Ezekiel 1-32 (Part 2)

Richard Belcher focuses on the initial chapters of Ezekiel. The sermon covers the themes of divine judgment and mercy, illustrating God’s sovereign control and the implications for Israel’s leaders and the nation’s future.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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Symbolic acts, to define them, are dramatic performances designed to visualize the message. Part of it is Ezekiel is partially mute, and so he acts out the message. And it’s possible that this is to enhance persuading the people to receive the message. Now, he does these maybe out in his front yard, who knows? But it’s some public place where the people can see.

So let’s begin to look at these beginning in chapter four. The first sign act is described in the first three verses of chapter four.

¹ “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. ² And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. ³ And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel. (Ezekiel 4:1-3, ESV)

Ezekiel is to take a clay tablet and to put on that the city of Jerusalem. Draw on it the city of Jerusalem. And he says, se that clay tablet up.

So maybe you can picture Ezekiel in a corner of his yard or sandbox or public square. And he has got this clay tablet set up there, and it describes here he is out there building siege, works against it. And the way it’s described is fairly accurate as to way armies would do this. But he’s out there in his yard playing in a sandbox. He’s got this clay tablet, and he’s building siege, works against it to symbolize that Jerusalem is going to come under siege.

And so, people walk by Ezekiel’s house, and they stand there and watch him a little while. What’s he doing? So they’re to sort of watch what he’s doing. And sometimes, God here in these chapters gives us the meaning. That’s the first thing. Clay tablet, city of Jerusalem, builds siege works. Then he should take an iron plate, verse three, and set that up between himself and the city of Jerusalem.

So he puts this iron plate, which is to represent the iron wall that exists between God and Israel, and that there’s going to be no help coming from God as Jerusalem is being sieged. And you can see that Jerusalem is being sieged because of this picture on the clay tablet and all these siege works that he’s put up there then. And you shouldn’t think of the. You should not think of one of them stopping and the other one starting.

But when the next synach starts, he still has the original synac there and will interact with it as he goes along. But the next one is described in chapter four, verses four through eight. And in this particular sign act, he is to lie on his left side. So maybe he gets down there on the ground on his left side, and he is to place the punishment of the house of Israel upon his side. This is verse four.

⁴ “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. ⁵ For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. (Ezekiel 4:4-5, ESV)

So for 390 days. I don’t know if he does it all day, part of the day, but he lies on his left side. So people walk by the house, they see the siege work. They see Ezekiel lying on his left side. 390 days after that’s completed, he is to change sides, lie a second time, verse six.

⁶ And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. (Ezekiel 4:6, ESV)

So these 390 days would equal 390 years. And the 40 days then seemed to equal 40 years. Verse seven,

⁷ And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. (Ezekiel 4:7, ESV)

Perhaps while he’s on his side, he may be doing this, but his arm is bared, which would give you the idea that the arm is coming against the city. And verse eight,

⁸ And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege. (Ezekiel 4:8, ESV)

This is where the cords come back into play. Now, what does this mean? Big debate on what this means. Left side for 390 days, which seems to equal 390 years. Right side, left side for Israel, 390 days. Left side for Judah, 40 days, a day for each year. Related then, verse seven to the siege of Jerusalem.

Now, the questions that come from this, you know, does Israel refer to all Israel? What does Judah refer to? What do these numbers refer to? And the best thing I can do is just lay out several possibilities, and I don’t think these possibilities made your notes. I’m not sure if all of them made your notes, but these are the various possibilities. And scholars are looking for a start time and an end time for the 390 years. And then how do you figure the 40 years? And let me just give you several possibilities.

One scholar starts in 597. This is Cooper. 597 is the exile of Jehoiachin. That’s where he starts. And he adds together the 390 and the 40. So he adds those together and goes down and comes up at 167. So he adds 390 to 40, takes it away from 597 and comes up with 167, which is an important date. We’ll talk about this date in Daniel, the time of the Maccabeans, when the temple is desecrated and the city of Jerusalem is desecrated during Antiochus Epiphanes time. And so that’s the way he does the dates.

