubt implying that they too should learn from
what they will soon hear has taken place. This is no doubt why the awfulness of
what occurred must be considered and preached today.
In chapter 6 Ezekial is to prophesy
against the land of Israel ,
declaring how God is going to bring the sword, destroying the places of
idolatry and slaying the people infront of their idols. The scattering of their
bones around the altars implies they are desecrated. And this is all so that,
when recalling the words of the prophets, the people will know that God is the
LORD – and, by consequence, their idols are false (6v1-7). God goes on to speak
of how some will escape death by being taken into exile, where they will
remember him, loathe themselves for their evil and idolatry, and recognize that
he is the LORD and didn’t threaten the calamity in vain (6v8-10). Again, this
urges those already in exile to the same. Indeed, it is the result meditation
on these things should bring today, with an awareness of how certain judgement
is when God predicts it.
At this point the LORD instructs
Ezekial to highlight the awfulness of what is coming by clapping, stamping and
crying out “Alas” because of Israel ’s
sin and the destruction it has provoked. He then declares his wrath will reach
all – those “far away” and already in exile, those “near” and so living around Jerusalem ,
and those who “survive” the destruction of the Judean towns around the city
only to die of famine in the siege (6v11-12). The point is that all who have
sinned will we punished, until God’s wrath is spent. He reiterates what this
will mean in the land, making it a desolate waste, and again asserts that this
is so that the people will know he is the LORD (6v13-14). Alongside all the
evidence surrounding Christ, the fulfilment of all the prophets’ predictions in
the exile, as recorded for us in scripture, is yet another proof to us that the
God of Israel is the one true God.
Praying
it home:
Praise God for his
concern that people are not left in their denial of him. Pray that your faith
that the LORD is the true God would be strengthened as you read Ezekial.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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