Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 32-33.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

Usually when I read today’s passage God’s comparison of Ezekiel to a watchman who must give the people warning of impending danger is the part which strikes closest to home for me.  However, today I was struck more by two other things in this passage.  First is something which I have touched on when mentioned elsewhere.  If someone whom God has praised and blessed for their righteousness begins to do evil, God will withdraw His blessing and allow them to suffer the consequences of their evil.  On the other hand, if someone whom God has promised to send punishment for their evil, stops committing evil acts and begins to live righteously, God will withdraw the promised punishment and bless them.  If you seek the benefits of righteous behavior you must continue to behave righteously.  On the other hand, when you recognize the wickedness of your actions it is never too late to change.

Second, I was struck by God’s warning to Ezekiel that most of those coming to listen to him prophesy were merely doing so for entertainment’s sake.  They had no intention of acting on what he said to them.  It struck me as something we must be careful to avoid today.  It is all too easy for us to attend worship for what I get out of it, for my entertainment.  And, it is all too easy to conduct services which entertain people rather than inspire them to change.  I would also like to point out that Ezekiel was a true prophet of God, yet God told him that those who came to listen to him has no intention of acting on the words which he spoke.  So, while if we are the one speaking we must be careful to make clear that we are calling people to change, the onus of this passage is on those of us who are the audience when God’s word is spoken.  We must listen to God’s word and change our behavior and we must not allow ourselves to select where we choose to listen to God’s word because it entertains us sufficiently.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 29-31.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

Another passage about which I am never quite sure what to write.  However a few aspects about it strike me as noteworthy, but I am not sure I can tie them together into one coherent thought.  So, I will write about my thoughts and see where that leads me (not necessarily in the order the parts of the passage which inspire those thoughts appear in the passage).  First, Ezekiel warns that trouble will befall Egypt because Pharaoh had put himself in the place of God.  Pharaoh believed that the benefits of living in the Nile River valley resulted from his own actions.  Second, Egypt had presented itself as a power which could protect Israel against Babylon, but, when the time came, Egypt failed to provide that protection.  Both of these things led to the overthrow of Egypt as a world power.  Any nation which is guilty of these two things will find itself facing similar destruction.  I could spend some time writing about how these two behaviors lead to the downfall of a nation, but the important thing is that God tells us that we can expect any nation which follows Egypt’s example will fall.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 27-28.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

I am not exactly sure what to write today.  Ezekiel prophesies here against Tyre.  The city of Tyre had gained great wealth through trade and, because of its geographical location on an island, had little fear of military attack.  The people of Tyre became convinced of their “specialness” above all others.  They believed that they were unique among peoples and looked down on everyone else.  This led them to believe that they could take advantage of their trade partners with no risk to themselves.  They were proud and corrupt.  Ezekiel warned that their arrogance would bring about their downfall.

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

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

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

Every time I read Ezekiel’s prophecy about Jerusalem as a cooking pot I feel like I am missing part of the image he is drawing here.  Today, it reads to me like he is making one of two comparisons.  My first thought was that he was comparing Jerusalem to a cooking pot and all of the “meat” was thrown in together and indistinguishable after the cooking.  By that I understand it to mean that there will be no distinguishing the elites from the common man when destruction comes to Jerusalem.  Then when I re-read the passage today, it occurred to me that Ezekiel says that only the choicest meats had been placed in the cooking pot.  To me, that suggests that the prophecy says that the “elites” had gathered in Jerusalem and would suffer there together.  In both cases, I see it as a warning against those who think that they are a special class who will be able to avoid the suffering others will suffer as a result of their decisions.  As I read this I am reminded of things I see in the world today from the elites, from those who believe that their wealth or political connections will shield them from the devastation which will result from the policies they support and the actions which they take.  Again, I would like to note that Ezekiel did not speak his prophecies to the people of Jerusalem.  Rather, Ezekiel prophesied to the Israelites already in exile in Babylon.  I believe that just as I see two possible interpretations for his there are two possible lessons.  First, we should not despair thinking that those whose actions and policies will bring about devastation will escape from the consequences they are bringing upon others.  Second, we should not think that we can take actions which will bring suffering on others and escape that suffering ourselves.

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.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

God spoke a prophecy against Jerusalem through Ezekiel in today’s passage.  In it God accused the people of Jerusalem of being accepting of various sins.  Their political leadership was guilty of using their power to bring about the deaths of their political enemies.  Some among them not only failed to honor their parents, they treated them with contempt.  Others oppressed the foreigners among them, and still others mistreated widows and orphans.  There were sons who slept with their father’s wives, and fathers who slept with their son’s wives.  People among them took bribes to convict the innocent and others who sought riches at the expense of the poor.  Some extorted gain from their neighbors.  And, in the middle of all of this, God accused them of desecrating the Sabbath and despising holy things.  We often look at that last as a relatively minor sin, but Ezekiel makes clear that God sees it otherwise.  It seems to me that Ezekiel is suggesting that desecrating the Sabbath is a kind of “gateway sin” which leads us to many others.  Or, perhaps to express it another way, a society which does not respect the Sabbath will fail to respect other important limitations on acceptable actions.

