Bible Reading Challenge Blog

This chapter once again contains both the promise of destruction of enemies of Israel and the promise of restoration for Israel itself.  Gog and Magog are described as the classic enemies of the Lord who will be defeated unilaterally.  But then you see a transition that takes place in vs. 25 where God speaks about restoring the fortunes of Israel.  

Notice how all of the military arms are used to provide fire for the people of Israel who traditionally need to go and gather wood from the forests.  No need to do that for the weapons will be converted to fire wood.  It should sound a little bit like Isaiah 2:4 where we read: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…”

If you were just to pick up this chapter in vs.28 you would get a summary of all that has happened from the time of the exile to the promise of the restoration.  God sent them into exile among the nations and then he will gather them together again, no one will be left behind.  Sounds like a theme within our own military that we have seen at one time.  No one is left behind.  

The repeated reminder to Israel that they are going to be facing destruction is once again emphasized here.  But this time the author incorporates the image of creation to stress how things are going to take place.  You almost see a rolling back of creation in reverse as we read in vs.20 about the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the animals of the field, all creeping things that creep on the ground and then finally all human beings  shall quake at the presence of God.

This order is very similar to what we find in creation and how when God created these animals and the humans he looked around and said it is good, no in fact, it is very good.  The destruction of Israel by a foreign power is God’s desire and it is taking place in a way that is reminiscent of how God created us in the first place.  Remember, we are the clay and God is the potter.  What right do we have to question how God is doing things especially when we are so clearly not following God’s desires in our lives and in the life of the nation as a whole.  

The worship of other idols has moved God to the place where he is able to use a nation that also worship idols to destroy his people, turn them into bones, so that he can one day raise them up again as he has promised.  But for now, his wrath will be complete.

This has to be one of my favorite chapters in Ezekiel.  I not only use it when I speak about the Day of Pentecost, which you can find in Acts 2, but also when I speak about how God created us in Genesis 2 where he first made us and then breathed life into us.  The association for Pentecost is the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit which gives life to the bones in the valley that represent the fallen and the deserted hopes of the people of God while they are in captivity.  The life that God breathes into them, like we find in Genesis, is a reflection of the promise that God will bring back all the people of Israel, even while they now live in desperation, to their original land and give them hope and promise.

It is a powerful chapter that reflects God’s incessant desire to be reconciled with his people and his desire to act in a way that would reflect his everlasting love for his people.  The role of Ezekiel in presenting to the people of God the desires of God is pretty powerful.  Who today is able to present to the people of God, to us, what God’s desires and wishes are?  Keep in mind that the presentation of God’s desires always ran contrary to what the people and the religious and political leaders of this day are proposing.  The dry bones were a sign of resignation.  God never ever is gonna let us down.  Here is a song that reflects this.

We have a hard transition here in this chapter from oracles against Edom and against those who were not the allies of the people of God, to a vision of what things will be when all things will be restored.  And all things will be restored.  We find the grace of God in this chapter front and center.  It would be great to focus in on vs.26-28 where we find the promise that God will give us a new heart and a new spirit.  It will be a heart of flesh as opposed to a heart of stone.  We find this dramatic transition and surgery take place as alluded to us by Jeremiah in 31:33, Deuteronomy 30:1-6 and other places, but this is much more dramatic.

The transformation that takes place within the people of Israel is incited by a recognition of sin (vs.31, 33).  With a recognition of sin comes the opportunity for restoration.  Without that recognition of sin then you find yourself in the same place where you were before that.  Full of sin and without the grace of God to restore you.  

Not only will God restore the towns and the material things but we also find in vs.37 and following that God will allow the people of God to ask for abundance of offspring, to increase their population like a flock.  This definitely happens.  As a result of the towns and the people being restore it will draw people to recognize “Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”  What a fitting way to end this chapter.  But next chapter is one of my favorites.  

Mt. Seir is actually a mountain in Edom, one of the countries against which Ezekiel had prophesied because it had gone against Babylon and had encouraged Israel to try and fight against Babylon, when Jeremiah told Israel to allow them to come and take over the land because they were being punished by God for their unfaithfulness to him.  So this is another oracle against Edom and really against anyone who tries to put themselves in a position where they feel empowered to say: “we will take possession of them.”  

Edom had looked to take advantage of the situation and had invaded both Israel and Judah “while the Lord was still there.” vs.10.  So God as a result: “As the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.”  Not a good position to be in.  As the earth is rejoicing its freedom we find ourselves on the wrong side of history.  I have often felt like I was on the wrong side of history with the trends in culture, but never in light of where God might be leading us.  If I felt like I were on the wrong side of history in regards to God, I would switch sides and try to get on the right side.  Sometimes, though, especially on individual issues, it is hard to know where God stands…

You can’t really read this chapter without reading Matthew 25:31-46.  The beginning of the chapter speaks about the bad shepherds, the pastors who refused to speak the word of the Lord and only spoke what the people wanted to hear.  These are the pastors who were only looking out for themselves and feeding themselves so completely overlooking what God had commanded them to do. 

