Showing posts with label Ezekiel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ezekiel. Show all posts
Wheels within Wheels
Ezekiel's Chariot
“Wheels within wheels" contains all the elements of lightning, fire, a whirlwind, and great noise that typically attend the great revelations of G-d's Word. It is the rolling thunder of G-d's Voice. The "noise of many waters" represents the many human voices of the prophets through whom G-d revealed His Word.
Ezekiel
[1:4] And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
[5] Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
[10] As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Searching the entire Bible for all verses that refer to a man, a lion, a calf or ox, and an eagle yields exactly three verses: two from Ezekiel 5-6, 10 and one from Revelation 4-6
13] As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
[14] And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
[15] Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
[16] The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
Wheel this is displayed on the partial image of the Wheel, where the green inner circle represents the Wheel of Revelation. Yet there is more. The phrase G-d used to open Revelation 4, based on the Name of the Fourth Letter, also forms a KeyLink to the Book of Ezekiel. There are two and only two verses in all the KJV that contains the phrase "Behold, a door" - Revelation 4.1 (above) and this from a vision given to Ezekiel.
[17] When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
[18] As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
[19] And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
[20] Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
They were the cherubim. His reference to them as a single "living creature" signifies their profound unity. All four looked identical, and like the inseparable "wheel in the middle of a wheel" associated with each, they were intertwined as one for "their wings were joined one to another" (Ezek 1:9). The image of G-d enthroned above or between the cherubim originates in the design of the Mercy Seat that He revealed to Moses (Ex. 25:18).
[21] When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
[22] And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
[23] And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
[24] And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
[25] And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
[26] And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
Both Ezekiel and Revelation 4 describe the Throne of G-d as surrounded by a rainbow, and both use precious stones to describe the color. These are the only verses in all the Bible where G-d's Throne is described this way.
[27] And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
[28] As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
The appearance of the likeness of the glory of the L-RD) are numerically equivalent to the Name Y’Shua HaMashiach, which is Jesus Christ in Hebrew.
Ezek. 2:1] And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
Num. [7:89] And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.
[Ez. 2] And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
[3] And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
Consider the degree of integration going on here! Revelation 4, Ezekiel, the meaning of the Fourth Letter and even its numerical value are all deeply integrated! There is no end to G-d's Wisdom as revealed in His Holy Bible!
The differences between Ezekiel's vision and that of Revelation 4 are as important as their similarities. In Revelation, the Four Faces are separated and distributed amongst the Four Cherubim and the wheels are absent. These represent the Four Gospels in their traditional canonical order, and are listed by number as the first, second, third, and fourth. In contrast, Ezekiel reveals the Cherubim with Four Faces each. This signifies their composite unity – four aspects of one being. They simultaneously represent four aspects of the One L-rd Y’Shua HaMashiach, the Living Word, and four aspects of His Bible, the Written Word, that reveals Him to us. Each stands beside a huge wheel that has another wheel within it.
Ezekiel's Chariot
“Wheels within wheels" contains all the elements of lightning, fire, a whirlwind, and great noise that typically attend the great revelations of G-d's Word. It is the rolling thunder of G-d's Voice. The "noise of many waters" represents the many human voices of the prophets through whom G-d revealed His Word.
Ezekiel
[1:4] And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
[5] Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
[10] As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Searching the entire Bible for all verses that refer to a man, a lion, a calf or ox, and an eagle yields exactly three verses: two from Ezekiel 5-6, 10 and one from Revelation 4-6
13] As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
[14] And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
[15] Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
[16] The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
Wheel this is displayed on the partial image of the Wheel, where the green inner circle represents the Wheel of Revelation. Yet there is more. The phrase G-d used to open Revelation 4, based on the Name of the Fourth Letter, also forms a KeyLink to the Book of Ezekiel. There are two and only two verses in all the KJV that contains the phrase "Behold, a door" - Revelation 4.1 (above) and this from a vision given to Ezekiel.
[17] When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
[18] As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
[19] And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
[20] Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
They were the cherubim. His reference to them as a single "living creature" signifies their profound unity. All four looked identical, and like the inseparable "wheel in the middle of a wheel" associated with each, they were intertwined as one for "their wings were joined one to another" (Ezek 1:9). The image of G-d enthroned above or between the cherubim originates in the design of the Mercy Seat that He revealed to Moses (Ex. 25:18).
