In our last reading, we received Ezekiel's description of the new temple. In today's reading he places the visionary temple in the context of a restored Jerusalem, and provides a blueprint for right worship and holy living.
Remember that in 11:22-23, Ezekiel describes seeing the glory of God departing from the temple going to the east; now in a vision Ezekiel beholds "the glory of the God of Israel . . . coming from the east." And he reports hearing "the sound of many waters" (43:2)—this is the noise made by the living creatures who guard and serve the LORD (1:24). It is the reverberation of history; God is on the move. Ezekiel reports that "the earth shines with his glory"—this is the brilliance that both reveals the presence of the LORD and hides it. The prophet, overcome by the radiance, falls on his face—such is the impact of his encounter with the divine—but not before he sees the glory of God re-enter the temple from the east, the direction of the rising sun, effectively rededicating it.
Now the LORD speaks to Ezekiel directly out of the temple without intermediary (43:6) declaring the conditions under which he will establish his eternal presence there. The temple shall no longer be in proximity to the palace of the secular ruler or near the sepulchers of dead kings (43:9). It must be morally as well as spatially distanced from such things. Only when the people of Israel "put away their idolatry and the corpses of their kings far from [him]" will the LORD come and abide with them forever. The prophet is then instructed to faithfully deliver to Israel the plans and arrangement of this new temple, together with the "law of the temple" which has been revealed to him (43:12). Whether this is an entirely new law, or simply reaffirms the old law is unclear from the text. This much is certain—the new temple is to be holy—removed from all desecrations and all possibility of profanation—and "the whole territory on the top of the
mountain all around shall be most holy" (43:12).
The prophet is given an elaborate description of the altar that shall be constructed in the new temple, together with instructions regarding the sacrifices surrounding seven-day dedication and "atonement" services. These are to be supervised only by "the levitical priests of the family of Zadok"—the traditional high-priestly family (43:19)—not by any of the "regular clergy," who have corrupted themselves. Only when this atonement is complete can the regular "offerings of well-being" be tendered in accordance with the instructions found in the first three chapters of Leviticus.
This temple belongs to the LORD alone. The gate by which the LORD returned to this new temple from his "exile"—the one facing east—shall remain perpetually closed—"no one shall enter it" (44:2). Because God has entered by that way, no one else ever shall. Only "the prince, because he is a prince"—Ezekiel has in mind a secular ruler of the restored house of David--may sit in that gate to eat a portion of the sacrifices of well-being (44:3). He is, after all, God's viceroy. Otherwise the east gate cannot be used.
Now Ezekiel is himself taken to the north gate of the new sanctuary, and there he is given instructions regarding who "may be admitted to the temple and all those who are to be excluded from the sanctuary" (44:5). All foreigners—those who are "uncircumcised in heart and flesh" (44:7)—shall be excluded from the sanctuary and prohibited from offering sacrifices there. This runs exactly counter to Isaiah's universalistic vision of the new temple (Isaiah 56:3-8).
Ezekiel the priest, however, is primarily concerned with ritual purity of the temple and its priests. Therefore apostate Levites—those who went "astray from [the LORD] after their idols when Israel went astray" (44:10)—shall be relegated to the lesser tasks of slaughtering the animal sacrifices. In this new temple they are not to approach the LORD, but they are appointed "to keep charge of the temple, to do all its chores, all that is to be done in it" (44:14).
But the faithfulness of the descendents of Zadok--the high priestly clan "who kept the charge of [the LORD's] sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray" (44:15)—shall be commended and rewarded. Only they shall enter his sanctuary and approach his table, offering him the bread of the presence and the symbolic parts of the sacrificial animals. As a symbol of purity, they are to wear only linen vestments (44:17). The mixing of linen and wool is forbidden as "un-kosher" and impure. They are to take off these linen vestments—apartments in the new temple are designated for this purpose—"so that they may not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments" (44:19). Furthermore, they are to avoid ritual uncleanness in a number of symbolic ways—by not cutting their hair (44:20), by not drinking while on duty (44:21),and by refraining from marrying a widow or a divorced woman (44:22). By both their words and their behavior they
are to teach the people of God "the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean" (44:23).
The authority given to priests in the Law of Moses is affirmed. They are to function as judges "in a controversy" (44:24). They are to take special care not to become unclean by touching a corpse (44:25)--though certain exceptions are made for close family members. And they are not to eat meat that has not be ritually slaughtered" (44:31). Ezekiel the priest has a special concern for the maintenance of priests and their families. Since they are to be provided for by the offerings given to the temple and the LORD is 'their holding," they are to possess no land. Instead, "every devoted thing [offered to the LORD] shall be theirs" (44:29). The people are told to "give to the priests the first of your dough, in order that a blessing may rest upon your house" (44:30)
Furthermore, a holy district shall be allotted in the restored Jerusalem for the sanctuary and for the houses of the priests next door—a sort of parsonage situation. "Alongside" the holy district shall be the city of the secular prince and his people—"it shall belong to the whole house of Israel" (45:6). Sacred and secular shall not intermix. But the princes are reminded of their sacred role as God's viceroys. They shall "no longer oppress" the people (45:8); instead they are commanded to "put away violence and oppression" and uphold the traditional property rights of the Israelite tribes (45:8-9).
A fair and honest system of weights and measures is the foundation of a just economy and in the new community of restored Jerusalem God sets and guarantees honest scales 45:10-12). The demands for sacrifice are graduated. No one who can give is excluded from giving, but the heaviest weight of obligation lies most heavily on the prince (45:17).
He is to provide sacrifices for the two annual rites of purification—one for the temple (45:18-19) and other an atonement for persons who have "sinned through error or ignorance (45:20). The observance of the feast of Passover, the celebration of the deliverance from Egypt, is commanded—in this period Passover was a communal temple celebration rather than a rite performed in a family setting, as it is today. The prince is required to provide the sacrificial animals for Passover, as well as for Succoth, of the Feast of Booths, (45:25) during which Israel recalled the years of wandering in the wilderness and the guidance that brought them to the Promised Land.
In Ezekiel's vision of the new and restored Jerusalem, the sacred and the profane are strictly segregated, and each person has his or her part in maintaining their separation.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Day 252. Ezekiel 40-42
We had an occasion to note awhile ago that Ezekiel was a priest in the Jerusalem temple before he was taken into captivity with the first group of Judean exiles. In spite of his brilliant vocation as a prophet, the lost temple was never far from his consciousness.
This hopeful, longing vision of a restored and resplendent temple is dated April 28, 573 B.C., about fourteen years after Solomon's temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The LORD's house in Jerusalem is a scorched ruin. Its furnishing and vessels have been carried off to Babylon as plunder. Now Ezekiel is carried in a vision back to the land of Israel and set down on "a very high mountain" (40:2)—there is no indication that it is Mount Zion where Solomon's temple stood. There he is met by a heavenly being, a sort of angelic surveyor, whose appearance "shone like bronze" (40:3). Who has been assigned to guide him through the visionary temple—the temple of the future that already exists in the mind of God. The angel carries a handy measuring reed in length "six long cubits"--each cubit being 20.5 inches.
Using this device, he ascertains that the thickness of the walls of the heavenly temple is the same as its height—about ten feet (40:5)—and we know immediately that this is going to be an odd building indeed. But aside from its strict symmetries it is very plain. Ezekiel, who is capable of lavish description, gives us only the sketchiest account of its ornaments. The palm tree pilasters (40:26) recall the decorations of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:29), but the prophet avoids depictions of human or animal forms which might encourage the idolatry (see Exodus 20:4) that had invaded the old temple before its destruction.
But in the midst of a myriad of measurements, he does pause to tell us that chambers provided face north "for the priests who have charge of the altar." These, we are told, "are the descendents of Zadok, who alone among the descendents of Levi may come near the LORD to minister to him" (40:47). Zadok was a descendent of Aaron, and Israel's first high priest (Exodus 29:26-29), and only priests of his family were allowed to perform the most sacred of duties. The prophet, always concerned with good order, supports the claims of the Zadokite priests and provides a place for them in the heavenly sanctuary. Otherwise there is no mention of personnel in this visionary temple—or furnishings. It seems to be largely empty.
The temple building itself has three sections—an entrance area or vestibule (we Lutherans would call it a narthex), the principle room or "nave," and an inner room, the Holy of Holies--the angelic surveyor, who acts a little like a realtor on a house tour, calls this "the most holy place" (41:5). (There is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant, which had been the principle furnishing of the Holy of Holies and had been carried off as part of the plunder of Solomon's temple.) The decorations on the walls of the nave and holy place recall the cherubim of Ezekiel's earlier vision of the divine chariot (1:5-14). These cherubim are guardians, functioning as servants of the LORD.
All in all, especially compared with the temple of Solomon, this building is very austere indeed. All the gorgeous ornamentation in gold and precious stones lavished upon the former temple is missing from the description of this sanctuary. Its strict geometry, however, is representative of divine perfection. This temple is completely pure and without profanation or uncleanness. And to underline this, the whole of the sanctuary complex is surrounded by a high wall, "five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide," expressly intended "to make separation between the holy and the common" (42:20).
There is no evidence that this heavenly temple reflects any building ever built. It exists only as a vision in the mind of Ezekiel, the prophet-priest, who longs to minister in it. It is an uncorrupted sanctuary, unblemished by sin and idolatry—it is what the temple should have been, not what the temple ever was. In that, Ezekiel's visionary temple is like the Church we long for, free of its sordid past and ambiguous present—the Church that exists for us in heaven, but nowhere else.
This hopeful, longing vision of a restored and resplendent temple is dated April 28, 573 B.C., about fourteen years after Solomon's temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The LORD's house in Jerusalem is a scorched ruin. Its furnishing and vessels have been carried off to Babylon as plunder. Now Ezekiel is carried in a vision back to the land of Israel and set down on "a very high mountain" (40:2)—there is no indication that it is Mount Zion where Solomon's temple stood. There he is met by a heavenly being, a sort of angelic surveyor, whose appearance "shone like bronze" (40:3). Who has been assigned to guide him through the visionary temple—the temple of the future that already exists in the mind of God. The angel carries a handy measuring reed in length "six long cubits"--each cubit being 20.5 inches.
Using this device, he ascertains that the thickness of the walls of the heavenly temple is the same as its height—about ten feet (40:5)—and we know immediately that this is going to be an odd building indeed. But aside from its strict symmetries it is very plain. Ezekiel, who is capable of lavish description, gives us only the sketchiest account of its ornaments. The palm tree pilasters (40:26) recall the decorations of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:29), but the prophet avoids depictions of human or animal forms which might encourage the idolatry (see Exodus 20:4) that had invaded the old temple before its destruction.
But in the midst of a myriad of measurements, he does pause to tell us that chambers provided face north "for the priests who have charge of the altar." These, we are told, "are the descendents of Zadok, who alone among the descendents of Levi may come near the LORD to minister to him" (40:47). Zadok was a descendent of Aaron, and Israel's first high priest (Exodus 29:26-29), and only priests of his family were allowed to perform the most sacred of duties. The prophet, always concerned with good order, supports the claims of the Zadokite priests and provides a place for them in the heavenly sanctuary. Otherwise there is no mention of personnel in this visionary temple—or furnishings. It seems to be largely empty.
The temple building itself has three sections—an entrance area or vestibule (we Lutherans would call it a narthex), the principle room or "nave," and an inner room, the Holy of Holies--the angelic surveyor, who acts a little like a realtor on a house tour, calls this "the most holy place" (41:5). (There is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant, which had been the principle furnishing of the Holy of Holies and had been carried off as part of the plunder of Solomon's temple.) The decorations on the walls of the nave and holy place recall the cherubim of Ezekiel's earlier vision of the divine chariot (1:5-14). These cherubim are guardians, functioning as servants of the LORD.
All in all, especially compared with the temple of Solomon, this building is very austere indeed. All the gorgeous ornamentation in gold and precious stones lavished upon the former temple is missing from the description of this sanctuary. Its strict geometry, however, is representative of divine perfection. This temple is completely pure and without profanation or uncleanness. And to underline this, the whole of the sanctuary complex is surrounded by a high wall, "five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide," expressly intended "to make separation between the holy and the common" (42:20).
There is no evidence that this heavenly temple reflects any building ever built. It exists only as a vision in the mind of Ezekiel, the prophet-priest, who longs to minister in it. It is an uncorrupted sanctuary, unblemished by sin and idolatry—it is what the temple should have been, not what the temple ever was. In that, Ezekiel's visionary temple is like the Church we long for, free of its sordid past and ambiguous present—the Church that exists for us in heaven, but nowhere else.
Day 251. Ezekiel 37-39
The Valley of Dry Bones is arguably the most well-known passage in the Book of Ezekiel, and one of the most celebrated in the Bible. Through the famous African American spiritual "Dem Bones" it has entered language of the popular culture and is familiar to many who have no idea where the words come from. Again, we are told, "the hand of the LORD" comes upon the prophet—it is Ezekiel's way of conveying that he felt the presence of God intimately and urgently. And "the spirit of the LORD" transports him in a vision to a valley "full of bones" (37:1). The "spirit" is the force behind this whole passage—it is that which inspires the prophet and it is also the same life-giving power—the "breath'-- that restores life to the corpses of the dead (37:10). The Hebrew word "ruach" can be translated in a number of ways--as "wind," as "spirit," and as "breath" (see Genesis 1:2 and 2:7)—all three meanings are present
in this passage. "The spirit"—notice the lower case—isn't exactly the Holy Spirit of Christian theology, but for Christians it is impossible not to associate the Spirit of the Risen Christ with the power that gives life to the dead.
We don't know if Ezekiel's vision corresponds to any real place. In all probability it is intended to be the site of some long-ago battle; the bones of the unburied slain are picked and scattered about and "very dry" (37:2). The Lord initiates a dialogue with the prophet—"Mortal, can these bones live?" The question touches on God's own power to give new life to the lifeless, and being to what does not exist. But the prophet, uncertain how to answer, refuses to commit himself-; "O LORD GOD, you know" (37:3), he replies. The bones are, after all, "very dry"—from the human point of view the situation is hopeless. But the LORD commands Ezekiel to prophesy his words to the bones, promising that he will "cause breath (spirit) to enter [them], and [they] shall live" (37:5). It is a theme that recurs again and again in the Bible—the Word of God gives life.
And the prophet does what he is told—he prophesies to the bones. And the scattered bones—in which must be one of the most impressive scenes in all of literature-they begin to seek out each other and reassemble themselves—they are "gathered" and flesh and sinews cover them. There is, however, "no breath (spirit) in them" (37:8)—they are still mere corpses. But then the LORD commands the prophet to say—"Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live" (37:9). And when the prophet does so, the dead live and stand on their feet—"a vast multitude" (37:10).
Then the LORD interprets the vision. The dry bones correspond to the despondent Judean exiles in Babylon, who see themselves as without hope or future and as good as dead. But God has a plan. He promises that his miraculous power working through history will "open [their] graves" (37:12) and give his chosen people a new life—an "inspirited" life. He will "put [his] spirit within them, and [they] will live" (37:14). In its original context this vision pointed to the return of the exiles to their "own soil" and to a reformed and restored kingdom of Israel. But Christians have seen Ezekiel's vision as an image of the final resurrection of the dead and a vision of their ultimate hope in Christ.
Then Ezekiel is commanded to enact a visual parable. He is to take two sticks. On one he is to write—"for Judah, and the Israelites associated with it" and on the other "for Joseph, and the house of Israel associated with it" (37:16). The first represents the two tribes of southern kingdom of Judah and the second represents the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel. Then the prophet is ordered to bind the two sticks together into a single stick. And he is told that if asked to interpret this visual parable he is to say that God will gather the people of Israel—the twelve tribes that have been scattered-among the nations--and "make them one nation in the land" of promise. "One king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms" (37:22).
They shall be united under the rule of "my servant David." And "they shall have one shepherd" (37:24)—God himself. The LORD will "save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen" (37:23) and they will willingly and instinctively keep his laws. They will dwell forever in the land promised to Jacob, where "my servant David shall be their prince forever" (37:25). And God will make an everlasting "covenant of peace with them" and establish his temple—"his dwelling place"--among them (37:27). The temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt and the worship of the LORD restored, and by this all the nations will see and acknowledge that the LORD has sanctified Israel as his own people—his particular possession-- making them holy, a people set apart. And having done this the LORD will establish them in security for a long time.
This millennium of peace and security, however, will be shattered by Gog of Magog, who represents all the forces of aggression and chaos. The king called Gog, the ruler of a nation called Magog which is identified with "Meshech and Tubal" cities in Asia Minor (38:1), is unknown to history. We cannot identify this ruler or his people with any particular king or nation. The names themselves convey nothing—they are symbolic of an evil world power to come. Gog has been identified with Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin—take your pick. In our reading Gog is the apocalyptic ruler of the future who will sweep down "from the north," the biblical direction of threat and invasion, upon the hapless people of God. He gathers his forces from all the corners of the then-known world—from Asia and Africa and "the remotest parts of the north" (38:6); it is a truly international army representing the whole world—all lawless powers, all conquering empires.
"In the later years"—sometime in the future, perhaps the distant future—this terrible army shall sweep down on the land of Israel, where the returned exiles are living in peace. Their security will be shattered by a multinational invasion "coming on like a storm" (38:9). That storm will break over "a land of unwalled villages" and of "quiet people who live in safety" (38:11). Gog will take advantage of people "living without walls" to "seize spoil and carry off plunder" (38:12) and ravage the land.
