Year 9, Day 159: Ezekiel 33

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This chapter is loaded with great content.  It starts with a section about the watchman.  God tells Ezekiel that as a watchman, he is to be about warning people of the sin in their life.  Ezekiel isn’t being held accountable for their sin; he is being held accountable with respect to the awareness of their sin.  God tells them that if they sin and are aware of it, it’s on them.  If they sin and aren’t aware of the sin, then it is on Ezekiel.

I think this policy makes sense.  Ezekiel is a priest and a prophet.  He’s supposed to be an example.  He’s supposed to be a leader.  He is supposed to be teaching the next generation.  He can’t control what they do with his teaching, but he can control their awareness to his teaching.  This is a calling that every good teaching should embrace and set as their standard.

The next section is about righteousness.  Here we have a comfortable teaching.  We will all be judged by our efforts in life.  If we live righteously, God will approve.  If we live righteously but slid into sin, then our earlier righteousness won’t save us.  If we live wickedly, we will be judged.  If we live wickedly but repent and turn to God’s righteousness, our wickedness will be forgiven.  This section really makes sense to the Christian mindset.

In the third section, the idea of entitlement truly comes to roost.  The people are asking Ezekiel if they don’t deserve the land. God looks to Ezekiel and asks them what about their choices makes them think they deserve it?  They are eating blood.  They are depending on their own strength and intelligence.  They have no respect for marriage.  They worship their own idols.  In other words, they do what is right in their own mind.

This is a stark reminder for everyone who is entitled.  We like to think that we are where we are because of our own genius and our own creativity.  But what are we in the sight of God?  Am I a genius without God?  Am I creative without God?  God’s point isn’t that they aren’t strong or capable.  God’s point is that they’ve forgotten that they are nothing without God.

<><

Year 9, Day 158: Ezekiel 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here

https://enteeremo.blogspot.com/2013/06/year-3-day-158-ezekiel-32.html

Today’s lament is in the same theme as yesterday’s passage.  God laments over the destruction of the Pharaoh.  In fact, it is probably better stated that God laments that the destruction of Pharaoh is necessary.  God is a righteous judge; H can judge properly.  What He laments is that we make it necessary.

Look at the long list of nations and leaders that have had to be brought down.  Hear what is in most of the sections.  Leaders are brought down for the fear they cast among the people.  They are brought down for the terror they reveal.  Nations are judged and toppled because of the ruthlessness they showed.

It goes back to the point from yesterday’s reading.  Human hubris is powerful.  We like to become king of the hill.  Unfortunately, when we do become king of the hill we become a despot rather than a benevolent leader who continues to look out for those around them.  Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

This is why God laments.

<><

Year 9, Day 157: Ezekiel 31

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 31 gives us a parable of warning.  This chapter feels like a retelling of why Assyria fell, which it is.  The point of this chapter is to speak truth about the future by telling a story of the past.  Assyria was a mighty nation that seemed to rule the known world, until it didn’t.

In fact, when this chapter starts speaking about Assyria as a giant tree that towered over everything else, the story takes on a tower of Babel kind of feel to it.  What was the point of the tower of Babel?  The tower of Babel was a human creation designed to show how great humanity was.  God came to earth, defeated it, and scattered the people.

For the record, that’s what he did to Assyria and its king.  If you happen to be keeping score, that’s also what He did to Egypt the first time during the exodus.  It’s also what happened to the Canaanites after the exodus.  It is what will happen to Babylon.  It is what will happen to Persia after them, Greece after them, Rome after them, The Holy Roman Empire after them, and I suppose the idea is clear at this point.

Human beings tend to struggle to become king of the hill and then gloat about being the top dog, taking advantage of everyone who isn’t actively trying to bring him down.  God finds this behavior ridiculous, especially since He is the one who is always toppling us.  He is waiting for us to acknowledge that we are only great with Him.  We are not able to sit atop the world without realizing that He is still sitting more atop than us.

Things always go better with Him than without Him.  This is just as true at the top of the hill as the bottom.  The only problem is that as we get closer to the top of the hill it gets harder to see this reality.

