Once again just want to reiterate the confusion that can arise easily from this book of the Bible! I have been using the Reformation Study Bible available through Bible Gateway, and it has brought so much clarity to all of the details throughout this book of the Bible. If I had not used this resource then I would be dumbfounded about what was happening…like I would just find it strange to cut off hair and burn it in various places, but with the commentary available I have been using, it all makes sense. Research is essential whenever learning is involved, and God’s Word is no different!
So like I mentioned above, there is significance to hair that is shaved off of Ezekiel. First of all, a man at this time, especially a priest did not shave or cut his hair for it was considered shameful or it meant that they were in mourning. I guess you could say it applied to Ezekiel in both ways – shameful of his people and their treatment of God as well as in mourning over what will come of his people. So Ezekiel shaves off his hair, and then God gives him specific instructions over what to do with it. Some of the hair will be burnt in the city, some will be strike with a sword, and some will go into the wing, and lastly there will be some that will be kept in Ezekiel’s jacket. So the hair represents the outcomes of the people in Jerusalem. Some will die within the city from disease and famine, some will die in battle, some will die in exile (blown away from the city) and lastly some will be forced to stay in the city. The hair of Ezekiel is used to show the options that the people of Israel and Judah have, and that is disease, death in battle, famine, and exile. All of their wicked actions against God have caused all of the people to be dispersed or killed in these ways. At this point, the people were considered to have been worse behaving than all other nations surrounding them, which is mind blowing if you look back on history. There is a reason that my Art History professor helped us to remember Assyrian art to revolve around violence, and it how it belonged to me because of the first three letters in the name “Assyria…” yet the people of Judah and Israel had gone so blatantly against God that they had to pay. God is just. My favorite part is verse 17 at the end of chapter 5, where how this is God’s Word – “’I am the LORD; I have spoken,’” Ezekiel 5:17. He can speak all into existence, like He did when He created the world, and He has total control over all things, and can speak these events into existence.
Chapter 6 focuses on a sin that we are all guilty of, usually intentionally. For Judah and Israel, it is more obvious to us as readers because they had altars to pagan gods and such, but in our everyday lives we have idols. Money, relationships, and finding self-worth are common idols. I know that these are some of my idols. I sometimes put these things before my relationship with God and it is not okay. Chapter 8 has a great symbolic representation of idolatry, so I will go into more detail in my next blog post, but idolatry is a root sin – many spring out from it without us even realizing it, and idolatry runs very deep. So God says that these high altars that had belonged to the Canaanites before the people of Israel were offensive to Him, for He had His home in the temple in Jerusalem with His people. Remember in my posts from 1 Kings and 2 Kings, how there is always mention of the people using the “altars in the high places” and it being bad in the eyes of the LORD? These are altars are what 1 and 2 Kings were referring to. God’s people were using these altars to false gods for their almighty and all-powerful God! How can something worthy for false gods be worthy for God? It cannot be. God will put death all over these high altars, and no one can hide from God. God reiterates this throughout the book of Ezekiel – He is ALL-KNOWING. He is so all-knowing that He even can share with His people how there is good to come following this destruction. The people will finally acknowledge God’s power and how their idols were nothing in comparison to the power of God!
Chapter 7 covers “The Day of the Wrath of the LORD.” We all hear about “The Day” that God will bring judgment onto His people, and for the people of this time, the exile was the judgment placed upon them. They did not have Jesus, who took all of our sins, so they faced judgment head on. Imagine how we would be punished for our actions from our just God, without the grace given to us through Jesus Christ? It gives me shivers to think about it. The Israelites had lost all fear of God, and He decided that they needed to return to that feeling of fear! Righteous people throughout the Bible have been labeled as God-fearing and God loving, and that is because fear is needed, because it is ultimately the acknowledgment of God’s power and glory. God will vindicate His name and judge His enemies (those that do not fear Him). Throughout chapter 7 God tells Ezekiel multiple times, “’they will know that I am the LORD,’” Ezekiel 7:4,9,27 (just some examples). In verse 22 God explicitly says how His enemies from before (the other nations around) will be allowed to take down His people. He is taking down His shield the He had protecting His people. The people assumed that because God had protected Jerusalem so much before and that God’s home of the Temple was in Jerusalem that He would protect that city no matter what. God tells all through Ezekiel that this is not accurate and to be ready for judgment!
nys time 