But when "Gog comes against the land of Israel" the wrath of God will be "roused" (38:18). In [his jealousy" for his people he will bring a terrible earthquake upon the land, and "will pour down torrential rains and hailstorms, fire and sulfur, upon [Gog] and his troops and the many peoples that are with him" (38:22). God will make war upon war of Gog. Fire will fall from heaven and the king and his armies "shall fall on the mountains of Israel"; there the birds and wild animals will devour their bodies (39:4). And their homeland—Magog—and those nations which supported it in its imperial ambitions will also be destroyed by God's fire (39:6). God will make war on war itself. He will do all this in order to make his "holy name known among [his] people" (39:7). His victory is already won, as the text makes clear. It is in the future, but his triumph over the forces of chaos is also in the present—it is now--and it is in the
past—it has already happened (39:8). The people of Israel will burn the weapons of Magog "for seven years"—they will not need to cut firewood, for they will make cooking fires of the weapons of the fallen host (39:10).
And God will consign the bodies of Gog and his horde to a place of burial outside its boundaries, so that the land will not be contaminated. It will take seven months to bury them all; every bone shall be sought out and disposed so the land may be pure (39:15). And this will happen soon. The prophet is called to summon the birds and the wild animals for the "sacrificial feast," the feast of flesh and blood that God has prepared for them (39:17). They shall be filled "with horses and charioteers, with warriors and all kinds of soldiers" (39:20). They shall eat the remains of the forces of Gog, and peace will be restored to a cleansed world.
Before launching into his vision of the new temple—chapters 40-42--Ezekiel makes a summary of all that he has already said. God judges Israel for its sins in order to show forth his glory and "display [his] holiness in the sight of many nations (39:27); then for the same reason he restores Israel and re-establishes the house of David. When they are brought back from the places where they have been scattered, the people shall forget their shame and live securely. He will leave none of them behind, he will gather them all to the Holy Land, and he will "pour our [his life-giving] spirit upon the house of Israel" (39:29), giving to its dry bones both physical and spiritual life in abundance.
in this passage. "The spirit"—notice the lower case—isn't exactly the Holy Spirit of Christian theology, but for Christians it is impossible not to associate the Spirit of the Risen Christ with the power that gives life to the dead.
We don't know if Ezekiel's vision corresponds to any real place. In all probability it is intended to be the site of some long-ago battle; the bones of the unburied slain are picked and scattered about and "very dry" (37:2). The Lord initiates a dialogue with the prophet—"Mortal, can these bones live?" The question touches on God's own power to give new life to the lifeless, and being to what does not exist. But the prophet, uncertain how to answer, refuses to commit himself-; "O LORD GOD, you know" (37:3), he replies. The bones are, after all, "very dry"—from the human point of view the situation is hopeless. But the LORD commands Ezekiel to prophesy his words to the bones, promising that he will "cause breath (spirit) to enter [them], and [they] shall live" (37:5). It is a theme that recurs again and again in the Bible—the Word of God gives life.
And the prophet does what he is told—he prophesies to the bones. And the scattered bones—in which must be one of the most impressive scenes in all of literature-they begin to seek out each other and reassemble themselves—they are "gathered" and flesh and sinews cover them. There is, however, "no breath (spirit) in them" (37:8)—they are still mere corpses. But then the LORD commands the prophet to say—"Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live" (37:9). And when the prophet does so, the dead live and stand on their feet—"a vast multitude" (37:10).
Then the LORD interprets the vision. The dry bones correspond to the despondent Judean exiles in Babylon, who see themselves as without hope or future and as good as dead. But God has a plan. He promises that his miraculous power working through history will "open [their] graves" (37:12) and give his chosen people a new life—an "inspirited" life. He will "put [his] spirit within them, and [they] will live" (37:14). In its original context this vision pointed to the return of the exiles to their "own soil" and to a reformed and restored kingdom of Israel. But Christians have seen Ezekiel's vision as an image of the final resurrection of the dead and a vision of their ultimate hope in Christ.
Then Ezekiel is commanded to enact a visual parable. He is to take two sticks. On one he is to write—"for Judah, and the Israelites associated with it" and on the other "for Joseph, and the house of Israel associated with it" (37:16). The first represents the two tribes of southern kingdom of Judah and the second represents the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel. Then the prophet is ordered to bind the two sticks together into a single stick. And he is told that if asked to interpret this visual parable he is to say that God will gather the people of Israel—the twelve tribes that have been scattered-among the nations--and "make them one nation in the land" of promise. "One king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms" (37:22).
They shall be united under the rule of "my servant David." And "they shall have one shepherd" (37:24)—God himself. The LORD will "save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen" (37:23) and they will willingly and instinctively keep his laws. They will dwell forever in the land promised to Jacob, where "my servant David shall be their prince forever" (37:25). And God will make an everlasting "covenant of peace with them" and establish his temple—"his dwelling place"--among them (37:27). The temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt and the worship of the LORD restored, and by this all the nations will see and acknowledge that the LORD has sanctified Israel as his own people—his particular possession-- making them holy, a people set apart. And having done this the LORD will establish them in security for a long time.
This millennium of peace and security, however, will be shattered by Gog of Magog, who represents all the forces of aggression and chaos. The king called Gog, the ruler of a nation called Magog which is identified with "Meshech and Tubal" cities in Asia Minor (38:1), is unknown to history. We cannot identify this ruler or his people with any particular king or nation. The names themselves convey nothing—they are symbolic of an evil world power to come. Gog has been identified with Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin—take your pick. In our reading Gog is the apocalyptic ruler of the future who will sweep down "from the north," the biblical direction of threat and invasion, upon the hapless people of God. He gathers his forces from all the corners of the then-known world—from Asia and Africa and "the remotest parts of the north" (38:6); it is a truly international army representing the whole world—all lawless powers, all conquering empires.
"In the later years"—sometime in the future, perhaps the distant future—this terrible army shall sweep down on the land of Israel, where the returned exiles are living in peace. Their security will be shattered by a multinational invasion "coming on like a storm" (38:9). That storm will break over "a land of unwalled villages" and of "quiet people who live in safety" (38:11). Gog will take advantage of people "living without walls" to "seize spoil and carry off plunder" (38:12) and ravage the land.
But when "Gog comes against the land of Israel" the wrath of God will be "roused" (38:18). In [his jealousy" for his people he will bring a terrible earthquake upon the land, and "will pour down torrential rains and hailstorms, fire and sulfur, upon [Gog] and his troops and the many peoples that are with him" (38:22). God will make war upon war of Gog. Fire will fall from heaven and the king and his armies "shall fall on the mountains of Israel"; there the birds and wild animals will devour their bodies (39:4). And their homeland—Magog—and those nations which supported it in its imperial ambitions will also be destroyed by God's fire (39:6). God will make war on war itself. He will do all this in order to make his "holy name known among [his] people" (39:7). His victory is already won, as the text makes clear. It is in the future, but his triumph over the forces of chaos is also in the present—it is now--and it is in the
past—it has already happened (39:8). The people of Israel will burn the weapons of Magog "for seven years"—they will not need to cut firewood, for they will make cooking fires of the weapons of the fallen host (39:10).
And God will consign the bodies of Gog and his horde to a place of burial outside its boundaries, so that the land will not be contaminated. It will take seven months to bury them all; every bone shall be sought out and disposed so the land may be pure (39:15). And this will happen soon. The prophet is called to summon the birds and the wild animals for the "sacrificial feast," the feast of flesh and blood that God has prepared for them (39:17). They shall be filled "with horses and charioteers, with warriors and all kinds of soldiers" (39:20). They shall eat the remains of the forces of Gog, and peace will be restored to a cleansed world.
Before launching into his vision of the new temple—chapters 40-42--Ezekiel makes a summary of all that he has already said. God judges Israel for its sins in order to show forth his glory and "display [his] holiness in the sight of many nations (39:27); then for the same reason he restores Israel and re-establishes the house of David. When they are brought back from the places where they have been scattered, the people shall forget their shame and live securely. He will leave none of them behind, he will gather them all to the Holy Land, and he will "pour our [his life-giving] spirit upon the house of Israel" (39:29), giving to its dry bones both physical and spiritual life in abundance.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Day 250. Ezekiel 34-36
The prophets of the Old Testament are united in their fierce condemnation of the Israelite leadership for its callous exploitation of the poor. In this oracle Ezekiel uses allegorical language to denounce the "false shepherds"—the royal establishment and the priesthood--for "feeding themselves" rather than feeding their sheep (34:2). They have not nurtured the flock, but "with force and harshness they have ruled" and oppressed them (34:4). It is the fault of the shepherds that the people are scattered and become prey to wild animals—those foreign armies who have "devoured" them. It is because of their neglect that the LORD is "against the shepherds" (34:10), and has determined to "rescue [his] sheep from their mouths."
In the coming new dispensation, the LORD will take upon himself the duties of the shepherd—he will rule the nation as a theocracy. He will search out his sheep and "rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness" (34:12). He will "bring them into their own land" and "feed them with good pasture . . . on the mountains of Israel" (32:14). He will be the Good Shepherd to his flock, and "make them lie down" in safety. "He will seek the lost . . . , bring back the strayed . . . , bind up the injured, and . . . strengthen the weak." In short he will nurture and care for his sheep as the house of David should have done. He will establish righteousness as the norm, and he will "feed [his flock] with justice" (34:15-16).
The LORD's special concern is for the weak and the hurt, and he condemns "the fat and the strong." who in the past have used their size and strength to push "with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with [their] horns until [they] scattered them far and wide" (34:21). This will not happen anymore. Under the LORD's rule the weak will be protected from the greed of the strong. The LORD will set over them his viceroy, "my servant David" with authority to "feed them and be their shepherd" (34:23), but answerable directly to God. The re-established house of David will reign under stricter oversight, and the ruler of Israel is called "a prince among them" (34:24)—not a king. The LORD will be their king.
And as king, God will extend his peaceable rule to the natural world. Wild animals and all other dangers will be banished. The rains will come regularly, and the children of Israel will be provided with "a splendid vegetation so they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land" (34:29). And based upon these promises, the LORD renews his claim upon this people—"You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture and I am your God, says the LORD GOD" (34:31).
The "ancient enmity" (35:5) between Israel and the land of Edom goes back to the earliest memories of both peoples. The Book of Genesis tells how the twins Jacob and Esau struggled even in their mother's womb (25:27-34). Esau's descendents are the Edomites, who are symbolized in our reading as Mount Seir, the highest eminence in the country. They nourished an active hatred of Israel, their distant cousins, and apparently played a treacherous role in the fall of Jerusalem (35:5). Therefore the LORD is "against" them, and he is determined to oppose them until their land is "a perpetual desolation" (35:9). Apparently Edom had entertained opportunistic ambitions of annexing "these two nations and these two countries" (35:10)—Israel and Judah--while they lay desolate and empty after the ravages of war and invasion. But the Land belongs to the LORD, and it is the birthright of his people. Edom will be dealt with "according to the anger
and envy that [they] showed because of [their] hatred against" Israel (35:11). Their hatred will be turned upon themselves. "Thus says the LORD GOD: As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it" (34:15).
Now the LORD turns to the "mountains of Israel" (35:1) and tells them of Edom's plan to make "the ancient heights" their "possession" (36:2). The mountains stand for the land itself, and they belong to the LORD, who speaks "in [his] hot jealousy against the rest of the nations," who have expressed "whole-hearted joy" at Judah's downfall and have seized the opportunity to take possession "of its pasture" and "to plunder it" (35:5). The LORD tells the mountains—"I swear that the nations all around you shall themselves suffer insults" (35:7). But the mountains are instructed to "yield fruit" because the people of Israel "shall soon come home" to them (36:8). The mountains shall "be inhabited as in former times" (35:11) and filled with new life, and they—and by extension the land itself—shall no longer "devour [its] people" or "bereave [them of their] children" (35:13). The land shall work with
them and not against them.
Israel when it inhabited the land defiled it with its sins. In the sight of God, their behavior "was like the uncleanness of a women in her menstrual period" (35:18). According to the law of Moses menstrual blood not only made a woman impure during her period, but it also rendered anyone who touched her unclean. This magical idea about menstruation was related to the widely-held belief in the sacredness of blood as the source of life. By its sinfulness the people Israel had become the LORD's unclean wife. This condition continued even when they were exiles "among the nations"—they continued to disgrace him. But in spite of their impure behavior God announces his intention to restore Israel for the sake "of his holy name"—not because of their merits, because he has promised to be faithful to his people, and he always keeps his promises. He must do so—it is his nature.
It isn't for his people's sake that now God "is about to act," it is for the sake of his "great name"—so that his honor, which has been profaned before the nations, might be restored. So he will "sprinkle clean water upon" Israel, and they shall be made "clean from all [their] uncleannesses" (36:25). But the change he will effect will be in no way superficial--God will work a complete spiritual and moral transformation in his people—he will "put [his] spirit within [them], and make [them] follow [his] statutes and be careful to observe [his] ordinances" (36:27). The people will remember their past and "be ashamed and dismayed for [their] ways" (36:32). Then in response to their change of heart, the land will also undergo a complete alteration—what was desolate shall "become like the garden of Eden" (36:35). And in the once empty and ruined towns the people shall be "like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at
Jerusalem during her appointed festivals" (36:38), a flock both abundant and unblemished.
In the coming new dispensation, the LORD will take upon himself the duties of the shepherd—he will rule the nation as a theocracy. He will search out his sheep and "rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness" (34:12). He will "bring them into their own land" and "feed them with good pasture . . . on the mountains of Israel" (32:14). He will be the Good Shepherd to his flock, and "make them lie down" in safety. "He will seek the lost . . . , bring back the strayed . . . , bind up the injured, and . . . strengthen the weak." In short he will nurture and care for his sheep as the house of David should have done. He will establish righteousness as the norm, and he will "feed [his flock] with justice" (34:15-16).
The LORD's special concern is for the weak and the hurt, and he condemns "the fat and the strong." who in the past have used their size and strength to push "with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with [their] horns until [they] scattered them far and wide" (34:21). This will not happen anymore. Under the LORD's rule the weak will be protected from the greed of the strong. The LORD will set over them his viceroy, "my servant David" with authority to "feed them and be their shepherd" (34:23), but answerable directly to God. The re-established house of David will reign under stricter oversight, and the ruler of Israel is called "a prince among them" (34:24)—not a king. The LORD will be their king.
And as king, God will extend his peaceable rule to the natural world. Wild animals and all other dangers will be banished. The rains will come regularly, and the children of Israel will be provided with "a splendid vegetation so they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land" (34:29). And based upon these promises, the LORD renews his claim upon this people—"You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture and I am your God, says the LORD GOD" (34:31).
The "ancient enmity" (35:5) between Israel and the land of Edom goes back to the earliest memories of both peoples. The Book of Genesis tells how the twins Jacob and Esau struggled even in their mother's womb (25:27-34). Esau's descendents are the Edomites, who are symbolized in our reading as Mount Seir, the highest eminence in the country. They nourished an active hatred of Israel, their distant cousins, and apparently played a treacherous role in the fall of Jerusalem (35:5). Therefore the LORD is "against" them, and he is determined to oppose them until their land is "a perpetual desolation" (35:9). Apparently Edom had entertained opportunistic ambitions of annexing "these two nations and these two countries" (35:10)—Israel and Judah--while they lay desolate and empty after the ravages of war and invasion. But the Land belongs to the LORD, and it is the birthright of his people. Edom will be dealt with "according to the anger
and envy that [they] showed because of [their] hatred against" Israel (35:11). Their hatred will be turned upon themselves. "Thus says the LORD GOD: As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it" (34:15).
Now the LORD turns to the "mountains of Israel" (35:1) and tells them of Edom's plan to make "the ancient heights" their "possession" (36:2). The mountains stand for the land itself, and they belong to the LORD, who speaks "in [his] hot jealousy against the rest of the nations," who have expressed "whole-hearted joy" at Judah's downfall and have seized the opportunity to take possession "of its pasture" and "to plunder it" (35:5). The LORD tells the mountains—"I swear that the nations all around you shall themselves suffer insults" (35:7). But the mountains are instructed to "yield fruit" because the people of Israel "shall soon come home" to them (36:8). The mountains shall "be inhabited as in former times" (35:11) and filled with new life, and they—and by extension the land itself—shall no longer "devour [its] people" or "bereave [them of their] children" (35:13). The land shall work with
them and not against them.
Israel when it inhabited the land defiled it with its sins. In the sight of God, their behavior "was like the uncleanness of a women in her menstrual period" (35:18). According to the law of Moses menstrual blood not only made a woman impure during her period, but it also rendered anyone who touched her unclean. This magical idea about menstruation was related to the widely-held belief in the sacredness of blood as the source of life. By its sinfulness the people Israel had become the LORD's unclean wife. This condition continued even when they were exiles "among the nations"—they continued to disgrace him. But in spite of their impure behavior God announces his intention to restore Israel for the sake "of his holy name"—not because of their merits, because he has promised to be faithful to his people, and he always keeps his promises. He must do so—it is his nature.
