Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 26:1-21.  Let’s go!  

On verses 1-21:  Tyre was a prosperous coastal city in the ancient Middle East, with the older part of the city (“old Tyre”) situated on the mainland and the newer part situated on an island.  Known as one of the great economic centres of the ancient Middle East, Tyre was a significant port city.  In addition, Tyre was famous for its purple dye used most famously to make royal robes.  It is for this reason that, according to some scholars, the people in the region of Phoenicia, where Tyre was located, became known as “the purple people”.

In verses 1-6 God goes after the people of Tyre for trying to capitalize on the misfortune of the people of Jerusalem (v2).  In response to their attitude God says that He will bring down the prosperous, powerful “city of renown” (v17) that is Tyre and turn it into “a desolate city” (v8) and “plunder for the nations” (v5).  God would reduce Tyre to “a place to spread fishnets” (v6) (i.e. where fishermen wash their nets) and a city that is “never to be rebuilt” (v6).  In verse 14 when God says of Tyre, “I will make you a bare rock” (v14), this is a play on words, since Tyre’s name literally means “rock”.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 25:1-17.  Let’s go!

On verses 1-11:  After previously prophesying at length about the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem and such destruction coming to pass, Ezekiel here receives messages from the Lord for nations that were historically enemies of Judah and Jerusalem.   The first nation God has a message for is the Ammonites.  Because the Ammonites gloated and rejoiced over the deportation of the Israelites, the desecration of the temple and the destruction of the land of Israel, God will cause the Ammonites to be cut off and exterminated.

The second nation was Moab.  Because Moab looked down on Israel and spoke with contempt about Israel’s downfall, God would punish the Moabites and give them over to other nations.

What can we learn from this?  God watches how we respond to the misfortune or loss of others.  When others suffer loss, including people you would consider your enemies or your competitors, do not gloat boastfully about it.   Rather, have a heart of humility and compassion toward them.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 24:15-27.  Let’s go!

On verses 15-27:  Here, in one of the most heartbreaking moments in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel’s beloved wife passes away.  It is not 100% clear whether Ezekiel’s wife was already sick or she was in good health immediately before her tragic death.  In any event, God commands Ezekiel not to publicly mourn his wife’s death in the traditional Jewish way, which in addition to weeping, wailing and shedding tears, would involve tearing one’s clothes, taking off one’s turban and sandals, covering the lower part of one’s face and eating certain foods designated for mourners (v16-17).  Instead of mourning publicly, Ezekiel was to groan quietly (v17).  When Ezekiel’s wife does indeed die, Ezekiel does as God commands (v18).  Taking notice, the Israelites ask Ezekiel what this has to do with them (v19).  Ezekiel responds that just as Ezekiel kept his feelings of grief bottled up inside when his wife passed away, so the Israelites would do the same when they receive the news that Jerusalem – the stronghold they took pride in, the delight of their eyes, and the object of their affection (v21) – would be taken away as well as their sons and daughters (v20-24).

Did God cause Ezekiel’s wife to die just so that Ezekiel would have a sermon illustration?  I don’t believe so.  I think more probably God, who works in all things and who uses even the most tragic, heartbreaking situations in our lives for a greater purpose, was teaching Ezekiel a spiritual lesson that would speak to others, even as he was going through tremendous personal loss. 

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).