Ezekiel Chapter 4-5
There are four object lessons in this passage that display the type of judgement that was coming for Israel and Judah.
First (Ezekiel 4:1-3): Ezekiel was commanded to draw the map of Jerusalem on a clay brick and demonstrate how the city would be attacked and destroyed.
Second (Ezekiel 4:4-8): Ezekiel was commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days, symbolic of the 390 years Israel disobeyed God, and 40 days on his right side, symbolic of the 40 years Judah lived in rebellion against God; and do this while starring at the model of the siege of Jerusalem and prophesying against it.
Third (Ezekiel 4:9-17): He was to prepare bread to ration out while he lied on his side and cook it over manure. This symbolized how God would make them eat defiled bread in the land of the gentiles where he would scatter them and where they would starve.
Fourth (Ezekiel 5:1-4): Ezekiel was commanded to shave his hair and divide it into three equal parts. 1/3 was to be placed in the center of his map of Jerusalem, symbolizing how a third would die in the city from disease and famine. 1/3 was to be scattered across the map and chopped with a sword, symbolizing how a third of the people would be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. 1/3 was to be scattered in the wind symbolizing how the people would be scattered throughout the nations by war.
Does this seem a bit over the top? How could a loving God do this to his people?
It only seems cruel because we do not understand the holiness of God and therefore the seriousness of sin. God is jealous of his worship. Israel, unlike the other nations around them, were God's chosen people, among whom the holy God, creator of the world, Lord of all, powerful, all-knowing, high and exalted One above all else, was pleased to dwell. The greatest blessing was given to them. This privilege demands the purest praise and worship from his people.
But what did they do? They refused to obey God's decrees and regulations for worship (Ez5:7). They took His holy name and trampled it in the dirt. They lived wickedly, doing everything God hated and commanded them not to do. They were worse than the nations around them who did not have God (Ez5:7). So, God would punish them. In the decrees of his punishment, we see how far Israel went in their sin and how much it angered God.
As we see this graphic display of the wrath of God, I can't help but think of what Christ went through on our behalf. He took the punishment that we deserved. Christ, the true temple, was destroyed on the cross. Christ bore the life time of sins we committed, but he didn't lie on his side predicting the coming judgement, he hung on the cross bearing the full weight of that judgment. The spotless, holy Son of God became the most defiled thing on the face of the earth so that we might be clean. Christ wasted away under our punishment. Christ took the whole of God's wrath, not just a third, until God's anger was spent, his fury subsided, and his justice satisfied. Christ became the object of mockery, taunting and horror (Ez 5:14-15).
His death warns us that if we do not put our trust in Him alone, we will suffer the punishment for our own sins (Ez 5:15). Christ is our only hope!
Sincerely,
Brooke
There are four object lessons in this passage that display the type of judgement that was coming for Israel and Judah.
First (Ezekiel 4:1-3): Ezekiel was commanded to draw the map of Jerusalem on a clay brick and demonstrate how the city would be attacked and destroyed.
Second (Ezekiel 4:4-8): Ezekiel was commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days, symbolic of the 390 years Israel disobeyed God, and 40 days on his right side, symbolic of the 40 years Judah lived in rebellion against God; and do this while starring at the model of the siege of Jerusalem and prophesying against it.
Third (Ezekiel 4:9-17): He was to prepare bread to ration out while he lied on his side and cook it over manure. This symbolized how God would make them eat defiled bread in the land of the gentiles where he would scatter them and where they would starve.
Fourth (Ezekiel 5:1-4): Ezekiel was commanded to shave his hair and divide it into three equal parts. 1/3 was to be placed in the center of his map of Jerusalem, symbolizing how a third would die in the city from disease and famine. 1/3 was to be scattered across the map and chopped with a sword, symbolizing how a third of the people would be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. 1/3 was to be scattered in the wind symbolizing how the people would be scattered throughout the nations by war.
Does this seem a bit over the top? How could a loving God do this to his people?
It only seems cruel because we do not understand the holiness of God and therefore the seriousness of sin. God is jealous of his worship. Israel, unlike the other nations around them, were God's chosen people, among whom the holy God, creator of the world, Lord of all, powerful, all-knowing, high and exalted One above all else, was pleased to dwell. The greatest blessing was given to them. This privilege demands the purest praise and worship from his people.
But what did they do? They refused to obey God's decrees and regulations for worship (Ez5:7). They took His holy name and trampled it in the dirt. They lived wickedly, doing everything God hated and commanded them not to do. They were worse than the nations around them who did not have God (Ez5:7). So, God would punish them. In the decrees of his punishment, we see how far Israel went in their sin and how much it angered God.
As we see this graphic display of the wrath of God, I can't help but think of what Christ went through on our behalf. He took the punishment that we deserved. Christ, the true temple, was destroyed on the cross. Christ bore the life time of sins we committed, but he didn't lie on his side predicting the coming judgement, he hung on the cross bearing the full weight of that judgment. The spotless, holy Son of God became the most defiled thing on the face of the earth so that we might be clean. Christ wasted away under our punishment. Christ took the whole of God's wrath, not just a third, until God's anger was spent, his fury subsided, and his justice satisfied. Christ became the object of mockery, taunting and horror (Ez 5:14-15).
His death warns us that if we do not put our trust in Him alone, we will suffer the punishment for our own sins (Ez 5:15). Christ is our only hope!
Sincerely,
Brooke
Amen, to what was written Brooke. I have always found the book of Ezekiel a sobering book, it speaks so much on the judgment of God. It's only when we recognize he full weight of our sins, that we can start to grasp the depth of God's love for us in sending his Son to bear what we deserved.
ReplyDelete