It isn't for his people's sake that now God "is about to act," it is for the sake of his "great name"—so that his honor, which has been profaned before the nations, might be restored. So he will "sprinkle clean water upon" Israel, and they shall be made "clean from all [their] uncleannesses" (36:25). But the change he will effect will be in no way superficial--God will work a complete spiritual and moral transformation in his people—he will "put [his] spirit within [them], and make [them] follow [his] statutes and be careful to observe [his] ordinances" (36:27). The people will remember their past and "be ashamed and dismayed for [their] ways" (36:32). Then in response to their change of heart, the land will also undergo a complete alteration—what was desolate shall "become like the garden of Eden" (36:35). And in the once empty and ruined towns the people shall be "like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at
Jerusalem during her appointed festivals" (36:38), a flock both abundant and unblemished.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Day 249. Ezekiel 32-33
The prophet Ezekiel is a singularly fascinating individual; he stands out even among the prophets of ancient Israel, who make an interesting set, to say the least. In his prophecies he defers completely to the word of the LORD. He never presumes to speak for himself, but always puts himself in the submissive role as the passive mouthpiece of God. Yet Ezekiel is in his own right a splendid poet, an actor and a mime, and a brilliant visionary—arguably the greatest dreamer of dreams in all of scripture. Our reading for today contains the last two of his seven oracles against Egypt, both neatly dated for our benefit.
Oracle 6 March 3, 585 B.C.
This "lamentation" over Egypt is intended as a global dirge to be "chanted." God commands that "the women of the nations shall chant it" (32:16). The whole world is called to witness the drama of its fall and to contemplate its meaning. In the very near future Egypt will fall "by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most terrible among the nations" (32:12)—the Babylonian army. The pharaoh, who considers himself "a lion among the nations," will instead prove to be a dragon—this time a sea serpent, not a Nile crocodile (29:3)—over which the LORD "will throw [his] net." He will "haul [Pharaoh] up with [his] dragnet" and fling him "on the open field" (32:4) to die. And there his body will be devoured by birds and beasts and his remains will fertilize the whole earth. The downfall of Egypt will take place in the midst of apocalyptic darkness. Creation is being symbolically un-made. When the nations see that the dragon
has been slain, the spectacle will spread confusion over the whole earth. "Kings will shudder" (32:10) when they see how the LORD will use "the sword of the king of Babylon" to "bring to ruin the pride of Egypt" (32:12). By the banks of the Nile, both human beings and animals will perish, and the land will be left depopulated and its waters, with men or beasts to roil then, will be untroubled "like oil" (32:14).
Oracle 7 April 7, 586 B.C.
This passage is interesting because of the light it shines on the developing concept of the afterlife in Judaism. It is a dirge in which Ezekiel, as God's representative, is commanded to send down "the hordes of Egypt" into "the world below." In spite of their "beauty," they are to be "laid to rest among those who go down to the Pit" (32:18). The Pit is visualized as the lowest level of the underworld-- the place where "the uncircumcised"—those who are outside the covenant-- who have been "killed by the sword" go at death. They are consigned to oblivion and utter darkness. Ezekiel contrasts the Pit—the place of those who have died violently-- to "Sheol," the place of the peaceful dead, where "the mighty chiefs" already there say of these latecomers—"They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, killed by the sword" (32:21).
In the Pit lie the "company" of Assyria, "who spread terror in the land of the living" (32:23). The dead of Elam, a nation east of Babylon in modern Iraq (32:24), are there. The "bear their shame with [the rest of those] who go down to the Pit" (32:25). There also are the dead of Meshech and Tubal, long vanished peoples living in Asia Minor; they also are consigned to the Pit, because "they spread terror in the land of the living" (32:26). They are without honor in death. They do not rest like those righteous, respectfully-buried warriors "who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose shields are upon their bones" (32:27). The dead of Edom, Israel's old enemy are in the Pit, as are "the princes of the north, all of them," together with the Sidonians, "those [who have been] killed by the sword" (32:30). There are so many there in the Pit already that "when Pharaoh sees
them, he will be consoled for all his hordes" who lie there "among the uncircumcised" (32:32). At least they are not alone among such a vast multitude!
With chapter 33 the second phase of Ezekiel's mission begins. And at this juncture the LORD renews the prophet's call to be "a sentinel for the house of Israel" (33:7). He is reminded of a sentinel's responsibility to warn the people if he sees "a sword coming upon the land" (33:2). If Ezekiel faithfully warns Israel of the consequences of their sinfulness and the certainty of God's coming judgment, he himself will be acquitted of responsibility if they fail to heed his warnings. If the sentinel is negligent, the people's "blood [the LORD] will require at the sentinel's hand" (33:6).
God is a just God, doing justice and demanding that justice be done. But here, as the fall of Jerusalem becomes imminent certainty, God again reminds his people through his prophet that he has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live" (33:11). Each person is responsible individually before God—no one can claim another's righteousness or be punished for another's sin. Furthermore, if the wicked repent and change the direction of their lives—"give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity"—they will surely live and not die (33:15). God is not only able to forgive their sins but also to forget them—"none of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them," says the LORD of those who repent (33:16). So Israel cannot say—as some apparently had--that "the way of the LORD is not just"—it is not only just but
also merciful and forgiving (33:20).
As was promised on January 19, 585 B.C. a lone survivor newly arrived in Babylon came to tell Ezekiel-- "The city [of Jerusalem] has fallen" (33:21). Ezekiel says that he had felt the LORD's presence in a particular way "the evening before the fugitive came. He had apparently been unable to speak for some period of time, perhaps since his wife had died. But "by the time the fugitive came to [him] in the morning, his mouth was opened, and he is "no longer unable to speak" (33:22).
And the first words he is given by the LORD are addressed to those who remain in "the waste places" in Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem. They are claiming the land for their own by right of possession. But Ezekiel is called to remind them of their sins which have caused Jerusalem's destruction. When they have lived flagrantly contrary to his Law, the LORD asks them—"shall you then possess the land?" (33:26). God's answer is no. He has determined that those who remain "in the field" will be "devoured by wild animals and those in the strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence" (33:27). The whole land will be a desolate waste "because of all their abominations that they have committed" (33:29).
The prophet Ezekiel was certainly a fascinating individual—enthralling to listen to—so enthralling that people apparently did not take him quite seriously. They sat before him listing in rapt attention as he spoke the words of the LORD in the most colorful language, but "they will not obey them" (33:31). For them the prophet was a poet, "a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument" (33:32). They heard the beautiful words, but were not changed by them. Now the LORD warns what "when this comes—and come it will!—then they shall know that a prophet has been among them" (33:33), not just a singer of love songs.
Oracle 6 March 3, 585 B.C.
This "lamentation" over Egypt is intended as a global dirge to be "chanted." God commands that "the women of the nations shall chant it" (32:16). The whole world is called to witness the drama of its fall and to contemplate its meaning. In the very near future Egypt will fall "by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most terrible among the nations" (32:12)—the Babylonian army. The pharaoh, who considers himself "a lion among the nations," will instead prove to be a dragon—this time a sea serpent, not a Nile crocodile (29:3)—over which the LORD "will throw [his] net." He will "haul [Pharaoh] up with [his] dragnet" and fling him "on the open field" (32:4) to die. And there his body will be devoured by birds and beasts and his remains will fertilize the whole earth. The downfall of Egypt will take place in the midst of apocalyptic darkness. Creation is being symbolically un-made. When the nations see that the dragon
has been slain, the spectacle will spread confusion over the whole earth. "Kings will shudder" (32:10) when they see how the LORD will use "the sword of the king of Babylon" to "bring to ruin the pride of Egypt" (32:12). By the banks of the Nile, both human beings and animals will perish, and the land will be left depopulated and its waters, with men or beasts to roil then, will be untroubled "like oil" (32:14).
Oracle 7 April 7, 586 B.C.
This passage is interesting because of the light it shines on the developing concept of the afterlife in Judaism. It is a dirge in which Ezekiel, as God's representative, is commanded to send down "the hordes of Egypt" into "the world below." In spite of their "beauty," they are to be "laid to rest among those who go down to the Pit" (32:18). The Pit is visualized as the lowest level of the underworld-- the place where "the uncircumcised"—those who are outside the covenant-- who have been "killed by the sword" go at death. They are consigned to oblivion and utter darkness. Ezekiel contrasts the Pit—the place of those who have died violently-- to "Sheol," the place of the peaceful dead, where "the mighty chiefs" already there say of these latecomers—"They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, killed by the sword" (32:21).
In the Pit lie the "company" of Assyria, "who spread terror in the land of the living" (32:23). The dead of Elam, a nation east of Babylon in modern Iraq (32:24), are there. The "bear their shame with [the rest of those] who go down to the Pit" (32:25). There also are the dead of Meshech and Tubal, long vanished peoples living in Asia Minor; they also are consigned to the Pit, because "they spread terror in the land of the living" (32:26). They are without honor in death. They do not rest like those righteous, respectfully-buried warriors "who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose shields are upon their bones" (32:27). The dead of Edom, Israel's old enemy are in the Pit, as are "the princes of the north, all of them," together with the Sidonians, "those [who have been] killed by the sword" (32:30). There are so many there in the Pit already that "when Pharaoh sees
them, he will be consoled for all his hordes" who lie there "among the uncircumcised" (32:32). At least they are not alone among such a vast multitude!
With chapter 33 the second phase of Ezekiel's mission begins. And at this juncture the LORD renews the prophet's call to be "a sentinel for the house of Israel" (33:7). He is reminded of a sentinel's responsibility to warn the people if he sees "a sword coming upon the land" (33:2). If Ezekiel faithfully warns Israel of the consequences of their sinfulness and the certainty of God's coming judgment, he himself will be acquitted of responsibility if they fail to heed his warnings. If the sentinel is negligent, the people's "blood [the LORD] will require at the sentinel's hand" (33:6).
God is a just God, doing justice and demanding that justice be done. But here, as the fall of Jerusalem becomes imminent certainty, God again reminds his people through his prophet that he has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live" (33:11). Each person is responsible individually before God—no one can claim another's righteousness or be punished for another's sin. Furthermore, if the wicked repent and change the direction of their lives—"give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity"—they will surely live and not die (33:15). God is not only able to forgive their sins but also to forget them—"none of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them," says the LORD of those who repent (33:16). So Israel cannot say—as some apparently had--that "the way of the LORD is not just"—it is not only just but
also merciful and forgiving (33:20).
As was promised on January 19, 585 B.C. a lone survivor newly arrived in Babylon came to tell Ezekiel-- "The city [of Jerusalem] has fallen" (33:21). Ezekiel says that he had felt the LORD's presence in a particular way "the evening before the fugitive came. He had apparently been unable to speak for some period of time, perhaps since his wife had died. But "by the time the fugitive came to [him] in the morning, his mouth was opened, and he is "no longer unable to speak" (33:22).
And the first words he is given by the LORD are addressed to those who remain in "the waste places" in Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem. They are claiming the land for their own by right of possession. But Ezekiel is called to remind them of their sins which have caused Jerusalem's destruction. When they have lived flagrantly contrary to his Law, the LORD asks them—"shall you then possess the land?" (33:26). God's answer is no. He has determined that those who remain "in the field" will be "devoured by wild animals and those in the strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence" (33:27). The whole land will be a desolate waste "because of all their abominations that they have committed" (33:29).
The prophet Ezekiel was certainly a fascinating individual—enthralling to listen to—so enthralling that people apparently did not take him quite seriously. They sat before him listing in rapt attention as he spoke the words of the LORD in the most colorful language, but "they will not obey them" (33:31). For them the prophet was a poet, "a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument" (33:32). They heard the beautiful words, but were not changed by them. Now the LORD warns what "when this comes—and come it will!—then they shall know that a prophet has been among them" (33:33), not just a singer of love songs.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Day 248 Ezekiel 29-31
The following chapters—29-32—contain seven oracles against Egypt and its pharaoh, each of the dated—quite a remarkable thing, actually.
Oracle 1 –dated January 7, 587 B.C.
Here "Pharaoh King of Egypt" is compared a "dragon"—probably a Nile crocodile. He says, "My Nile is my own; I made it for myself" (29:3), intimating that he is himself a god, capable of creating. The pharaoh did claim for themselves divine precedents. But we know that LORD's level of toleration for presumption is zero. Idols, especially human ones, must be dealt with summarily. With him, it is a point of honor. So he promises that he will draw the crocodile pharaoh out of the Nile "with the fish of [his] channels"—his people—"sticking to his scales" (29:4). And he "will fling [the carcass of the dragon] into the wilderness" with his fish to rot there (29:5). The ancient Egyptians attached inordinate importance to the careful preparation and burial of the dead. The bodies of Egyptian pharaohs were meticulously prepared for burial and interred with sumptuous grave goods. But this pharaoh—his throne name is Hophra--will
"fall in the open field, and not be gathered or buried" (29:5). The carrion foul will devour his body—a terrible thing for the Egyptians because it meant that he would wander as a homeless ghost for all eternity.
Searching for some relief from the humiliating position in which found himself, King Zedekiah of Judah had attempted to make an alliance with Egypt against the crushing power of Babylon, but now Israel will realize—rather too late--that pharaoh was "a staff of reed" (29:6). The LORD is the only ally upon whom Israel can ultimately depend. Now because Pharaoh vaunted himself as a god, Egypt shall be conquered and depopulated for forty years (29:11)—just as Judah will be. Only then will the LORD gather the Egyptians from the nations, just as he will gather the people of Judah from their exile in Babylon. Then he will "restore the fortunes of Egypt, and bring them back to the land of Pathros" (29:14)—this is another name of southern Egypt, so-called upper Egypt. But Egypt will never again be a major player in world affairs, and it shall "never again be the reliance of the house of Israel. When Israel is restored it shall repent of the
idolatry of depending upon foreign powers and rely only upon the LORD GOD (29:16).
Oracle 2—April 26, 571 B.C.
This is the latest of Ezekiel's oracles—the date establishes it as such. In it the LORD informs the prophet what is indeed the case—though Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has "made his army labor hard against Tyre" (29:18), he has failed to take the city. It is great news for Tyre but bad for Egypt, because as compensation the LORD has given the Babylonian king the rich land of Egypt and its spoil—"it shall be wages for his army" (29:19). The last verse reaches toward a future in which the kingdom of Israel will be restored. "On that day," the LORD says, "I will cause a horn to sprout up for the house of Israel" (29:21). In the language of apocalyptic literature horns are symbols of power. This "horn" undoubtedly refers to a future king from the house of David who will return from exile to reign in the land of promise.
Oracle 3—This oracle against Egypt is undated
The prophet bids his hearers lament the coming destruction of mighty Egypt. The "day of the LORD is near," says the LORD(30:3)—"the Day" will be a "time of doom" when the LORD will step into human affairs take a direct role in history; then old scores will be settled and wrong will be made right. On that day the people of Egypt shall fall by the sword "from Migdol to Syene"—from the far northern terminus of the Nile to the borders of Ethiopia. Nebuchadnezzar as the LORD's agent will scour the whole country from one end to the other, even terrifying "the unsuspecting Ethiopians" (30:9) in the far south. The Babylonian invaders will destroy the principal Egyptian cities—they are named in our text-- each with its own particular proprietary god or goddess. Using the Babylonians as his mercenaries, the LORD is making war on the gods of Egypt. He "will destroy the idols and put an end to the images" (30:13), so that the
Egyptians—and all the earth-- will "know that [he is] he LORD" (30:19)—and that their goofy gods amount to nothing.
Oracle 4 April 29, 587 B.C.
Honoring his alliance with the Judean king Zedekiah, the Pharaoh Hophra sent a force on unknown size against the Babylonian besiegers in order to relieve Jerusalem. We are not told anything about the battle, only that Egypt was defeated, and the LORD proclaims that he has "broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt." Apparently he will not try to help Judah again because the broken arm will not "be bound up for healing or wrapped in a bandage, so that it may become strong enough to wield the sword" (30:21). His failure seals Zedekiah's doom. God is working against the pharaoh of Egypt and for the king of Babylon, who is in turn working for the LORD in order that he may "scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries" (30:26), and send his people into exile in Babylon.
Oracle 5 June 21, 587 B.C.
Here Egypt is compared with Assyria, which has also been destroyed by the power of Babylon. Assyria is compared to "a cedar of Lebanon" (31:3); these trees remarkable in the ancient world for their great height and beauty. The Assyrian tree is of truly mythic proportions—"its top [is] among the clouds" and its roots are watered by the primordial deep (31:4). It was so great that "in its shade all great nations lived" (31:6)—it overshadowed the whole world in its time. No tree "in the garden of God could . . . rival it" (31:8), nor could any equal it in beauty (31:8). It was "the envy of all the trees of Eden" (31:9).
Yet the tree was too proud of its height and beauty for its own good, and so the LORD "gave it into the hand of the prince of the nations (Babylon); he has dealt with it as its wickedness deserves" (31:11). He has cast it down. It lies ruined and dismembered on the mountains, and "all the peoples of the earth [have gone] away from its shade and left it" (31:12). In this allegory there is a lesson to all nation-states in all times; it goes to show that "no tree" may grow to such a "lofty height," that its top is "among the clouds." Pride in nations as in men is always punished by destruction. "All of them"—nations and empires—"are handed over to death, to the world below, along with all mortals, with those who go down to the Pit" (31:14). Nations are like human beings—their lives, though longer than ours, do end. When Assyria fell, "all the trees of Eden" who mourned its fall went down to Sheol"—the underworld,
the realm of the dead—"with it" (31:17).
