Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 20-21.

When some leaders of the people of Israel (I presume these were leaders of those already in Exile) came to Ezekiel to request guidance from God through him, God rejected their specific request for guidance (although He gave them guidance in another area through Ezekiel).  To clarify the way this reads to me, the leaders came to Ezekiel requesting he inquire of God what they should do about a particular matter, which is not mentioned.  God refused to give them guidance on that particular matter, instead telling them to give up their idols and to stop desecrating the Sabbath.

As I read this passage I was struck by the degree to which God condemned them through Ezekiel for desecrating the Sabbath.  Actually, Ezekiel used the plural there.  While we could assume the plural was for all of the weekly Sabbaths which they had failed to keep, I am pretty sure it refers to the weekly Sabbath, the every seven year Sabbath Year, a the Jubilee Year, which happened every 49 years.  However, it makes me wonder if perhaps all of the ills in our society may be traced to our loss, as Christians in Western Society, of a proper respect for God’s weekly day of rest.  I know that I am guilty of not dedicating one day to worshiping and praising God.  I feel called out by this passage to return to dedicating one day a week to Him…with hopefully the result of actually dedicating every day to Him.

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