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?
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.
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
It 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!
I 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