Egypt is a great cedar too, surely as great as Assyria—"Which among the trees of Eden [is] like you in glory and in greatness?" asks the LORD (31:18). But now Egypt will also be brought down to "lie among the uncircumcised," (31:18), with those outside God's covenant people, who are nothing more than carrion and crows' meat. "Pharaoh and his horde"--like Assyria and its king--will fall into oblivion, together with all nations who put their heads in the cloud and dream of their own immortality.
Oracle 1 –dated January 7, 587 B.C.
Here "Pharaoh King of Egypt" is compared a "dragon"—probably a Nile crocodile. He says, "My Nile is my own; I made it for myself" (29:3), intimating that he is himself a god, capable of creating. The pharaoh did claim for themselves divine precedents. But we know that LORD's level of toleration for presumption is zero. Idols, especially human ones, must be dealt with summarily. With him, it is a point of honor. So he promises that he will draw the crocodile pharaoh out of the Nile "with the fish of [his] channels"—his people—"sticking to his scales" (29:4). And he "will fling [the carcass of the dragon] into the wilderness" with his fish to rot there (29:5). The ancient Egyptians attached inordinate importance to the careful preparation and burial of the dead. The bodies of Egyptian pharaohs were meticulously prepared for burial and interred with sumptuous grave goods. But this pharaoh—his throne name is Hophra--will
"fall in the open field, and not be gathered or buried" (29:5). The carrion foul will devour his body—a terrible thing for the Egyptians because it meant that he would wander as a homeless ghost for all eternity.
Searching for some relief from the humiliating position in which found himself, King Zedekiah of Judah had attempted to make an alliance with Egypt against the crushing power of Babylon, but now Israel will realize—rather too late--that pharaoh was "a staff of reed" (29:6). The LORD is the only ally upon whom Israel can ultimately depend. Now because Pharaoh vaunted himself as a god, Egypt shall be conquered and depopulated for forty years (29:11)—just as Judah will be. Only then will the LORD gather the Egyptians from the nations, just as he will gather the people of Judah from their exile in Babylon. Then he will "restore the fortunes of Egypt, and bring them back to the land of Pathros" (29:14)—this is another name of southern Egypt, so-called upper Egypt. But Egypt will never again be a major player in world affairs, and it shall "never again be the reliance of the house of Israel. When Israel is restored it shall repent of the
idolatry of depending upon foreign powers and rely only upon the LORD GOD (29:16).
Oracle 2—April 26, 571 B.C.
This is the latest of Ezekiel's oracles—the date establishes it as such. In it the LORD informs the prophet what is indeed the case—though Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has "made his army labor hard against Tyre" (29:18), he has failed to take the city. It is great news for Tyre but bad for Egypt, because as compensation the LORD has given the Babylonian king the rich land of Egypt and its spoil—"it shall be wages for his army" (29:19). The last verse reaches toward a future in which the kingdom of Israel will be restored. "On that day," the LORD says, "I will cause a horn to sprout up for the house of Israel" (29:21). In the language of apocalyptic literature horns are symbols of power. This "horn" undoubtedly refers to a future king from the house of David who will return from exile to reign in the land of promise.
Oracle 3—This oracle against Egypt is undated
The prophet bids his hearers lament the coming destruction of mighty Egypt. The "day of the LORD is near," says the LORD(30:3)—"the Day" will be a "time of doom" when the LORD will step into human affairs take a direct role in history; then old scores will be settled and wrong will be made right. On that day the people of Egypt shall fall by the sword "from Migdol to Syene"—from the far northern terminus of the Nile to the borders of Ethiopia. Nebuchadnezzar as the LORD's agent will scour the whole country from one end to the other, even terrifying "the unsuspecting Ethiopians" (30:9) in the far south. The Babylonian invaders will destroy the principal Egyptian cities—they are named in our text-- each with its own particular proprietary god or goddess. Using the Babylonians as his mercenaries, the LORD is making war on the gods of Egypt. He "will destroy the idols and put an end to the images" (30:13), so that the
Egyptians—and all the earth-- will "know that [he is] he LORD" (30:19)—and that their goofy gods amount to nothing.
Oracle 4 April 29, 587 B.C.
Honoring his alliance with the Judean king Zedekiah, the Pharaoh Hophra sent a force on unknown size against the Babylonian besiegers in order to relieve Jerusalem. We are not told anything about the battle, only that Egypt was defeated, and the LORD proclaims that he has "broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt." Apparently he will not try to help Judah again because the broken arm will not "be bound up for healing or wrapped in a bandage, so that it may become strong enough to wield the sword" (30:21). His failure seals Zedekiah's doom. God is working against the pharaoh of Egypt and for the king of Babylon, who is in turn working for the LORD in order that he may "scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries" (30:26), and send his people into exile in Babylon.
Oracle 5 June 21, 587 B.C.
Here Egypt is compared with Assyria, which has also been destroyed by the power of Babylon. Assyria is compared to "a cedar of Lebanon" (31:3); these trees remarkable in the ancient world for their great height and beauty. The Assyrian tree is of truly mythic proportions—"its top [is] among the clouds" and its roots are watered by the primordial deep (31:4). It was so great that "in its shade all great nations lived" (31:6)—it overshadowed the whole world in its time. No tree "in the garden of God could . . . rival it" (31:8), nor could any equal it in beauty (31:8). It was "the envy of all the trees of Eden" (31:9).
Yet the tree was too proud of its height and beauty for its own good, and so the LORD "gave it into the hand of the prince of the nations (Babylon); he has dealt with it as its wickedness deserves" (31:11). He has cast it down. It lies ruined and dismembered on the mountains, and "all the peoples of the earth [have gone] away from its shade and left it" (31:12). In this allegory there is a lesson to all nation-states in all times; it goes to show that "no tree" may grow to such a "lofty height," that its top is "among the clouds." Pride in nations as in men is always punished by destruction. "All of them"—nations and empires—"are handed over to death, to the world below, along with all mortals, with those who go down to the Pit" (31:14). Nations are like human beings—their lives, though longer than ours, do end. When Assyria fell, "all the trees of Eden" who mourned its fall went down to Sheol"—the underworld,
the realm of the dead—"with it" (31:17).
Egypt is a great cedar too, surely as great as Assyria—"Which among the trees of Eden [is] like you in glory and in greatness?" asks the LORD (31:18). But now Egypt will also be brought down to "lie among the uncircumcised," (31:18), with those outside God's covenant people, who are nothing more than carrion and crows' meat. "Pharaoh and his horde"--like Assyria and its king--will fall into oblivion, together with all nations who put their heads in the cloud and dream of their own immortality.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Day 247 Ezekiel 27-28
Why our text lavishes so much attention on the now long-vanished Phoenician city-state of Tyre is not immediately apparent to the modern reader. Tyre was, of course, the Venice of its day, the greatest maritime empire of the age. It was the emporium of the ancient world. In commercial and cultural importance it could only be compared to New York in our own time. Its trading ships not only brought goods to the furthest coasts, they also carried the Phoenician alphabet, the foundation of all western European scripts. Tyre's rulers and merchants were not only fabulously rich, they were militarily strong; its wealth commanded an exotic mercenary army recruited from the furthest corners of the then-known world (27:10). The best testament to it power is the fact that the island city held mighty Nebuchadnezzar and his war machine at bay for seventeen long years. (He never did indeed take the city, contrary to the prophet's predictions.)
The beauty of Tyre is extolled in many sources (27:3-4). Every luxury was available in its souks and markets. And in our text we are given an inventory of the most coveted goods of ancient times and where they came from. Purple dye (27:7)—Tyrrhenian purple--was a monopoly of the Phoenician port. Produced from sea snails, it was synonymous with high status, the color of kings. Ezekiel is moved to gorgeous poetry in cataloguing of Tyre's wealth and beauty, a city is "made perfect" and serene by its military power and economic might.
In describing Tyre's commercial empire the prophet gives us a veritable geography lesson on the world of his time. "Tarshish" (27:12) is modern Spain, the source of tin necessary to make bronze. Trading ships from Tyre reached Britain, the west coast of Africa, and India, where they traded for iron, ivory, spices and precious stones.
Nevertheless, the city, like one of its ships, "filled and heavily laden" (27:25), is doomed to founder in deep waters—the prophet writes: "The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas" (27:26), and that "east wind' is certainly Babylon. The entire crew will be lost, together with the merchandise. "The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the shore and wail aloud over [the ruin of mighty Tyre], and cry bitterly" (27:30) . And the merchants of many nations, who had goods in its hold, will "hiss at you" in their anger (27:36). Tyre, so serene is wealth and power, will come "to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever" (27:36).
But why does it fall? The great city and its king provide the prophet with historical lesson on the dangers of wealth and power. The King of Tyre in his pride over-reaches himself. "I am a god;" he says, "I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas" (28:2). Such over-weaning pride and presumption cannot go unpunished. He is a mere moral, in spite of his great wisdom—"wiser than Daniel" (28:3), the text says-- and yet he foolishly makes himself an idol. And God will destroy all idols—he cannot abide them. The prophet addresses the king with a dire prediction—the LORD "bring strangers against you, the most terrible of nations; they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor" (28:7). At their hands "you will die the death of the uncircumcised" (28:10). (Male circumcision is the sign of being in covenant with the God of Israel. This covenant made the person who enters it truly
human. "The death of the uncircumcised" would be little better than the death of an animal.) The LORD jeers at the king's pretension and asks whether, in the presence of those who kill him, he will still say, "I am a god" (28:9).
Yet Ezekiel gives his fall is given mythic proportions. Uniquely placed in the world form birth—"in Eden, the garden of God" (28:13)—the king of Tyre is little short of angelic. He is "the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty" (28:12). And he was blameless as well-that is until "iniquity was found in [him]" (28:15). The exact nature of this iniquity is not disclosed, only that "in the abundance of [his] trade [he was] filled with violence, and [he] sinned" (28:16). Pride is at the base of it, and like Lucifer elsewhere in scripture, he is cast down from the mountain of God. His "heart was proud because of his beauty"; and in his conceit and desire to be a god he "corrupted [his] wisdom for the sake of [his] splendor" (28:17). Therefore God punished him, and now what was luminous and angelic has "come to a dreadful end" (28:19).
The city of Sidon, another Phoenician city-state located north of Tyre, punishment will also come to a dreadful end, though no concrete reason is given for it. No particular vice or crime is mentioned. The LORD is simple "against" Sidon (28:21) because it is powerful and wealthy—and therefore its very existence presents a danger to God's chosen people. The peoples living roundabout have been "a pricking brier' and "a piercing thorn" to Israel (28:24), a deadly nuisance, but they shall be no longer, God assures the prophet. He promises to gather that "house of Israel from among the peoples where they are scattered" (28:25). And they "shall settle on their own soil' and "live in safety when [the LORD executes] judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt" (28:26). When all these surrounding nations have been humbled or destroyed by the hand of the LORD and their evil influences removed, then Israel
will be established in its own land in sovereign freedom and righteousness.
The beauty of Tyre is extolled in many sources (27:3-4). Every luxury was available in its souks and markets. And in our text we are given an inventory of the most coveted goods of ancient times and where they came from. Purple dye (27:7)—Tyrrhenian purple--was a monopoly of the Phoenician port. Produced from sea snails, it was synonymous with high status, the color of kings. Ezekiel is moved to gorgeous poetry in cataloguing of Tyre's wealth and beauty, a city is "made perfect" and serene by its military power and economic might.
In describing Tyre's commercial empire the prophet gives us a veritable geography lesson on the world of his time. "Tarshish" (27:12) is modern Spain, the source of tin necessary to make bronze. Trading ships from Tyre reached Britain, the west coast of Africa, and India, where they traded for iron, ivory, spices and precious stones.
Nevertheless, the city, like one of its ships, "filled and heavily laden" (27:25), is doomed to founder in deep waters—the prophet writes: "The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas" (27:26), and that "east wind' is certainly Babylon. The entire crew will be lost, together with the merchandise. "The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the shore and wail aloud over [the ruin of mighty Tyre], and cry bitterly" (27:30) . And the merchants of many nations, who had goods in its hold, will "hiss at you" in their anger (27:36). Tyre, so serene is wealth and power, will come "to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever" (27:36).
But why does it fall? The great city and its king provide the prophet with historical lesson on the dangers of wealth and power. The King of Tyre in his pride over-reaches himself. "I am a god;" he says, "I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas" (28:2). Such over-weaning pride and presumption cannot go unpunished. He is a mere moral, in spite of his great wisdom—"wiser than Daniel" (28:3), the text says-- and yet he foolishly makes himself an idol. And God will destroy all idols—he cannot abide them. The prophet addresses the king with a dire prediction—the LORD "bring strangers against you, the most terrible of nations; they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor" (28:7). At their hands "you will die the death of the uncircumcised" (28:10). (Male circumcision is the sign of being in covenant with the God of Israel. This covenant made the person who enters it truly
human. "The death of the uncircumcised" would be little better than the death of an animal.) The LORD jeers at the king's pretension and asks whether, in the presence of those who kill him, he will still say, "I am a god" (28:9).
Yet Ezekiel gives his fall is given mythic proportions. Uniquely placed in the world form birth—"in Eden, the garden of God" (28:13)—the king of Tyre is little short of angelic. He is "the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty" (28:12). And he was blameless as well-that is until "iniquity was found in [him]" (28:15). The exact nature of this iniquity is not disclosed, only that "in the abundance of [his] trade [he was] filled with violence, and [he] sinned" (28:16). Pride is at the base of it, and like Lucifer elsewhere in scripture, he is cast down from the mountain of God. His "heart was proud because of his beauty"; and in his conceit and desire to be a god he "corrupted [his] wisdom for the sake of [his] splendor" (28:17). Therefore God punished him, and now what was luminous and angelic has "come to a dreadful end" (28:19).
The city of Sidon, another Phoenician city-state located north of Tyre, punishment will also come to a dreadful end, though no concrete reason is given for it. No particular vice or crime is mentioned. The LORD is simple "against" Sidon (28:21) because it is powerful and wealthy—and therefore its very existence presents a danger to God's chosen people. The peoples living roundabout have been "a pricking brier' and "a piercing thorn" to Israel (28:24), a deadly nuisance, but they shall be no longer, God assures the prophet. He promises to gather that "house of Israel from among the peoples where they are scattered" (28:25). And they "shall settle on their own soil' and "live in safety when [the LORD executes] judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt" (28:26). When all these surrounding nations have been humbled or destroyed by the hand of the LORD and their evil influences removed, then Israel
will be established in its own land in sovereign freedom and righteousness.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 246 Ezekiel 24-26
Our reading for today is located at a remarkable intersection between history and revelation. This most famous of Ezekiel's allegories—the boiling pot—is placed very precisely in time —January 15, 588 B.C. God commands the prophet—"Mortal, write down the name of this day, this very day" (24:2)--How wonderful it would be if other Biblical authors had troubled to date their writings so exactly! This is the very day on which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon lays siege to the city of Jerusalem.
This momentous day--the climax of so much prophecy—is the end of the history of the kingdom of Judah and the beginning of the history of the Jews. On this momentous day the word of the Lord comes to the prophet in the form of an allegory in which Jerusalem is compared with a cooking pot in which meat seethes and boils. It is not a dainty dish—far from it. Jerusalem, "the bloody city" is like a "pot whose rust is in it, whose rust has not gone out of it" (24:6). The rust makes the vessel ritually unclean and the loathsome stew inside doubly impure and unwholesome. (It would probably be more accurate to think of this as a copper cooking pot rather than an iron one, and the rust inside is in fact verdigris, which would actually render the contents of an boiling pot poisonous.)
We have noted before that for ancient peoples blood was a mysterious and sacred fluid, the very essence of life. The Law of Moses forbade consuming it in any form, and commanded that it be disposed of carefully by returning it symbolically to the earth. But the blood the "bloody city" of Jerusalem has shed is "inside" the boiling pot. She has not bothered to hide it; "she placed it on a bare rock." It was not disposed of properly; "she did not pour it out on the ground, or cover it with earth" (24:7). Instead it seethes and boils in the pot, which represents the besieged city. The LORD has decreed its fall. The rusty pot with its polluted contents cannot be made clean except by fire—a blaze which God will ignite—"Heap on the logs, kindle the fire," he says (24:10). The fires the King Nebuchadnezzar will kindle in the city will destroy it, but will also make it pure again. That is why the LORD commands--"To the fire with its
rust!" (24:12) He "will not spare"; he "will not relent" until the uncleanness is purged from the bloody city by fire.
The destruction of Jerusalem corresponds to a great tragedy in Ezekiel's personal life—the death of his wife--and his personal sorrow becomes a parable about the city's fall. "With one blow," the LORD tells the prophet, he intends take away the "delight of [his] eyes." His wife will die, and yet the prophet is instructed not to "mourn or weep" nor let his "tears run down" (24:15). He is allowed to sign, "but not aloud" (24:17). He may sign silently. Nor is he to go through any of the traditional rituals of bereavement. We can imagine the anguish this command must have caused him, nevertheless that night his wife does indeed die, and Ezekiel gets up the next morning and does as he was told (24:8). And when his fellow exiles ask him why is behaving in such an strange and unnatural way, he replies as he is instructed--The armies of Babylon will shortly profane the temple in Jerusalem and burn it; they will put to the sword their
"sons and daughters whom [they] have left behind" in Jerusalem (24:21). Yet until it happens the exiles in Babylon will not openly mourn—as indeed they should. They will do what Ezekiel is doing--"pine away in [their] iniquities and groan to one another" (24:23). But on the day when Jerusalem does indeed fall and the temple is destroyed, God will send a messenger who has escaped the destruction to tell Ezekiel the news. Then the prophet's mouth will be opened, and he will "no longer be silent." Once the city has fallen, his message will be transformed from condemnation to hope (24:27). This change commences in chapter 33 of the Book of Ezekiel.