God says in vs.11 that he is going to have to intervene personally and that there will be a judge, his servant David, who will come and separate the sheep from the sheep.  He was furious with his people because they did not feed the sheep, nor strengthened the weak, nor healed the sick, nor bound up the injured, nor brought back the strayed or sought the lost.  As you read through Matthew 25 you can see a parallel as Jesus comes back, the son of David, and separates the sheep from the goats.

How does this separation take place?  It all depended upon who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, took care of the sick, and visited those in prison.  There is a direct parallel between these verses in Ezekiel and Matthew 25.  You have to think that when Jesus told the parable he was thinking about this Ezekiel Scripture and just gave his own bent to it.

If you have been warned not to do something then you are going to be punished.  If you have not been warned and you do something stupid then the person who was supposed to warn you and didn’t warn you will be held accountable.  That is basically the moral of this chapter.  God tells the people of Israel that he has assigned them as sentinels to tell the people that they have to turn from their wicked ways, turn away from the false idols and eating non kosher food or else God will destroy them.  If the people who were evil turn away then God will save them.  If the people do not turn away then God will destroy them because they were warned and did not heed the warning.

Really, really interesting potential parallel to where we are finding ourselves today as we have been warned that if we do not take this virus seriously then we are going to be reaping the negative effects of it.  I find it shocking that some people are wondering why things are so negative when everyone is following the CDC guidelines when in fact people simply are not following them.  This chapter lays out the basic moral of the story for us as we find ourselves in the midst of this pandemic.  We are never guaranteed our safety, but if we know that doing certain things saves lives and we do them, great.  But when we do not do them then we should not wonder why things are so bad.  Those both who do what they are supposed to do and those who are not doing what they are supposed to do will both suffer.  We live in a community where each person will thrive or suffer based upon what our neighbor is doing.

We begin this chapter with another oracle against Egypt and its impending doom.  Like the previous chapter a reference to its great Nile and that Egypt, like a fish, will be brought up onto dry land so that the surrounding nations can feast and gorge on its downfall.  The lamentations of the people of Egypt is widespread and pretty significant.  The destruction of Egypt is historical because of its place in history as one of the most powerful and indestructible nations on the earth.  But as we see with all things, God is able to bring the proud and the mighty to their knees.  Nothing is able to face up to the power and presence of God, no matter how powerful or well known a nation might be.  A good reminder whenever we think that we are untouchable.

But the chapter then transitions from Egypt to all of the nations that were involved in antagonism against Israel and the people of God.  Assyria will be destroyed, Elam will be destroyed, Meshech and Tubal will be destroyed, Edom, Sidonians will be destroyed.   Notice how they are described: “went down uncircumcised into the world below.”  That is probably the worst status possible in the eyes of the Israelite.  To be uncircumcised means that you have no part of God’s presence.  On top of that you go to the world below which is not where God is at all, so you have a bit of a double whammy.  

For each of the nations they are described negatively as the uncircumcised.  They say misery loves company, and we find in vs.31 that Pharaoh is consoled because he sees all the other nations being destroyed just like his troops were destroyed.  So he that going for him.  

This chapter requires Egypt to be a bit self-reflective.  Again, like Tyre, Egypt has the sin of thinking of itself more important and less vulnerable than it really is.  Ezekiel challenges the king of Egypt to think if the power of Egypt can in any way compare to the cedar of Lebanon which was famous throughout all the land.  This cedar of Lebanon is an archetype for Assyria which was brought low by Babylon as well.  Assyria was a power that was considered invincible, until it wasn’t.  Egypt’s might couldn’t compare to that of Assyria, which also fell to Babylon.

Not only was Assyria cut down like its cedars, but it also went below the ground down to Sheol which was considered hell.  The lesson here for Egypt is that anytime we think that we are invincible or not able to be touched by any nation because of the might that we have built up all by ourselves, then the Lord will send someone to cut down our trees.  Then the Lord will come and send someone to humble us to a point where we descend to the lowest stature we could imagine.  The greatness by which we measure ourselves is only as great as God allows us to think we are.  It can all be gone in an instant.  It is an important message for any country looking to make itself great at the expense of other countries and at the expense of building up false pride.

We spent some time in Egypt and were able to take a boat trip on the Nile.  It was somewhat surreal to be able to be on a river that is so important in the Bible.  It was overwhelming to realize that on this body of moving water Moses was scooped up and brought into Pharaoh’s house.  The Nile plays a primary role in these prophecies of Ezekiel.  In the previous chapter we read that the fish of the Nile will be thrown to dry ground as an example of the nation of Egypt being brought up like a fish and thrown onto dry land so that the birds of prey and the animals of the land can feast on it.

Here that theme is expanded to not only Egypt who is destroyed, but also all those who supported her from Ethiopia to all of Arabia, those who allied with Egypt will fall just as hard as her.  The imagery then transitions to later in the chapter to a man who has a broken arm who has not been given a sling and whose arm will not heal as a result.  This man will not be able to wield a sword in order to defend himself against the advancing armies of Babylon.  In fact, we read that both of his arms will be broken, rendering him completely defenseless.  It reminds me a bit of the Black Night in Monty Python.  The one who loses all of his limbs and then simply calls it a flesh wound.  I would put the link up, but there are a couples instances of language that is not appropriate to put on a post put out by a pastor.  Feel free to look it up.