<><

Year 9, Day 156: Ezekiel 30

Theological Commentary: Click Here

At first glance, there isn’t much in this chapter that hasn’t been said quite frequently in the past few weeks.  God will judge Egypt.  Babylon will be His instrument of destruction.  Even more, this will be done so that they will know that God is who He says He is.  If nothing else, it is important to realize that this happens because it is the only way left to God to get them to realize He is there and He is powerful.

As I read through this chapter, though, I came to realize that the content of this chapter isn’t new.  Hasn’t God already proven himself to the Egyptians?  Hasn’t he already silenced a prince of the Pharaoh?  Hasn’t He already destroyed them?

Of course He has.  The Exodus was already a story of God’s will versus human hubris.  God has already demonstrated His ability to conquer the human will.  So, what does this teach us?

The truth is that human beings have short memories.  We have short memories individually, naturally.  But communally, we have equally short memories.  This is why we have the saying, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”  Given the same opportunity, we will likely all make the same mistakes as people who were in the same situation before us.

God knows this about us.  He could have obliterated Egypt during the Exodus.  He didn’t.  He gave them another chance.  He could have obliterated them through the Babylonians.  He once more doesn’t.  He gives them another chance.

Humans may be stubborn.  We might not learn lessons well, especially from other people.  But as slow and stubborn as we might be, God is even more patient and loving.  That’s an interesting lesson to get out of this chapter on the destruction of Egypt.

<><

Year 9, Day 155: Ezekiel 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here

It is easy, especially in today’s Christianity, to think that the Old Testament is about God and the Hebrew people.  In that, I mean to exclude the rest of the world.  It is remarkably easy to listen to preachers and hear the popular passages and think that God wanted the Hebrew people to thrive and be exalted while the rest of the nations were to be diminished.  It is easy to think that God didn’t start caring about the Gentiles until Jesus came around and changed things with His death.

I think this perspective is absolutely wrong.  Yes, God did care about the Hebrew people.  The Old Testament is God’s story about His relationship with Abraham and his descendants.  The story is primarily focused upon the Hebrew people and their ability – or lack of ability – to obey the Lord and walk with Him.  However, that doesn’t exclude God’s relationship with the other nations.  The Hebrew people were supposed to be the shining example, the star pupil.  But they weren’t inherently better than everyone else.

For example, didn’t we just spend three days listening to God lament that the Phoenician people got it wrong and needed to be taught a lesson?  Now we are going to listen to God say similar things to Egypt.  Egypt of all people!  These are the people who oppressed the Hebrew people.  This is the home of Pharaoh, the nemesis of God.  Can I possibly claim that God is mourning the need to bring Egypt to heel, too?

I can, and I am.  Yes, in this chapter God calls Egypt the great dragon, and the Bible is full of places where the dragon is lifted up as God’s nemesis.  But look past those words.  Look at the end.  Where does God leave Egypt?  He could have left Egypt in destruction, erased from the annuls of history by the Babylonians.  He doesn’t, though.  He promises to bring them back together and to restore them as a nation.  Maybe not a great nation, but they will be restored to a nation nonetheless.

What is it that Egypt did that was so offensive to God?  In one case, they share a human flaw with the Phoenicians.  They think too highly of themselves.  In their pride, they forget God.  They think their great civilization was built by their hands.

In another case, they have something else to bring that the Phoenicians did not do.  God is holding Egypt responsible for promising help and not being able to deliver upon it.  God calls them a staff of reed.  In other places in the prophets God calls Egypt a staff that breaks and splinters in the hands of the Hebrew people.  They promise help but so often they actually cause more trouble than would have happened had they stayed out of things.  God resents that the pride of Egypt is so great that they think they can save other people, too.

I think this is a powerful lesson to learn, especially for those with an eye towards their neighbor.  God wants us to be neighborly and hospitable.  However, we should be neighborly to introduce them to God and to bring the love of God into their life.  We cannot save other people; we shouldn’t be working with others to convince them of our own greatness!  We are to be a part of God’s plan, not striving to accomplish our own purposes.

<><

Year 9, Day 154: Ezekiel 28

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today Ezekiel narrows the scope of his focus even more today.  Here he looks at the princes and king of Tyre.  These are the leaders.  These are the moral compass.  These are the people who set the country on its course.

