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EZEKIEL the LORD’S Judgment & Restoration Bible Study 2020/2021; Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00 P.M

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EZEKIEL the LORD’S Judgment & Restoration Bible Study 2020/2021; Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00 P.M EZEKIEL The LORD’s Judgment & Restoration Bible Study 2020/2021; Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00 p.m. by Zoom Class #19, February 9, 2021 The Prosecutor Ezekiel 14:12-15:8; 16:1-63; 20:1-44; 22:1-16; 23:1-49 Notes, observations, and questions on Ezekiel 14:12-15:8 The High Price of Treachery 1. We turn once again to the inevitability and totality of Yahweh’s judgment of Jerusalem. In this section, the basis and justice of God’s determination to judge his people is explained. The second part of this section—chapter 15—drives home the point of God’s judgment with a concrete illustration. 2. 14:12-23, a lecture on divine justice a. Vv 12-20 give the theoretical basis for Yahweh’s judgment, leading to the four strikes of Yahweh’s hand against the city. b. The overall setting is a quasi-legal framework: God is the Prosecutor, and Ezekiel relays the LORD’s charges. c. A country sins by betraying Yahweh (v 13). Specifically, Israel is in a covenant relationship with God—think: marriage—but has been unfaithful to him. d. Thus, Yahweh stretches out his hand against Jerusalem in four different scenarios, in each case involving a different agent of judgment: famine, wild beasts, sword, and plague. The work of God’s agents of judgment results in thorough destruction. e. Not even the presence of the most righteous persons in history will change the mind of God—Noah, Daniel, and Job. (1) Noah distinguished himself by walking with the Lord in a time of great and global sin. (2) Job was renowned for his piety and uprightness before God in the face of great suffering. (3) Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel’s, having been taken to Babylon as a hostage on Nebuchadnezzar’s first visit to Jerusalem in 604 BC. The exiles with Ezekiel would have been familiar with Daniel, a young man of extraordinary faith before the LORD. 3. 14:21-23, the application of divine judgment a. Jerusalem is now explicitly named as the subject of God’s wrath. b. In v 22a, we are surprised to learn that some survivors from Jerusalem would join the exiles in Babylon. But their escape from the devastation is not to be confused with deliverance. These are random survivors, not delivered by the righteousness of anyone. c. What then is the purpose of this notice of survivors? The answer is found in the impact of their survival in Babylon on Ezekiel’s audience. This “unspiritual remnant” will provide evidence of Yahweh’s justice in destroying the nation. They will show no repentance but will demonstrate only their unfaithful behavior. Though they have escaped, they have no place in Israel’s future. The future rests only with the exiles already in Babylon, not with these escapees. d. Now the exiles can be consoled, knowing justice has been served. God’s actions are not unloving or arbitrary. 4. Theological implications a. Within the LORD’s salvation, each person is responsible for his or her own welfare. However, there is hope and mercy for all who are righteous by God’s standards. b. The Lord is just in all his ways. When all the evidence is in, his people will know the Lord has acted righteously and according to his eternal, divine law of justice and righteousness. If people experience his wrath, it is because the wages of sin is death. 5. 15:1-8, a metaphor on divine judgment a. This now illustrates of the judgment awaiting Jerusalem, and it clarifies the fate of the survivors of that event. b. In this example, the vine is inherently worthless, fit only for fuel for the fire. c. vv 1-5, the word-picture of the vine (1) The wood of the vine is totally useless as raw material out of which to make objects needed around the house like containers or pegs. It is good only for fuel for the fire. The wood of the grapevine is useless for anything else. (2) Moreover, after it’s burned, how much less is its value. d. vv 6-8, the interpretation (1) Yahweh is the one who throws the wood into the fire, and the wood represents their own compatriots, the residents of Jerusalem. (2) God’s hostility against the city has reached its limits. The survivors must not treat their escape as a sign of his goodwill. The escapees will continue in their apostasy, and Yahweh’s wrath will continue to hound them. (3) The loss of the spiritual relationship between God and Israel will result in the desolation of the land. 6. Theological implications a. This oracle