Ezekiel 5:1-17;\u00a0 6:1-14<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chapter 5<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3000\u3000The symbolic actions about the destruction of Jerusalem contines from Chapter 4.\u00a0 Ezekiel is the only prophetic book that is completely autobiographical, written in first person from the vantage point of the prophet himself and it also contains a larger number of symbolic actions than any other prophetic book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3000\u3000A chapter 5 highlight of this is in verses 1-4, the shaving of the hair and beard.\u00a0 Cutting of parts of the beard for Israelite men was prohibited and could represent great personal shame or be a sign of mourning.\u00a0 Verses 5-10 interprets\u00a0the symbolism.\u00a0 The hairs burned in the fire represent those who will die of plague or disease during the siege; the hairs struck with the sword represent those who will die in battle and the aftermath of the siege; the hairs dispersed by the wind represent those who will be carried into exile.\u00a0 It is striking that Ezekiel does not elaborate on the significance of the few hairs retained in the folds of his garment; they symbolize the survivors who will remain in Jerusalem (Jer 40:7-12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chapter 6 Judgement Against Idolatry<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3000\u3000Though Ezekiel addresses ‘hills and mountains’ as his metaphorical audience, the real audience was the exiles themselves.\u00a0 He is speaking of the ‘high places’ the Canaanites worshiped and sadly, the Israelites worshiped the pagan gods of the Canaanites (and other false gods) on these shrines as well.\u00a0 Ezekiel promises the shrines will be desecrated by the dead bodies of the Israelites.\u00a0 ‘And you shall know that I am the Lord’ in verse 7 is the revelation that the Lord Himself is the ruler of history by announcing events beforehand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3000\u3000In verse 8 Ezekiel introduces the remnant that embodies the future hopes of the people, and they inherit the promise of God afresh.\u00a0 The Exile was to be a period of purging and refining so that a pure people could emerge from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3000\u3000Summation:\u00a0 The Israelites pursued their own ‘culture’ and the culture of those around them instead of living in HIS culture.\u00a0 The result was death and exile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3000\u3000The same applies today:\u00a0 When we pursue our culture instead of living in\u00a0 HIS culture – we build and live in our idol ‘houses’ and ‘kingdoms’ \u00a0– not living FROM the house He built for us in His kingdom.\u00a0 What we think is ‘freedom’ is really slavery, death and exile – not the true Freedom God has for us.\u00a0 Jesus is Rock and as believers, all should be built on that rock.\u00a0 Believers pursue Him and follow His ways.\u00a0 This requires discipline but brings a purging and refining that allows Christians to know the hope only Jesus brings.\u3000\u3000\u3000— Mary Mauderer<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ezekiel 5:1-17;\u00a0 6:1-14 Chapter 5 \u3000\u3000The symbolic action […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion-2019_2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4035,"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251\/revisions\/4035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glorycbc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}