Day #243

Sermon - Audio
Ezekiel 13-15 - Audio
Ezekiel 13-15 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

Ezekiel 13 is about the conflict between Ezekiel and those who prophesied falsely concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. In Vv 1-16 Ezekiel speaks against the false prophets and in Vv17-23 Ezekiel speaks against false prophetesses.

V 4: Jackals travel in packs and feed on dead flesh. They were no more than scavengers, when they should have been sentinels.

V9: The punishment is total exclusion.

Vv 10-12: When plastered over or white-washed, the wall might look substantial, but is would not withstand the weather, much less the day of God’s judgment.

Vv22-23: Those with spiritual power ought to strengthen the righteous and cast down the wicked; however, just the opposite is happening.

Ezekiel 14: Ezekiel confronted idolatry among the exiles.

1-5 The “elders,” who were the heads of the exiled families, came to Ezekiel seeking encouragement from God. Instead, Ezekiel brought to them stinging accusations. These leaders, along with the rest of the exiles, were guilty of the sin of idolatry – the same sin as those left in Judah. As idolaters, they were destined to be cut off from God’s covenant people. This prophecy ends in a positive not. The result of God’s purifying judgment would result in a faithful and undefiled people. The goal of the covenant that God would dwell in the midst of his people, would not be thwarted, not even by Israel’s sin.

V9: The Bible consistently affirms that man makes the decision to sin, that man is responsible for his decision and that God is just in his punishment.

V14: God addresses the view believed by some that the presence of a certain number of righteous people in Jerusalem would protect the city from God’s wrath. Though Noah was righteous and blameless among those of his generation, the world was not spared because of his presence. Job too was blameless and upright, but this did not spare his family. The identity of Daniel mentioned here may be a reference to a heroic figure in a text from ancient Ugarit, a king named Dan’el who was a righteous king concerned with the plight of widows and orphans.

Ezekiel 15 Ezekiel likened Israel to a vine that had been pruned. The wood that was cut off was not useful for anything but fuel for a fire. Those remaining in the land were the branches that were pruned off and cast into the fire. God’s chosen remnant existed among the exiles.

V3: God reminded the exiles that his choice of the Israelites to be his people was not because of their worth, but solely a matter of grace.