08/27/2022 / Day 181 – Ezekiel 13 – 18 /13: “False Prophets”/14: “Hypocritical Inquirers”/15: “Parable of the Vine-Tree”/16:”Allegory of the Unfaithful Wife”/17:”Parable of the Two Eagles/18: The Soul that Sins, it Shall Die.”
My footnotes today:
(*A) – Halley’s Bible Handbook / (*B) – A new bible footnote reference: “The Apologetics Study Bible” Copyright @ 2007 – ISBN reference # 978-1-58640-446-8.
To summarize , to this point, my Apologetics footnotes lists seven causes for the exile and the destruction of Jerusalem, covered in ten Ezekiel messages: 12:1, 17, 21 ; 13:1; 14:2,12; 15:1; 16:1; 17:1; 18:1, followed by a funeral lament in 19: 1-14 (next week). They are: 1) The people’s obstinancy (12: 1-7) ; 2) The people listened to and heeded the false prophets. ; 3) The nation was a useless vine (see 12: 1-7 – last week) ; 4) The nation’s history of unfaithfulness (see 12: 1-7) ; 5) Judah’s trust in political alliances instead of the Lord (17: 1-24) ; 6) The people’s failure to accept the responsibility for their sin (12: 1-7) ; 7) The nation was spiritually dead.
Chapter 13 – False Prophets:
” (*B) 13:1 – 14:5 … This section clearly defines the breakdown of the religious institutions in the decline of the culture. Ezekiel listed eight failures of these false prophets.
- They prophesied out of their own mind, or ‘heart’. (Hb lev, the seat of the intention), and not what the Lord had told them (13:1 – 3,17).
- They made the flock their prey (13:4)
- They failed to reinforce the people’s faith in the time of crises (13:5)
- They preached deception as divine revelation (13:6-9)
- They preached the peace in the face of judgment (13:10-16).
- They used magical methods to gain advantage over the people (13: 18-21)
- They discouraged the righteous and encouraged the wicked (13:22-23).
- They set up idols in their hearts, enshrining their own wills (14: 1-5)
Question: What similarities do we have in the false prophets of our day?
Chapter 14 – Hypocritical Inquirers:
” (*A) – To a delegation of Idol lovers of God’s answer is not word, but the swift and terrible destruction of Idolatrous Israel. It may be that for Danie’s sake (14), Nebuchadnezzar had spared Jerusalem thus far, now to be spared no longer.”
Jimmy side-note: Israel would face swift and terrible destruction again by the hands of the Romans around 70 A.D. The reknowned Jewish historian Josephus estimated one million Jewish deaths. Their sins were horrific once again, but in general, the Jewish people did not commit idol worship again after the destruction of Solomon’s temple in 586 A.D, certainly not in the Temple itself as it was with Herod’s temple, the first temple.
Chapter 15 – Parable of the Vine :
” (*B) – “15: 2-8 – The third cause of the fall of Judah was that the nation was a useless vine (see 12: 1-7). Ezekiel’s portrayal of the nation as a vine was not unique. Hosea (Hs 10:1), Isaiah (Is 5: 1-7), and Jeremiah (Jr 2:21) used the same figure, which is found in other passages (e.g. Genesis 49:22; Deuteronomy 32:32; Psalm 80: 8-16). Ezekiel’s message is similar to Isaiah’s “Song of the Vineyard” (Isaiah 5: 1-30), a message of judgement against Israel. The grapevine has no value as wood for lumber (Ezekiel 15:2); its only use is its fruit. If a vine bears no fruit, its only other function is as firewood (vv 3-5). Nebuchadnezzar’s invasions in 605 B.C. and 597 B.C. were precursors of Jerusalem’s destruction in 586 B.C.
Chapter 16: “Allegory of the Unfaithful WIfe:
” (*B) – 16: 17-25 The ‘male images (v. 17) could have been phallic-shaped stones used in fertility cults. Children were sacrificed to Molech, a molten hot image into whose arms a live baby was places (v. 20). Devotees of these cults practiced sacred prostituion — male and female — at the shrines among groves of trees on the side of hills called “high places” (bamath); in the city streets they might even build an artificial “elevated place” for this purpose (vv. 24-25). God’s response of “woe woe” (v. 23) was a common expression of horror uttered at the arrival of some disaster (1 Samuel 4:8; Proverbs 23:29; Isaiah 3:9).”