What does God have to say about the princes?  They thought of themselves like a god.  Perhaps they thought they were invincible.  Perhaps they thought they had all the knowledge of the world.  Perhaps they thought themselves healthy enough to live forever.  The point is that they equated themselves to God.  They are proud and they don’t know their place.  Instead of leading with humility, they lead with their ego.

Then we have a glance at the king.  God laments over the king because he gave him every opportunity.  He says that he set them up in Eden.  In other words, God gave him pleasure, fulfillment, and a comfortable life.  He satisfied his needs.  He also calls him a cherub placed on the mountain of God.  In other words, he was valued and loved in the presence of God.  Yet, he, too, allowed himself to be corrupted and fall to pride.  He thought more of himself than he should have.  His pride profaned the promise in which God had established him.

The lesson in this chapter is easy.  When we are blessed by God, we need to pay attention to making sure we don’t forget the one who does the blessing.  We can’t lose focus.  We need to remember who it is that places us, who it is that blesses us, and who it is that loves us.  Especially for the blessed, the difficult part of life is not surviving but remaining humble while doing so.

<><

Year 9, Day 153: Ezekiel 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today we get a lament for Tyre.  We didn’t get a lament for any of the nations prior to Tyre, but Tyre is not unique in this, either.  Other nations will get a lament as well.

I think the fact that God gives Tyre a lament is an indication that He is saddened by what could have been.  Yesterday I spoke about how good their society functioned.  Today we hear more about just how wide their trade network was!  They were trading with just about everyone.  They were running good from one nation to another.  They were helping other societies grow and become strong.  Granted, they were getting rich off of it, but there is nothing wrong with making a living.  The Phoenicians had a great system and a phenomenal culture.  Their impact is continued to be felt today as we use an offshoot of the writing system they developed!

If their society was so great, then why is God lamenting?  There could be a couple of legitimate reasons, but I’m going to focus in on one.  I think God is saddened when people who have been blessed find it easy to forget all about Him.  Rather than understanding their blessing, people who are blessed often lose sight of God.  They become so focused on what they have that they forget about where it came from in the first place.

I think this is why God is lamenting.  In the midst of their great society, He wanted relationship with them.  He wanted them to understand that He is the one who opened all the doors of trade.  He is the one that taught them to sail.  He is the one who brought all the nations together so that they could have an empire of trade.  God laments because the people of Tyre had no desire to see Him as the real reason of their success.

In this light, I think this is a message for us all.  We all have blessings in our life.  We all have reason to acknowledge God’s hand in our life.  It is up to us, however, to do so.

<><

Year 9, Day 152: Ezekiel 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today Ezekiel speaks about Tyre.  These were the seafaring people who lived along the Mediterranean coast.  We typically call them Phoenicians when speaking of them from a historical, not a spiritual, reference.  They were great traders, travelling all over the Mediterranean – and probably the Atlantic Ocean coastline in Africa and Europe.

It would be easy to say that God’s issue with Tyre is the same as yesterday.  There are certain elements of it in the reading today.  God does hint at the fact that Tyre took advantage of the Hebrew people when they were being attacked and judged by Assyria and Babylon.

I think there is much more to this, though.  What God dwells on is the destruction of the Phoenician society.  He speaks about destroying their wealth.  He speaks about removing their pleasant buildings. God says that He will stop their music.  He will strip their princes bare.

I think what God is getting at here is that the people of Tyre were too caught up in their materialistic life.  They were providing for themselves.  They were not in relationship with God; they had no need for God!  Their society was rich and functioning quite well on its own – or so they thought.

Because the people had no need for God, God would show them the error of their ways.  He would show them calamity.  He would remind them that if we focus on the material things of this world, it can be stripped away quite readily!  He will show them that if we think society is all about buying, selling, and making money then we are exceptionally shallow in our perspective!

This is why the people of Tyre will come to judgment.  Their perspective is short-sighted.  They need to be reminded that there is more to life than luxury and comfort.

<><

Year 9, Day 151: Ezekiel 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 25 introduces us to the prophecies against other nations.  The pattern is noticeable.  The countries surrounding the Hebrew people were vengeful and showed no compassion upon the Hebrew people when they could have used some.  Therefore, God will give them back what they deserve.

There isn’t much reason to take the point too deeply.  God is watching how we act around others.  Are we compassionate or are we harsh?  Are we forgiving or do we hold onto grudges?  Are we willing to raise ourselves up by pulling other people down?

