I am planning on covering *all* of Ezekiel in one easy lecture/discussion on Thursday. Please read my study questions on Ezekiel. Then read Chapters 1-12, 33, and 37 of Ezekiel itself.
What do you find here that suggests that Ezekiel's message was a burden? Are there any passages that particularly well reflect hope, beauty, faith in the triumph of justice, or anything else that makes that burden worth bearing?
Ezekiel has many messages and he takes them all kinds of places. Most of them however are not exactly pretty ones. Many have to with destruction, such as Ezekiel 33: 2-6. Basically it is a message that destruction is coming and if people do not listen to the watchman, i.e. Ezekiel, then if they die it is on their own hands. The message is truly a burden in being something that people need to hear. It is not easy to tell people that you need to listen to me or you are going to die. However, if people listen and understand that Ezekiel knows what he is talking about because it comes from God then things will get better. This message is a burden, but it is worth bearing because people need to hear it.
ReplyDeleteThe first burden Ezekiel must bare comes in Ezekiel 2:1-10. Ezekiel is told by the Lord that the people he must go speak and teach to are rebellious. Going and attempting to teach to a rebellious people is a burden because they are not going to be out right accepting.
ReplyDeleteThe next burden is Ezekiel 3:25-27. Here Ezekiel is told he will be struck dumb. That is a personal burden for Ezekiel to bare because he already is attempting to talk to rebellious people and now he will struggle doing that one thing.
The Next burden is in Ezekiel 4:8-11. Here the Lord promisses to dimish the people because they have disgraced his good name and all things that are his.
Where there are many more burdens for Ezekiel these are three that are difficut to bare but are worth baring because the messages need to be heard and they will be worth hearing in the long run will better the people of Israel.
While it seems that Ezekiel is definitely given a message of doom and gloom, he seems to also see the outcome a little better than Jeremiah. Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?' I think that's definitely a word that makes it difficult Ezekiel 7:8 is another good example I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of hard messages, but there are a few positive verses as well. Ezekiel 6:8 says "But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations." So I guess it's not all bad. Ezekiel seems to have a bit more fervor than Jeremiah too. I think he was able to stay a bit more positive because he knew the end would come and he had also seen the glory of God. He was looking at the bigger picture.
One burden that would be difficult to bear is mentioned more than once by Ezekiel (in Chapters 3 and again in 33). He has been called to be a watchman over Israel, and he is told that he will be held responsible for them: "If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning ... that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, BUT HIS BLOOD I WILL REQUIRE AT YOUR HAND ... But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness ... he shall die for his iniquity, but YOU WILL HAVE DELIVERED YOUR SOUL. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice ... he shall die for his sin ... BUT HIS BLOOD I WILL REQUIRE AT YOUR HAND. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning from you, and YOU WILL HAVE DELIVERED YOUR SOUL." If that were me, I would live in constant anxiety that I should be out there continuously monitoring people's behavior, not just for their sake, but to save myself!
ReplyDeleteAnother burden might be the visions Ezekiel sees. I tried to imagine them from the written description, and I don't think I really had any concept of them, but they sound very terrifying. If you were the only one having these scary visions that literally knocked you off your feet, I think life would be lonely and frightening. Having a call from God like that on your life is a very serious thing!
There was also a saying going around, that "The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing." (12:22) Apparently people were telling each other not to take Ezekiel seriously, because none of the things he was prophesying had happened. I think that would be a burden to a prophet. I would get to the point where I would want to see destruction rained down just so I could say, "See, I told you."
There are passages that do offer hope for the future. In Chapter 37, Ezekiel is told to pick up two sticks and join them together. The message is, "Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph ...and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick ... Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land ... they shall be my people, and I will be their God." Even though Ezekiel might not live to see this, it definitely lightens his burden.
When the messages of God were told from the mouth of Ezekiel, it comes as more of shock then an awe. It was something the people have heard before growing up with Jeremiah, but what was different about his prophet? Was it the way he spoke in a commanding voice, “Thus says the Lord” or the way he gave a positive message in the middle of what could possibly be known as the Revelation of the Old Testament? He tells of the same destruction and demise that Jeremiah did not a few pages back, but when we reach chapter 37, a favorite passage of mine, we see something that resembles the second coming describe by John. The people of God will rise from their graves and have eternal life. The valley of the dry bones will be prophesied to be lifted up from the ground and the breath of God will come into to them. There will be a great rattle of the bones and the Lord God will see it as good. Why is this different from what Jeremiah was saying before? Didn’t he give a message of hope? Or did he just think that everything was going to be bad, like the Lord said. Ezekiel takes the message of the dry bones and gives the people of Israel hope. The hope that one day, we shall rejoin the King in eternal life. “12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’” We will know the Lord has forsaken us.
ReplyDelete-Liz Matson
In Ezekiel 37 the beginning states that God took him and he seen the very dry bones of people. This is a burden because these people died all because they did not listen to the prophecy. But then God takes Ezekiel and shows him how he can make this bones come alive. God tells him to tell the Israelites I am going to open the graves and bring them out. I will put breath back in them. I will bring them back to life. This is the one true promise that make the burden worth bearing. Those who did not believe you in the beginning will now have a second chance. This is the only reason telling people that they are going to die very painful deaths would be worth wilded.
