Search The Scriptures —Study 13 — Ezekiel 20: 1-44

Study 13 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 20:1-44

This section is a review of Israel’s history (verses 5:31), with a prophecy of what God will yet do (verses 32-44).  The review of history covers (a) the time in Egypt (verses 5-9); (b) in the wilderness (verses 10-17 and 18-26); and (c) in the land of Canaan (verses 27-31). With verses 1-3, cf. 14:1, 2.

1.     Analyze the repeated poetical pattern found in verses 5-9, 10-14, 15-17, 18-22. What restrained God from pouring out His wrath? What does this reveal of God’s character? How does it show what is the one and only guarantee of our salvation? Cf. 1 Sa. 12:22.

2.     To what tow conclusions does God say He will ultimately bring His people Israel (verse 42-44)? Has a like conviction been wrought in us?

Notes

1.     Verse 25 is a Hebrew way of saying, ‘I gave them good statutes but they had a bad effect; I thereby condemned those who were disobedient and I defiled those who performed human sacrifices.’ Cf. Rom. 5:20.

2.     Verse 37. ‘Pass under the rod’: the eastern shepherd makes his sheep pass one by one under his staff, held horizontally, to count and examine them.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 12 — Ezekiel 18 and 19

Study 12 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 18 and 19

The teaching of national retribution in chapter 16 and other passages seems to have raised doubts as to the justice of God’s dealings with individuals (18:2, 29). This is the subject of chapter 18. Chapter 19 is a lament.

1.     Two fundamental principles are stated in 18:4 in answer to the people’s complaint in 18:2. How would you express these in your own words? What verses in the New Testament can you think of which emphasize the same ideas?

2.     In the remainder of chapter 18 two questions are answered: (a) Is each man responsible to God for his own acts, and for these alone (see verses 5-20)?  (b) If a man turn from his past way of life, will that past affect God’s judgment upon him (see verses 21-29)? How does this teaching reveal not only God’s justice, but also His mercy? Why does it lead on immediately to the call to repentance of verses 30-32?

3.     Chapter 19 is a lament over three of the kings of Judah.  Try to identify these by comparing verses 3 and 4 with 2 Ki. 23:31-34; verses 5-9 with 2 Ki. 24:8-15; and verses 10-14 with 2 Ki. 25:4-11. What did they all have in common?

Notes

1.     18:6, 11, 15. ‘Eat upon the mountains’: i.e., join in idolatrous forms of worship. Cf. 6:1-4.

2.     19:14. The fire which brought destruction sprang from the ruler himself, i.e., Zedekiah.  See 17:19-21.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 11 — Ezekiel 17

Study 11 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 17

In 588 BC Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadrezzar who, nine years previously, had installed him as puppet-king of Judah, at the time when Jehoiachim had been taken captive to Babylon.  His rebellion encouraged false hopes among the exiles of a speedy end to their captivity, but Ezekiel silenced these with this parable about the eagle, the cedar and the vine.  The first eagle (verse 3) was Nebuchadrezzar, removing the Davidic King Jeha Johoiachin (the cedar twig, verse 4). Those who remained in Jerusalem under Zedekiah (the vine, verse 6) flourished for a time, but then turned towards the king of Egypt (the second eagle, verse 7), whose influence caused them to wither away.

1.     What sin is the prophet specifically rebuking here?  With verses 13-16, cf. 2 Ch. 36:13; and with verses 7 and 15, cf. Je. 37:5-8.

2.     How do verses 22-24 show that neither the ambitious designs nor the perfidies of men can frustrate the purposes of God? Notice the emphatic and repeated ‘I’. Cf. Pr. 19:21; Is. 46:8-13.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 10 — Ezekiel 16

Study 10 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 16

In this vivid allegory the prophet seeks to break down the pride of Jerusalem. She appears as the bride of the Lord God, who loved her from infancy, and did everything for her, but whose love she had required with persistent and shameful idolatry. The chapter falls into four sections (i) Jerusalem as a child and as a bride (verses 1-14); (ii) her sin (verses 15-34) (iii) her judgment (verses 35-52); (iv) her restoration (verses 53-63).

1.     What was God’s complaint against Jerusalem?  With verse 22 and 32, cf. Dt. 32:15-18. Notice also that God regards her sin as greater than that of Samaria and of Sodom. Verse 46-52 and cf. Mt. 11:23, 24.

2.     How may the teaching of this chapter be applied to one who has been truly converted, but has backslidden? What can we learn here for our warning of the peril and folly of the sin of unfaithfulness? Cf. Je. 2:13, 19; Jas. 4:4-10.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 9 — Ezekiel 14 and 15

Study 9 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 14 and 15

1.     14:1-11. (a) If men whose hearts are inwardly alienated from God come professing to seek guidance from Hi, will God answer them? What must they first do? If they do not so do, what will be their end? (b) If a prophet should fail to follow this rule, and attempt to give guidance, how will God deal with him?

2.     People might ask, ‘Will not the presence of righteous men among a sinful nation save it from destruction’? Cf., e.g., Gn. 18:23-26. How does God in reply show that in the present instance the righteous will be saved out of the destruction, but will not be able to save others? Cf. 9:4-6; Je. 15:1. If any should escape, what purpose will this accomplish (see 14:22, 23)?

Notes

1.     Noah, Daniel and Job are probably all three patriarchal characters. It is not likely that Ezekiel would be thinking of his contemporary in exile, Daniel the prophet. We know of a Daniel from the Ras Shamra tablets of 1400 BC, and this is a more likely identification.