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.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary for the next 22 days.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

When some elders of the Israelite exiles came to Ezekiel to inquire of God, God gave Ezekiel a prophecy condemning them for their idolatry and that of their ancestors.  Ezekiel spoke against the repeated idolatry generation after generation of the Israelites (but I think we should read this as generation after generation of those God has called to worship Him).  Repeatedly, Ezekiel connects desecrating the Sabbath with that idolatry.  As we read this we can easily reach the mistaken conclusion that the idolatry and the desecration of the Sabbath were two separate charges, but I am convinced that Ezekiel was saying that failing to honor the Sabbath was a form of idolatry.  Or, perhaps that it led to idolatry.  After condemning previous generations, Ezekiel condemns the generation to whom he was speaking.  He tells them that they have continued the idolatry of their ancestors by sacrificing their children.  Ezekiel made a direct link between failing to keep the Sabbath and idolatry, and part of that idolatry was sacrificing their children.  I see this as making a direct link between the failure of Christians in the United States failing to properly honor the Sabbath and abortion.  Let us strive to keep all of God’s commands, even the command to keep a day of rest, and pray that He pour out His Spirit upon this world so as to end anyone’s desire to sacrifice their children through abortion.

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.

Ezekiel begins chapter 18 by referring to a proverb spoken among the people:

The parents eat sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge

This proverb comes from things like the fact that children abused by their parents are likely to abuse their own children.  Other types of abuse, bad behavior, and sin are also often passed down from one generation to the next.  As humans we tend to expect that the children of bad people will be bad people.  In a way, we expect that the children of bad people deserve the suffering they receive because their parents were bad people.  God tells us through Ezekiel that He does not see things that way.  God will judge each and every one of us on our own actions.  But there is more to it than that.  God will offer each and every one of us the opportunity to break that cycle of brokenness which we inherit from whatever flaws our parents had.  We do not need to continue the generational pattern of sin.  There is another side to that.  We don’t just get a free pass if our parents did not pass on some type of abuse to us.  And we don’t get to live off of the good behavior our parents may have instilled in us.  We need to actively serve God of our own volition as well.  My parents were devoted servants of God, who served Him in whatever task He put in their hands.  I have failed to live up to the standard they set, and I need to change that going forward.

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 speaks out against those who prophecy without first looking at how the world is.  They base their proclamations about how people should act on how they wish the world to be rather than on how it actually is.  Rather than seeking to learn what God has to say, rather than seeking to understand how the world really works, they proclaim that whatever gives people pleasure is good.  Instead of seeking out what was broken in society and attempting to repair it, they covered it over and proclaimed it good.  There is a second, closely related group which Ezekiel condemns.  This group seeks to make people feel better about themselves, but instead of telling them to stop doing the things which makes them feel badly about themselves tells them to stop feeling badly about doing those things.  Further, this group condemns those who tell people, “if doing that makes you feel badly about yourself, stop doing it.”  There are many in our society who begin with the truth that people should not feel bad about themselves, but instead of telling people to stop doing the bad things which make them feel bad about themselves they tell them to stop thinking those are bad things.  Ezekiel calls us to tell people that the first step to stop feeling bad about yourself is to stop doing bad things and start doing good things: stop sinning and start doing God’s will.

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.

Ezekiel spoke his prophecies to the Israelites who were already in exile before the fall of Jerusalem.  While some of what he said was directed at those remaining in Jerusalem, most of it was about them but directed at those already in exile.  In this passage he makes that clear.  Ezekiel told those living in exile that those living in Jerusalem considered them to be cast off from God, that only those who were still in Jerusalem were the true heirs of Israel.  Those remaining in Jerusalem thought that they were safe because they were God’s Chosen People, living in God’s Holy City.  They also believed that it was their right to take over the land of those who had been taken to exile revoking any claim those people or their descendants might have.  Many of those remaining in Jerusalem refused to see their own sins, somehow believing themselves exempt from obeying God’s laws.  Ezekiel then tells the exiles that God had protected them while in exile and had plans to bring them back to Him and to the land He had given their ancestors.  Ezekiel also points out that not all of those living in Jerusalem were ignoring God’s laws; some of them mourned the terrible sins being committed around them.

I am having trouble putting in words the point I am trying to make here.  In Jerusalem, there were those living among the “blessed” who mourned and lamented the horrible things being done by those around them.  In exile, there were those living “far from God”, who sought to do His will, who sought His forgiveness.  Ezekiel told both that God saw them and would protect them.  There were also two groups whom Ezekiel warned of imminent disaster: those who believed their special status with God allowed them to do as they pleased, and those who believed they need not fear God at all.  Ezekiel assured those who feared God’s punishment and sought His will that they need not fear.  Let us do God’s will and not fear the disaster His word tells us is coming, while calling on those around us to turn from their wickedness (note: some of them practice that wickedness to fill the emptiness they feel because they believe there is no God).

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