[21] When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
[22] And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
[23] And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
[24] And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
[25] And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
[26] And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
Both Ezekiel and Revelation 4 describe the Throne of G-d as surrounded by a rainbow, and both use precious stones to describe the color. These are the only verses in all the Bible where G-d's Throne is described this way.
[27] And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
[28] As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
The appearance of the likeness of the glory of the L-RD) are numerically equivalent to the Name Y’Shua HaMashiach, which is Jesus Christ in Hebrew.
Ezek. 2:1] And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
Num. [7:89] And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.
[Ez. 2] And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
[3] And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
Consider the degree of integration going on here! Revelation 4, Ezekiel, the meaning of the Fourth Letter and even its numerical value are all deeply integrated! There is no end to G-d's Wisdom as revealed in His Holy Bible!
The differences between Ezekiel's vision and that of Revelation 4 are as important as their similarities. In Revelation, the Four Faces are separated and distributed amongst the Four Cherubim and the wheels are absent. These represent the Four Gospels in their traditional canonical order, and are listed by number as the first, second, third, and fourth. In contrast, Ezekiel reveals the Cherubim with Four Faces each. This signifies their composite unity – four aspects of one being. They simultaneously represent four aspects of the One L-rd Y’Shua HaMashiach, the Living Word, and four aspects of His Bible, the Written Word, that reveals Him to us. Each stands beside a huge wheel that has another wheel within it.
Confrontation
Confrontation is being a Watchman, Prophet, Seer and a Dreamer.
Traditionally the prophet in Israel played a dual role. Prophets were charismatic figures who spoke words they believed were not theirs but the L-rd’s. They were also teachers whom G-d instructed and called to instruct others. That was the Torah (instruction, teaching) of the prophets (Isa. 8:16). In this respect, Ezekiel differs from his predecessors in the degree, but not in kind. The prophet as watchman (Ez. 3:16-21; 33) – that is, the one appointed to foresee and if possible to forestall judgment upon the people by warning them and bringing them to repentance – is only one variation on an old theme of the prophet as mediator.
The parabolic form easily yields to the figurative. Ezekiel’s prophetic acts are often flashy, overgenerous, even at times tasteless. We must be reminded that the prophets were not normal people. Ezekiel’s acts are often strange. So were some of Isaiah’s prophetic actions. The noble Isaiah 20:2-2 stripped himself of his loincloth and sandals and walked about naked as a sign of the L-rd’s coming judgment. Again it seems a matter of kind rather than of degree – a degree that may strain the distinction to the limit, but still a degree.
It is Yahweh who brings judgment, the same Yahweh who gives the prophet a vision of the salvation he is to proclaim. He is to confront the people, warn them, and exhort them. Those who heed his warning and act on his exhortations will be ready to live in the future that G-d’s power is bringing into existence. Those who fail to heed the prophet must bear the burden of their stubbornness.
[4:1] Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
[Tile – first, G-d instructs Ezekiel to take a mud brick, on of those clay tablets that were common in Babylon both for written documents and for building materials (Gen. 11:3). They are often two feet long and one foot broad.
The prophet is to depict on it a city, even Jerusalem that is under siege.
It was Jerusalem’s honour that while she kept her integrity G-d had graven her upon the palms of His hands (Isa. 49:16), and the names of the tribes were engrave in precious stones on the breast-plate of the high priest; but, now that the faithful city has become a harlot, a worthless brittle tile or brick is thought good enough to portray it upon. This the prophet must lay before him, that the eye may affect the heart.]
[2] And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
[3] Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
[Iron pan - is the plate presumably represents an iron wall between Ezekiel and the city that is all ready to be under siege. The prophet himself and his word will form part of the verdict of destruction that G-d has decreed. This represented the inflexible resolution of both sides.
Sign - the people were upbraided with their stupidity and dullness that they were not capable of being taught as men of sense are, by words, but must be taught as children are, by pictures, or as deaf men are, by signs.]
[4] Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
[This episode represents Ezekiel as playing in part the role of the scapegoat of Lev. 16:21-22. Symbolically G-d lays the guilt (the same word for punishment) upon Ezekiel while he rest on his left side for 390 days.
