Day #249

Sermon - Audio
Ezekiel 32-34 - Audio
Ezekiel 32-34 - Reading

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Ezekiel 32-34

Ezekiel 32 – This chapter tells of the fall of Pharaoh and the sinking of his power into the shadowy, joyless realm of the dead.

v. 1 – The date corresponds to March 585 B.C. placing it some time after the fall of Jerusalem.

v. 2 – “dragon in the seas” – destroys so that it gets what it wants, but leaves nothing for those who come after it. Egypt is a nation that destroys without care for others. The picture seems to be an army with a burnt earth policy.

v. 3 – “a host of many peoples” – the end of Egypt is sure and many will take part joyfully in the destruction of this nation that had so heartlessly destroyed others.

v. 4-6 – To not be buried was huge disgrace. The mass amount of blood recalls the first plague when the Nile was turned into blood. Only this time it is the blood of Pharaoh and his army.

v. 7-8 – These words look both backward and forward. They look back to the plague of darkness brought on Egypt. They look forward to the day of the Lord when God will cause the stars to fall from the sky…Rev. 6. Looking backward and forward is a continuing reminder that the Bible is one story. This story can only be understood if we look at it as a whole.

v. 14 – God will make the waters and the rivers usable.

v. 17ff – God takes Egypt on a journey to the realm of the dead. Egypt finds all the proud nations of the past, her leaders and soldiers lying in death. Even the great Assyria is here. God tells Egypt that she too will make her bed in this place.

Ezekiel 33 – This is a reminder to Ezekiel and his audience of their mutual responsibilities.

v. 2 – The role of watchman dominates, he must act on what he sees. The people are responsible to pay attention to the watchman’s warnings. The watchman must exercise vigilance to discern the actions of God, but God himself speaks the divine word to the prophet.

v. 6 – “accountable for their blood” – the watchman has to justify to God why he did not carry out his duties of warning.

v. 10 – “How then can we live?” – God’s response to this question is always the same. The first step of life, when our sin gets the better of us, is to repent. To repent means to turn around. Stop what you are doing and start living faithfully.

v. 15 – This is a picture of righteous living.

v. 17-20 – God in the preceding verses talks about people who are evil and those who are righteous. At times this discussion can feel unfair to us. Why should a person who lives righteously but then blows it not be allowed to live while an evil person who becomes righteous gains life? What these verses assure us of is this: God is just and we can be assured that He will exercise justice. We never need to fear that God will be unfair.

v. 24-26 – The people reason that if Abraham was given the land, then they as his descendants should certainly possess the land. If the people do not live righteously, they can not have the land. The difference between the people and Abraham comes down to this: Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15). The people do not believe God.

v. 29 – There is danger that as Jerusalem falls, the people might believe that God is weak and incompetent. Ezekiel makes it clear that the fall of Jerusalem shows the power of God to punish His people.

v. 31 – The problem that plagues us all – we listen but we do not do. Jesus in Matt. 7 speaks of those who listen and do as being wise while those who listen and don’t do are fools.

Ezekiel 34

v. 1-31 – “Shepherds of Israel” included her kings and officials, as well as the priests and prophets. God was against His shepherds because instead of caring for the flock, they viewed their position as an opportunity for personal gain. The exiles could look forward to a return to the promised land, where they would experience the full blessing of God’s shepherding: He would feed them on rich pasture; cause them to lie down in safety; search for the lost; bind up the injured, and establish justice, punishing the oppressors and strengthening the weak. God’s solution to a history of bad shepherds wasn’t to replace shepherding with a better system, but to replace the bad shepherds with a good one. This future ruler would be like David, the king after God’s own heart. In addition God would make a covenant of peace with His flock pointing to the final peace later initiated by Christ.