But chapters 25-32 form a sort of interlude, a pause in the narrative during which judgments and laments are directed against Israel's troublesome neighbors. These oracles regarding the fate of long-vanished nations need not delay us long, but we will have something about each of them.
The Ammonites had rebelled against Babylon at the same time as Judah did but had escaped Nebuchadnezzar's immediate attention. Now with Jerusalem under siege, they clap their hands and stamp their feet and shout "Aha!" at the sight of Judah for its life (25:6). But God promises that Babylon will get around to the Ammonites as well, and it will not be pretty. Using the king of Babylon as his agent, the LORD "will destroy" them because they rejoiced over the fall of the holy city of Jerusalem (25:7).
The nation of Moab is condemned for saying that "the house of Judah is like all the other nations" (25:8)—their defeat and humiliation prove they are no better than anyone else, in spite of being "chosen." Moab, like Ammon, shall be conquered by Babylon, destroyed, and "be remembered no more among the nations" (25:10). The people of Edom, who according to Genesis descended for Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, will also suffer for their lack of sympathy. They never had gotten on well with their Israelite kinfolk. Now they will judged for acting "vengefully against the house of Judah and . . . grievously [offending the LORD by] taking vengeance upon them" (25:12). God himself will take revenge on them "by the hand of [his] people Israel" (25:14)—though not right away, obviously. Jerusalem is struggling for its very life.
Philistia, whose five city-states that occupied the area of Gaza in biblical times, is also judged harshly because of its "unending hostilities" with Israel and Judah. The Philistines were bad neighbors throughout their history, and now God will use the Babylonians to "execute vengeance on them with wrathful punishments" (25:17) Philistia, like the other troublesome little nations roundabout, will recognize the power of the God of Israel when he lays his "vengeance on them."
The powerful Phoenician city-state of Tyre never did fall to the power of Babylon, although King Nebuchadnezzar besieged it for seventeen years. But like the Ammonites, the Tyrrhenians apparently made light of the fall of Jerusalem, saying "Aha!"—which must then have meant something worse than it does now (26:2). God will deal with Tyre himself, reducing the great seaport to "a place for spreading nets" (26:5)—which indeed it did eventually become. But the destruction of gaudy, impregnable Tyre--the name itself means "rock"—which is so vividly described here in the Book of Ezekiel--did not in fact take place under the Babylonian king. It will be another two centuries and more before Alexander the Great will take the city with enormous effort in 322 B.C.
When they hear of the fall of Tyre, its trading partners far and wide, the "princes of the sea" (25:16) will be appalled and terrified and raise their lamentation (26:17-18). God will make the great city "live in the world below [the sea it once ruled], among primeval ruins with those who go down to the Pit" (26:20)—to Sheol, the abode of the dead. The Queen of the Mediterranean will sink like a stone, and the LORD "will bring the deep over [it], and the great waters will cover [it]" (26:19) with utter oblivion and forgetfulness.
This momentous day--the climax of so much prophecy—is the end of the history of the kingdom of Judah and the beginning of the history of the Jews. On this momentous day the word of the Lord comes to the prophet in the form of an allegory in which Jerusalem is compared with a cooking pot in which meat seethes and boils. It is not a dainty dish—far from it. Jerusalem, "the bloody city" is like a "pot whose rust is in it, whose rust has not gone out of it" (24:6). The rust makes the vessel ritually unclean and the loathsome stew inside doubly impure and unwholesome. (It would probably be more accurate to think of this as a copper cooking pot rather than an iron one, and the rust inside is in fact verdigris, which would actually render the contents of an boiling pot poisonous.)
We have noted before that for ancient peoples blood was a mysterious and sacred fluid, the very essence of life. The Law of Moses forbade consuming it in any form, and commanded that it be disposed of carefully by returning it symbolically to the earth. But the blood the "bloody city" of Jerusalem has shed is "inside" the boiling pot. She has not bothered to hide it; "she placed it on a bare rock." It was not disposed of properly; "she did not pour it out on the ground, or cover it with earth" (24:7). Instead it seethes and boils in the pot, which represents the besieged city. The LORD has decreed its fall. The rusty pot with its polluted contents cannot be made clean except by fire—a blaze which God will ignite—"Heap on the logs, kindle the fire," he says (24:10). The fires the King Nebuchadnezzar will kindle in the city will destroy it, but will also make it pure again. That is why the LORD commands--"To the fire with its
rust!" (24:12) He "will not spare"; he "will not relent" until the uncleanness is purged from the bloody city by fire.
The destruction of Jerusalem corresponds to a great tragedy in Ezekiel's personal life—the death of his wife--and his personal sorrow becomes a parable about the city's fall. "With one blow," the LORD tells the prophet, he intends take away the "delight of [his] eyes." His wife will die, and yet the prophet is instructed not to "mourn or weep" nor let his "tears run down" (24:15). He is allowed to sign, "but not aloud" (24:17). He may sign silently. Nor is he to go through any of the traditional rituals of bereavement. We can imagine the anguish this command must have caused him, nevertheless that night his wife does indeed die, and Ezekiel gets up the next morning and does as he was told (24:8). And when his fellow exiles ask him why is behaving in such an strange and unnatural way, he replies as he is instructed--The armies of Babylon will shortly profane the temple in Jerusalem and burn it; they will put to the sword their
"sons and daughters whom [they] have left behind" in Jerusalem (24:21). Yet until it happens the exiles in Babylon will not openly mourn—as indeed they should. They will do what Ezekiel is doing--"pine away in [their] iniquities and groan to one another" (24:23). But on the day when Jerusalem does indeed fall and the temple is destroyed, God will send a messenger who has escaped the destruction to tell Ezekiel the news. Then the prophet's mouth will be opened, and he will "no longer be silent." Once the city has fallen, his message will be transformed from condemnation to hope (24:27). This change commences in chapter 33 of the Book of Ezekiel.
But chapters 25-32 form a sort of interlude, a pause in the narrative during which judgments and laments are directed against Israel's troublesome neighbors. These oracles regarding the fate of long-vanished nations need not delay us long, but we will have something about each of them.
The Ammonites had rebelled against Babylon at the same time as Judah did but had escaped Nebuchadnezzar's immediate attention. Now with Jerusalem under siege, they clap their hands and stamp their feet and shout "Aha!" at the sight of Judah for its life (25:6). But God promises that Babylon will get around to the Ammonites as well, and it will not be pretty. Using the king of Babylon as his agent, the LORD "will destroy" them because they rejoiced over the fall of the holy city of Jerusalem (25:7).
The nation of Moab is condemned for saying that "the house of Judah is like all the other nations" (25:8)—their defeat and humiliation prove they are no better than anyone else, in spite of being "chosen." Moab, like Ammon, shall be conquered by Babylon, destroyed, and "be remembered no more among the nations" (25:10). The people of Edom, who according to Genesis descended for Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, will also suffer for their lack of sympathy. They never had gotten on well with their Israelite kinfolk. Now they will judged for acting "vengefully against the house of Judah and . . . grievously [offending the LORD by] taking vengeance upon them" (25:12). God himself will take revenge on them "by the hand of [his] people Israel" (25:14)—though not right away, obviously. Jerusalem is struggling for its very life.
Philistia, whose five city-states that occupied the area of Gaza in biblical times, is also judged harshly because of its "unending hostilities" with Israel and Judah. The Philistines were bad neighbors throughout their history, and now God will use the Babylonians to "execute vengeance on them with wrathful punishments" (25:17) Philistia, like the other troublesome little nations roundabout, will recognize the power of the God of Israel when he lays his "vengeance on them."
The powerful Phoenician city-state of Tyre never did fall to the power of Babylon, although King Nebuchadnezzar besieged it for seventeen years. But like the Ammonites, the Tyrrhenians apparently made light of the fall of Jerusalem, saying "Aha!"—which must then have meant something worse than it does now (26:2). God will deal with Tyre himself, reducing the great seaport to "a place for spreading nets" (26:5)—which indeed it did eventually become. But the destruction of gaudy, impregnable Tyre--the name itself means "rock"—which is so vividly described here in the Book of Ezekiel--did not in fact take place under the Babylonian king. It will be another two centuries and more before Alexander the Great will take the city with enormous effort in 322 B.C.
When they hear of the fall of Tyre, its trading partners far and wide, the "princes of the sea" (25:16) will be appalled and terrified and raise their lamentation (26:17-18). God will make the great city "live in the world below [the sea it once ruled], among primeval ruins with those who go down to the Pit" (26:20)—to Sheol, the abode of the dead. The Queen of the Mediterranean will sink like a stone, and the LORD "will bring the deep over [it], and the great waters will cover [it]" (26:19) with utter oblivion and forgetfulness.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Day 245. Ezekiel 22-23
What is an idol exactly? Our lesson for today offers an answer to that question. From God's point of view an idol is any lover with whom we are unfaithful. It may be a deity of wood or stone or gold, and it may just as well be a person, or a political alliance, party or association upon which we depend; anything that consumes our attention to the point where it makes us forget the LORD is an idol. Money, security, status, or our bodies—an obsession, a powerful illusion or an overwhelming affection that excludes all else—all these qualify as idols. Having idols lies very close to the heart of what it means to be human, but God demands faithfulness.
And Jerusalem, "the bloody city," is unfaithful, condemned not only "because of the blood [it] has shed," but also because it is "defiled by the idols that [it] has made." Jerusalem has no one else to blame, its own idolatry has brought its day of reckoning near—its "appointed time . . . has come" (22:4). Everyone is to blame—injustice is everywhere, from high to low. The leadership of the country is improperly exercising its power. There is a loss of respect for authority, and as a result all the fundamental social relationships have broken down—In Jerusalem "father and mother are treated with contempt . . . ; the alien residing within [the city] suffers extortion; the widow and orphan are wronged [there]" (22:7). From that fundamental indifference to injustice come a host of vices from the profanation of Sabbaths and eating upon the mountains—taking part in pagan feasts—to sexual sins and perversions of all kinds. These
evils include economic exploitation through the taking of usurious interest and extortion (22:12). But they climax in idolatry, that gives birth to all the others—"you have forgotten me, says the LORD God."
But God will not be forgotten—ignored--he strikes his hands together—claps loudly--to get his people's attention (22:13). He challenges them—"Can your courage endure . . . when I shall deal with you?" To shock them back to awareness, the LORD is determined to "scatter [his people] among the nations, and disperse [them] through the countries" (22:15). He "will purge [their] filthiness out of [them]." And the theme of cleansing and flushing-out of impurities continues through the next section of our reading. Here the smelting of metal is used as an illustration of the way God will purify his people. The LORD addresses the prophet directly--"Mortal, the house of Israel has become dross to me" (22:18). Dross is the worthless residue left over from refining metals under intense heat. God, the refiner of nations, is determined "to gather the people into the midst of Jerusalem" like a crucible and then "blow upon [them] with the
fire of [his] wrath, so [they] will be melted" (22:21). Thus the dross will be separated from the pure metal.
But will there be any pure metal to be separated? There is no faithful leadership to be found in Judah. Its princes are avaricious; its priests--either out of ignorance or carelessness--"make no distinction between the holy and the common" (22:26); its officials are dishonest and violent; its prophets "smear whitewash on" everybody's misdeeds and speak deceptively in comforting words that God did not give them. And the people as a whole act unjustly to the marginalized and the vulnerable--they "oppress the poor and needy, and [extort] from the alien without redress" (22:29). Abraham bargained with God for the city of Sodom, and Moses pleaded with God on behalf of Israel in the wilderness, but when the LORD looks for one who will "repair the wall and stand in the breach before [him] on behalf of the land, so that [he] would not destroy it; [he can find] no one" (22:30). There is no one willing or able to bargain for the life of
Jerusalem.
The word of the LORD comes to Ezekiel in the form of another parable—this one of two sisters—Oholah, the elder, represents the city of Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel—Oholibah, the younger, is Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. The name "Oholah" means "her tent"; "Oholibah" means "my tent is in her"—this refers to the fact of Samaria had no place of worship--the proper place to worship the LORD was "in" Jerusalem. God's "tent" is in her.
But both sisters have been no better than they had to be—they are promiscuous and behave lewdly. The sisters both "played the whore in Egypt," and "from their youth" they allowed themselves to be seduced (23:3). Nevertheless, the LORD took them as his wives, and they "bore sons and daughters" (23:4)—the people of Israel and Judah.
Oholah, representing the northern kingdom of Israel, "lust[s] after . . . the Assyrians" (23:5) and takes them as her lovers. This is an allusion to the alliance between Israel and the Assyrian kings, which the parable interprets as act adultery against the LORD, Oholah's rightful husband. She puts political expediency—lust in the parable—ahead of faithfulness, and as a result she is raped, her children are seized, and she is murdered (23:10)—a reference to the destruction of the kingdom Israel by her Assyrian "lovers.'
Oholibah sees all this but does not take a lesson from her sister's fate. She first takes up with the Assyrians—from the LORD's point of view, when Judah makes treaties with these foreigners and their gods, she commits idolatry, putting political consideration before faith and trust. So Judah betrayed the LORD, her true husband. Then Oholibah sees "male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans" (23:14), and sensing their mastery, she sends messengers to them inviting them to become her lovers. So Judah became the vassal of the Babylonians, until "she turned from them in disgust" (23:19)—a reference to her rebellion against her overlords. By now God has turned from her "in disgust, as [he] turned from her sister" 23:18), but by this time she has gone back to her first lover—Egypt—"and lusted after her paramours there" (23:20) and with Egypt she conspires against Babylon, courting destruction.
Each of these empires represents an idol with which Israel and Judah betray the LORD. The parable expresses this betrayal in explicitly sexual terms that even we find more than little shocking. But the point of the parable is to shock the people to an awareness of what the jealous God is about to do. He will use her jilted lovers to punish her—he will "commit [her] judgment to them, and they shall judge [her] according to their ordinances" (23:24). The details of her sufferings are recounted in the same detail that her adulteries are (23:23-30). But God says to Oholibah [Jerusalem]--"You have gone the way of your sister [Samaria]; therefore I will give her cup [of wrath] into your hand" (23:31) and you will drain it to the dregs. All this results from her idolatry—so the LORD says: "Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore [you must] bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings" (23:35).
The LORD draws up a laundry list of Oholah and Oholibah's offenses, and figuring large among them is child sacrifice—they have "slaughtered their children for their idols" (23:39). But these atrocities—dreadful as they are--all boil down to the idolatry they embraced in its many forms—some gross, others more subtle. But for their unfaithfulness Judah, like Samaria, must pay the ultimate price—"the assembly shall stone them and with their swords shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters; and burn their houses" (23:47). Foreign armies that "come against [them] from the north" (23:24) will judge them and do what the Law of Moses commanded be done to women caught in adultery—and more. By their example the LORD "will put an end to lewdness in the land"—stop the worship of idols—"so that all women"—by extension all who see the punishment—"may take warning and not commit lewdness as [they]
have done" (23:48).
And Jerusalem, "the bloody city," is unfaithful, condemned not only "because of the blood [it] has shed," but also because it is "defiled by the idols that [it] has made." Jerusalem has no one else to blame, its own idolatry has brought its day of reckoning near—its "appointed time . . . has come" (22:4). Everyone is to blame—injustice is everywhere, from high to low. The leadership of the country is improperly exercising its power. There is a loss of respect for authority, and as a result all the fundamental social relationships have broken down—In Jerusalem "father and mother are treated with contempt . . . ; the alien residing within [the city] suffers extortion; the widow and orphan are wronged [there]" (22:7). From that fundamental indifference to injustice come a host of vices from the profanation of Sabbaths and eating upon the mountains—taking part in pagan feasts—to sexual sins and perversions of all kinds. These
evils include economic exploitation through the taking of usurious interest and extortion (22:12). But they climax in idolatry, that gives birth to all the others—"you have forgotten me, says the LORD God."
But God will not be forgotten—ignored--he strikes his hands together—claps loudly--to get his people's attention (22:13). He challenges them—"Can your courage endure . . . when I shall deal with you?" To shock them back to awareness, the LORD is determined to "scatter [his people] among the nations, and disperse [them] through the countries" (22:15). He "will purge [their] filthiness out of [them]." And the theme of cleansing and flushing-out of impurities continues through the next section of our reading. Here the smelting of metal is used as an illustration of the way God will purify his people. The LORD addresses the prophet directly--"Mortal, the house of Israel has become dross to me" (22:18). Dross is the worthless residue left over from refining metals under intense heat. God, the refiner of nations, is determined "to gather the people into the midst of Jerusalem" like a crucible and then "blow upon [them] with the
fire of [his] wrath, so [they] will be melted" (22:21). Thus the dross will be separated from the pure metal.
