I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 32-33.

    Ezekiel was called to be a watchman for the people of Israel. In the same way many of us are called to be watchmen today. In that role we are called to warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways. If we are so called it is important to remember the important part of this passage. God takes no pleasure in the deaths of the wicked. Rather, He desires that they turn from their wicked ways and live. When we call out the wicked for their sins, our purpose is not to show that we are better than they, or to make the righteous feel good about themselves. Our purpose should be to convince the wicked to turn from their self destructive behavior and do what is in their own true interest. We need to remember that if the righteous turn to sin they will receive the same judgment as the wicked and if the wicked turn from their sin God will forgive them. I want to reiterate that the motivating factor in warning against sin should be love of the sinner, not a desire to see them punished. We do not show love for others by pretending that their self destructive behavior (sin often harms others, but it always harms the sinner) will not harm them.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 29-31.

    The Pharaoh and the people of Egypt thought that they were gods, that they had made themselves great. Ancient Egypt’s power and wealth came from its position along the Nile. The people of Egypt had become so content in the position of power and wealth which resulted from their location that they believed that they had created it for themselves. They failed to acknowledge that their wealth and power were, in part, the result of things over which they had no control. They were guilty of the same hubris of which Ezekiel accused the King of Tyre; they thought they were gods. Reading this, it is easy to see how the people of the United States can fall into the same error. Egypt was a land with natural defenses and with resources to rise to power. The United States has similar advantages. In both cases, these natural features did not automatically make the nations powerful and wealthy. It required the people to make the most of the assets they were given. However, in both cases the temptation to take credit for the gifts which God gave them was/is great and many people have fallen into that temptation.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 24-26.

    When I read how God told Ezekiel that his wife was about to die and he was not allowed to mourn her death. It is hard for me to imagine being told that my wife was about to die, that I was not allowed to mourn for her, AND I was to use this as a message to people. But that is what happened to Ezekiel. God told Ezekiel to do this to communicate to the people of Jerusalem that when Jerusalem fell they would not time, energy, or ability to mourn for their loved ones who had died.

    The passage concludes with a warning to Judah’s neighbors against the epicaricacy (the English word I was told did not exist when I first heard the word “schadenfreude”) they were experiencing over the fall of Jerusalem. The destruction which came to Jerusalem was going to come upon them as well. As we see in the world today, chaos and war are not limited to a single nation. When people begin to make war it is rarely limited in scope. The chaos and violence tend to spread to surrounding countries, sometimes spreading to countries that are far distant to the ones first engulfed.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 22-23.

    Ezekiel lists out the sins of the people of Israel still living in Jerusalem and Judah. The leaders are in it for themselves, going so far as to kill to advance themselves. The people despise anything holy. Sexual immorality is rampant, even that which most would consider deviant and twisted. So-called prophets speak words on behalf of God which He has not said. Even the common people oppress others when they get the opportunity. Then Ezekiel tells us what we can do if we find ourselves in a similar society (which, in my opinion, we do). God was looking for people to rebuild the wall of righteousness and others to stand in the gap in the wall.

    What does it mean to “stand in the gap” and to “rebuild the wall of righteousness”? This is certainly not authoritative, but here is my take on it. We stand in the gap by pointing out how these various sins have negative consequences both for the people committing them and for the people around them. We do so by showing how sexual immorality leads to misery and poverty (sexual immorality leads to people failing to form stable families and stable families are the surest way to not be in poverty). I will not go into details about how other sins do similar things, but I will point out that God was not arbitrary in declaring things sin. He commanded us not to do certain things because those things have negative consequences, even when we do not see it that way. But standing in the gap is not enough, someone must rebuild the wall of righteousness. This involves doing more than just showing people how sin destroys themselves and others. It involves doing positive good and convincing others to turn from sin to do positive good. It means helping the poor and oppressed (and convincing others to do likewise). It means showing those trapped in sexual immorality that love is not sex and sex is not love; showing them how following God’s commands about sexuality will allow them to heal from the hurt and pain they are suffering.
    God is calling some of us to “stand in the gap” and others to “rebuild the wall”, but most of us He is calling to go back and forth between standing in the gap and rebuilding the wall. We make our statements declaring the devastation of sin. Then we walk along side those who have been broken by sin and show them how God can rebuild their lives and heal them.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 20-21.

    When some of the leaders of the people of Israel came to Ezekiel requesting a message from God, Ezekiel confronted them over their idol worship. Ezekiel recounted how the people of Israel historically had repeatedly failed to follow God’s commands. Ezekiel tells how God repeatedly offered the people a fresh opportunity to give up their sins and serve Him. However, He eventually gave them over to the sorts of lifestyle and rules which they craved.