You wonder what relevance this has for Ezekiel’s day. That’s one question. Blenkinsop is another. He starts at 722. What’s 722? The fall of the northern kingdom related to Israel. You see? And he goes down 390 years, takes you down to 332, which is the time of Alexander the Great, which really brings you to the end of the Persian period. In the beginning of the Greek period, the Septuagint has, instead of 390 years, 190 years.

If you take the Septuagint 190 years, and you start at 722, it brings you down to about 532, which is right in that period of the decree of Cyrus. So that’s another way that these dates are taken. Block begins back here at 976. 976 was when the glory of God first filled the temple. At the dedication, Solomon’s dedication to the temple. If you go down 390 years, you come to 586. So another way to take this is from 976, when the glory filled the temple, to 586, when the temple was destroyed.

That would be the 390 years, and then the 40 years would follow. That’s just the exile period. So that’s the 40, and this is the 300. Stuart, you can see all these differences. Stuart begins in 931. What happened in 931? The division of the kingdom. And 931. Let’s see if I got the 931. And 931 minus 390 is what? 539. Do I have these laid out in your… Yeah, 539. Okay. 931, 539, which is what? That’s the decree of Cyrus.

And of course, the 40 would be 586 to about 539, just the period of exile. I could give you another. I mean, there’s several other options here. You can see how scholars have wrestled with. When does this begin, this period? When does it end? How do you relate the 390 to the 40? Does the 390 refer just to the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom? Does it have more than that in view? It certainly seems like most scholars think the 40 refers to the period of exile after Judah is destroyed.

But those are some of the problems related to these figures. And I don’t know if I have a clear answer. If I had to choose, I would probably choose Bloch or Stewart’s rendition of it that covers most of the history of Israel and Judah. But the point is, Ezekiel is bearing the punishment, disobedience. And so he’s acting in some ways as a priest here. In the first sign act, verses one through three, he sort of represented Yahweh, the Lord. And now in this one, he is sort of doing a priestly job of bearing punishment.

So that would be the point that there is your disobedience is going to lead to judgment. Then, continuing on in chapter four, verses nine through 15. And it seems like this is taking place, as verse nine says, during the middle of the verse, during the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, this is what you shall eat. So while he’s lying on his side, he eats what is described here. What is described in verses nine through 15 is the harsh conditions that are coming to Jerusalem because of the siege.

And that is reflected in the amount of food that he eats each day. Basically, he’s given a ration of one meal a day, 20 shekels of bread, about 8oz of bread, two thirds of a quart of water. And he has to use, God tells him to use human excrement for fuel. Now, what this represents is that the food during the siege will be in such short supply that they will have to eat unclean food. And using human excrement for fuel reinforces defilement. Now, as a priest, Ezekiel puts up a fight.

Lord, please, I don’t want to use human excrement for fuel. This will bring defilement. And so God says, all right, you can use cow dung or animal, which to me is almost as bad. But it was a common fuel of that day, and they were much more used to using that for fuel. So the harsh conditions of exile, eating food that will bring defilement to God’s people because of the seed. See, this goes back to chapter four, verses one through three.

So, as Ezekiel is laying on his right side during his 309 day period, he’s preparing perhaps his meal each day, and he’s eating it. And it’s very, very meager. Chapter five. Ezekiel shaves his head and beard. Like playoff time for some people. He shaves his head. So one day you’re walking by, and he’s got a full set, full set of hair and full beard. And the next day you walk by, and what happened to Ezekiel? Where did his hair go? And he divides his hair into three parts, representing three different fates of the people.

One third of his hair he burns in the fire, which represents those who will die in the city of Jerusalem. One third of his hair he strikes with the sword. He throws it up in the air and strikes it with the sword, representing those who will die outside the city of Jerusalem, and one third of his hair he just scatters in the wind. So again, you walk by Ezekiel’s house, and there he is. There have been some psychological studies done of Ezekiel. They’re not very good. They sort of.

They try to find something in his background that’s causing all this weird stuff. Don’t put much stock in it. He takes up some of the hairs that have fallen, and he puts them in his belt. There’s a remnant that God will preserve. So again, this all relates to the judgment that is going to come. And since he is partially muted, part of this is to communicate to God’s people this message. And it’s very clear that this is Jerusalem in chapter five, the end of the chapter especially, this is Jerusalem.