But will there be any pure metal to be separated? There is no faithful leadership to be found in Judah. Its princes are avaricious; its priests--either out of ignorance or carelessness--"make no distinction between the holy and the common" (22:26); its officials are dishonest and violent; its prophets "smear whitewash on" everybody's misdeeds and speak deceptively in comforting words that God did not give them. And the people as a whole act unjustly to the marginalized and the vulnerable--they "oppress the poor and needy, and [extort] from the alien without redress" (22:29). Abraham bargained with God for the city of Sodom, and Moses pleaded with God on behalf of Israel in the wilderness, but when the LORD looks for one who will "repair the wall and stand in the breach before [him] on behalf of the land, so that [he] would not destroy it; [he can find] no one" (22:30). There is no one willing or able to bargain for the life of
Jerusalem.
The word of the LORD comes to Ezekiel in the form of another parable—this one of two sisters—Oholah, the elder, represents the city of Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel—Oholibah, the younger, is Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah. The name "Oholah" means "her tent"; "Oholibah" means "my tent is in her"—this refers to the fact of Samaria had no place of worship--the proper place to worship the LORD was "in" Jerusalem. God's "tent" is in her.
But both sisters have been no better than they had to be—they are promiscuous and behave lewdly. The sisters both "played the whore in Egypt," and "from their youth" they allowed themselves to be seduced (23:3). Nevertheless, the LORD took them as his wives, and they "bore sons and daughters" (23:4)—the people of Israel and Judah.
Oholah, representing the northern kingdom of Israel, "lust[s] after . . . the Assyrians" (23:5) and takes them as her lovers. This is an allusion to the alliance between Israel and the Assyrian kings, which the parable interprets as act adultery against the LORD, Oholah's rightful husband. She puts political expediency—lust in the parable—ahead of faithfulness, and as a result she is raped, her children are seized, and she is murdered (23:10)—a reference to the destruction of the kingdom Israel by her Assyrian "lovers.'
Oholibah sees all this but does not take a lesson from her sister's fate. She first takes up with the Assyrians—from the LORD's point of view, when Judah makes treaties with these foreigners and their gods, she commits idolatry, putting political consideration before faith and trust. So Judah betrayed the LORD, her true husband. Then Oholibah sees "male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans" (23:14), and sensing their mastery, she sends messengers to them inviting them to become her lovers. So Judah became the vassal of the Babylonians, until "she turned from them in disgust" (23:19)—a reference to her rebellion against her overlords. By now God has turned from her "in disgust, as [he] turned from her sister" 23:18), but by this time she has gone back to her first lover—Egypt—"and lusted after her paramours there" (23:20) and with Egypt she conspires against Babylon, courting destruction.
Each of these empires represents an idol with which Israel and Judah betray the LORD. The parable expresses this betrayal in explicitly sexual terms that even we find more than little shocking. But the point of the parable is to shock the people to an awareness of what the jealous God is about to do. He will use her jilted lovers to punish her—he will "commit [her] judgment to them, and they shall judge [her] according to their ordinances" (23:24). The details of her sufferings are recounted in the same detail that her adulteries are (23:23-30). But God says to Oholibah [Jerusalem]--"You have gone the way of your sister [Samaria]; therefore I will give her cup [of wrath] into your hand" (23:31) and you will drain it to the dregs. All this results from her idolatry—so the LORD says: "Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore [you must] bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings" (23:35).
The LORD draws up a laundry list of Oholah and Oholibah's offenses, and figuring large among them is child sacrifice—they have "slaughtered their children for their idols" (23:39). But these atrocities—dreadful as they are--all boil down to the idolatry they embraced in its many forms—some gross, others more subtle. But for their unfaithfulness Judah, like Samaria, must pay the ultimate price—"the assembly shall stone them and with their swords shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters; and burn their houses" (23:47). Foreign armies that "come against [them] from the north" (23:24) will judge them and do what the Law of Moses commanded be done to women caught in adultery—and more. By their example the LORD "will put an end to lewdness in the land"—stop the worship of idols—"so that all women"—by extension all who see the punishment—"may take warning and not commit lewdness as [they]
have done" (23:48).
Monday, February 14, 2011
Day 244. Ezekiel 20-21
It is not always clear where Ezekiel is when he delivers his prophecies--sometimes he is in Babylon among the exiles and at other times he is caught up by the spirit and back in Jerusalem. We have to rely on him to tell us, and when he doesn't, we have to assume that the location isn't that important to the message. In our reading for today we know that he is in Babylon because we are told that prophecy was delivered on August 14, 591 B.C.—after the first deportation of Judeans to Mesopotamia but before the final destruction of Jerusalem.
In chapter 20 certain Jewish elders come to the prophet to ask him to seek guidance from the LORD on their behalf—we are not told in what regard and the request seems innocent enough. But the LORD angrily refuses to be consulted. Instead, he calls upon the prophet to denounce these hapless elders for "the abominations of their ancestors" (20:4).
The LORD recounts the whole disappointing story of his relationship with the people of Israel, beginning when he chose them "in the land of Egypt," and told them, "I am the LORD your God" (20:5). The words recall the first commandment—Exodus 20:2-3—but the reference seems to be to a story we are not told in Exodus. In it God promises that he will bring the people out of Egypt and settle them in "a land flowing with milk and honey" (20:6). But they must first "cast away the detestable things [their] eyes feast on," and from now on they must "not defile [themselves] with the idols of Egypt" (20:7). Now that the LORD has chosen them, he alone is their God—he will tolerate no rivals. But Israel rebels against him, and "not one of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on" (20:8). They remained obstinate in their idolatry. And at that point God confesses that he had considered destroying them in Egypt, but he
refrained "for the sake of [his] name" (20:9). He had made a commitment. His honor was at stake—he was honor-bound to keep his promise to be their God.
In the wilderness God again chose Israel and gave them his laws and his statutes—especially those regarding "the Sabbaths, as a sign between them and [himself]" (20:12). The Sabbath was given to Israel as a mark of the LORD's decision to "sanctify them"—make them a holy people and different from all other nations. But in the wilderness they again rebelled and profaned his ordinances, especially the Sabbath. And God considered destroying them then and there, but again he refrained "for the sake of [his] name" (20:14)--because God must be faithful to his promises, even when human beings are not. They fully deserved destruction, but the LORD "did not destroy them or make an end of them in the wilderness" (20:17). In the same way the second wilderness generation also rebelled (20:21, and again the LORD "withheld [his] hand and acted for the sake of [his] name, so that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose
sight [he] had brought them out" of Egypt (20:22). He did not destroy them, but the LORD did swear "that he would scatter [Israel] among the nations and disperse them through the countries" (20:23).
This strange text even suggests God instituted child sacrifice in "order to horrify them" (20:26) because they worshipped idols made of wood and stone "like the nations" round about (20:32). Because of their idolatry, God contrives to make the people of Israel defile themselves through these horrific sacrifices. (20:31). This notion, however, is difficult if not impossible to reconcile with the universal condemnation of child sacrifice found elsewhere in the Old Testament. It is, however, futile to seek absolute consistency in dealing with the impenetrable nature of God. All we need to affirm is that he is ultimately a mystery to us, and we know him as he is only in Jesus Christ, through his life and his death on the cross. Otherwise the LORD refuses to be comprehended—God is himself the cloud that hides him.
In spite of their repeated betrayals, however, God has determined that he will be Israel's king (20:33), gathering them out of the countries where they have been scattered and leading them again into the wilderness. There in the wilderness, just as he judged their ancestors, he will judge them. He will make them "pass under the staff," only allowing those who are willing to be brought "into the bond of the covenant" to enter the land of promise (20:37). Like a shepherd with a staff, counting the sheep entering his fold, the Lord will "purge out the rebels" from among them (20:38). The only ones who will remain will be those who do not profane God's holy name "with [their] gifts and [their] idols" (20:39). And those faithful ones who have accepted the covenant will be brought to the temple in Jerusalem, the "holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel" (20:40) to worship the LORD as he wishes to be worshipped, without hypocrisy
and sham. They will remember their sins and repent of "all the deeds by which [they] have polluted [themselves] (20:43), and will never fall back into their transgressions.
Apparently people were ridiculing Ezekiel as "a maker of allegories"—a mere composer of obscure stories (20:49). What they do not realize is that the LORD is the source of these tales, and they will think better of them when they see the fire the LORD will kindle in the south—in the southern Kingdom of Judah (20:47)—and spread northward, consuming everything in its path. Then, God says--"All flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it; it shall not be quenched" (20:48), and there will be no more ridiculing of his prophet Ezekiel as a mere "maker of allegories."
Then God commands Ezekiel to "moan with breaking heart and bitter grief before" the eyes of the people (21:6). And when they ask why, he is to tell them—"Because of the news that has come" (21:7). And what is the news. King Zedekiah, encouraged by an Egyptian alliance, has revolted against his overlord, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Now a sword is being sharpened that will slay "all Israel's princes together with [the] people" (21:13). But that sword does not belong to the King of Babylon—it is the sword of the LORD, who says—"I too will strike hand to hand; I will satisfy my fury" (21:17). He is the one who fights against the "vile, wicked prince of Israel" (21:22).
The Ammonites revolted against the King of Babylon at the same time as Judah. Now Nebuchadnezzar must decide which to attack first, Jerusalem or the Ammonite capital of Rabbah. So he orders Ezekiel to "make a signpost" (21:19) to guide the king of Babylon, who is using divination to decide which road to take (21:21). "He shakes the arrows"-- this is a way of telling the future similar to casting lots. "He consults the terephim"--these statues of household gods or deified ancestors--see Genesis 31:19—and often used as oracles. "He inspects the liver"--in ancient Babylon—and indeed all over the ancient world—the livers of sacrificed animals were inspected by specially trained priests to foretell the future. "Into his right hand come the lot for Jerusalem," and Nebuchadnezzar decides to lay siege to that city" (21:22). The leaders of Israel remember the "solemn oaths" they have sworn, binding them in an alliance with
Egypt. Now they remember their "transgressions"—their treachery and scheming--and because they repent they shall be taken captive and not slain (21:23). But as for the prince of Israel—King Zedekiah—his "day has come" (21:25). He will lose his crown, and his capital Jerusalem will be made a ruin, and will remain so "until he comes whose right it is"—until a rightful heir from the house David appears to claim it (21:27)
As for the Ammonites, who also revolted against Nebuchadnezzar—the other fork in the road (21:19-21)—they have not been forgotten. Their "day has come, the time of final punishment" (21:29). They will be destroyed—but so also will mighty Babylon the destroyer. It will serve as the instrument of the LORD until the LORD has no further use for it—then the sword will be returned to its sheath (21:30). God will "pour out his indignation" on the conqueror of nations and destroyer of cities, and Babylon itself shall be destroyed by "brutish hands" (21:31). It shall be "fuel for the fire"; its "blood shall enter the earth," and even its memory shall perish from the earth (21:32).
In chapter 20 certain Jewish elders come to the prophet to ask him to seek guidance from the LORD on their behalf—we are not told in what regard and the request seems innocent enough. But the LORD angrily refuses to be consulted. Instead, he calls upon the prophet to denounce these hapless elders for "the abominations of their ancestors" (20:4).
The LORD recounts the whole disappointing story of his relationship with the people of Israel, beginning when he chose them "in the land of Egypt," and told them, "I am the LORD your God" (20:5). The words recall the first commandment—Exodus 20:2-3—but the reference seems to be to a story we are not told in Exodus. In it God promises that he will bring the people out of Egypt and settle them in "a land flowing with milk and honey" (20:6). But they must first "cast away the detestable things [their] eyes feast on," and from now on they must "not defile [themselves] with the idols of Egypt" (20:7). Now that the LORD has chosen them, he alone is their God—he will tolerate no rivals. But Israel rebels against him, and "not one of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on" (20:8). They remained obstinate in their idolatry. And at that point God confesses that he had considered destroying them in Egypt, but he
refrained "for the sake of [his] name" (20:9). He had made a commitment. His honor was at stake—he was honor-bound to keep his promise to be their God.
In the wilderness God again chose Israel and gave them his laws and his statutes—especially those regarding "the Sabbaths, as a sign between them and [himself]" (20:12). The Sabbath was given to Israel as a mark of the LORD's decision to "sanctify them"—make them a holy people and different from all other nations. But in the wilderness they again rebelled and profaned his ordinances, especially the Sabbath. And God considered destroying them then and there, but again he refrained "for the sake of [his] name" (20:14)--because God must be faithful to his promises, even when human beings are not. They fully deserved destruction, but the LORD "did not destroy them or make an end of them in the wilderness" (20:17). In the same way the second wilderness generation also rebelled (20:21, and again the LORD "withheld [his] hand and acted for the sake of [his] name, so that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose
sight [he] had brought them out" of Egypt (20:22). He did not destroy them, but the LORD did swear "that he would scatter [Israel] among the nations and disperse them through the countries" (20:23).
This strange text even suggests God instituted child sacrifice in "order to horrify them" (20:26) because they worshipped idols made of wood and stone "like the nations" round about (20:32). Because of their idolatry, God contrives to make the people of Israel defile themselves through these horrific sacrifices. (20:31). This notion, however, is difficult if not impossible to reconcile with the universal condemnation of child sacrifice found elsewhere in the Old Testament. It is, however, futile to seek absolute consistency in dealing with the impenetrable nature of God. All we need to affirm is that he is ultimately a mystery to us, and we know him as he is only in Jesus Christ, through his life and his death on the cross. Otherwise the LORD refuses to be comprehended—God is himself the cloud that hides him.
In spite of their repeated betrayals, however, God has determined that he will be Israel's king (20:33), gathering them out of the countries where they have been scattered and leading them again into the wilderness. There in the wilderness, just as he judged their ancestors, he will judge them. He will make them "pass under the staff," only allowing those who are willing to be brought "into the bond of the covenant" to enter the land of promise (20:37). Like a shepherd with a staff, counting the sheep entering his fold, the Lord will "purge out the rebels" from among them (20:38). The only ones who will remain will be those who do not profane God's holy name "with [their] gifts and [their] idols" (20:39). And those faithful ones who have accepted the covenant will be brought to the temple in Jerusalem, the "holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel" (20:40) to worship the LORD as he wishes to be worshipped, without hypocrisy
and sham. They will remember their sins and repent of "all the deeds by which [they] have polluted [themselves] (20:43), and will never fall back into their transgressions.
Apparently people were ridiculing Ezekiel as "a maker of allegories"—a mere composer of obscure stories (20:49). What they do not realize is that the LORD is the source of these tales, and they will think better of them when they see the fire the LORD will kindle in the south—in the southern Kingdom of Judah (20:47)—and spread northward, consuming everything in its path. Then, God says--"All flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it; it shall not be quenched" (20:48), and there will be no more ridiculing of his prophet Ezekiel as a mere "maker of allegories."
Then God commands Ezekiel to "moan with breaking heart and bitter grief before" the eyes of the people (21:6). And when they ask why, he is to tell them—"Because of the news that has come" (21:7). And what is the news. King Zedekiah, encouraged by an Egyptian alliance, has revolted against his overlord, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Now a sword is being sharpened that will slay "all Israel's princes together with [the] people" (21:13). But that sword does not belong to the King of Babylon—it is the sword of the LORD, who says—"I too will strike hand to hand; I will satisfy my fury" (21:17). He is the one who fights against the "vile, wicked prince of Israel" (21:22).
The Ammonites revolted against the King of Babylon at the same time as Judah. Now Nebuchadnezzar must decide which to attack first, Jerusalem or the Ammonite capital of Rabbah. So he orders Ezekiel to "make a signpost" (21:19) to guide the king of Babylon, who is using divination to decide which road to take (21:21). "He shakes the arrows"-- this is a way of telling the future similar to casting lots. "He consults the terephim"--these statues of household gods or deified ancestors--see Genesis 31:19—and often used as oracles. "He inspects the liver"--in ancient Babylon—and indeed all over the ancient world—the livers of sacrificed animals were inspected by specially trained priests to foretell the future. "Into his right hand come the lot for Jerusalem," and Nebuchadnezzar decides to lay siege to that city" (21:22). The leaders of Israel remember the "solemn oaths" they have sworn, binding them in an alliance with
Egypt. Now they remember their "transgressions"—their treachery and scheming--and because they repent they shall be taken captive and not slain (21:23). But as for the prince of Israel—King Zedekiah—his "day has come" (21:25). He will lose his crown, and his capital Jerusalem will be made a ruin, and will remain so "until he comes whose right it is"—until a rightful heir from the house David appears to claim it (21:27)
As for the Ammonites, who also revolted against Nebuchadnezzar—the other fork in the road (21:19-21)—they have not been forgotten. Their "day has come, the time of final punishment" (21:29). They will be destroyed—but so also will mighty Babylon the destroyer. It will serve as the instrument of the LORD until the LORD has no further use for it—then the sword will be returned to its sheath (21:30). God will "pour out his indignation" on the conqueror of nations and destroyer of cities, and Babylon itself shall be destroyed by "brutish hands" (21:31). It shall be "fuel for the fire"; its "blood shall enter the earth," and even its memory shall perish from the earth (21:32).
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Saturday, February 12, 2011
Day 243. Ezekiel 17-19
In our reading for today a number of different "genres"—forms of literature—are represented. For instance the poem in chapter 17—the Two Eagles and the Vine—is a puzzle or riddle--elaborate guessing games were very popular in ancient times. This one has a very serious purpose, however. It is also a political allegory, a piece of literature in which each detail points to a meaning outside the work—in this case a political meaning. It interprets events that take place during the last years of the independent kingdom of Judah. It is also a parable, a story with a spiritual meaning intended to change the hearers' way of thinking, acting, or believing.
