August 13, 2022: Day 173 – Ezekiel 6-10 and Proverbs 27

The prophet Ezekiel cries out that the end has come.  This is repeated three times in chapter 7 and it is followed by the phrase: Doom has come up on you.  So, that’s not a great way to start our reading, but it is a way.  What Ezekiel is told to work on is the idolatry that is manifesting itself within the temple.  The holiest of places in all of Jerusalem finds itself with a bronze statue to a god that simply should not be there.  But God comes up with a solution.  He is sending mercenaries to slaughter all those who have not turned their back on the Lord.  That takes place and Ezekiel cries out and wonders if anyone is going to be spared.  The glory of God, the presence of God, then departs from the temple. That is pretty serious stuff right there.  When God departs from your presence there is really no turning back.

In Proverbs we find the verse that is repeated time after time in 27:17 – “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  There are many other verses that have just as catchy and memorable phrases such as in vs.22 – “Though you grind a foll with a mortar…you will not remove his folly from him.”  I love the imagery there.