What God is talking about today is character.  The nations around the Hebrew people did not display character.  They took advantage.  They plundered the helpless and schemed against the afflicted.  They were in it for themselves, not willing to use their power and influence appropriately.

This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, though.  God has always championed the orphan and the widow.  The Hebrew people themselves were formed by taking a person who did not belong in the Promised Land and planting him there.  The Hebrew people were themselves sojourners in a foreign land.  They were exiles.  God indeed does care how we treat the people around us.

<><

Year 9, Day 150: Ezekiel 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 24 is a shocking chapter.  It begins plainly enough.  Jerusalem is surrounded and God tells Ezekiel to get a pot and essentially make a stew.  This is a highly symbolic act as the people who have sealed themselves in Jerusalem have basically sealed their fate.  They have no way of escaping the pot, so to speak.

Then we move to the proclamation that Ezekiel’s wife is about to die.  God takes her, the delight of his eyes, away from him.  While that’s bad, it isn’t the worst part.  God then tells him not to mourn.  I can’t imagine such a thought.  I can’t imagine having the person in this life that you are the closest to being ripped out of your life and told to not mourn.  How incredibly difficult!

That being said, I get the many layered images being said through this.  God is making a comparison to the fall of Jerusalem.  First of all, the people will be in the midst of exile.  They will have bigger problems than the loss of the city – especially those who are already in exile!  Yes, the destruction of Jerusalem is bad; but it isn’t like Jerusalem itself was what truly matters in the end.  What matters is the people and their hearts being pointed towards God.

I think there is another layer as well.  Jerusalem was always considered to be God’s Holy City.  Yet, God Himself is about to destroy it.  Will God mourn its loss?  Certainly not!  God will mourn that circumstances had to be dealt with.  God will mourn for the suffering of the people.  But He will not mourn for the loss of the city.  It can – and will – be rebuilt.  The stones can be reformed.  God has a proper perspective on loss, and that is part of what He is asking Ezekiel to teach.

<><

Year 9, Day 149: Ezekiel 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 23 is another straightforward chapter.  In this chapter God gives us a story of two women – representing Judah and Israel – who are accused of whoring themselves among the nations.  What exactly does this mean?  It means that they allow themselves to become intimate with their ways.  They invite foreign traditions into their own life.  They invite foreign gods into their worship.  They invite foreign protect into their plan for safety.  The begin to rely on the people in their life far more than they rely upon God.

I think it is the last bit that offends God the most.  There are lots of things that foreigners do that are different than what I do.  Should I do some of them – things which I am careful to make sure do not offend God – why should God care that I do them?  However, should I begin to worship these foreign ways and replace God’s ways with them, then I am in trouble.  When I turn to those foreign ideas in my times of trouble instead of turning to God, it shows that my heart is no longer His.

At first, this chapter seems like a chapter that is about God hoping the Hebrew people had become isolationist.  It feels like God wanted them to set up a protective wall and stay pure.  But that isn’t the case.  Remember, the Hebrew people were supposed to be God’s example of relationship with the world!  The Hebrew people were supposed to be a light into the world.  It’s impossible to be a light into the world if you never open yourself up to the world.

Therefore, it isn’t the openness of the people that has offended God, it is that the openness of the people has led to the Hebrew people replacing God with the world.  When the Hebrew people needing protection, instead of relying upon God they turned to pacts with Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon.  In order to be more likeable, the Hebrew people adopted their ways and their customs, worshipping their gods, too!  They sold their position of being a light into the world and instead became like the world.  God isn’t so much offended by what they are doing as how they traded their relationship with Him in order to do it.

This is why God uses the word whoring.  They are going about it inappropriately and making it personal.  Instead of coming alongside people and teaching them about God, they are giving up God to come alongside people.  It’s their motivation that is corrupt.  The problem is in their hearts.

<><

Year 9, Day 148: Ezekiel 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 22 speaks once more about the plight of the people in Jerusalem.  Look at the list of crimes of which they ae accused.  They defile themselves with false gods, worshipping them in so-called holy places.  The people disrespect their parents.  They extort the sojourner in their midst.  They take advantage of the orphan and the widow.  They no longer care about the Sabbath.  They are slanderers.  They commit a whole host of sexual crimes.  They take bribes.  They take advantage of their neighbors.

