Ezekiel
19
– 24
Sit down and get ready for a long read with a bunch of very
depressing prophecies. Chapter 19 talks about the lioness and her cubs which a
metaphor for Judah and her kings which is not real clear when reading this
alone without knowing the history. Verses 20:21 & 22 show God withholding
his anger:
21 But the
children also rebelled against Me. They strayed from My laws and ignored My
commandments, even though they knew that one who follows My
rules will live. They polluted My Sabbaths, and they were not careful to keep
My rules. So I told them that I would pour out My anger upon them and express
My wrath against them in the wilderness. 22 But for
the sake of My good name and reputation, I
suspended their punishment. I chose not to profane My name in the eyes of those
nations who had witnessed Me bringing the Israelites out of Egypt.
The key is God does not want to tarnish his name since
people on the outside would look at this punishment as overboard. For whatever
reason God cannot contain his anger this time and in verse 21:31 talks about
what he is going to do with the rebellious people:
I will pour out My anger over
your head, I will breathe fiery wrath on you, I will give you
over to barbaric men (artists of destruction who love to mutilate and
kill).
Interesting as I read this our Friday’s men’s group did a
study this morning on anger. The main verse we looked at was Isaiah 54:9 which
states:
I think this is like the time when
Noah lived.
I promised that I would never
again destroy the world by a flood.
So now I am promising never again to be so angry
and punishing as I was when I
sent you away.
He will not flood the world again, but He will send in
invaders to kill every last one of the polluted people. God tells Ezekiel to warn the people of his
coming sword that will indiscriminately slice through the people of Israel
without concern. The people just ignore him thinking it is some obscure
parable.
Chapter 23 God actually uses a parable to describe the
nations of Israel and Judah. Verse 23:4 compares their capitals to prostitutes:
The older sister was
named Oholah, and her younger sister was named Oholibah. They married Me, and
they gave birth to many sons and daughters.
Oholah is Samaria (the
mother city of Israel), and Oholibah is Jerusalem (the mother
city of Judah).
This chapter is very graphic and shows the disgust God has
for what the people are doing in ignoring his greatness. I again often read
Ezekiel with the Babushka Doll Principle in mind, where this is a prophecy for
them then, but also could be one for us today. I get concerned with what is
happening in Israel and our world today as we spin closer and closer to assured
destruction. We look at the historical ramifications of these prophecies then
and have to wonder if they are not happening again today.
So in reading this today one has to ask, if God gets
angry is it ok for us to get PO’ed? We look at the New Testament and see Jesus
turning over the money changers table in anger, or was it an outburst? In this
instance if you read the scriptures, it was not an outburst of anger, but
rather a controlled discipline. We just have seen so many images of Jesus in
anger doing this we just assume since that’s how we would respond it’s how God
responded. No I still wonder about Ezekiel and if this was a “had enough”
outburst or a controlled discipline.