Ezekiel 15-17

Please note, this entry was originally scheduled for August 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.