31 August

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Ezekiel 5-8

Ezekiel 5

In this chapter we have the description of the last of the four signs. The prophet was commanded to take a sword, sharpened as a barber's razor, and therewith to cut off his hair and his beard. The hair thus taken was to be weighed, and divided into three parts. The first was to be burned in the midst of the city at the expiration of the siege; the second was to be smitten with the sword round about the city; and the third to be scattered to the wind. Finally, a few hairs were to be gathered and bound in his skirt, and of them some were to be cast into the fire.

The explanation of the sign was then given at length to Ezekiel. Jerusalem, set in the midst of the nations, had rebelled against Jehovah, and for this He was against her. A third part of the people was to die by pestilence in the midst of the city, another third would die in battle round about her; the remaining third would be scattered to the winds.

Ezekiel 6

These signs were followed by denunciations growing naturally out of what they had taught. In general terms, the prophet first foretold the coming judgment of the sword against the whole land, and the consequent scattering of the people. It was distinctly declared that in this process of judgment Jehovah would preserve a remnant of those who would escape from the destruction of Jerusalem, and in whose mind the judgment would remain, producing repentance, and the conviction that the word of God was not in vain.

The prophet was then charged to deliver this message of the sword with all the outward signs of vehemence and passion, and to make perfectly clear that vengeance moved toward the purpose of restoring a knowledge of Jehovah to those who had forgotten Him. The reference to the remnant in the course of this first denunciation explains the final action in the fourth sign, that is, the gathering of a few scattered hairs and binding them in the skirts of the prophet's- garment.

Ezekiel's consciousness of the underlying cause of the reprobation of the chosen people is evident through all this section, in which he describes its results. Israel had fallen out of fellowship with God, and had ceased to know Him. Presently this is dealt with in greater detail, but it is interesting to notice the prophet's recognition of it throughout the whole of these messages.

Ezekiel 7

The second denunciation dealt with the completeness of judgment. Its keynote was expressed in the words, "an end." The prophet declared that an end on the land and the people had been determined on, emphasizing that this final judgment would be accomplished by the act of God in order that they might know Him.

The prophet then proceeded to describe that end. Its first manifestation would be the paralysis of the people, so that when the trumpet was blown for the battle, and all was ready, none would move forward, being overcome by terror and grief. Such a method of judgment would be a clear demonstration of the activity of Jehovah. For a people armed and ready for battle to be suddenly smitten with a nameless terror and an overwhelming consciousness of weakness would be, to use the terms of our own day, phenomenal and supernatural. This paralysis of courage would issue in an overwhelming sense of poverty, not in the absolute lack of silver and gold, but in a wild casting away of silver in the streets and a sense of the uncleanness of gold, because these material riches would be useless as means of deliverance from Jehovah's wrath. All this would finally produce the confession of overwhelming perplexity, and no interpreter would be found. This second denunciation ended as did the first, by indicating the purpose of the vengeance. "They shall know that I am the Lord."

Ezekiel 8

We now come to the last prophecy dealing with the results of reprobation. It consists of a long and detailed description of the cause and process of judgment. Its first movement came to the prophet as he sat in his own house in the presence of the elders of Judah. He felt the pressure of the divine hand on him, and saw an appearance as of fire.

He was then lifted between earth and heaven, and there was revealed to him the awful idolatries practiced in Jerusalem. He saw at the entrance of the inner court of the house of God "the image of jealousy," which means that there was set up an image which provoked Jehovah to jealousy. His special attention was called to this as revealing the reason why Jehovah departed from His sanctuary.

He was then bidden to dig a hole in the wall, and through a door which he discovered there he saw the elders of Israel burning incense before creeping things, abominable beasts and idols, so far had they passed from conscious fellowship with God as to imagine that He had forsaken the earth and they were not seen.

Yet again the prophet saw the depravity of the women of Israel who were weeping for Tammuz. The significance of such weeping is suggested in John Milton's lines from "Paradise Lost":

"The love-tale Infected Zion's daughters with like heat; Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch Ezekiel saw".

Finally, in the inner court of the elders the prophet saw men with their backs turned toward the Temple, worshiping the sun. Because of this utter corruption of the people, Jehovah would proceed in judgment, in spite of all the loud crying of the people.