The left side - referring to the position of the ten tribes, the northern kingdom, as Judah, the southern, answers to "the right side". The Orientals facing the east in their mode had the north on their left and the south on their right (16:46). Also the right was more honorable than the left: so Judah as being the seat of the temple was more so than Israel.
He was ordered to lie upon his side before it, as it were to surround it, representing the Chaldean army lying before it to block it up, to keep the meat from going in and the mouths from going out.
Bear the iniquity -iniquity being regarded as a burden; so it means, "bear the punishment of their iniquity" (Numbers 14:34). A type of Him who was the great sin-bearer, not in mimic show as Ezekiel, but in reality (Isaiah 53:4, 6, 12).]
[5] For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
[Days stand for years, G-d's dealings in the past are a key to the future, for He moves on the same everlasting principles, the forms alone being short-lived.]
[6] And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
[After the 309 days, that he bears the guilt of the house of Judah while laying on his right side for 40 days. by the terms of Num. 14:34 G-d condemned the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, thus to bear their guilt as punishment for their disobedience.
Now we are not to think that the prophet lay constantly night and day upon his side, but every day, for so many days together, at a certain time of the day, when he received visits, and company came in, he was found lying 390 days on his left side and forty days on his right side, which all that saw might easily understand to mean the close besieging of that city, and people would be flocking in daily, some for curiosity and some for conscience, at the hour appointed, to see it and to take their different remarks upon it.]
[7] Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.[Arm . . . uncovered - to be ready for action, which the long Oriental garment usually covered it would prevent (Isaiah 52:10), the stretching out of his arm, as it were to deal blows about without mercy.
Thou shalt prophesy against it - This gesture of thine will be an unspoken prophecy against it. And there were those who not only understood it so, but were the more affected with it by its being so represented, for images to the eye commonly make deeper impressions upon the mind than words can, The power of imagination, if it be rightly used, and kept under the direction and correction of reason and faith, may be of good use to kindle and excite pious and devout affections, as it was here to Ezekiel and his attendants.]
[8] And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.[Bands - (3:25). His being found constantly on the same side, as if bands were laid upon him (as indeed they were by the divine command), so that he could not turn himself from one side to another till he had ended the days of the siege, did plainly represent the close and constant continuance of the besiegers about the city during that number of days, till they had gained their point.
Not turn from . . . side - to imply the impossibility of their being able to shake off the punishment.]
[9] Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
[390 days represent the time of the siege.
Two separate themes occur here. The first, which is partly in parallel with 12:17-20, has to do with the quality and scarcity of food that the inhabitants of Jerusalem must expect during a siege.
Wheat . . . barley - Instead of simple flour used for delicate cakes (Genesis 18:6), the Jews should have a coarse mixture of six different kinds of grain, such as the poorest alone would eat. The bread that G-d commands Ezekiel to bake is composed of six kinds of grains and legumes, all of which were common both to Babylon and Palestine. The meaning is that food will be hard to come by, and that one must make do with whatever comes to hand.
In the Babylonian Talmud an experiment had shown that a dog will not eat bread made in this fashion. Even food of this kind, whatever its quality or lack of it, will be severely rationed, as will be water.
Fitches - spelt.
One vessel - Mix the worst with the best to lengthen out the provision.
Three hundred and ninety - The forty days are omitted, since these latter typify the wilderness period when Israel stood separate from the Gentiles and their pollution, though partially chastened by stint of bread and water (verse 16).]
[10] And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.[eat bread by weight and with care," that is, have a stinted supply and be chastened with the milder discipline of the wilderness period.
Twenty shekels - that is, little more than ten ounces; a scant measure to sustain life (Jeremiah 52:6). But it applies not only to the siege, but to their whole subsequent state.
From time to time - At set hours this was weighed out.
The stint of the Lessen diet is fourteen ounces of meat and sixteen of drink. The prophet in Babylon had bread enough and to spare, and was by the river side, where there was plenty of water; and yet, that he might confirm his own prediction and be a sign to the children of Israel, G-d obliges him to live thus sparingly, and he submits to it. The body must be kept under and brought into subjection.]
[11] Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
[Twenty shekels of bread and the sixth part of a hin of water (about a pint and a half), or 6 ounces.]
[12] And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.[As barley cakes - Because they never had enough to make a loaf with, they eat them as barley cakes.
