Ezekiel 43 – 48
Often I get started in the morning wanting to write my though. Often, like today, I have nothing. My schedule is read in the evening and comment in the morning. In reading Ezekiel I get so lost in the imagery wondering when it applied. Is he prophesizing things that have passed already or things to come? I get lost and confused, then I don’t know what to say. This is how I am this morning.
Verse 43:9 reveals the “rules” for God living among the people of Israel:
Now it’s time for the people to change—to put away their whoring and the monuments to their dead kings. If they do that, then I will dwell among them forever.
Life with God is easy, just follow and obey so He will not ignore you. Again I look at God saying he will “dwell” among us as something odd. Why? If God is omnipresent as is His nature, He is and always will be everywhere. So for Him to imply he will “hang out” with Israel if they are good is a misnomer since He has always been “hanging out” with man since day one. The only question is if He reveals himself to us on a regular manner.
Verse 44:12 & 15 give us an understanding of the new order in the temple:
12 But because they acted as a stumbling block to Israel and helped the people worship their worthless idols, I have made an oath that they must pay for the wicked things they have done. This I, the Eternal One, promise.
15 “As for the Levitical priests who are the descendants of Zadok—the ones who took care of My holy place even as the rest of Israel strayed—they will draw near to Me and serve Me. They will stand before Me in the sanctuary and present offerings of fat and blood.
God is just and has an order, since the priests allowed the people to stray wildly from the “way”, He needed to punish them and reward those who did not stray. Today we are so far from the “tribal” system, if one messes up the error does not appear to be “generational” or impact their family past the immediate consequences. Jesus has taken away this and made it personal!! Thank God for that!! (Granted not worried about generational problems being passed down or from with our family)
The remainder of this book describes how the land is to be divided and how the system will “work” together. (Man I am a nerd calling the nation of Israel a “system”) The land is divided for the various tribes and the temple centered in it all. Notice in chapter 48 when mentioning the tribes, we see Manasseh and Ephraim mentioned in the allotment, but not in the 12 written over each of the 4 gates. It’s confusing to say the least.