    I was really struggling with understanding what the point of this passage was for us today. Then I wrote the final sentence of the last paragraph and realized how it applies to our society today. Generation after generation God has sent prophets, preachers, and leaders to bring revival and to turn people to the course which brings joy and happiness. And generation after generation people yearn after the perceived delights of serving other gods. Generation after generation God calls us to make Him the center of our lives and generation after generation people instead seek to make themselves the center of the universe. Finally, we come to the point where people sacrifice their very children on this altar and hold doing so up as a positive thing. Ezekiel says that God will allow us to pollute ourselves in this manner. He will let us chase after those detestable practices for which we yearn. Elsewhere, Ezekiel and other prophets have promised that God will send His judgment upon us for these sins, but here Ezekiel tells us that God will show us that He is Lord. Despite our yearning after detestable practices, sooner or later we will turn to God and His commands. Then we will serve God in all we do and hate ourselves for the evil we did in the past.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 17-19.

    Once more Ezekiel uses a metaphor to communicate his message. The message here is pretty obvious and much the same as the one which Jeremiah gave for the same situation. King Zedekiah was put on the throne of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, who demanded, and received, an oath of fealty from Zedekiah. Later, Zedekiah turned to the Pharaoh of Egypt for support in breaking that oath of fealty. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel condemned him for this and warned him that it would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem. In this passage, Ezekiel laws some of the blame for Zedekiah’s faithlessness at the feet of the people of Jerusalem. As I read the biblical record, Zedekiah was under significant political pressure to obtain independence from Babylon. Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem made the mistake of putting their faith in the Pharaoh, who was merely human, while themselves being faithless.

    Chapter 18 contains a message from God which is at the heart of understanding God’s will for us all. Ezekiel begins the chapter by challenging the belief that children are destined to suffer because of their parents’ failures and sins. We have tendency to hold people accountable for the actions of their parents and their grandparents, sometimes even of the people they live among. And there is a reason why we do this. Someone who was abused as a child is more likely to abuse their own children. Someone whose parent (father or mother) abused alcohol or drugs is more likely to do the same. The same is true of many other sins and behaviors, both good and bad. However, God declares that it does not have to be this way. We can choose to turn from the sins we learned from our parents and to live righteously. If we do, God will not punish us because our parents were sinners. God will judge each and every one of us according to our actions. The same is true of those who had good parents. If they do not follow in their parents’ footsteps of living righteously, they will suffer for their wickedness. It is God’s wish that each and every person live righteously. He takes no pleasure in the suffering we bring upon ourselves.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 13-15.

    Ezekiel prophesied against the false prophets who speak on behalf of God, but have not heard a message from God. This message is directed against those who want to tell others to do the right thing but do not listen to what God says is the right thing. Rather than repair the cracks in the wall of integrity which keeps evil out, they paper over them with platitudes. The dangerous part about reading this passage is that it is easy to point to others and say, “This applies to them. They are doing exactly what Ezekiel prophesied against.” However, we need to read this passage and examine how it may apply to ourselves. This is where reading the Bible through repeatedly has value. I know that later in this book Ezekiel calls for someone to stand in the breaches in the wall. Knowing that tells me that I need to look to see what I have done to repair the breaches in the wall of integrity. Am I repairing the cracks in my integrity, or am I papering over them? Because God is sending winds, hail, and rain. If our integrity is intact we will be able to withstand the coming storm, but, if not, the wind will blow us away, the hail will hammer us into the ground, and the rain will wash the earth clean of us. This is one of those passages which calls us to examine ourselves and put our lives in order. But it also calls on us to examine our society and call those around us to live with integrity. The storm is coming and, as we see in Texas, it is not enough to be prepared ourselves, we need to help our neighbors prepare as well.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 9-12.

    Having described the idolatry which he witnessed in his vision of Jerusalem, Ezekiel now describes God’s reaction to that idolatry. In the vision Ezekiel saw six men armed with deadly weapons and a seventh man clothed in linen(which makes me curious about how the other men were dressed) who was carrying a writing kit. God instructed the man dressed in linen to go through Jerusalem and mark the forehead of everyone who was saddened by the detestable things which were being done. He sent the six armed men to kill everyone in Jerusalem not so marked. As bad as things were, and as overwhelming as the judgment which God was sending upon Jerusalem, there were some people who had been faithful and whom God was going to spare.

    At the conclusion of Ezekiel’s vision of Jerusalem he saw the glory of God depart the Temple and the city. Then at the end of today’s passage Ezekiel addressed those who claimed that because prophets had been prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem for years and it had not yet happened, those prophecies were false. Ezekiel responds to those people by saying that the destruction would be put off no longer. An element of Ezekiel’s message is that God has repeatedly sent prophets to the people of Jerusalem calling them to turn from their sins to Him. Ezekiel was telling the people that, while it was too late to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem since the glory of God had already departed, there is still time to turn to God. You may have left turning to God to too late to avoid suffering, but there is still value in serving Him.
    I really wish I could understand the symbolism of the living creatures/cherubim and the related elements of Ezekiel’s visions because the imagery is really gorgeous and clearly had great significance to Ezekiel. Unfortunately, all I see when I read those descriptions is a beautiful word picture with no meaning attached to it (OK, not completely no meaning, but very limited). I know that there is something of significance to these elements of Ezekiel’s vision, otherwise he would not spend so much time describing them in detail.