This is what will happen to Jerusalem. I also may have in your notes that section five, verses five through 17, which is the explanation of the Sinak. I may have in your notes connections to some of these verses in chapter five and how they relate to covenant curse. And this is another place where you can see clear connections between Ezekiel’s message and Deuteronomy 28, Leviticus 26, covenant curse. Prophetic message of judgment related to covenant curse. And so I’ve just given that to you.

This is just another example, like in Zephaniah, another example where you can see some parallels. So these are some of the things Ezekiel does to get across God’s message of judgment. We then come to the first set of speeches, chapters six and seven, which stress the comprehensibility of God’s judgment. And we have in these chapters an expansion of territory in chapter five.

In the syntax of chapter five, the focus is on Jerusalem. In chapter six, we expand our horizons beyond the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a political and religious center. Now the hill country of Israel comes into play, sort of Israel’s, as some say, par excellence. The hill country and idolatry on the high places is mentioned.

And so these are speeches in chapters six and seven. These aren’t syntax. These are actual speeches that are spoken against God’s people. In chapter 6:11 mentions this threefold judgment: They shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, very common in times of siege. And so these are things that are going to come to the city of Jerusalem.

And the remnant is mentioned in verse nine of chapter six, chapter seven, which is another speech that expands the horizon even further. So we go from the city of Jerusalem to the hill country, and now we have the whole land of Israel in chapter seven, with the emphasis in chapter seven on covenant judgment and the devastation of the land of Israel, not just the city of Jerusalem, but the whole land will experience God’s judgment. And through the coming judgment, God’s people will come to know the Lord.

You have this recurring theme in these speeches of chapters six and seven, which occurs first of all in chapter six, verse seven, where it says,

⁷ And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord . (Ezekiel 6:7, ESV)

That refrain, “you shall know that I am the Lord. You shall know that I am the Lord. This is going to happen. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”

The coming of covenant judgment, the fulfillment of the mosaic curses, covenant curses will demonstrate that God is the Lord of the covenant and that their disobedience will be dealt with and that they can’t get away with it. This is evidence that Yahweh is the Lord. So, in chapters six and seven, you have these set of speeches. We’ve run through the first cycle: visions, chapters one through three; sign acts, chapters four and five; and then these speeches when God did allow Ezekiel to speak in chapters six and seven.

And now we’ll run through this again with visions, chapters eight through eleven. A few synachs in chapter twelve. And then we’re going to have an expanded section of speeches in chapters 13 through 24. So we will go through this cycle, if you will. Again, so we come to the second set of visions in chapters eight through eleven, which is called the temple vision. We have Jeremiah’s temple sermon, which we talked about in Jeremiah 7. And was it 26? Here we have the temple vision of Ezekiel. This is a vision.

Chapters one through three were a vision. This is also a vision that focuses on the temple. You have the reappearance in chapter eight of that chariot throne of chapter one, the reappearance of the glory of the Lord, the presence of God. Ezekiel 8:4 says,

⁴ And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. (Ezekiel 8:4, ESV)

And so the reappearance of this chariot throne. Ezekiel, in this vision, this is a vision. Ezekiel is transported to the temple area. So remember, he’s in Babylon, and in his vision, he is transported to the temple area. God is going to show Ezekiel what is going on in the temple area as a justification for what’s going to happen to the temple. And God is, in this vision, going to show Ezekiel how he is preparing the temple for the coming destruction. And so that’s what this vision is going to focus on. Now, the movements of Ezekiel are not the easiest to follow. So let me do two things here.

Let me, first of all, talk about city walls and city gates as a foundation for talking about the movements of Ezekiel as he’s transported back to the temple. All of this may or may not have gotten into your notes, but this would be an example of a city wall. And this would be an example of a gate. The walls, you notice many times, had rooms. You would have a wall, an outer wall, and then you’d have an inner cavity, and that inner cavity could be used as a room for meetings.

You could use it to store things. If the city is under siege, you might fill the wall with rubble to make it harder for the enemy to knock down the wall. And so that’s an example of a city wall. Now, a city gate, you’ll notice, is not like a chain link fence where you just have sort of a gate that swings back and forth. you’ve got a fairly substantial gate here that as you go through the gate on both your left and right side, there are more rooms.

