And now God gets into the judgments against the surrounding nations. He promised they would be judged as well. Now those judgments are being pronounced. I find it interesting that one of the big reasons for judgment is rejoicing in Judah’s fall. These were enemies. Historical, constant enemies. But they’re being punished, harshly, for celebrating …
I’ve always been taught 22:30, “And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none,” meant that there wasn’t a single righteous person left in Judah. Except, reading it this time, …
The elders went to Ezekiel to inquire of God. I haven’t looked it up, but I feel like “and they went to prophet to inquire” is something that is said when the bad things start happening, and the Faithlife Study Bible agrees that God “allowed them to inquire of him primarily to give them a …
There is a pretty intense metaphor for what the people have done here. I mean intense. And a very nice accusation that Sodom had nothing on them (Sodom’s sin was: “pride… did not aid the poor…” so… injustice and oppression. Not that other thing). But it’s chapter 18 I want to focus on. Personal responsibility. …
God is a very jealous god. He really does not tolerate idolatry. All of this destruction and suffering is the result of the people violating their covenant and worshipping other gods. But there are few things that will escalate God’s jealousy to full wrath. He will not tolerate the corruption of justice, which the people …
All right. I don’t really have anything passage significant today. So I’m going to take this opportunity to remind whoever happens to be reading that it is perfectly all right to be down right confused by a passage of Scripture. It is good idea to look for help from pastors, friends, books, podcasts, blogs, what …
There are some pretty horrible things in these prophecies. It’s all pretty extreme. Jealousy. Fury. And in the middle, God says that the people will despise their gold and silver because it cannot deliver them. They can’t buy their way out of judgment. More, the gods they formed out of gold and silver cannot deliver …
Several different things today. First, his vision is so bizarre, so, well, disturbing. I don’t think that’s actually what anything looks like. I doubt if anyone else were to see the exact same creatures, the exact same revelation, it would look exactly the same. I think it’s just to make it very clear how very …
Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!… … unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. There is something so very human in these last verses. Here’s everything we’ve suffered. It’s been so long. We understand why it’s all happened, why it’s like this, but maybe …
Even in pain and desolation, there is hope in the Lord. Isn’t that beautiful? We are allowed to feel our grief, but even in our grief we should remember our hope. One can remember hope without denying pain. Hope does not eliminate pain or grief or suffering, hope looks to an end, a resolution, a …