Today's Reading:

Ezekiel 21
Ezekiel 22
Ezekiel 23
Ezekiel 24

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​Yesterday, Ezekiel felt like he talked in parables, and chapter 20 felt like it ended that way. God was letting them learn the hard way that He was Lord. All people, both the righteous and the wicked, would suffer together. When God’s judgment falls on a nation (like Babylon invades Judah), war does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous suffer the consequences of the sins of the larger group. They are not the cause but will become the remnant. This suffering can refine and test the righteous person’s faith, like Job. Sometimes a person suffers because they are righteous, as in persecution, like Jesus suffered unjustly. The larger purpose is God’s glory. The Old Testament Laws had a purpose and were necessary; they showed where the people failed. Graciously, keeping the laws is not the end-all for us today. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the good news.

 Ezekiel’s speech was limited (he was practically mute except when God gave him a message) for roughly seven to eight years. Looking at the suffering of the righteous alongside the wicked in this section, how does Ezekiel’s long, quiet obedience encourage you when God asks you to endure something difficult or confusing for a long time?

Ezekiel was told to go groan and complain in public, letting the people know that judgment was imminent. The sword would be given into the hands of the “slayer,” Nebuchadnezzar, and the Babylonian army. The sword despised the royal scepter (rod of the royal house of David), and the monarchy would not be spared. What would happen? The earthly kingdom would collapse. God Himself would draw the sword, sharpened and ready, then clap His hands together when His wrath was done, and judgment was complete. The sword would mark out two paths for Babylon: one for an attack on Jerusalem and one for an attack on Ammon.

 God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to choose which path to take first (by pagan divination). Nebuchadnezzar would cast lots with arrows, consult household pagan items (teraphim), and examine the liver of sacrificed animals. The outcome was that Jerusalem would be first, leaving Judah exiled, then Ammon would be judged. Ezekiel was told to set up the two roads for the slaughter and siege of Jerusalem. People would think it was a false omen because of their treaties. God declared judgment on the princes of Israel (Judah’s king, Zedekiah). The word “ruin” was reiterated three times to emphasize the complete overthrow of the Davidic line until the rightful One comes (Jesus, the Messianic promise, the Messiah, from Genesis 49:10). God had sovereignly guided the pagan course so that Nebuchadnezzar chose Jerusalem first.

Jerusalem’s idolatry and shed blood were so bad that even the pagan nations mocked them. They were called “the bloody city” due to the violence, murder, and injustice. The sins listed were that the princes (leaders, not always kings) had used their power to shed blood, showed contempt for parents, oppressed the foreigners, orphans, and widows, they desecrated holy things and the Sabbath, committed slander and sexual immorality (including rape, incest, and adultery), practiced bribery and greed, and they forgot the Lord. They were considered dross, the leftover impurities after purifying silver by fire. They would be melted in God’s wrath, purged, and scattered. There was corruption at every level. Unlike Abraham’s plea for Sodom, where if ten righteous could be found, then God would agree to save the city (Genesis 18). Not even a single righteous person could be found to save Jerusalem.

Chapter 23 gave the story about two sisters who were prostituted themselves to foreign lovers. The capital citiesSamaria (N) and Jerusalem (S) were the sisters. Samaria was terrible, and the second sister, Jerusalem, had seen Samaria’s bad behavior and yet was worse! So, God turned away and still their behavior worsened more. The deliberately shocking words read like smut. The unfaithfulness to God was like a prostitute. The first sister lusted after Assyria, who stripped her and killed her kids (representing the fall of the northern kingdom). The second sister was more corrupt, and lusted after Assyria and Babylon, and also returned to Egypt alliances. Scripture was purposefully graphic and repulsive to show how far Judah pursued foreign powers over God. The comparison of Egypt to donkeys and horses was not about literal sexual acts; it was used as a crude picture to show how shamelessly Judah longed for their foreign alliances. God wanted His people to feel the ugliness of idolatry as political prostitutes. But really, they lusted like beasts, betraying the covenant. God said He would turn her “lovers against her.” He told Ezekiel to judge the two sisters for bloodshed and idolatry so that all women (nations) would be warned. They had been “paid” by the foreign men with bracelets and beautiful crowns just like a prostitute.

 Chapter 24 was another parable, this one about a cooking pot. God told Ezekiel to record the exact date, which was the day judgment on Jerusalem finally began. The pot was filled with choice meat and water and placed on the fire to make it boil. God focused on rust/ corrosion as the fire burned the impurities away. What each part means:

•  Pot- Jerusalem,
• Fire- Babylon siege and destruction.
• Choice meat- the inhabitants of Jerusalem

Ezekiel’s wife was mentioned for the first time. In one blow, God would take Ezekiel’s delight and joy away with the death of his wife. Scripture said she was given a blow (fatal disease), and he was not allowed to mourn in the usual public ways. The exiles would lose their temple, the delight of their eyes, and the grief would be so overwhelming that their own guilt would not allow them to mourn. God needed Ezekiel to be able to relate to the people about the coming grief and pain, and his wife’s death would allow him to have the personal experience of loss, and he would be able to get the people through the time of mourning. 

God wanted Ezekiel to remain silent until the fugitive arrived with the bad news of Jerusalem’s destruction. Back in chapter 3:26, He made Ezekiel silent (mute) and only able to speak what God wanted the people to hear through his prophecy. Ezekiel was mute for more than half of the book, now in chapter 24:26, God announced the day Ezekiel would be able to speak freely again when the fugitives arrived with the news of Jerusalem’s fall,from chapters 3:26 until 33:21-22 he was only to speak God’s words in public!

Today's Discussion question:

Ezekiel suffered in his speech (practically mute except when God gave him a message) for roughly seven to eight years. Looking at the suffering of the righteous alongside the wicked in this section, how does Ezekiel’s long, quiet obedience encourage you when God asks you to endure something difficult or confusing for a long time?

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