2.     15:2. For another example of Israel as God’s vine, see Is. 5:1-7

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Search The Scriptures —Study 8 — Ezekiel 12 and 13

Study 8 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 12 and 13

1.     12:1-20 declares by two vivid symbolic actions on the part of the prophet the doom that was in store both for the people of Jerusalem (verses 3, 4, 18, 19) and for the king (verses 5, 6, 10-16). Having grasped the significance of the prophecy, turn to 2 Ki. 25:1-7 to see how exactly it was fulfilled.

2.     Note the two scoffing remarks in 12:22 and 27.  What do these signify? How are they paralleled in modern attitudes to the second coming of Christ? Cf. 2 Pet. 3:8-10.

3.     Chapter 13. Condemnation of false prophets. By what two vivid images are they described (see 4 and 10, 11), and what is the effect of their prophesying (verse 6, 10a, 22)? What phrase differentiating them from true prophets occurs twice in the chapter?

Note. 13:18-21. The magic armbands and veils were devices used by soothsayers and clairvoyants to deceive gullible victims. A useful section on the interpretation of this passage is to be found in NBD (article ‘Magic and Sorcery’, p.767).  The handfuls of barley and pieces of bread were probably used in forms of divination, forecasting life or death to inquirers.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 7 — Ezekiel 11

Study 7 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 11

1.     The political leaders in Jerusalem thought they were safe within the fortification of Jerusalem, as flesh in a pot is safe from the fire (verse 3). What does God say concerning them?  For the fulfillment of the prophecy, see 2 Ki. 25:18-21.

2.     The people of Jerusalem thought that they were the favoured of the Lord, and would be given possession of the land, while those in exile would be cut off (verse 15). But what was God’s purpose concerning those in exile (verses 16-20)?

3.     Trace the steps by which the glory of God withdrew from His temple. See 8:3, 4; 9:3; 10:4; 10:19; 11:1, 23. What hint is given in chapter 11 as to the possibility of the return of the glory and under what conditions? Cf. 43:1-4, 9.

Notes

1.     Verse 1. ‘Jaazaniah the son of Azur’: a different man from the Jaazaniah of 8:11.

2.     Verse 23b. ‘The mountain’: i.e., the Mount of Olives.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 6 — Ezekiel 9 and 10

Study 6  From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 9 and 10

Following the prophecy of judgment, which Ezekiel recorded in chapters 6, and 7, and the vision of chapter 8, which illustrated detail why such a judgement in the destruction of both the people (chapter 9) and the city (chapter 10) according to His word in 8:18.

1.     Chapter 9. What was God’s answer to the prophet’s cry of distress? Cf. Je. 14:19; 15:1. Who alone were spared, and why? How were they distinguished from others? Compare the distinguishing marks which similarly brought men salvation, described in Ex. 12:13; Rev. 7:1-3; 14:1.

2.     Chapter 10.  To what use were the burning coals put, and what did they symbolize? How does this differ from their function in Isaiah’s vision (Is. 6:6-7)?

Notes

1.     ‘The Cherubim’ of chapter 10 are the same as the ‘living creatures’ which featured in the vision of chapter 1.

2.     10:14. We would except to find the word ‘ox’ instead of ‘cherub’, and this should probably be understood.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 5 — Ezekiel 8

Study  5 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 8

Chapters 8-11 describe what Ezekiel was shown in a prophetic trance fourteen months after his first vision.  Cf. 8:1 and 1:1, 2.

1.     The prophet is carried ‘in visions of God’ (verse 3) to Jerusalem, and is there shown four forms of idolatry, practices in or at the gate of the Temple.  If you were asked what these practices were, how would you describe them? Observe also what classes of the community are seen engaging in them.

2.     The idol-worshipping elders said, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land’ (verse 12). In what sense were their words true (cf.verse 6), and in what sense false? How does this chapter show that all that was happening was under the eyes and under the judgment of God?

Notes

1.     Verse 3. ‘Image of jealousy’: i.e., which provoked God’s jealous anger. Cf. Dt. 32:21.

2.     Verse 14. ‘Women weeping for Tammuz’: i.e., talking part in the heathen festival of mourning the death of the vegetation god, Tammuz, later known in Greek mythology as Adonis.

3.     Verse 16. ‘Between the porch and the altar’: these men must therefore have been priest.  Cf. Joel 2:17.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 4 — Ezekiel 6 and 7

Study 4 From the Book of Ezekiel is: Ezekiel 6 and 7

1.     Chapter 6. Against what sin is the Lord’s anger particularly directed? In what forms is it found today?

2.     What refrain frequently recurs in these two chapters? What does it teach us about the purpose behind Ezekiel’s prophesying?

3.     Contrast the phrase ‘I will punish you according to your ways’ (7:9) with Ps. 103:10; and see Pr. 1:24, 29-31; 2 Cor. 6:1, 2. What warning for the careless and indifferent does this contrast suggest?

4.     What can be learnt from 7:14-27 about the right and wrong uses of money? In what ways can it become a stumbling-block to the follower of Christ?

Notes

1.     6:3. ‘Your high places’: the word originally meant a height or eminence. But as these were used as the sites of temples and shrines, the word came to mean ‘sanctuaries’, as here. Cf. Dt. 12:2, 3.

2.     7:20. ‘They prided themselves upon the beauty of their silver and their gold, and make out of them…idols’ (Moffat). Cf. Ho. 2:8.

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