ReplyDeleteEzekiel burden is not worth having I don't think knowing that a destruction is coming and there no way to stop it is good, I know these people had all the chances that God could have given them. They never listen they stray and just don't remember the contract made with God. In Ezekiel 5 he tells of Jerusalem destruction then in Ezekiel he tells of the destruction of Israel knowing this maybe something Ezekiel can handle but I would be a little mad that or maybe sadden that our country was going to fall. We always fall from the grace of God why cant we get it right. There is hope though Ezekiel 37 :15 God tells of the reuniting of Judah and Israel they coming home off the people spread around the world and ruled by one king never again to be spilt. This is good news that after the destruction and punishment is done they will reign again as one nation. This is the day they will wait for after serving their punishment
ReplyDeleteEzekiel's burden proves to be a huge one right from the moment he was called by God. Immediately, in chapter 2, God tells Ezekiel that he will be sent to a rebellious and violent nation. God then tells him to lock himself in his house so he can be bound and made silent and therefore, unable to rebuke them or fight back. In amongst this, God tells him to shave his head as a symbol of what is to come.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in amongst all of this, God sheds some light for Ezekiel. In chapter 37, God takes Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones. He then asks Ezekiel if the bones can live, to which Ezekiel replies, "Oh Sovereign Lord, you alone know." God then breaths life flesh on the bones and used them as a sign to Ezekiel that the exiles would eventually return to Israel.
One burden was in Chapter 4:5 which states, "I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel." This would be a great for him, as it would be for anyone. Chapter 4 continues on to talk about how there will be a famine sent from God due to their sin. This of course would also be a burden to know. First of all, bearing the sin of people would be rather hard to deal with, especially when God tells him about what he must do to do so. Then knowing that most of these people will waste away because of this sin would be pretty depressing to witness. However, there is hope for the future that his people will some day be reunited, as stated in chapter 37.
ReplyDeleteIt is impossible to try and not draw parallels between Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekial. None of these men had terribly happy messages and each of them had rather grim lives. However I see more paralells between Jeremiah and Ezekiel then with Isaiah. Ezekial is a mna with hared messages, forecasting destruction. Ezekial strikes me more of a man resigned but earnest. While Jeremiah seems absolutely depressing. Or maybe this is because comparing even the most mournfully sad individual to Jeremiah immediately makes the supposed mournfully sad person quite chipper in comparison
ReplyDelete(Jeremiah is REALLY depressing, all the bad things that happen to him and his own ragged emotional state does not make Jeremiah easy reading)
But I digress, even though Ezekiel may be handling himself ever so slightly better than Jeremiah. He still finds himself with a lot of bad knowledge he has to bear. However, he is also given numerous signs of good things to come. One famous instance is the valley of the dry bones, where God breaths life into the bones.
That story in particular has confused me, not so much as to its meaning but more as to why God felt it necessary to show this to Ezekiel. Needless to say that any uplifting message, no matter how oddly given, is worth having, especially for a prophet who has the burden of knowing imminent destruction.
Ezekiel 7:3 states "But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted." That's not exactly a message that will get you pumped up to go preach the message in the morning. Knowing that the people will not listen but having to tell them anyway would be a difficult task.
ReplyDeleteEzekiel 7:18-20 makes a nice burden-hope-burden sandwich, which is really what I found the whole book to be. "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered." Couldn't have been fun to be Ezekiel!
Ezekiel 14:21-23 states, "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals! Yet there will be some survivors—sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought on Jerusalem—every disaster I have brought on it. You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
ReplyDelete...See that? The promise of rescue? Although Ezekiel has been burdened through these prophesies, God is always reassuring him that everything has a purpose and that purpose ultimately is going to make things right between Him and the people of Israel and Judah. Those who sin will get what they deserve and the righteous will be rewarded. For Ezekiel, it might not be fun to share these messages, but that promise is worth the burden he bears.
I think that Ezekiel 7:1-4 would be quite a burden to give. It says, "The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will surely repay you fro your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord." This would be quite a burden to tell all the people this. No one ever wants to hear how they are wrong, and many times a message like that doesn't go over too well. It tends to anger those you tell such things to.
ReplyDeleteI think though that there is hope when you read Ezekiel 37. This chapter talks of making the Isrealites one nation again. It also says in verse 26, "I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever." I think this here would make the burden worth bearing.
I would say that all of chapter 7 would be a burden to give. The whole chapter talks about the impending disaster that will strike Israel and all of it is to be told by Ezekiel. Chapter 37 explains how, in the long run, the burden is worth bearing in that the great people of Israel will be brought back from the dead and the nation will rise again. Those two chapters will struck me as simple examples of why it was a burden and why it was worth bearing.
ReplyDeleteAt first, Ezekiel message is a burden on a public level, he warns the Israelites of impending takeover while trying to maintain some reknown as a good prophet. However his burden becomes personal when God tells him he will lose his wife as well. in addition, he was not to mourn his wife, causing more and more pain. Futhermore, it is not until after Jerusalem falls does Ezekiel receive messages of salvation from God.
ReplyDeleteI believe by reading this it is really hard to take seriously. I picture in my head an older gentleman that is very bubbly and just very charismatic and is jumping all over the place, for some odd reason. Also all of the powers and works of god that you see here are very different from what we see before. it is just very hard to wrap your head around and if you do reach the age of thirty you have more life experience and are able to also give more time into studying the book of Ezekiel. first of what's a burden is how he has to deliver his message. if I saw somebody like that nowadays I would say that they need to go to a mental institute. it is very hard to understand the book because of that.
ReplyDelete-Abigail miiller