Ezekiel 20-23
So far, we have found Ezekiel to be a tough prophet with an even tougher message. After all, God had promised to make him as “hard and unyielding” as Israel in their sin (3:8). Yet I cannot imagine four tougher chapters than these.
Ezekiel 20 outlines Israel’s history of rebellion in Egypt, in the wilderness, and even in the land of promise! “Go and serve your idols,” Ezekiel says sarcastically (20:39), that may be the only way you’ll get desperate enough to change.
In Ezekiel 21, Ezekiel joins his voice with Jeremiah’s in declaring that Babylon is God’s chosen instrument of judgment against Israel.
Read Ezekiel 22 carefully; it’s a catalog of Israel’s sins. How many of these sins have found a home in our nation and out time? I find Ezekiel 22:30 one of the most chilling verses in the Bible, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” What about us? Were God to look among us, would He find anyone to “stand the gap” for America?
Ezekiel 23 tells another allegory of rebellion. Two sisters become prostitutes, first one, Oholah (Samaria was destroyed around 722 BC!), rebels, and the second, Oholibah (Jerusalem), does not learn from her sisters downfall. She will drink the same cup her sister drank from (23:32) in 586 BC.
We'll have to wait a few days before we read prophesies of hope!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
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