And these rooms might be used by the guards or for other purposes. You know, maybe at the city gates, sometimes legal things were accomplished, Ruth. Now, maybe the wall around that city and the gate would not have been this extensive, but certainly, you see how a gateway, a city gate, would work with rooms on both sides, and you’d have to walk through it. That helps us understand what’s going on back in Ezekiel 8-11, because God is going to show Ezekiel four scenes of increasing abomination. And so we will represent.

We could do it this way, but since this is a northern gate, we will do it this way. This is a city wall. This is a gate. This is the wall around the temple. This is a gate into the temple courtyard. This is the temple complex itself. So we’ll use this to help us understand Ezekiel’s movements. The first thing God shows him as he transports him in this vision, this is a vision. He shows him an image of jealousy at the northern gate.

The northern gate is used by the king, and many consider it the most prominent gate. But if you look at Ezekiel 8:3,

³ He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. (Ezekiel 8:3, ESV)

And so, this here would represent this image of jealousy outside of the northern gate. So there’s idolatry taking place. And verses five and following is a description of what Ezekiel sees. Son of verse six, son of man, do you see what they’re doing, the great abominations that the House of Israel are committing here to drive me far from my sanctuary? These abominations are going to drive God away from his sanctuary. But you will see greater abominations, greater abominations than this image of jealousy.

So this number one here is the first position, if you will, of Ezekiel, where he sees this image of jealousy. Next, he begins to walk through the gate, this northern gate. And remember, there are rooms. As he walks through the gate, and he is told, verse seven,

⁷ And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. (Ezekiel 8:7, ESV)

So he’s now beginning to enter the gate, the entrance of the court, and he sees a hole in the wall. Verse eight,

⁸ Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. ⁹ And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. ¹¹ And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.'” ¹³ He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.” (Ezekiel 8:8-13, ESV)

Behold, there was an entrance, and so it seems like there’s a hole here. And he comes into one of these rooms. Perhaps he’s even going further in. It’s kind of hard to tell exactly what’s going on, but it’s clear. Or exactly where he’s at, but it’s clear what’s going on. You have a secret cult of the elders, vile abominations.

God says, you’ll see greater abominations than these. So this is about position two on this handout where he goes into one of these rooms. He continues walking through the gate, and as he begins to come to the end of that gate, he begins to see the courtyard.

So he’s walking through the gate, and this would be the courtyard of, this is the temple area. This would be the courtyard. As he comes into the gate, and then he sees within that courtyard the worship of Tammuz, a Sumerian fertility god. Ezekiel 8:14,

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord , and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.” (Ezekiel 8:14-15, ESV)

This is very similar to Baal, where Baal would die during periods of. You know, you have rainy seasons in the year and you had dry seasons, rainy seasons. Baal is alive. Dry seasons. Baal has come under the power of death. So there’s no rain. Tammuz is very similar, a fertility god. And so they are weeping now because Tammuz has come under the power of death. Clear idolatry going on right here. Worship of Tammuz right here in the courtyard, which he sees as he comes near the end of that gate. “You’ll see greater abominations than these,” God says.

And finally, he comes into the courtyard. In Chapter 8:16-18,

¹⁶ And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord . And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord , between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord , and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷ Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”(Ezekiel 8:16-18, ESV)

This is a justification for what’s going to be described now, the removal of the presence of the glory of God from that temple complex because of the idolatry and the abomination that are taking place. Removal of the presence of God in preparation for the destruction of that temple.

And that is what is beginning to be described in chapter nine, except there’s a brief interlude, if you will, in chapter nine before you get to the movement of the glory of the Lord from the temple. In chapter ten, in chapter nine, there is described a picture of destruction. Executioners are sent throughout the city slaying the wicked. But before the executioners are sent, you have a man clothed in linen. Linen is priestly, sort of priestly material.