The list is long, is it not?

There is a deeper question at play here.  How did the people get this way?  How does a nation once in love with God become like this?

The rest of the chapter hints to us about the answer.  The answer is simple.  The Hebrew people suffer from a lack of leadership.

The princes look to devour their subjects.  Remember that the point of the kings was to watch over the people.  They were to judge among the people.  They were to set the example of how godliness and righteousness appears. Instead, they use their power for their own gain.  They use their position for their own benefit.  They are selfish, and the people follow suit.

The priests are no better.  The priest prophesy falsely.  They give the people what they want to hear.  They give pleasant messages so that they have the favor of the people.  The priests are no longer teaching the people – especially the hard lessons like clean and unclean.  The priests are abdicating their authority because it is too hard.  The priests are looking for the easy and the popular.  The people are following suit here, too.

How do you corrupt a nation the fastest?  Put poor leadership in place.  Under bad leadership, selfishness reigns.  Under bad leadership, community falters.  Under bad leadership, individualism reigns supreme and the world is full of wanton sinfulness.

<><

Year 9, Day 147: Ezekiel 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 21 is another chapter written in anticipation of the final Babylonian judgment of Jerusalem.  The message is easy to perceive.  The sword is Babylon.  It is sharp.  It is coming to do the job of finishing off the rebellion of the people.  That’s all pretty much been covered a lot in the past.

Where can we go deeper?

Count how many times God talks about the sword being polished and sharpened.  There are many, many references.  In fact, there are so many references that most of us start skipping them as we read through the chapter.  We get that the sword is polished and sharp.  So what?

Polishing a sword and sharpening a sword takes time.  It requires preparation.  It indicates planning.  Babylon is not some whim of God, it is the plan of God.  God has prepared for this moment.  It is a dark moment in the history of the Hebrew people, but it is an important moment.

Furthermore, God’s plan is decisive.  If you cut with a sharp knife, there is no turning back.  If you cut with a dull knife, you usually have to take several passes.  But cutting with a sharp knife is more decisive.  For the record, it is also much safer.  When you cut decisively, you risk much less injury.  That is why God is coming with Babylon sharpened.  He doesn’t want to botch the refinement of His people in exile.  Like a good surgeon, He wants to get in, do the job, and leave as much intact as possible so that healing can occur once it is over.

God knows what He is doing, even in the valley of the shadow of death.  He’s got a plan and He is prepared.  Trust  Him, especially when life is darkest.

<><

Year 9, Day 146: Ezekiel 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 20 is a return back to the familiar things in life.  People come to Ezekiel and ask him to give a prophetic word.  The leaders come and want to know what the Lord intends of them.

Ezekiel turns to the Lord, who simply says to remind them of their past.  God planted Abraham in the Promised Land.  There was rebellion, a famine, and the people landed in Egypt.  Several hundred years later, God brought them out of Egypt.  There was a rebellion and a generation died in the desert.  They entered the Promised Land, where they prospered for a time before there was a rebellion and the people demanded a king to be like the other nations.  Eventually, the people fell away from God and they are once again in judgement. 

The Word of the Lord is not hard to figure out!  God prospers us, we get too full of ourselves, we rebel, and we have to learn a hard lesson!  The pattern runs through nations, generations, communities, and even individual people.  We can all look at this very pattern and see it like ribbons running along the scope and breadth of humanity. 

Learn the lesson!  Stay close to the Lord’s ways and avoid the pitfalls of exile!

Before concluding, recognize the complaint that Ezekiel gives at the end.  The people are beginning to speak about him as the “maker of parables.”  In other words, the people aren’t understanding.  They aren’t getting it.  They are confused because they aren’t willing to learn the lesson.  The want to know the future, to know it precisely, and they want to be impatient about it.

Remember how Jesus used parables.  So many people think Jesus used parables to teach.  Ha!  Look at the parable stories.  The vast majority of the parables end in more questions!  When Jesus spoke in parables, He wasn’t trying to explain things, He was sorting and sifting through the people to see who really cares enough to find out what life is all about and who is simply looking for the easy way out.  The same thing is happening here with Ezekiel.  God is using the exile to sift and sort through the people and see who is willing to be refined.  Ezekiel is playing the part God asks of him exceptionally well, as frustrating as that might be.

<><

Year 9, Day 145: Ezekiel 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Sometimes laments can be dangerous to read.  As human beings, we encounter sadness, sorrow, and disappointment all over the place.  I don’t mean to be a downer, but you don’t have to look too far in life to find someone who does something to disappoint – especially in the day and age of the internet.

We need to be careful, then, to make sure we don’t read into the lament with our own bias.  For example, take today’s lament.  On the surface, it sounds like a person lamenting over the fact that the leaders were raised up to be strong and then taken away into captivity.  It sounds like a lament because things have gone poorly in Jerusalem.  It is really easy to read that into the content because that’s what makes logical sense to our brain.

It is imperative that we remember whose hand it was that caused the exile.  God is the source behind the exile.  God raised up Assyria.  God raised up Babylon.  The exiles are in Babylon in order to pass through God’s purification!  Keep this in mind as we go through the passage.

What is the lament over, then?  The lament is actually about the disobedience of the people.  It was the disobedience of the people that made the lament necessary in the first place.  It is the continued disobedience that raises up these princes to be disobedient to the regent authority placed over them.  It is the disobedience of the people that keeps bringing Babylonian power back to quell uprisings and tighten their grip over Israel.

The lament is that the people don’t learn.  Instead of learning from their yoke, they simply seek to be free of it.  Instead of submitting to God, they seek to exercise their own desires.

Yes, the exile is a sad moment in the history of the Hebrew people.  But it is a moment that should have been filled with purification and return to the Lord instead of continued rebellion.  This is why the lament is lifted up.  It is sad that because the strong are rebellious that they have to be continually removed.

<><

Year 9, Day 144: Ezekiel 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There are parts of this chapter that are simply astounding.  I’ll get them near the end.  Here in the beginning, it is proper to talk about the main theme of the chapter.  Each person will be held accountable to their own actions.  Live according to God, live well.  Live in antithesis to God, die well.  It’s a pretty simple chapter.

In fact, God shows both righteousness and grace in this chapter.  If a person lives in antithesis to God and repents, God will forgive the bad stuff.  That’s grace.  If a person lives with God but then turns away and denounces such life, God will hold the person accountable.  That’s righteousness.  God’s willing to forgive so long as we are willing to walk with Him and repent.  In fact, His grace is so powerful that it doesn’t even have to balance out.  So long as we come at some point to Him, we get forgiveness.  That’s grace.

While I love the concept of grace and I absolutely find grace amazing, I don’t find it astounding.  God’s grace is mind-boggling. God’s grace is unfathomable.  To be fair, God’s grace is so amazing that I find it beyond astounding.  It is incomprehensible.

What parts of this chapter are astounding, then?  The fact that people get upset at God’s grace is astounding.  I can’t believe that there are people who get angry because others aren’t held accountable for the sins of their parents.  To bring that into today’s context, I can’t believe there are people who get angry at the thought of a complete heathen turning to God at the end of their life and getting further angry at God for being so forgiving!  What are people thinking?

Are we all not saved by grace?  Who among us can stand before God and demand salvation?  Who among us can save ourselves?  All of us are undeserving!  What right does anyone have to get angry when grace is offered instead of punishment?

Human beings astound me.

<><

Year 9, Day 143: Ezekiel 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter we have several images.  First, there are the eagles that break of sprigs and plant them.  Notice that the branches become vines – not forgetting the vine imagery from a few chapters back.  God is not impressed with the plantings of these eagles.

These planting represent the breaking of Israel and the breaking of Jerusalem.  They also represent the rebellion that Jerusalem has in getting Egypt involved with the Babylonian occupation.  God is not impressed by how the Hebrew people try to save themselves.

On the other hand, God Himself says that He will take a sprig and plant it on a high mountain.  In other words, the exiles will be taken by God and planted.  They will prosper.  Under God’s watchfulness, these planted exiles will be refined and they will grow.  It’s a trio of reasonable simple parables.

The message, though, is clear.  What God plants grows and prospers.  What humans plant turns into schemes and machinations.

