Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 17-19.

I have rarely given much thought to the message of chapter seventeen.  However, today I realized it gives us an important lesson for understanding the implications of how a country implements its foreign policy (and from that, some lessons on our own actions).  When King Josiah ruled, Judah was an ally of Babylon against Assyria, while Egypt was an ally of Assyria.  Josiah was killed in battle trying to prevent Egypt from marching to Assyria’s aid.  Egypt deposed Josiah’s eldest son and put his second son (Jehoiakim) on the throne as a puppet.  A little over a decade later, Babylon deposed Jehoiakim’s son and put Zedekiah on the throne.  As part of that process, Zedekiah swore oaths of loyalty to Babylon.  However, he was soon convinced to renounce those oaths and rely on Egypt for support against Babylon.  In this passage Ezekiel condemns Zedekiah for breaking his oath to Babylon, pointing out that Babylon had provided Judah with the means to thrive during a tumultuous time.  Zedekiah thought that by throwing his support to Egypt he could capitalize on being in between these two powers.  The end result was that instead of thriving as a client state of Babylon Judah became a mere province of Babylon, and later of Persia.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 13-15.

Today’s passage begins with a prophecy against false prophets, against those who prophecy out of their own imagination.  He compares them to masons who whitewash a wall to hide where it is starting to fall apart rather than repair it.  I really love this metaphor, and the way Ezekiel keeps coming back to it throughout his prophecies.  Prophets are called to speak a message which addresses the places where people are falling short of God’s will, a message which addresses the ways in which people are behaving unjustly.  Ezekiel is condemning those who prophesy things which cover up the ways in which people behave unjustly, which cover up the ways in which people anger God.  God sends prophets to tell people about the things they need to change, those who tell people they can keep on doing whatever they want are false prophets.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 9-12.

In chapter eight, which I read yesterday, Ezekiel was given a vision of various ways in which the people of Jerusalem, in particular the leadership, committed detestable idolatrous practices while claiming to worship God.  In chapter nine, which begins today’s passage, that vision continues with Ezekiel seeing God send a “man” to mark those who were grieved by those detestable practices and who lamented that people did them.  God then sent six “men” to follow that man to kill those whom the man did not so mark.  After the man was finished marking people he returned to God’s presence and Ezekiel saw the glory of God depart from Jerusalem’s temple and from Jerusalem.  So, the question we need to ask ourselves: are we grieved by the detestable acts the people around us perform?  Do we lament the failure of those who claim to serve the Lord to remain faithful to Him?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 5-8.

God gave Ezekiel a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and the disaster He was bringing upon the people of Israel for the sins they had committed, and were continuing to commit.  As part of this prophecy, God told Ezekiel that the result of all of these terrible things would be that then they would know that He was the Lord.  God was bringing this judgement upon the people of Israel because they had not listened to the prophets and nothing He had done had brought them to Him.  So, He was going to do this terrible thing, and then His people would turn to Him.  Only when everything else has failed to turn us to Him does God bring His terrible judgement upon us, and even then He only does so in order to get us to turn to Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 1-4.

I always love Ezekiel’s description of his vision, although it makes me wish I had the artistic talent to draw or otherwise create a visual representation of it.  That being said I like the way God gave Ezekiel his mission.  God begins by telling Ezekiel that He was sending him to a stubborn and obstinate people, but that he must not fear to speak God’s message to them.  Ezekiel was only required to speak God’s message, whether or not the people to whom he was sent listened was not his responsibility.  The same is true for us.  God sends us to speak His message to those around us.  If we speak God’s message we are not responsible if those to whom He sent us fail to listen.  I also like the metaphor of scroll which God gave Ezekiel to eat, containing the words he was to speak.  Before Ezekiel spoke God’s word to the people to whom he was sent he needed to internalize God’s words and learn to live according to them.  The same is true for us.  When God gives us words to speak to people we must live according His words before we begin to speak.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.