disputes Israel’s false claims to security based on their being the royal vine, the privileged people of God. Grace requires faith—and faith is trust and obedience in the Lord. b. The judgment visited upon those who do not match profession of faith with faithfulness is severe. We remember here the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ in John 15:1-17. Notes, observations, and questions on Ezekiel 16:1-63 The Adulterous Wife: Tramping Down the Grace of God Preliminary Thoughts 1. Chapter 16 is by far the longest section in the book. Its setting is again a quasi-courtroom venue—Yahweh is the plaintiff and Israel, the defendant. At issue is the marriage covenant between Yahweh and Israel, much like we find in Hosea 2:1-13. 2. The abominations of the nation will be made known. In spite of divine grace, from her earliest beginnings in Egypt, Israel has been characterized by uninterrupted immorality and faithlessness. She therefore deserves the fury of God’s wrath. 3. But God’s grace still breaks through with hope for the future (vv 44-63). God abounds in steadfast love, mercy, and faithfulness: just look at the cross. The hope is that by seeing God’s undeserved grace still being offered to them, the nation will repent and return in faithfulness to God. 4. We find in this section shocking imagery and rare vocabulary. The verb meaning “to commit harlotry, to practice illicit sex” occurs 21 times in the description of Jerusalem’s unrestrained nymphomaniacal relations with her lovers. The covenant of marriage is foundational to this chapter, as it is for the entire Bible. From the beginning in the Garden, salvation history is premised on the marriage covenant. 5. Even so, the raw, harsh, sexual language of this chapter still shocks us. Israel has become a “whore,” and Ezekiel pushes the boundaries of literary propriety in describing her whoredom and God’s response to it. His descriptions of illicit sexual relations between Israel and her “lovers” are some of the most graphic images in the Bible. Understandably, most translations tone down the literal meanings of the vocabulary. But Ezekiel’s use of graphic language was meant to shock his audience into attention. Still, we walk a thin line between appropriate shock and offensive lack of taste. Indeed, this chapter has provoked strong reactions over the years, and continues to do so. Let’s approach it with prayer. Chapter 16 Text and Commentary 1. vv 1-3a, the call for Jerusalem’s arraignment a. God tells Ezekiel to present God’s case against his people. He is “to inform” (make known to) Jerusalem of her abominations. b. The charges are wrapped up in a single word, “abominations.” It occurs 11 times in the chapter. Here it refers chiefly to Jerusalem’s spiritual harlotry with foreign nations. Overall in biblical usage, abominations are particularly egregious sins because they’re offensive to God and his character. He hates and loathes them. 2. vv 3b-34, the indictment of Jerusalem a. The indictment, which takes up half the chapter, is cast in the form of an allegory recounting the incredible rise of an abandoned child to the status of queen, followed by a detailed description of the woman’s response to her remarkable fortune. This child has no qualities to commend her; her rise to royalty can be attributed only to the prince who rescues her and lavishes his love on her in spite of herself. b. First (v 3b), Jerusalem’s origin is traced back to the land of the Canaanites. This challenges the popular notions of her sacred origins. The Canaanites are enemies of God. Second, Jerusalem has the wrong parents: she’s a child of an Amorite father and a Hittite mother. The Canaanites, Amorites, and Hittites represent human depravity at its worst. So contrary to tradition, Jerusalem’s spiritual roots derive not from the pious Abraham and Sarah but from the pagan peoples whom the Israelites had been charged to drive out (see Dt 7:1-5). Third (v 4), Jerusalem’s beginnings involved the most hopeless circumstances. None of the usual procedures for caring for a newborn were carried out for Israel. Instead, Jerusalem’s parents flung her out in the field to die. She had no hope for survival. Her parents rejected her. c. Now the focus shifts to God who is portrayed as a traveler who passes by the spot where the newborn has been abandoned to face certain death. First, the LORD (v 6) saves the baby’s life and adopts her as his own daughter. “Wallowing in your blood” refers to the blood that her mother discharged at the time of her birth. Abandoned in the open field, under the hot sun, the baby would have died within hours. But God pronounces the sentence of life, not death, upon the child.
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