It’s easy to think that the people who were pulled into exile had the hardship and were being punished.  Yet we see that it is the exiles upon whom God has placed hope!  Thos who remain in Jerusalem continue to be the hopeless and rebellious.  Sometimes what we see as punishment is actually God’s hand.  Sometimes what we see as grace is actually evidence of needed judgment.

<><

Year 9, Day 142: Ezekiel 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 16 is a brilliant chapter of theology.  There is a message here, of course.  I don’t think there is a chapter in the Bible that is without message.  But the message is not so much in what the words say as it is in what the words reflect about humanity.

The chapter is a summary analogy of God’s relationship with the Hebrew people.  He, through Abraham, drew them out of the world.  He set them apart.  He grew them.  He clothed them.  He provided for them.  When they were big enough to be called a nation, He called them, gave them a home, and loved them.  He did everything that a husband should do for his bride.

The Hebrew people – representing the human side of the equation – rebelled.  They lusted after human passions.  They thought more of their own ways than the ways of God.  They honestly thought they knew better.  They chased their own ideals and discarded the Lord’s ways.

This is such a great analogy of all of us.  How many of us cannot read the last paragraph and not feel guilt?  How many of us will stand before the Lord and not have sin to confess?  He draws all of us to Him; yet we turn away.

What’s great about this chapter, though, is the ending.  God promises redemption.  He tells them that He will atone for their sins.  He will do the work.  It’s not that God expects the people to make their way back to Him; He will make His way to the people.  That’s the awesome thing about God.  We don’t buy His love.  We receive it.

<><

Year 9, Day 141: Ezekiel 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezekiel 15 is a rather blunt chapter.  God compares the Hebrew people in Jerusalem to a vine in the middle of a forest.  While this might seem like a good thing, especially since Jesus often uses the vine as a symbol of our connection to God, it isn’t a good thing at all.

Like all analogies, context is critical.  God speaks about the vine in a forest.  Next to all the trees, who in their right mind uses a vine to build anything?  Who is going to use the vine for any kind of support.  The only thing, God says, that the vine is good for is for fueling the fire.  It is only good for being consumed.  It is only good for being the object of the wrath of the Lord.  That’s a rather harsh teaching.  God is telling the people of Jerusalem that they are so far away from God that they only thing they can be used for is for being consumed.

There’s more to this, though.  Remember that Ezekiel was a prophet among the exiles.  He wasn’t near Jerusalem or in much contact with the people of Jerusalem.  Therefore, while the people of Jerusalem are the focus of the message, the message is actually for the exiles.  God’s telling the exiles that it is better to be a part of the exile than to be still in Jerusalem.  God is telling the exiles that they have hope because they can be refined.  God will still work with them.  Unlike the rebellious people in Jerusalem, the exiles can still be worked upon.

While this is a bleak message about the people in Jerusalem, this is a message of hope for the people in exile.  God hasn’t abandoned them.  God hasn’t said that they are only good for the fire.  God is still with them and preparing their hearts to be changed.

<><

Year 9, Day 140: Ezekiel 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In Ezekiel 14, God comes against the idolatry off the people.  If the people are going to turn from God, then God will allow them to get what they desire.  God will allow them to follow their passions and their desires.  Essentially, God is telling the people who follow idols that they will be allowed to lay in the bed they make.

Then God turns to an interesting style of argument.  God brings up Noah, Daniel, and Job.  Here are three faithful people indeed.  Noah survived the flood when everyone else was turning to idolatry.  Daniel survived the furnace brought about when those who were turning from God to appease the Babylonians accused Daniel of disobeying the king.  Job survived complete and utter destruction when everyone around him tried to convince him to curse God and die.  God lifts up these people because they were faithful amidst a great multitude of unfaithful people.

God gives a pretty blunt message.  Even if these faithful people are in the midst of God’s wrath, these people would only save themselves.  This should make sense.  After all, aren’t these people remembered for surviving destruction in the midst of unfaithful people?  If Noah, Daniel, and Job were sole survivors in their own day, why would they be anything other than sole survivors in the day of the exile?

God’s point is brilliant, in my opinion.  People are responsible for their own actions.  People are responsible for their own idolatry.  There will be a day of accounting, and our proximity to faithful people will have no impact upon us.  God has shown again and again that He is certainly capable of saving the faithful while allowing the rebellious to achieve what their idolatrous hearts deserve.

<><