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

The people of Tyre were wealthy and successful, but also arrogant.  In particular their king was so.  The king of Tyre believed that because he had the good fortune to rule over a city which was accessible only by sea that he was a god.  The king of Tyre, and the people he ruled over, were convinced that they could withstand any attack.  Ezekiel warns them that when God sends an army against them, they will fall.  King Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for 13 years causing much suffering in that city and the death of its king.  Later, Alexander sacked Tyre because the king of Tyre considered himself a god greater than Alexander..  Overall, let us remember that no matter how secure our position may seem, God can bring us low.

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.

I really struggled with what to write about today’s passage.  Finally it came to me that the prophecy using the cooking pot as a metaphor was directed specifically at Jerusalem.  In many of the other prophecies against Jerusalem, Jerusalem is symbolic for all of Judah, or sometimes even all of Israel.  But this one is specific to Jerusalem.  The people of Jerusalem considered themselves the elite of Judah, and at times of all of Israel.  And among the people of Jerusalem there were those who were considered better than the rest. So, I see this as a prophecy against those who see themselves as the elite of a nation.  God will hold those who see themselves as above the rest of the nation responsible for all of the sins of that nation.   The “choicest” cuts of meat were put into the pot, some “better” cuts than others.   But God will “cook” that pot over the fire until there is no distinction among them,  He will heat the pot with fire in order to turn them from their sins, but, if they do not, He will raise the temperature until they are burned to the metal of the pot and the pot is ruined.  God is turning up the heat right now, will we turn from our sins?

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.

As I read through today’s passage I was struck by how Ezekiel lumped together four categories of sin: unjust gain, shedding innocent blood, sacrificing children to idols, and desecrating the Sabbaths.  In chapter 22, he starts out by writing of God’s condemnation of Jerusalem for shedding blood in the midst of the city.  He speaks of how those in authority use their power to shed blood and to make a profit off of the poor.  The context makes it clear that Ezekiel is not referring to those who make a living by providing goods or services to the poor, because the next sentence condemns those who extort unjust gain from their neighbors.  In chapter 23 Ezekiel writes about those who sacrificed their children and then desecrated God’s sanctuary by entering it on the same day.   He is clearly referring to those who killed their children and then proffered worship to God with no remorse.  And he writes about them desecrating God’s Sabbaths and despising holy things.  The implication being that all of the other sins descended from those two.

At the end of chapter 22 Ezekiel brings up a theme which comes up throughout his book; God is looking for someone to build up the walls and stand in the gap.  I feel challenged by this.  God is calling me to stand in the gap for my country, for the people among whom I live.  I feel that I have failed to keep His Sabbath holy (to the degree that this passage refers to the Sabbaths other than the weekly one, I do not currently see how those apply to me).  And I do not spend enough time in prayer.  Recently, I saw a post on social media calling on Christians to commit to dropping what they are doing at 8 PM Central Time every day and spend a minute in prayer.  I feel called by this.  The time of day is not important.  What is important is that you pick a time of day, every day, when you will stop whatever else you are doing and pray.  We can do that can’t we? Commit to take 1 minute out of whatever else we are doing to pray for the people around us?

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 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.

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

Ezekiel makes two prophecies worth thinking on in today’s passage.  First, he uses a metaphor of two eagles and a vine to describe the faithlessness of Zedekiah.  Zedekiah was put on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar and swore an oath of fealty to him.  But, once he had consolidated his hold over Jerusalem, he entered into an alliance with Egypt and rebelled against Babylon.  Ezekiel prophesied that God would use Babylon to bring Zedekiah and Jerusalem down for breaking their covenant with Babylon.  Then, at a later time, God promised to raise up a ruler over His people who would show the world that He was indeed God.

Ezekiel then goes from there to a prophecy which sits near to the center of the Christian faith.  Ezekiel is not the first, nor the only, prophet to make this proclamation.  And from the frequency with which it gets brought back up we can see that we as humans have trouble remembering it.  Each individual is responsible for their own sins. A son, or daughter, does not inherit righteousness, nor do they inherit guilt, from their parents.  If your parents were terrible, awful people, you may still choose to be a good person, and if your parents were good, righteous people, God will still hold you to account if you choose the path of wickedness.  We, also, should judge people based on their own actions, not the righteousness, or wickedness, of their parents.

