Archive for month: August, 2020

Hi GAMErs,

Ezekiel 24:1-2 (NIV) 
1  In the ninth year, in the tenth month on the tenth day, the word of the LORD came to me:
2  “Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.

On verses 1-2:  According to scholars, “in the ninth year” refers to the ninth year of King Zedekiah’s reign as King of Judah (and also the ninth year after Zedekiah’s predecessor King Jehoiachin of Judah was exiled to Babylon – see Ezekiel 1:2 and Jeremiah 39:1).   According to scholars, the exact date being described in verse 1 is January 15, 558 B.C, the day when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem.  By this time Ezekiel had been warning the Israelites for over 4 years that Jerusalem would fall to Babylon (see Ezekiel 1:2), though many had refused to believe.

Ezekiel 24:3-6 (NIV) 
3  Tell this rebellious house a parable and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘Put on the cooking pot; put it on and pour water into it.
4  Put into it the pieces of meat, all the choice pieces–the leg and the shoulder. Fill it with the best of these bones;
5  take the pick of the flock. Pile wood beneath it for the bones; bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it.
6  “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now encrusted, whose deposit will not go away! Empty it piece by piece without casting lots for them.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 23:32-49.  Let’s go!
 
Ezekiel 23:32-35 (NIV) 
32  “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much. 
33  You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. 
34  You will drink it and drain it dry; you will dash it to pieces and tear your breasts. I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. 
35  “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.” 

On verses 32-35:  Earlier in verse 31, God says to the nation of Judah, “You have gone the way of your sister [Israel], so I will put her cup into your hand.”  In other words, because Judah put her hope in other nations instead of God, just as her “older sister” Israel did before her, Judah would suffer a similar fate as Israel: she would be controlled, held captive and shamed by the very nation that she idolized.  Judah would drink the same cup of suffering that Israel drank.   Here in verses 32-35 God continues to speak using this cup imagery.  Because Judah had forgotten God and thrust God behind her back (v35), Judah would bear the consequences of her sins by drinking a “cup of ruin and desolation” (v33), a cup that would bring her “scorn and derision” (v32).  As “large and deep” (v32) as this cup of suffering would be, Judah would “drink it and drain it dry” (v34). 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 23:1-31.  Let’s go!

Ezekiel 23:1-4 (NIV) 
1  The word of the LORD came to me:
2  “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.
3  They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.
4  The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

On verses 1-4:  Here the Lord begins to tell Ezekiel a parable concerning two sisters called Oholah and Oholibah.  Oholah (whose name means “her tent”) is the older sister and represents the northern kingdom of Israel and in particular its capital city Samaria.  Oholibah (whose name means “my tent is in her”) is the younger sister and represents the southern kingdom of Judah and in particular its capital city Jerusalem.  They were “daughters of the same mother” (v2) in that Judah and Israel originally comprised the one nation called “Israel” before they divided into two kingdoms.  When verse 3 says that these two sisters were “prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth” (v3), this is likely a reference to how early on Israel looked to the Egyptians to save them from death (Genesis 42:1) but eventually became slaves to the Egyptians (Exodus 1:11).

Hi GAMErs,
 
Today’s passage is Ezekiel 22:17-31.  Let’s go!
 
Ezekiel 22:17-22 (NIV) 
17  Then the word of the LORD came to me: 
18  “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. 
19  Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. 
20  As men gather silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a furnace to melt it with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. 
21  I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. 
22  As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath upon you.'”
 
On verses 17-22:  Here God has another message for Ezekiel concerning “the house of Israel”, saying that the house of Israel has become dross to Him.  What is dross?  Dross is the impure, unwanted material which rises to the surface, scooped up and thrown away when precious metals like silver are heated in a furnace. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 22:1-16.  Let’s go!

Ezekiel 22:1-5 (NIV) 
1  The word of the LORD came to me: 
2  “Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices 
3  and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, 
4  you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. 
5  Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.
 
On verses 1-5:  In another message that God gives to Ezekiel for the city of Jerusalem, God confirms that it was the people of Jerusalem who brought trouble upon themselves.  He describes Jerusalem as the “city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood” (v3), that “defiles herself by making idols” (v3), who has “become defiled by the idols you have made” (v4) and “brought your days to a close” (v4).