7 Men
As I was reading this passage I came across a thought in my head
that I am going to share. I can’t find
validation for this thought anywhere else in a commentary, so you’ll have to
read and discern yourself. But here
goes.
Ezekiel hears God call for the executioners of the city. {Some
translations say guard, but as we’ll see in a little bit that I think
executioner is an appropriate translation here.} Six executioners come forward. Each executioner has a weapon for slaughter in
his hand. Certainly these are angelic or
some kind of divine beings sent by God to watch over what is happening in
Jerusalem.
But then, interestingly enough, comes a seventh man. This seventh man is different. He is dressed like a teacher of the Law or a
priest and has the tools of a scribe at his side.
Numerically speaking, six is the number of creation. It took six days to create the world. However, the number seven is God’s
number. It represents completion. So here at the time of the judgment of
Jerusalem there are seven judges present.
God’s judgment on Jerusalem is symbolically complete and divine. The Babylonian conquest is not a worldly
thing as it appears at first glance.
Rather, the Babylonian conquest is something that comes at the hand of
God.
Judgment
This is a really deep chapter.
God then tells the 7th man to go around the city and to put a
mark on people who are mourning for the abominable acts being done in God’s
place of worship. God tells the 7th
man to select out those who are spiritually opposed to what the people have
made the temple to become.
God then tells the other 6 to go around and slaughter any who are
not marked. Let’s think about this for a
second. God knows everything. So what does it really say about the status
of Jerusalem if He appoints 1 divine being to mark out the spiritually faithful
and 6 divine beings to slaughter the spiritually unfaithful. Clearly, wide is the path that leads to destruction. Many found it.
There is a deep point here.
Those who follow God mourn when the things of God are corrupted. Those who follow God may be powerless to stop
the slide into rebellion on behalf of the people around them, but they still
mourn the corruption. Following God is
not always about winning. Following God
is about faithful obedience. We know
that the faithful few in Jerusalem could not sway the people of Jerusalem into
repentance. But that doesn’t mean they
didn’t likewise mourn the slide into rebellion.
God desires us to mourn with Him when the world chooses to abandon Him.
Again, Ezekiel Falls on His Face
Ezekiel is overcome with grief.
Ezekiel cannot conceive of just how many people will die at the hand of
God’s judgment. He has just seen a
vision from God of how much abomination is happening in the temple. He knows the outcome cannot be good.
But he has absolutely no recourse.
What can Ezekiel do? He’s already
in captivity. He cannot change the
course of Jerusalem’s fate! So all he
can do is mourn.
In many ways, this goes back to my prior point. Sometimes we cannot change the course of
events. Sometimes we are absolutely
powerless to stop it. In those moments,
all we can do is to turn to God, mourn, and accept that ultimately all things
are in His hands.
And there is the point of grace in this story. Yes, people will die during the Babylonian
siege. The people of Jerusalem will reap
the consequences of their idolatry. It
will be a difficult time. But it was not
Ezekiel’s burden to bear. Ezekiel is not
to blame. Ezekiel is called to mourn so
that he can begin to prepare the next generation to not make the same
mistakes. Ezekiel is not called to fix
the problems of the world. Ezekiel is
called to recognize them, mourn, and then go ahead with God’s plan for the
exiles while letting God deal with Jerusalem.
God’s grace is that He doesn’t expect us to solve the world’s
problems. We just recognize them and
mourn.
Obedience
The 7th man completes the task and reports back to
God. He is first obedient. He is thorough. He does what the Lord asks of Him.
Having done what the Lord has asked, it is time for judgment to
begin. Those who were righteous would be
spared. Those who were righteous had
God’s seal of protection. The time had
come for those outside of God’s protection to face the God from whom they had
walked away.
This is a dark note to end upon.
But it is the note I need to end on today.
How important it is to mourn for the lost and to speak truth into
people’s lives…
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment