Week 33
Jeremiah 49:34-39, 34:1-22, and Ezekiel 1-3
These prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel occur during the years of the 2nd captivity, when Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) was in exile in Babylon, but before the final siege in the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem, but Ezekiel was called by God to prophesy to the children of Israel in Babylon. He was a contemporary of Daniel, who also lived in Babylon and Persia his entire life. Ezekial begins his prophetic ministry after being deported to Babylon, but before Jerusalem is destroyed in the final siege of Nebuchadnezzar.
These first three chapters of Ezekiel mark a very elaborate series of visions, however they are associated with his being called by God to prophesy on His command to the exiles in Babylon. In chapter 3 God tells him that he will be held accountable for the consequences that fall upon the guilty if he fails to tell them the Word of God beforehand.
In chapter 3 Ezekiel is shown a vision of heaven, and the throne room of God, which can be compared to what Isaiah saw in chapter 6 of his book, and what the apostle John saw in Revelation 4. The same living beings described by Ezekiel also appear in these other visions.
Ezekiel 4-7
The Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy against Jerusalem, providing visual representations of God’s judgement to come against the city, and the people in Judah. Famine, plague, and destruction in battle are all prophesied against Israel and Judah, and the Lord’s judgement will be upon the nation for the predetermined years of God’s wrath. All of these will happen exactly as the Lord foretells through Ezekiel, with the promise that there will be a remnant of His people who are dispersed in other lands, that the Lord will preserve and eventually return to the land of Israel.
Ezekiel 8-11
Ezekiel was living in Babylon during the first captivity, and the Spirit of the Lord takes him in a vision to Jerusalem, and gives him a tour of the temple, and shows him the many ways that the rulers and people there are defiling that place, and following after false gods. The Lord prophesies judgement upon all who had rejected Him, and sends an angel of judgement to kill many, but all who mourn over the wickedness in Jerusalem were marked and protected.
In Ezekiel 10:18 we’re told that the glory of the Lord departed from the temple, where He had placed His Name.
After all these things the Spirit returned Ezekiel to Babylon, and he told the exiles there all that he had seen and done.
Ezekiel 12-14
In chapter 12 the Lord has Ezekiel perform a visual scene for the exiles in Babylon, showing how the king and those left in Jerusalem were going to be taken captive. He then prophesies against the king in Jerusalem (Zedekiah), saying that he will be caught while trying to escape, and he will be brought to Babylon to die, but he won’t see it. In Jeremiah 34:3 Zedekiah was told by Jeremiah that he would see the king of Babylon face to face, and he would be taken to Babylon. Zedekiah believed that these two prophecies were contradictory, yet both of them proved to be true. In Jeremiah 39 Zedekiah is captured (attempting to escape), and brought before Nebuchadnezzar (who was in Syria at that time). Zedekiah met him face to face, and saw his sons killed in front of him, and then Nebuchadnezzar had him blinded and then taken as a prisoner to Babylon. Both prophecies proved to be true.
In 13 Ezekiel prophesies the Lord’s judgement against women who had set themselves up as false prophets, and who gave false signs of peace and prosperity to the people.
The Lord speaks against those (ch 14) who harbor false idols in their hearts. Even today this is a problem, where anything (or anyone) that is more important than God in our hearts becomes an idol. Through Ezekiel the Lord declares judgement upon all such people, and said that He would not withhold His judgement, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were among them, although those 3 alone would be spared. In spite of this, God said He will preserve a remnant of survivors.
Ezekiel 15-17
The Lord spoke multiple parables through Ezekiel. He likens Jerusalem to a worthless and dried up vine in chapter 15. How she was like a helpless baby in chapter 16 that was abandoned in the fields, but nurtured by the Lord into adulthood, and then embraced and married to the Lord when she was grown. Yet, in spite of all that the Lord lavished upon her, she persisted in turning her back to God, and running after false gods, and prostituting herself with foreign idols. The Lord said that He will judge and punish Judah for all that she has done, but in the end He will remember His covenant with them, and restore them in His own righteousness.
God then likens Israel to cedar sprigs taken by an eagle (Nebuchadnezzar) to a far land, and again calls out the rebellion of Zedekiah, who will rebel against Nebuchadnezzar and seek the help of Egypt, but it will not work, and he will be taken in chains to Babylon.
Yet, the Lord promises that in the last days He will re-plant the sprig of Israel in the land of Israel, and it will become great, so that all the nations of the world acknowledge what He has done.
Ezekiel 18-20
The Lord clears up a myth in Israel, where there was a belief that He judged the son guilty for the sins of the father, and even blessed the wicked son of a righteous father. The Lord says that He judges the actions of each person, and holds them accountable. He says that He does not take pleasure in seeing anyone die in sin, and continually looks for the wicked to repent and turn to Him for forgiveness and life.
In chapter 19 Ezekiel is commanded to take up a lament for the king of Israel who sought the protection of Egypt, but who would ultimately be taken to Babylon in chains.
In chapter 20 some elders of Israel go to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord, however the Lord tells Ezekiel that He will not listen to them, and He will not answer them on account of their pervasive wickedness and rebellion against Him. The Lord recounts the history of Israel, and how there were so many different times when they rejected Him, and they deserved to be completely wiped out, yet each time He withheld His total judgement on account of the Holiness of His own Name. He says that Israel will remain obstinate towards Him until the last days, when God will completely purge their sin, and they will then realize all that they have done and be ashamed.
Ezekiel 21-23
In chapter 21 the Lord instructs Ezekiel to groan and mourn for the coming devastation that will be coming against those who are still in Judah and Jerusalem, as the king (Nebuchadnezzar) will not stand for the rebellion of Zedekiah, and there will be great numbers killed in the siege.
In chapter 22 the Lord recounts the multitude of sins that were being committed in Jerusalem, with much blood shed, immorality, worship of false gods, and injustice against the poor and helpless. The Lord searched for even one man who would stand in the gap and intercede before Him on behalf of the people, but He found no one, and His wrath will be poured out.
In chapter 23 the Lord tells a parable of two sisters who became harlots, and who lusted after foreign lovers. The older sister represented the northern kingdom of Israel and Samaria, who lusted after the Assyrians, and the Lord brought the Assyrians against Israel and took them all away. The younger sister represented Judah and Jerusalem, who lusted after the Chaldeans in Babylon, and thus the Lord was giving her over to the Babylonians, who would treat her like Assyria treated Israel.