The first eagle is King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (17:3). The topmost shoot of the cedar is the Davidic king Jehoiachin, who was carried off in a first deportation from Jerusalem to Babylon, which is called "the land of trade" and the "city of merchants" (17:4). "The seed from the land" is the King Zedekiah, the uncle of the exiled king, who was planted in his place as a puppet king in Jerusalem. This seed sprouts into a vine, "spreading out, but low" (17:6).
The second "great eagle with great wings and much plumage" (17:7) is the Egyptian Pharaoh, to whom the low vine—King Zedekiah—makes overtures, and is encouraged to revolt (17:8). But will this rebellion prosper? Will King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon pull it—the vine—King Zedekiah--up by its roots? And will not the rebellious Judean king—the vine--be "transplanted"—taken into exile—to a place where it "will utterly wither? (17:10)
The verdict of the LORD is clear--"in Babylon [Zedekiah] shall die" (17:16), because he made a covenant and then broke it (17:19). He acted treacherously toward the master the LORD had placed over him, and that is the same as rebelling against the LORD. Yet his death does not end the parable. That "sprig from the lofty top of the cedar" the eagle plucked shall be planted by the LORD "on a high and lofty mountain"—the mountain of Israel—where it will become "a noble cedar." And it will give shelter and comfort to the nations, who are represented by the birds of every variety—"Under it every kind of bird shall live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind" (17:23).
It was a widely held ancient belief that the punishment of sins was passed from one generation to another, and that children and grandchildren and descendents many times might suffer for the guilt of their forebears. But here the LORD through his prophet affirms the responsibility of the individual for his or her sins alone—"it is only the person who sins that shall die" (18:4). If an individual disobeys the law , "his blood shall be upon himself" alone (18:13). The son shall not suffer for the sins of the father. And so the attitude behind the proverb then widely quoted and believed—"The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"—is repudiated as unworthy of a just and merciful God. From now, the prophet says, the "righteousness of the righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own" (18:20). Mercy is always available to the repentant. So if the wicked turn away
from their evil ways and "do what is lawful and right," they shall surely live (18:21). God always desires life, not death. He always prefers mercy to punishment. The LORD's justice is always tempered with mercy. So he invites sinners--"Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the LORD God. Turn, then, and live" (18:31-32).
Our reading for today ends with two lamentations—another popular form or genre of Biblical literature. The lamentations of the lioness (19:2-9) and the vine (19:10-14) are also political allegories about the end of the Davidic dynasty. The lion is either Jehoiachin or Zedekiah—the last two Davidic kings of Judah, both of whom are "lions" who are "caught in their pit"—both revolt against the power of Babylon. And both are taken captive King Nebuchadnezzar. Of either one it could be said—"With hooks they put him in a cage, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, so that his voice should be heard no more on the mountains of Israel" (19:9). Both became political liabilities to the Babylonian king and had to be removed and imprisoned.
In the allegory of the vine, the image of the vineyard (19:10) is an image frequently used for the people of Israel and their land. "The strongest stem" in the vineyard is the house of David. In its pride "it [towers] aloft among the thick branches" of the vineyard (10:11). But it is "plucked up" in the anger of the LORD and "cast down to the ground" (19:12). The "east wind" that "dried it up" represents King Nebuchadnezzar. It withers and "fire consume[s] it"—this is probably a reference to the Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of the city Jerusalem. The scepter is "transplanted into the wilderness, into a dry and thirsty land"--the king is carried off into exile in Babylon. The 'fire has gone out from its stem" (19:14)--the Davidic monarchy has lost its vigor and no longer has in it the strength to rule (19:14) and must wait for God in his own time to renew and restore it.
The first eagle is King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (17:3). The topmost shoot of the cedar is the Davidic king Jehoiachin, who was carried off in a first deportation from Jerusalem to Babylon, which is called "the land of trade" and the "city of merchants" (17:4). "The seed from the land" is the King Zedekiah, the uncle of the exiled king, who was planted in his place as a puppet king in Jerusalem. This seed sprouts into a vine, "spreading out, but low" (17:6).
The second "great eagle with great wings and much plumage" (17:7) is the Egyptian Pharaoh, to whom the low vine—King Zedekiah—makes overtures, and is encouraged to revolt (17:8). But will this rebellion prosper? Will King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon pull it—the vine—King Zedekiah--up by its roots? And will not the rebellious Judean king—the vine--be "transplanted"—taken into exile—to a place where it "will utterly wither? (17:10)
The verdict of the LORD is clear--"in Babylon [Zedekiah] shall die" (17:16), because he made a covenant and then broke it (17:19). He acted treacherously toward the master the LORD had placed over him, and that is the same as rebelling against the LORD. Yet his death does not end the parable. That "sprig from the lofty top of the cedar" the eagle plucked shall be planted by the LORD "on a high and lofty mountain"—the mountain of Israel—where it will become "a noble cedar." And it will give shelter and comfort to the nations, who are represented by the birds of every variety—"Under it every kind of bird shall live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind" (17:23).
It was a widely held ancient belief that the punishment of sins was passed from one generation to another, and that children and grandchildren and descendents many times might suffer for the guilt of their forebears. But here the LORD through his prophet affirms the responsibility of the individual for his or her sins alone—"it is only the person who sins that shall die" (18:4). If an individual disobeys the law , "his blood shall be upon himself" alone (18:13). The son shall not suffer for the sins of the father. And so the attitude behind the proverb then widely quoted and believed—"The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"—is repudiated as unworthy of a just and merciful God. From now, the prophet says, the "righteousness of the righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own" (18:20). Mercy is always available to the repentant. So if the wicked turn away
from their evil ways and "do what is lawful and right," they shall surely live (18:21). God always desires life, not death. He always prefers mercy to punishment. The LORD's justice is always tempered with mercy. So he invites sinners--"Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the LORD God. Turn, then, and live" (18:31-32).
Our reading for today ends with two lamentations—another popular form or genre of Biblical literature. The lamentations of the lioness (19:2-9) and the vine (19:10-14) are also political allegories about the end of the Davidic dynasty. The lion is either Jehoiachin or Zedekiah—the last two Davidic kings of Judah, both of whom are "lions" who are "caught in their pit"—both revolt against the power of Babylon. And both are taken captive King Nebuchadnezzar. Of either one it could be said—"With hooks they put him in a cage, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, so that his voice should be heard no more on the mountains of Israel" (19:9). Both became political liabilities to the Babylonian king and had to be removed and imprisoned.
In the allegory of the vine, the image of the vineyard (19:10) is an image frequently used for the people of Israel and their land. "The strongest stem" in the vineyard is the house of David. In its pride "it [towers] aloft among the thick branches" of the vineyard (10:11). But it is "plucked up" in the anger of the LORD and "cast down to the ground" (19:12). The "east wind" that "dried it up" represents King Nebuchadnezzar. It withers and "fire consume[s] it"—this is probably a reference to the Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of the city Jerusalem. The scepter is "transplanted into the wilderness, into a dry and thirsty land"--the king is carried off into exile in Babylon. The 'fire has gone out from its stem" (19:14)--the Davidic monarchy has lost its vigor and no longer has in it the strength to rule (19:14) and must wait for God in his own time to renew and restore it.
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Friday, February 11, 2011
Day 242. Ezekiel 14-16
You will note as we read this book together that Ezekiel ascribes all his words and actions to God. He never speaks or acts on his own, apart from "the word of the LORD God." The special pleading of Isaiah and the laments of Jeremiah are absent. The prophet receives the visions God reveals and functions as the actor for the little plays that God produces and directs.
In our reading Ezekiel is consulted by "certain elders of Israel" (14:1), but the word of the LORD allows him to discern that "these men have taken their idols into their hearts" (14:2). The idols they have embraced are not necessarily statues of pagan deities; they may be some other deep delusion or desire that has replaced God secretly in their hearts. Ezekiel's discernment of the secret apostasy is a sign that he is authentically God's prophet. Through him God threatens those who have "taken idols into their hearts" and then come to a prophet "to inquire by him" with more than they had bargained for—"I the LORD will answer them myself," he says (14:7). He will "cut them off from the midst of [his] people" (14:8). And if a prophet is deceived by such pretenders, he is not a true prophet and he with perish together with the hypocritical inquirer who comes to him—false prophet and apostate together (14:10).
Each one will be responsible for his own uprightness before God or lack of it. No one can depend on the virtues of another for his deliverance. So even if the most famous righteous men—the saints of the Old Testament world—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in a land "that sins against [the LORD] by acting faithlessly" (14:14) only they "would save their own lives by their righteousness." They would not save sons or daughters or the animals of a land cursed by the LORD. On the other hand, the best will survive—"sons and daughters" purified and disciplined by suffering who will "console" the people when they see their "ways and their deeds"; and they will "know that it was not without cause that [the LORD has done] all that [he has] done" in Jerusalem (14:23). Out of the present tribulations to come God promises to create the better Jerusalem of the future.
The prophet relates parable describing Jerusalem, this one in verse form, which he ascribes to the LORD. It asks--What is the wood of the grapevine good for when it is exhausted, dried and will bear no fruit good for? Can you make a peg of it to hang something from? It is too twisted. It is good only for burning. And once it is charred on both ends, what is it good for then? It is worthless, good for nothing but to be consumed. This is all that the "the inhabitants of Jerusalem" are good for—burning. Even if "they escape from the fire" of the captured city, "the fire" of the exile "shall still consume them" (15:7). But out of the fire will come a people who will recognize the LORD's work in their punishment.
The prophet relates yet another parable, this one an elaborate political and social allegory comparing Jerusalem to an unfaithful bride. Jerusalem was originally a pagan city parent to foreign peoples—"your father was an Amorite your mother was a Hittitie (16:2). She was uncared for at her birth and exposed to die, but God found her as she "lay in [her] blood". He pitied her and he said, "Live!" (16:6). Accordingly the city grew up like a beautiful girl, and God loved her and made an agreement with her—a marriage covenant. "I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the LORD God, and you became mine" (16:8), and the city "grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen" (16:13). But she forgot that all her beauty and wealth was a result of the fact that God had pitied and cared for her in the beginning.
The city forgot her beginnings and "played the whore," using the beautiful and precious gifts God had bestowed on her to worship idols. And the LORD says to her—"In all your abominations and whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood" (16:22)—unwanted and unloved until the LORD found and saved her. Instead of being faithful, Jerusalem played the whore with one nation after another—Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians, and now Chaldeans—they all enjoyed your favors—and free. She courted them with the gifts she had been given by God. "You were not like a whore, because you scorned payment" (16:31), God tells her. She was like an "adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband" (16:32)—giving gifts to your lovers, rather than asking for payment for her favors (16:33).
But now because of this lustful behavior the LORD will " bring a mob against you and they shall stone you"—the usual penalty for adultery—"and cut you to pieces with swords" (16:40)—a reference to the coming destruction of the city by the Babylonians. But by this violence the Lord "shall satisfy his fury, and his jealousy "shall turn away from you; [he] will be calm, and will be angry no longer" (16:42).
He knows where she comes from, after all, who her mother was, and "like mother, like daughter" (16:45). She is sister to those unfaithful cities, to Samaria and to Sodom which have already been destroyed—and yet they did not commit half the sins that Jerusalem has. In fact, the LORD says, "you have made your sisters appear righteous" (16:52) by comparison. Yet there is hope, nevertheless. In spite of all this, the LORD promises to restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and Samaria and her daughters—in spite of their notorious wickedness-- "and I will restore your fortunes along with theirs, in order that you may be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them" (16:54). Jerusalem has repeatedly broken the marriage covenant she made with God, but God will establish with her "an everlasting covenant" (16:60). Not because of any good in her—she is not better than Samaria and Sodom-- but so that "you
shall know that I am the LORD, in order that you may remember [your sins] and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the LORD God" (16:63).
In our reading Ezekiel is consulted by "certain elders of Israel" (14:1), but the word of the LORD allows him to discern that "these men have taken their idols into their hearts" (14:2). The idols they have embraced are not necessarily statues of pagan deities; they may be some other deep delusion or desire that has replaced God secretly in their hearts. Ezekiel's discernment of the secret apostasy is a sign that he is authentically God's prophet. Through him God threatens those who have "taken idols into their hearts" and then come to a prophet "to inquire by him" with more than they had bargained for—"I the LORD will answer them myself," he says (14:7). He will "cut them off from the midst of [his] people" (14:8). And if a prophet is deceived by such pretenders, he is not a true prophet and he with perish together with the hypocritical inquirer who comes to him—false prophet and apostate together (14:10).
Each one will be responsible for his own uprightness before God or lack of it. No one can depend on the virtues of another for his deliverance. So even if the most famous righteous men—the saints of the Old Testament world—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in a land "that sins against [the LORD] by acting faithlessly" (14:14) only they "would save their own lives by their righteousness." They would not save sons or daughters or the animals of a land cursed by the LORD. On the other hand, the best will survive—"sons and daughters" purified and disciplined by suffering who will "console" the people when they see their "ways and their deeds"; and they will "know that it was not without cause that [the LORD has done] all that [he has] done" in Jerusalem (14:23). Out of the present tribulations to come God promises to create the better Jerusalem of the future.
The prophet relates parable describing Jerusalem, this one in verse form, which he ascribes to the LORD. It asks--What is the wood of the grapevine good for when it is exhausted, dried and will bear no fruit good for? Can you make a peg of it to hang something from? It is too twisted. It is good only for burning. And once it is charred on both ends, what is it good for then? It is worthless, good for nothing but to be consumed. This is all that the "the inhabitants of Jerusalem" are good for—burning. Even if "they escape from the fire" of the captured city, "the fire" of the exile "shall still consume them" (15:7). But out of the fire will come a people who will recognize the LORD's work in their punishment.
The prophet relates yet another parable, this one an elaborate political and social allegory comparing Jerusalem to an unfaithful bride. Jerusalem was originally a pagan city parent to foreign peoples—"your father was an Amorite your mother was a Hittitie (16:2). She was uncared for at her birth and exposed to die, but God found her as she "lay in [her] blood". He pitied her and he said, "Live!" (16:6). Accordingly the city grew up like a beautiful girl, and God loved her and made an agreement with her—a marriage covenant. "I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the LORD God, and you became mine" (16:8), and the city "grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen" (16:13). But she forgot that all her beauty and wealth was a result of the fact that God had pitied and cared for her in the beginning.
The city forgot her beginnings and "played the whore," using the beautiful and precious gifts God had bestowed on her to worship idols. And the LORD says to her—"In all your abominations and whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood" (16:22)—unwanted and unloved until the LORD found and saved her. Instead of being faithful, Jerusalem played the whore with one nation after another—Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians, and now Chaldeans—they all enjoyed your favors—and free. She courted them with the gifts she had been given by God. "You were not like a whore, because you scorned payment" (16:31), God tells her. She was like an "adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband" (16:32)—giving gifts to your lovers, rather than asking for payment for her favors (16:33).
But now because of this lustful behavior the LORD will " bring a mob against you and they shall stone you"—the usual penalty for adultery—"and cut you to pieces with swords" (16:40)—a reference to the coming destruction of the city by the Babylonians. But by this violence the Lord "shall satisfy his fury, and his jealousy "shall turn away from you; [he] will be calm, and will be angry no longer" (16:42).
He knows where she comes from, after all, who her mother was, and "like mother, like daughter" (16:45). She is sister to those unfaithful cities, to Samaria and to Sodom which have already been destroyed—and yet they did not commit half the sins that Jerusalem has. In fact, the LORD says, "you have made your sisters appear righteous" (16:52) by comparison. Yet there is hope, nevertheless. In spite of all this, the LORD promises to restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and Samaria and her daughters—in spite of their notorious wickedness-- "and I will restore your fortunes along with theirs, in order that you may be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them" (16:54). Jerusalem has repeatedly broken the marriage covenant she made with God, but God will establish with her "an everlasting covenant" (16:60). Not because of any good in her—she is not better than Samaria and Sodom-- but so that "you
shall know that I am the LORD, in order that you may remember [your sins] and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the LORD God" (16:63).
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Thursday, February 10, 2011
Day 241. Ezekiel 10-13
Today's reading is still part of the dream-vision that begins with chapter 8. In yesterday's reading the Lord tells the prophet, "Mortal, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here [in Jerusalem], to drive me far from my sanctuary" (8:6). In today's reading the glory of the LORD actually does depart, leaving the city and its temple to destruction and profanation.
Our reading begins with another "throne-vision"—a vision of the sapphire throne surmounting the dome of heaven placed over the heads of cherubim riding upon a sort of celestial chariot. (You might think of it as a story of history-machine, powered by the will of God.) From the throne God addresses "the man clothed in linen"—in chapter 9 he was the one who is sent into Jerusalem to mark the foreheads of the righteous who grieve over the city's abominations--he is told to "go within the wheelwork [under the chariot] underneath the cherubim, fill [his] hand with burning coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city" (10:2), symbolically kindling it.
The chariot-throne is "parked" on the south side of the temple, and the courts of the temple are filled with "the brightness of the glory of the LORD" (10:4). And we are given another description the vehicle "full of eyes all around" (10:12), and the cherubim with their faces like a cherub, a human being, a lion, and an eagle (10:14). (In later church iconology these come to represent the four evangelists.) The chariot-throne now moves to "the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD" (10:19)—this was the main ceremonial gate of the temple, and it had not been profaned as the north gate had been with "the image of jealousy" (8:3-5). (It is by this gate that the glory of the LORD will return to the temple in Ezekiel 43:4-5.)