Dung - Not even the dung of man is worth anything! To use human dung so implies the cruelest necessity. This is a tacit reflection upon man, as intimating that he being polluted with sin his filthiness is more nauseous and horrible than that of any other creature.
The fire had to be fueled by human dung so that they would experience the same revulsion, which was signified by it, that in the extremity of the famine they should not only have nothing that was dainty, but nothing that was cleanly, about them; they must take up with what they could get. It was in violation of the law (Deut. 14:3; 23:12-14); it must therefore have been done only in vision.]
[13] And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
[Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, because they will live in lands where people do not observe the dietary laws (Dan. 1:5-16).
The eating of the polluted bread in the three hundred ninety days implies a forced residence "among the Gentiles" who were polluted with idolatry.]
[14] Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
[15] Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.[Cow’s dung - G-d then permits Ezekiel to bake his bread in the conventional way. The use of dried animal dung for this purpose was and still is in practice throughout the world, and not only in primitive societies.
Bread - Still the bread so baked is "defiled," to imply that, whatever partial abatement there might be for the prophet's sake, the main decree of G-d, as to the pollution is unalterable.]
[16] Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
[That those who remained in Jerusalem should be brought to extreme misery for want of necessary food. All supplies being cut off by the besiegers, the city would soon find the want of the country, for the king himself is served of the field; and thus the staff of bread would be broken.
Staff of bread is a local touch. The expression involves more than our metaphor of bread as the staff of life. The loaves of the day were, as they still are in many parts of the world, round. They also had holes in the center so that they could be stacked on a staff in the baker’s house. If that is what the expression implies, we have a much more graphic picture of the L-rd’s cutting off the people’s food supply by smashing the bread staffs of the city.
They should eat and drink with care, to make it go as far as might be, and with astonishment, when they saw it almost spent and knew not which way to look for a recruit. And the event shall be as bad as their fears; they cannot make it worse than it is, for they shall consume away for their iniquity; multitudes of them shall die of famine, a lingering death, worse than that by the sword (Lam. 4:9); they shall dies so as to feel themselves die. And it is sin that brings all this misery upon them: They shall consume away in their iniquity (so it may be read); they shall continue hardened and impenitent, and shall die in their sins, which is more miserable than to die on a dunghill.]
[17] That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
[May want - So because they served not G-d with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, He made them serve their enemies in the want of all things. To eat meat made up by Gentile hands otherwise than according to the law of the Jewish church, which they were always taught to call defiled, and which they would have as great an dislike to as a man would have to bread prepared with dung, that is kneaded and mounded with dung.
Astonied one with another - mutually regard one another with astonishment: the stupefied look of despairing want.]
[Job 33:12] Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
[In this - the difference between the charge which Elihu exhibited against Job and that which was preferred against him by his other friends; they would not own that he was just at all.
You are not just - His activities to convince him that he had spoken amiss in speaking thus, and that he ought to humble himself before G-d for it and by repentance to unsay it. You have laid charges against G-d's dealings, but you have not been able to justify those charges.
Many that are just yet, in some particular instances, do not speak and act like themselves; and as, on the one hand, we must not fail to tell even a good man wherein he mistakes and does amiss, nor flatter him in his errors and passions, for in that we are not kind, so on the other hand we must not draw men’s characters, nor pass a judgment on them, from one instance, or some few misplaced words, for in that we are not just.
G-d is greater than man - Two things Elihu proposes to Job’s consideration, to convince him that he had said amiss:
That G-d is infinitely above us, and therefore it is madness to contend with Him; for if he pleads against us with His great power we cannot stand before Him. Between G-d and man there is no proportion. There is enough in this one plain unquestionable truth, That G-d is greater than man, if duly improved, for ever to put to silence and to shame all our complaints of His providence and our exceptions against His dealings with us. He is not only more wise and powerful than we are, and therefore it is to no purpose to contend with Him who will be too hard for us, but more holy, just, and good, for these are the transcendent glories and excellencies of the divine nature; in these G-d is greater than man, and therefore it is absurd and unreasonable to find fault with Him, for He is certainly in the right.]
Should one avoid confutation if they are lead to call people into accountability?
After all it would ruffle people’s feathers and does not make the messenger very favorable.
Have you ever been in the middle of something and needed an 'iron pan' to block the noise so you can hear directly from G-d?