A man clothed in linen goes throughout the city and puts a mark on everyone who is mourning, grieving over what’s going on at the temple. You see, there are some people that are grieving over what’s going on in the temple. In fact, the Hebrew says they put a tav. Last consonant is the Hebrew alphabet. They put a tav. Those who had that mark would be spared. The executioners go throughout the city, destroying others. And, of course, this reminds you of the book of Revelation, doesn’t it? The sealing of the 144,000.

So this may have some parallels or connection to that. But there were some people in Jerusalem that were grieving over what was going on in the temple. There was a remnant, which is evident here in chapter nine, that sets us up for chapter ten. The movement of the presence of God, the glory of God from the temple.

And so, first of all, there is a movement from the Holy of Holies. Where did the presence of God reside? In the Holy of Holies above the Cherubim. Right. You have a movement of the presence of God from the holy of Holies above the Cherubim to the threshold of the temple. From the threshold of the temple, the glory of the Lord is transferred to this chariot throne. So this is where that chariot throne comes back into play. The glory of the presence of God moves from the holy of Holies to the threshold of the temple. And then it is transferred to this chariot throne, and it moves out of the temple area, out of the east gate, and finally it goes out of the city.

When you get over to chapter eleven, verse 23, well, actually, yeah, 23,

²³ And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. (Ezekiel 11:23, ESV)

So it’s moved from the holy of holies to the threshold of the temple, to the chariot throne, out the east side to this place, even outside the city, in preparation for the destruction of the temple. Because when that temple is destroyed, God’s presence is no longer there.

God’s presence has been removed because of the transgressions, the abominations, the idolatry that is taking place in the temple. God is abandoning the temple because of the wickedness that’s taking place there. And in this context, there are several other things going on in chapter eleven that we’ll not take the time to talk about. But in this context, there is this statement in chapter eleven, verse 16, which is a statement that comments on the exiles.

¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God : Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples… (Ezekiel 11:16-17, ESV)

This is the significance of the movability of this chariot throne. The exiles are separated from Jerusalem. They’re separated from the temple. The temple is that special place of God’s presence. But we see in these chapters, God has abandoned his temple, and that God can even be with his people in Babylon. His presence with his people in Babylon. And there’s a debate as to whether this should read, I have been a little sanctuary to them, or I’ve been a sanctuary to them for a little while. If you take it, I’ve been a sanctuary to them for a little while. The implication is that God will restore his presence in Jerusalem.

A little sanctuary means that God’s presence is there with his people in a little bit different way than the glory of that temple structure. But regardless, his presence with God’s people in Babylon, that’s an amazing statement, especially in light of their sort of narrow thinking of confining God’s presence to the temple. That’s why Jeremiah had to preach the temple sermon. Don’t trust in this temple. Don’t trust in this building. This building will not deliver you. They had put their faith and their trust in the fact that what the temple represented.

But we see here in Ezekiel that because of the idolatry going on there, God was removing his presence in preparation for judgment. When we come to the last vision of Ezekiel 40 through 48, we’ll see the return of the presence of God, and we’ll talk about what chapters 40 through 48 have in view when we get to that place. Any comments or questions? Yes, sir. It’s not stated how. There’s no statement of the cloud, there’s no statement of the fire.

This is almost a precursor of how God will be with his people when the king comes. But it’s not stated. It just says that God has been with his people. So I don’t know specifics, but his presence certainly was there. I think we have time to finish up this second set of symbolic acts, chapter twelve, which basically is a message for what will happen in Jerusalem, what’s still to come. And Ezekiel now packs his bags, and he digs through a hole in his wall.

So you got a hole in Ezekiel’s wall, and he’s got his bags, and he’s coming through this hole in his wall. Another sign act, which is a picture of the people carrying their belongings into captivity. And the message to that community is, exile is coming. Jerusalem is going to fall. They still don’t quite grasp that there’s a message about Zedekiah in verses ten through 16 related to further exile.

And then there is another sign act in Ezekiel 12:18 where Ezekiel eats his bread and drinks his water with trembling. Now, I don’t know if those other sign acts are still going on if he’s still eating the rations, but he’s out there drinking his water with trembling, eating his bread with trembling, which is, again, to reinforce the anxiety that will come to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁸ “Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink water with trembling and with anxiety. (Ezekiel 12:18, ESV)

And this chapter ends, “Thus says the Lord God, none of my words will be delayed any longer. No more delay.”