There at the "east gate of the house of the LORD" (11:1)—I know this gate-business is confusing-- the prophet is shown twenty-five eminent men, "officials of the people"—other translations call them "princes"—secular leaders within the community. Some of them are named and would be known to Ezekiel's first hearers. They are counseling that all the city's resources should to be poured into its defensive walls and fortifications—"the city is the pot, and we are the meat" (11:3), they say. It is a witticism, but it infuriates the LORD because of the cynical pragmatism it represents. Again the spirit of the LORD falls upon the prophet—who, you remember, in body is still far away in Mesopotamia-- and commands him to say that there is no defense in the walls of the Jerusalem—the people "will be taken out of it" (11:7) and judged "at the border of Israel" (11:10).
But the LORD promises that those like Ezekiel who have already been taken out of the city into exile and "removed far away among the nations" (11:16), will one day be gathered "from the peoples." He will "assemble [them] of out of the countries where [they] have been scattered, and [he] will give [them] the land of Israel" (11:17). And when they do at last return, the LORD "will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them." The LORD will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so they may follow [his] statutes and keep his ordinances and obey them. Then "they shall be [his] people, and [he] will be their God" (11:20). And once the exiles are assured it will return, the chariot-throne, bearing the glory of God leaves Jerusalem and goes to "the mountain east of the city" (11:23). The city and its inhabitants are at the mercy of the Babylonian army. Then the LORD spirits Ezekiel back to
his fellow exiles in Chaldea, to whom he reports all that the Lord has shown him.
One of the things that makes the Book of Ezekiel unique and interesting are the quaint and rather humorous visual parables he is instructed to act out for the benefit of his fellow exiles. This time the word of the LORD comes to him commanding him to pack "an exile's baggage" in the presence of the exile community and move "to another place in their sight" (12:3). He is to dig through the wall, and carry his baggage through it out into the dark as if he were escaping. In this way he acts out King Zedekiah's attempt to escape Jerusalem during the last hours of the siege. The fleeing king is caught by the Babylonians, brought before their king and blinded. In his mime the prophet foretells how Zedekiah will be brought to Babylon, "yet he will not see it; and he shall die there" (12:13).
The prophet is then told to "eat [his] bread with quaking, and drink [his]water with trembling and with fearfulness" (12:17), miming the fear and dismay of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in a desolated and ruined land. The doom of Jerusalem is coming soon, the LORD tells him. A cynical proverb current in Jerusalem at the time—"The days are prolonged, and every vision comes to nothing"—will no longer be spoken because the "days are near" for "the fulfillment of every vision" (12:23). The people of Israel think that these visions of destruction will only materialize in the distant future—or not at all. But God says, "None of my words will be delayed any longer" (12:28). The dreaded future is now.
Finally the prophet is called to "prophesy against" those prophets in Israel who speak "out of their own imagination" (13:2) and "follow their own spirit" (13:3) rather than heeding the spirit of the LORD, which in fact they have not heard. They have misled the people by prophesying "'peace,' when there is no peace" (13:10); when the people build a wall "these prophets smear whitewash on it." But the Lord is sending such a storm as will not only wash away the whitewash but knock down the wall with its fury. And those self-ordained prophets will perish the collapse of their illusions (13:14).
Furthermore, the female prophets who "sew bands on all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every height, in the hunt for human lives" (13:18) are condemned. "Will you hunt down lives among my people, and maintain your own lives?" the LORD asks. Apparently these female "prophets" were practicing divination or perhaps functioning as mediums to communicate with the spirits of the dead—practices explicitly forbidden by the Law of Moses. Though the fees these "wise women" charged was apparently small—"handfuls of barley" and "pieces of bread" (13:19)—they have done great harm—they have "disheartened the righteous" and "encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives" (13:22). For that reason the LORD will put an end to their divination and their hokum and save his people from con artists and charlatans.
Our reading begins with another "throne-vision"—a vision of the sapphire throne surmounting the dome of heaven placed over the heads of cherubim riding upon a sort of celestial chariot. (You might think of it as a story of history-machine, powered by the will of God.) From the throne God addresses "the man clothed in linen"—in chapter 9 he was the one who is sent into Jerusalem to mark the foreheads of the righteous who grieve over the city's abominations--he is told to "go within the wheelwork [under the chariot] underneath the cherubim, fill [his] hand with burning coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city" (10:2), symbolically kindling it.
The chariot-throne is "parked" on the south side of the temple, and the courts of the temple are filled with "the brightness of the glory of the LORD" (10:4). And we are given another description the vehicle "full of eyes all around" (10:12), and the cherubim with their faces like a cherub, a human being, a lion, and an eagle (10:14). (In later church iconology these come to represent the four evangelists.) The chariot-throne now moves to "the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD" (10:19)—this was the main ceremonial gate of the temple, and it had not been profaned as the north gate had been with "the image of jealousy" (8:3-5). (It is by this gate that the glory of the LORD will return to the temple in Ezekiel 43:4-5.)
There at the "east gate of the house of the LORD" (11:1)—I know this gate-business is confusing-- the prophet is shown twenty-five eminent men, "officials of the people"—other translations call them "princes"—secular leaders within the community. Some of them are named and would be known to Ezekiel's first hearers. They are counseling that all the city's resources should to be poured into its defensive walls and fortifications—"the city is the pot, and we are the meat" (11:3), they say. It is a witticism, but it infuriates the LORD because of the cynical pragmatism it represents. Again the spirit of the LORD falls upon the prophet—who, you remember, in body is still far away in Mesopotamia-- and commands him to say that there is no defense in the walls of the Jerusalem—the people "will be taken out of it" (11:7) and judged "at the border of Israel" (11:10).
But the LORD promises that those like Ezekiel who have already been taken out of the city into exile and "removed far away among the nations" (11:16), will one day be gathered "from the peoples." He will "assemble [them] of out of the countries where [they] have been scattered, and [he] will give [them] the land of Israel" (11:17). And when they do at last return, the LORD "will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them." The LORD will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so they may follow [his] statutes and keep his ordinances and obey them. Then "they shall be [his] people, and [he] will be their God" (11:20). And once the exiles are assured it will return, the chariot-throne, bearing the glory of God leaves Jerusalem and goes to "the mountain east of the city" (11:23). The city and its inhabitants are at the mercy of the Babylonian army. Then the LORD spirits Ezekiel back to
his fellow exiles in Chaldea, to whom he reports all that the Lord has shown him.
One of the things that makes the Book of Ezekiel unique and interesting are the quaint and rather humorous visual parables he is instructed to act out for the benefit of his fellow exiles. This time the word of the LORD comes to him commanding him to pack "an exile's baggage" in the presence of the exile community and move "to another place in their sight" (12:3). He is to dig through the wall, and carry his baggage through it out into the dark as if he were escaping. In this way he acts out King Zedekiah's attempt to escape Jerusalem during the last hours of the siege. The fleeing king is caught by the Babylonians, brought before their king and blinded. In his mime the prophet foretells how Zedekiah will be brought to Babylon, "yet he will not see it; and he shall die there" (12:13).
The prophet is then told to "eat [his] bread with quaking, and drink [his]water with trembling and with fearfulness" (12:17), miming the fear and dismay of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in a desolated and ruined land. The doom of Jerusalem is coming soon, the LORD tells him. A cynical proverb current in Jerusalem at the time—"The days are prolonged, and every vision comes to nothing"—will no longer be spoken because the "days are near" for "the fulfillment of every vision" (12:23). The people of Israel think that these visions of destruction will only materialize in the distant future—or not at all. But God says, "None of my words will be delayed any longer" (12:28). The dreaded future is now.
Finally the prophet is called to "prophesy against" those prophets in Israel who speak "out of their own imagination" (13:2) and "follow their own spirit" (13:3) rather than heeding the spirit of the LORD, which in fact they have not heard. They have misled the people by prophesying "'peace,' when there is no peace" (13:10); when the people build a wall "these prophets smear whitewash on it." But the Lord is sending such a storm as will not only wash away the whitewash but knock down the wall with its fury. And those self-ordained prophets will perish the collapse of their illusions (13:14).
Furthermore, the female prophets who "sew bands on all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every height, in the hunt for human lives" (13:18) are condemned. "Will you hunt down lives among my people, and maintain your own lives?" the LORD asks. Apparently these female "prophets" were practicing divination or perhaps functioning as mediums to communicate with the spirits of the dead—practices explicitly forbidden by the Law of Moses. Though the fees these "wise women" charged was apparently small—"handfuls of barley" and "pieces of bread" (13:19)—they have done great harm—they have "disheartened the righteous" and "encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives" (13:22). For that reason the LORD will put an end to their divination and their hokum and save his people from con artists and charlatans.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Day 240. Ezekiel 5-9
In the Book of Ezekiel God speaks to the prophet in vivid visions and the prophet conveys his message in strange and sometimes--to our sensibilities at least—peculiar images.
Remember from yesterday's reading God commanded Ezekiel to build a toy-sized model of Jerusalem under siege. Now he gives him a further instruction--take a sword and with it shave his hair and beard. The hair he is to divide in thirds. One third is to be burned inside the model city "when the days of siege are completed" (5:2)—a symbol of those who will die in the city. One third he is to "take and strike with the sword all around the city"—to symbolize those who will perish in the country. And one third he is to scatter to the wind--to represent those who will be dispersed among the nations. Then he is to take a few hairs and "bind them in the skirts of [his] robe" (5:3)—these last to represent the remnant of the people who will survive--and of these he is to throw some into the fire and burn them up.
This is a visual parable representing the fate of Jerusalem, which has come under judgment because of her "abominations" (5:8-9). Because she has made the Lord jealous with her unfaithfulness, she will experience the full horror of siege—"Parents shall eat their children in [her] midst, and children shall eat their parents" (5:10). The LORD will "execute judgments" on her for her apostasy, and any of the people who survive the siege he "will scatter on every wind." God is a jealous lover, demanding absolute loyalty from his people—they will understand that when he spends his fury upon them (5:13).
The pagan rites celebrated in competition with the worship of God often took place on hills and mountains. So the prophet is commanded to proclaim doom in the direction of the mountains, foretelling that the groves and altars on them will be laid waste and their idols broken. God will "lay the corpses of the people of Israel in front of [their] idols" and scatter their bones around their altars (6:5), defiling them forever. Those inhabitants who are spared will "be scattered through the countries" (6:8); there they will remember their abominations and know that the LORD "did not threaten in vain to bring this disaster upon them" (6:10). They will at last grasp the fact that the LORD is a jealous God and he suffers no rivals.
Chapter 7 is given over to a description of the "end" (7:1), the Day of the LORD (7:10) when all this will happen. In a sense "the Day' is the end of the world. It will be a last judgment when the people will be punished for their abominations (7:9). The powers of destruction and chaos will be loosed upon Jerusalem. "The sword is outside, pestilence and famine are inside," the prophet predicts. "Those in the field die by the sword; those in the city—famine and pestilence will devour them" (7:15). God will even allow his temple to be profaned and destroyed—"I will avert my face from them, so that they may profane my treasured place"—the temple—"the violent shall enter it, and they shall profane it" (7:22). On that Day "disaster comes upon the disaster" (7:26), foresight shall fail the prophet and "instruction shall perish from the priest" (7:26). They shall all be judged and know that the LORD is God" (7:27).
Ezekiel is, of course, far from Jerusalem, sitting among the exiles in Babylon. But there he has a vision in which a "figure that looked like a human being" (8:2)—a heavenly guide--who takes hold of him by "the lock of [his] head, and the spirit [lifts him] up between earth and heaven, and [brings him] in visions of God to Jerusalem" (8:3). There is sees for himself why the Day of Judgment must come. In the inner court of temple he sees "the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy" –this is a pagan idol. This "abomination" is what has driven the LORD far from his sanctuary (8:6). He cannot abide a rival. Then the spirit guide tells the prophet to burrow through a wall into a hidden room in the temple where he sees elders of the house of Israel burning incense and worshiping images, secure in the belief that the LORD cannot see them hidden there (8:12). On a porch of the temple he discovers a woman "weeping for Tammuz," a
dying and rising fertility god worshipped widely by many names throughout the ancient world (8:14). There priests have turned their backs—literally—upon the LORD and are bowing down in adoration to the rising sun (8:16)—worshiping the creation, not the Creator.
The best way to read these chapters is to try to picture in our minds the visions contained in them. The words of the prophet are being made concrete and visible for us. He sees six executioners each with "his destroying weapon" and a scribe clothed in linen with his writing equipment enter the temple. The LORD commands the scribe to mark upon the forehead any "who sign and groan over all the abominations that are committed in [Jerusalem]" (9:5). And the executioners are told to kill "and not spare" who do not bear the mark. It does not say that any at all are marked—no one grieves for the idolatry and perversity into which Jerusalem has fallen or hungers for righteousness. So God commands them to "begin with the sanctuary" (9:6) and to "define the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go!" (9:7) So the executioners commence their gruesome task, slaying old men and young, women and little children until the scribe is able to
return and report—"I have done as you commanded me" (9:11).
Remember from yesterday's reading God commanded Ezekiel to build a toy-sized model of Jerusalem under siege. Now he gives him a further instruction--take a sword and with it shave his hair and beard. The hair he is to divide in thirds. One third is to be burned inside the model city "when the days of siege are completed" (5:2)—a symbol of those who will die in the city. One third he is to "take and strike with the sword all around the city"—to symbolize those who will perish in the country. And one third he is to scatter to the wind--to represent those who will be dispersed among the nations. Then he is to take a few hairs and "bind them in the skirts of [his] robe" (5:3)—these last to represent the remnant of the people who will survive--and of these he is to throw some into the fire and burn them up.
This is a visual parable representing the fate of Jerusalem, which has come under judgment because of her "abominations" (5:8-9). Because she has made the Lord jealous with her unfaithfulness, she will experience the full horror of siege—"Parents shall eat their children in [her] midst, and children shall eat their parents" (5:10). The LORD will "execute judgments" on her for her apostasy, and any of the people who survive the siege he "will scatter on every wind." God is a jealous lover, demanding absolute loyalty from his people—they will understand that when he spends his fury upon them (5:13).
The pagan rites celebrated in competition with the worship of God often took place on hills and mountains. So the prophet is commanded to proclaim doom in the direction of the mountains, foretelling that the groves and altars on them will be laid waste and their idols broken. God will "lay the corpses of the people of Israel in front of [their] idols" and scatter their bones around their altars (6:5), defiling them forever. Those inhabitants who are spared will "be scattered through the countries" (6:8); there they will remember their abominations and know that the LORD "did not threaten in vain to bring this disaster upon them" (6:10). They will at last grasp the fact that the LORD is a jealous God and he suffers no rivals.
Chapter 7 is given over to a description of the "end" (7:1), the Day of the LORD (7:10) when all this will happen. In a sense "the Day' is the end of the world. It will be a last judgment when the people will be punished for their abominations (7:9). The powers of destruction and chaos will be loosed upon Jerusalem. "The sword is outside, pestilence and famine are inside," the prophet predicts. "Those in the field die by the sword; those in the city—famine and pestilence will devour them" (7:15). God will even allow his temple to be profaned and destroyed—"I will avert my face from them, so that they may profane my treasured place"—the temple—"the violent shall enter it, and they shall profane it" (7:22). On that Day "disaster comes upon the disaster" (7:26), foresight shall fail the prophet and "instruction shall perish from the priest" (7:26). They shall all be judged and know that the LORD is God" (7:27).
Ezekiel is, of course, far from Jerusalem, sitting among the exiles in Babylon. But there he has a vision in which a "figure that looked like a human being" (8:2)—a heavenly guide--who takes hold of him by "the lock of [his] head, and the spirit [lifts him] up between earth and heaven, and [brings him] in visions of God to Jerusalem" (8:3). There is sees for himself why the Day of Judgment must come. In the inner court of temple he sees "the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy" –this is a pagan idol. This "abomination" is what has driven the LORD far from his sanctuary (8:6). He cannot abide a rival. Then the spirit guide tells the prophet to burrow through a wall into a hidden room in the temple where he sees elders of the house of Israel burning incense and worshiping images, secure in the belief that the LORD cannot see them hidden there (8:12). On a porch of the temple he discovers a woman "weeping for Tammuz," a
dying and rising fertility god worshipped widely by many names throughout the ancient world (8:14). There priests have turned their backs—literally—upon the LORD and are bowing down in adoration to the rising sun (8:16)—worshiping the creation, not the Creator.
The best way to read these chapters is to try to picture in our minds the visions contained in them. The words of the prophet are being made concrete and visible for us. He sees six executioners each with "his destroying weapon" and a scribe clothed in linen with his writing equipment enter the temple. The LORD commands the scribe to mark upon the forehead any "who sign and groan over all the abominations that are committed in [Jerusalem]" (9:5). And the executioners are told to kill "and not spare" who do not bear the mark. It does not say that any at all are marked—no one grieves for the idolatry and perversity into which Jerusalem has fallen or hungers for righteousness. So God commands them to "begin with the sanctuary" (9:6) and to "define the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go!" (9:7) So the executioners commence their gruesome task, slaying old men and young, women and little children until the scribe is able to
return and report—"I have done as you commanded me" (9:11).
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