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.

In today’s passage, Ezekiel speaks out against false prophets.  He appears to give a separate condemnation for female false prophets than the one he gives for male false prophets.  However, his condemnations are actually against two different kinds of false prophets, those who claim to speak on behalf of God, but to whom God has not spoken, and those who claim a source for their prophetic visions other than God.  And as I think a little more about it I realize that both types of false prophet are two sides of the same coin.  The first fail to point out the sins of society and encourage people to turn to God.  The second condemn those whose sins are relatively minor and defend those who commit more destructive sins.  In both cases, they cover up what is truly wrong and make efforts to make society’s true failings look like strengths.  Ezekiel then goes on to condemn those who might think they are exempt from his previous condemnation because they do not prophecy.  He condemns those of us who turn to God for guidance while worshiping idols we have set up in our hearts.  Let us scour our hearts for those things which we have allowed to keep us from doing God’s will.  This last condemnation should hit close to home.  Just because we do not publicly worship an idol does not mean that we do not worship one, or more.

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.

Again in today’s passage Ezekiel describes a vision of the four living creatures.  He writes that they are the same beings as those described in his first vision.  Yet the picture that I draw in my head is somewhat different from the one I draw when I read the first one.  I think  that if I had the talent to put both of these “drawings” on paper I could see how they are different perspectives on the same thing, but part of me thinks that perhaps they actually appeared different to Ezekiel and he just “knew” that they were the same beings (sort of like how in dreams you know that you are some place familiar, but when you wake up and think about that place in the dream it contains elements that are different from what you know of the real place).

However, the focus of my thoughts on today’s passage come in the section before Ezekiel describes the four living creatures.  Ezekiel saw God summon six men armed with deadly weapons and one man dressed in linen with a writing kit.  God instructed the man with the writing kit to go throughout the city and mark those who grieved and lamented over the detestable things which were happening in the city.  Then God ordered the armed men to go through the city and kill everyone, except those who had been marked by the man in linen.  So, when you look at our society, do you grieve for the terrible things which people generally accept as normal and acceptable?  Do you lament the great harm being done to others in the name of “choice”?  Let us mourn for the terrible things which are being done and pray to God that He use us to transform the lives of those around us so that they choose to live according to His word.

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.

Whenever I read Ezekiel’s descriptions of the living creatures in his visions I wish I had the artistic talent to draw out what those words describe.  It always feels to me like I am missing something significant because my mental picture is incomplete.  On the other hand, another part of my wonders if perhaps we make too much of the vision, that perhaps it was just intended to convey the glory, and majesty, of God as He called Ezekiel to his mission.  In any case, I do not want to get too caught up in the description of the four living creatures because the actual message of Ezekiel’s calling is worth our full attention.

I want to consider three elements of Ezekiel’s calling.  God gives Ezekiel a scroll which He tells him to eat, then to go speak to the people of Israel.   To use a modern idiom, God was telling Ezekiel to internalize His message before speaking to the people of Israel.  When God gives us a message for people, our first step should be to “eat” that message and make it part of us.  Before we preach God’s word to others we should live by it ourselves.

That first element (first in my relating, not in the passage itself) I believe applies to everyone who follows God.  The next two elements of Ezekiel’s call do not.  God called Ezekiel to speak His words to the people of Israel, not to people who spoke a different language from him, or lived in a far away land.  However, because those people spoke the same language as he did, they would be stubborn and refuse to truly listen to what he had to say.  So, God would make Ezekiel just as stubborn and hard-headed as they.  We often think that being called to go to a foreign land as a missionary is the more difficult calling, but this passage suggests that may not be true.  If we find ourselves with a ministry to the members of the society in which we were born, we must be prepared to be stubborn and obstinate..  And wherever we are called to minister, we must not allow the disapproval of those around us to silence us when God tells us to speak. If God gives us a message telling sinners of their sin, we dare not keep silent.  If we do not speak the message which God gives us, their blood will be on our hands.

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