²⁸ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: None of my words will be delayed any longer, but the word that I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 12:28, ESV)

Prophets have been prophesying judgment. Prophets have been prophesying the fall of Jerusalem. It hasn’t come. You got no more delay. Judgment is coming. And again, these syntax are to reinforce to the exilic community that Jerusalem is going to fall. That brings us to the second set of speeches, which we are not going to cover in detail, as since we’ve covered some other things in Ezekiel. I’ll comment on a few things related to these speeches.

All right. We come to the second set of speeches, 13 through 24. And these speeches reinforce why the judgment of God is inevitable, why it’s going to come to Jerusalem. Now, these speeches would be times when Jeremiah. I’m sorry, Ezekiel.

Would have been given a word from God and would have been allowed to speak. We’re not going to go through these speeches. We just don’t have time to go through them in detail. There’s a variety of different types of speeches. There’s a variety of different ways that Ezekiel gets across the judgment of God. He deals with a variety of topics: false prophets, elders. There are a couple of speeches that are extremely blunt. Come on in. Chapter 16 is one of those speeches that is extremely blunt.

It’s an extended metaphor concerning the origins of Jerusalem, depicting Jerusalem, the prostitute. The other one that is extremely blunt is the speech in chapter 23, where you had the two perverted sisters, Ahola and Aholibah. And sometimes, the translation sort of takes away the bluntness of what’s being said. Read it in the Oxford Jewish Study Bible. It’s a little bit more explicit. Not a lot, but just a little bit more. But depicting the horrible situation of God’s people. I want to pick up on the speech in chapter 22. I’m sorry, chapter 24, the cooking pot.

So find in your notes. You flip over to your notes. Chapter 24. This was given on the day that Nebuchadnezzar began his assault on Jerusalem. Jerusalem is described in sacrificial language as the sacrificial lamb. And when it says in Chapter 24:2,

² “Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. (Ezekiel 24:2, ESV)

The term used there is the same term in Leviticus 1:4, where you bring the animal, and you lay and you press down your hand on the head of that animal just before that animal is sacrificed. The whole pot imagery.

⁴ He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. (Leviticus 1:4, ESV)

The priests would attend the cooking pots where the sacrificial animals, after they had been slain, were placed into those cooking pots. In one sense, Jerusalem is the pot, and the people are the meat, and the meat is left in the pot until it burns away.

It’s sort of like leaving your coffee pot on too long with that stuff at the bottom, and it just gets real sludgy and hard. That’s the picture on the very day that Nebuchadnezzar began his siege. In other words, your goose is cooked. Maybe another way to put it.

You also have in chapter 24 the death of Ezekiel’s wife, probably in 588. He may have been about 34 years old. He loses the desire of his eyes, and he’s told by God not to do the normal things you would do when you lose a loved one. Verse 15,

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. ¹⁷ Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” (Ezekiel 24:15-17, ESV)

Or this may be some funeral meal that you might eat. The normal things that you would do when someone close to you dies. Tears, mourning, loosening the turban, putting dust and ashes on your head.

Certain mourning rites that they would participate in connected to the death of someone close to them. God says, “Don’t do any of these things.” And the people ask him, “Verse 19, will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting this way?” And when they see Ezekiel’s wife dies, and they see the way he responds, they got questions. Ezekiel, why are you doing this? Why are you not participating? Why are you not acting normally? When someone as close as your wife has been taken from you?

His response is in verse 21,

²¹ ‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God : Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. ²² And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. ²³ Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. (Ezekiel 24:21-23, ESV)

God took the delight of Ezekiel. The Lord is taking away their delight: the temple, and sons and daughters. And they too will not experience the regular mourning now, either because of shock that this has happened, or those in Jerusalem will not have the opportunity to participate in the regular mourning rites because they will be gathered up by the Babylonians to be taken into exile. Exile. And so, this is something that actually takes place in Ezekiel’s life.

This is not just a sign act, although it sort of functions that way, but this is something that actually takes place in his life that has meaning for God’s people. Tough to be a prophet. Yes. Well, it’s called the light of their eyes. So it seems to be a big deal. And you’ve got the loss of their sons and daughters, which would be a big deal. So I can see how that makes sense. But I’m not sure that’s what’s being argued in this passage.

