Year 6, Day 161: Ezekiel 35

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Ezekiel 35 gives us a unique perspective on Edom.  Yes, we’ve heard a judgment oracle regarding Edom already.  However, God is continuing His point that while the Hebrew people were judged and will be restored, many of the surrounding nations will be judged and be assimilated.  Their culture will become absorbed into the culture of a different people.  There are many reasons for this to happen.  In Edom’s case, it has much to do with their appetite.

Do you hear how in the opening few verses the Edomites are accused of enjoying violence?  They did not do anything to stop the slide of Israel or Judah.  In fact, they planned what they were going to do with the land once the Hebrew people were removed from it!  They enjoyed watching the brutality of Assyria and Babylon against the Hebrew people.  But because they had an appetite for violence, they would likewise be consumed by violence themselves.  People who enjoy violent pursuits usually have other violent dynamics to their life.  Our appetite – that which we desire and crave – usually comes around to get us in the end if it does not come from God in its origin.

As I’ve already said, the Edomites appetite for violence fueled their appetite for accumulating resources.  They planned what they were going to do with the Hebrew land.  The coveted the land that God gave the Hebrew people.  They coveted the status that this particular area of the world commanded in global trade at the time.  They had a distinct appetite for their neighbors’ possessions.  That appetite led them into peril and judgment.

Al of this continues to cause me to look at the modern world.  Are we content with our lot in life?  Are we content with the resources God gives to us?  Do we not covet?  Do we not dream about what we could do with the resources of other people?  Are we any less guilty than the people of Edom?

<><