“(B) – 16: 59-63 Despite the inevitability of judgment for breaking their covenant (v. 59), Ezekiel closed his story of the unfaithful sister, Judah, with a promise of restoration and a new covenant. He used emphatic language; in essence God was saying ‘I myself” will make a new everlasting and unbreakable covenant with her (vv: 60-62). The prophet added that ‘you will remember your ways and be ‘ashamed’ when the Lord makes atonement for her sin — a phrase pungent with Messianic overtones simlar to Zechariah 12: 10-14 — Judah’s new covenant would based on repentence, an idea Ezekiel expanded in 17: 22-24 and 34: 23-29 (see Jeremiah 31: 31-34)
Chapter 17: Parable of the Two Eagles:
” (*B) – 17: 22-24 With the nation hopelessly gone, the prophet turned to a messianic theme, speaking of a ‘tender spring’ taken from the top of a tree and replanted in a prominent place. The Hebrew yoniq (“spring” or “shoot”) is the same word used in the messianic figure of Isaiah 53:2. Elsewhere the same word is used for an infant or nursing child (Numbers 11:12: Deuteronomy 32:25; 1 Samuel 15:3; 22:19; Jeremiah 44:7). Synonyms such as choter “shoot,” netser “branch” (Isaiah 11:1), and semach (“branch”) (Isiaha 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12) were used figuratively of the Messiah. Ezekiel’s word picture affirmed the certainty of the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem. While some interpreters see this prophecy fulfilled in Zerubabbel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, Ezekiel’s language went beyond these and looked to a time when the Messiah would reign over Israel and all the earth. (Jimmy note: the 1000 year reign, post 2nd coming of Christ)
Chapter 18: The Soul that Sins, it Shall Die:
“(*B) – 18: 1-2 Ezekiel’s sixth reason for the fall of Judah and Jerusalem was the people’s failure to accept responsibility for their sin (see 12: 1-7). During the 19th century, some commentators claimed the idea of individual responsibility developed only during the exile. But the concept was present in the earliest writings in the Old Testament. Here, Ezekiel, clearly made two points about individual responsibility. First, individuals were not guilty for sins committed by others — past or present – especially by family members (vv 1-20). Rather, they are responsible for whatever they do. Second, although individuals are responsible for their sins, they are not bound by former sins — their own or others — but can alter their situation by repentence and faith (vv. 21-32).”
Jimmy insert: As C.S. Lewis referred to it in his book title: “God in the Dock”, the fear of the Lord should come over us!:
“(*B) – 18: 25-29 The exiles accused God of being unfair because they failed to understand the principles of verses 10-24 in the belief that they were paying for the sins of previous generations. The accusation that the Lord is ‘unfair’ or unjust is a translation of the Hebrew takan, literally ‘to measure’ or ‘to examine’ (1 Samuel s:3; 2 Kings 12:11; Job 28:25; Proverbs 16:2; 21:2; 24:12; Isaiah 40: 12-13; Ezekiel 45:11). They claimed that God does not ‘measure’ His actions but acts arbitrarily and unjustly. The Lord turned the argument on the hearers, asking them, ‘Isn’t it your ways that are unfair?’ (v. 25).
Judgment for sin is a fixed prinicple that only can be averted by repentence. When a righteous person abandons righteousness, the judgment of God is released against the sin. If the person repents and turns from the sin, the judgment is stayed. When a person’s guilt is expose, the human tendency is to blame someone else (e.g. – Genesis 3: 12 – 13) At such times God can be a handy scapegoat. It is not surprise that both the exiles under judgment and those still in Judah maintained their innocence and the Lord’s guilt (v. 29). “
“(*B) – 18: 30-32 God’s desire, even in the face of repaeated rebellion, is always to deliver — but He will bring Judgment if necessary. This is consistent with His character inasmuch as it reveals His wrath against the sin and those who choose it. (Exodus 22: 22-24; Numbers 11:33; Romans 1:18) When a person repents (shuv) and changes direction, the wrath of God is averted because the person turned from sin to forgiveness and faith (see Zechariah 1: 3-6)”
Notice how many prophecies are fulfilled through the messengers: Isaiah; Jeremiah; and, Ezekiel.
Soli Deo Gloria indeed !