Now, something happens at the end of chapter 24 that we’ll come back to. In fact, not that something happens, but God tells Ezekiel something that’s going to happen at the end of chapter 24. A fugitive will come to you to report the news of the fall of the city of Jerusalem. And something will take place with Ezekiel on that day that he hears that Jerusalem has fallen. His ministry will change when he hears the message that Jerusalem has fallen.

We’ll pick that up in chapter 33 because that’s restated in chapter 33 at the end of chapter 24. It’s just sort of, this is what’s going to happen, Ezekiel. And then in chapter 33, we have the description of it happening. And so we’ll comment on that when we come to chapter 33. Before we get to chapter 33, we have prophecies against the four nations. Chapters 25-32. Let me just say a few words related to these prophecies. They fall into two parts: you have chapters 25 through 28.

These chapters deal with the attitude of the surrounding nations. When Israel fell, the nations gloated over Judah’s fall, and they took advantage of Judah’s weakness. We saw this a little bit in connection with Obadiah, and there’s an interesting link between chapter 24 and chapter 25. Chapter 25 is the beginning of these prophecies against the nations. But in 24:21, God tells Ezekiel in context of this, what we just talked about, mourning, I will profane my sanctuary. God says, I will profane my sanctuary. That’s what chapters eight through eleven have been all about.

God preparing to profane the sanctuary. His presence has left the sanctuary, and he’s bringing a nation against Jerusalem to profane the sanctuary to bring judgment because of the people’s disobedience. Then you have Ezekiel 25:3, which is in the context of the prophecy against Ammon.

³ Say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God : Thus says the Lord God , Because you said, ‘Aha!’ over my sanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and over the house of Judah when they went into exile, (Ezekiel 25:3, ESV)

Therefore, behold, I am handing you over to the people of the east for a possession. Now the nations are going to be judged for how they reacted to Jerusalem when it fell. And here the Ammonites rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, and because of that, God is going to judge them. Same thing with Assyria, same thing with Babylon. Although Babylon and Assyria are not in view here we’ve seen, Assyria and Babylon are both the instruments in the hands of God for judgment, and yet they were going to be judged for their participation.

They were an instrument in God’s hands, and yet they fully participated. They wanted to, they were involved in bringing judgment, besieging Jerusalem, causing Jerusalem to fall. It was what they wanted to do, and they thought they were doing it by the power of their own God. But it was Yahweh who was behind all of this. And you have a similar thing going on here in chapter 25. God will profane a sanctuary, and he’ll also judge those who participate in the profaning of his sanctuary.

Then you have, well, the purpose of this before I say it, the purpose of this is to give assurance to God’s people. And this section ends. Chapter 28:25-26. It ends, emphasizing hope and reflecting covenant blessings. You have a beautiful statement at the end of chapter 28 about Israel dwelling secure in her land, building houses, planting vineyards. That’s covenant blessing terminology there at the end of chapter 28. So God will judge the nations as a part of the restoration of his people. And we’ll come back and talk about that in a few minutes.

Then chapters 29 32 basically target Egypt, and they’re dated around the siege of Jerusalem. Chapters 29 32 try to dispel any hope that God’s people had in Egypt as an ally against Babylon, the hope that they had that Egypt would be able to help them, Egypt would be able to save them from this babylonian army. And the focus here is that Egypt will not be able to help them, and they should not rely on Egypt for help.

So prophecies to the nations sort of fall into these two categories, and that brings to an end the prophecies of judgment related to Israel or Judah and the nations. Any comments or questions before we move on, turn the corner? Yes, sir. No. Yeah, if we don’t like the sections in Joel that we didn’t cover, the sections, the speeches that we didn’t cover in class, you don’t have to worry about those for the exam. Yeah, that’s a good question. Yeah.

If we don’t specifically go through a section, then you don’t have to worry about that for the exam. And the part about what we put on the board at the beginning of class period today for Joel, that won’t be on your exam. your second exam probably won’t show up on your third exam either. So your third exam will begin with Ezekiel.

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