Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 24-26.

God gives Ezekiel a prophecy where He compares Jerusalem to a cooking pot.  In the prophecy God calls for filling the pot with the best cuts of meat and boiling them all together.  The point of this prophecy being that God’s judgement, unlike man’s, will not favor the rich and powerful, or politically connected, over the poor and powerless.  When God brings judgement He will treat rich and poor equally, the only distinction He will make is between the righteous and the unrighteous.  And I want to note that while this passage does not make this point, the righteous are those who repent and throw themselves on God’s mercy.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 22-23.

Ezekiel lays out the reasons that God will destroy Jerusalem.  He lays out how the political leaders have shed blood to advance their interests.  While it became culturally acceptable to treat parents with contempt, oppress foreigners, mistreat orphans and widows, despise the Holy, behave in all sorts of sexually inappropriate ways, profit off of the poor, and extort unjust gains.  Ezekiel goes on to describe how the religious leaders fail to distinguish between the holy and the common and teach that there is no difference between the clean and the unclean.  How can the people be expected to honor God when those who claim to speak on His behalf fail to distinguish between good and evil?

I was going to write about a news story I recently read which illustrates the ways in which political and religious leaders profit off of the poor while claiming to speak on their behalf, but decided that would distract from my point.  Reading this passage and seeing how it applies to our society today makes it look like we are doomed, like God’s judgement will inescapably fall on us.  However, there is one other thing in this passage.  Ezekiel tells us that God looked in Jerusalem for people to repair the wall against unrighteousness, for people to stand in the gaps while it was being repaired.  And He did not find them.  Well, He is looking for such people today in our society.  Will you work to repair the wall? Will you stand in the gaps in the wall?  Or will you just put whitewash on it to cover up that it is about to collapse?

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

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

When some elders of Israel came to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord, God told Ezekiel that He would not allow them to inquire of Him.  God then reminds them of the sin and rebelliousness of their ancestors, culminating by asking them, rhetorically, if they will defile themselves in the way that their ancestors did.  In particular God points out that they defile themselves by sacrificing their children.  Now to me, the context seems to suggest that those to whom Ezekiel was speaking did not consider themselves to be worshiping idols.  In the same way, most of those in our society today who are sacrificing children for their ideals do not consider themselves to be worshiping idols, especially those who consider themselves Christians.  So, let us examine our lives for the ways in which we defile ourselves by making offerings to other gods.  Perhaps we do not sacrifice our children, or even encourage others to sacrifice theirs, but what other acts do we commit which indicate our true loyalty lies with something other than God?

God told the Israelite elders who consulted Ezekiel that He would deal with them for His name’s sake and not according to their evil ways and corrupt practices.  I believe that He will do the same for those today who truly seek to be His people and in that day, we will loathe ourselves for the evil we have committed.

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

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

Today’s passage begins with an allegorical parable (are there any other kind?) about Judah’s last king.  He then explains the meaning of the parable.  Ezekiel explains that if King Zedekiah had honored his oath to the king of Babylon, God would have caused him to prosper.  However, because Zedekiah broke the covenant which he made with the king of Babylon, God will allow him to die in Babylon without an heir.  Extending the allegory, Ezekiel says that God will  take a shoot from the same stock which Babylon had selected a plant a tree which would tower over the earth.  This is clearly a prophecy about God’s Messiah offering hope for those about to see the destruction of Jerusalem.

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.

Ezekiel starts today’s passage with a prophecy against those who preach, but do not have, or even seek, a message from God.  He compares them to people who coat a wall with whitewash rather than repair the damage.  When he makes this prophecy he refers to those who speak in platitudes instead of speaking the hard words with which God condemns sin.  We have similar people today, people who are busy telling people that God blesses their sins rather than calling them to change their ways.  He goes on to condemn those who seek to profit from speaking spiritual messages which they have created out of their own imagination.  Finally, Ezekiel condemns those who have created their own idols within themselves, but then seek guidance from those to whom God speaks.  So, rather than look to “prophets” who will tell us that everything is OK, let us turn from whatever idols get between us and God and renounce the detestable practices we have fallen into.  Seek to rebuild the wall of righteousness which protects the land, starting with yourself.  Just as I need to start with myself.

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 yesterday’s passage, Ezekiel prophesied about the corrupt practices of the people and leaders still living in Jerusalem and how those practices would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem.  Today, Ezekiel goes into more detail about that destruction.  Ezekiel describes how God ordered six “men” to execute judgement upon the people in Jerusalem.  God ordered them to kill without pity or compassion.  However, God sent ahead of them a “man” ordered to mark those who lamented and grieved over the detestable things being done in Jerusalem.  Those ordered to kill were also ordered to pass by those so marked.  I want you to notice that those who were marked for protection were not marked in advance.  They were not those who had at some point lamented and grieved over the sins being carried out.  They were those who were actively doing so when God’s judgement was carried out.  So, let us grieve and lament about the detestable things being done in our society today.

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.

In today’s passage Ezekiel prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem and the people living there.  His prophecy calls for almost complete destruction of everyone living in and near Jerusalem, which seems somewhat frightening when we think about how closely our society fits his condemnation of the people of Jerusalem.  However, as we read a little further we see that this destruction came about because of their actions.  God promised to repay them for their detestable conduct.  He would bring judgement on them according to their own standards.  In the same way, God will bring judgement upon people today…they will be judged by their own standards.

God then gives Ezekiel a vision of the people in Jerusalem.  The first part shows Ezekiel the idolatry and sin which the people of Jerusalem were doing in full view of the public, but God tells him the people are committing even more detestable acts in private than what they do in public.  God shows how the leaders of Jerusalem each pursued their own idolatry, their own agenda, in private.  Publicly, these leaders proclaimed themselves servants of the people and sharing common values with the people, but in private they pursued their own interests, interests which the fact that they kept them private suggest the people would have found reprehensible.  We see the same thing among our leaders today; in public they say one thing, but in private they do another.  What they say in public is bad enough, but what they keep hidden is worse.

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 am always struck by Ezekiel’s call to prophecy.  I think many aspects of his call apply to each and every one of us.  When Ezekiel realized he was in the presence of the glory of the Lord, he fell on his face.  We also should prostrate ourselves before God.  God told him to stand up so that He could speak with him.  However, Ezekiel did not stand up, instead God’s Spirit raised him to his feet.  In the same way, we need God’s Spirit in us in order for us to stand in God’s presence.

Which brings us to the meat of God’s commission to Ezekiel.  God told Ezekiel that it did not matter if those He sent him to listened or did not listen to the message he spoke to them, so long as they knew that a man of God had been among them.  We, also, should not worry about whether people listen to the message God has given us, so long as they know that we choose to speak God’s message.  Then, before sending Ezekiel out to speak His words, God gave them to him on a scroll, telling him to eat it and fill his stomach with it.  I have always understood that to mean that Ezekiel was to first listen to and abide by the words which God was giving him to speak.  That of course is how the people would know that Ezekiel was a man of God, and how they will know that we are the people of God; when we live by words which we speak to them on behalf of God.

I almost stopped there, but I think we need to hear God’s call about being a watchman.  When God reveals to us that someone is doing something wicked which will lead to their death, we are under obligation to warn them against their wicked actions.  If they listen to us and change their ways, all can rejoice.  If they do not listen to us, God will hold us blameless because we warned them about the danger to themselves of their action.  However, if we do not warn them against the dangers of their wickedness, we will be held accountable for their suffering.  So, let us not let fear of people keep us silent when God tells us to call others to righteousness.

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