One must not speak in the flesh before getting into the Spirit to see how He wants it delivered.
Can we learn anything from the OT stories?
Is sin still sin?
Are we going to be held accountable one day for all the words, jesters and actions we do?
What does it say about tying a milestone around the neck?
Does G-d use all different ways to warn us or punish us as in the days of old?
Have you ever felt like the scapegoat?
A true friend will speak the truth, it may be tough love, but better than loving one into hell fire.
What have you learn from this lesson?
Traditionally the prophet in Israel played a dual role. Prophets were charismatic figures who spoke words they believed were not theirs but the L-rd’s. They were also teachers whom G-d instructed and called to instruct others. That was the Torah (instruction, teaching) of the prophets (Isa. 8:16). In this respect, Ezekiel differs from his predecessors in the degree, but not in kind. The prophet as watchman (Ez. 3:16-21; 33) – that is, the one appointed to foresee and if possible to forestall judgment upon the people by warning them and bringing them to repentance – is only one variation on an old theme of the prophet as mediator.
The parabolic form easily yields to the figurative. Ezekiel’s prophetic acts are often flashy, overgenerous, even at times tasteless. We must be reminded that the prophets were not normal people. Ezekiel’s acts are often strange. So were some of Isaiah’s prophetic actions. The noble Isaiah 20:2-2 stripped himself of his loincloth and sandals and walked about naked as a sign of the L-rd’s coming judgment. Again it seems a matter of kind rather than of degree – a degree that may strain the distinction to the limit, but still a degree.
It is Yahweh who brings judgment, the same Yahweh who gives the prophet a vision of the salvation he is to proclaim. He is to confront the people, warn them, and exhort them. Those who heed his warning and act on his exhortations will be ready to live in the future that G-d’s power is bringing into existence. Those who fail to heed the prophet must bear the burden of their stubbornness.
[4:1] Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
[Tile – first, G-d instructs Ezekiel to take a mud brick, on of those clay tablets that were common in Babylon both for written documents and for building materials (Gen. 11:3). They are often two feet long and one foot broad.
The prophet is to depict on it a city, even Jerusalem that is under siege.
It was Jerusalem’s honour that while she kept her integrity G-d had graven her upon the palms of His hands (Isa. 49:16), and the names of the tribes were engrave in precious stones on the breast-plate of the high priest; but, now that the faithful city has become a harlot, a worthless brittle tile or brick is thought good enough to portray it upon. This the prophet must lay before him, that the eye may affect the heart.]
[2] And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
[3] Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
[Iron pan - is the plate presumably represents an iron wall between Ezekiel and the city that is all ready to be under siege. The prophet himself and his word will form part of the verdict of destruction that G-d has decreed. This represented the inflexible resolution of both sides.
Sign - the people were upbraided with their stupidity and dullness that they were not capable of being taught as men of sense are, by words, but must be taught as children are, by pictures, or as deaf men are, by signs.]
[4] Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
[This episode represents Ezekiel as playing in part the role of the scapegoat of Lev. 16:21-22. Symbolically G-d lays the guilt (the same word for punishment) upon Ezekiel while he rest on his left side for 390 days.
The left side - referring to the position of the ten tribes, the northern kingdom, as Judah, the southern, answers to "the right side". The Orientals facing the east in their mode had the north on their left and the south on their right (16:46). Also the right was more honorable than the left: so Judah as being the seat of the temple was more so than Israel.
He was ordered to lie upon his side before it, as it were to surround it, representing the Chaldean army lying before it to block it up, to keep the meat from going in and the mouths from going out.
Bear the iniquity -iniquity being regarded as a burden; so it means, "bear the punishment of their iniquity" (Numbers 14:34). A type of Him who was the great sin-bearer, not in mimic show as Ezekiel, but in reality (Isaiah 53:4, 6, 12).]
[5] For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
[Days stand for years, G-d's dealings in the past are a key to the future, for He moves on the same everlasting principles, the forms alone being short-lived.]
[6] And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
[After the 309 days, that he bears the guilt of the house of Judah while laying on his right side for 40 days. by the terms of Num. 14:34 G-d condemned the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, thus to bear their guilt as punishment for their disobedience.
Now we are not to think that the prophet lay constantly night and day upon his side, but every day, for so many days together, at a certain time of the day, when he received visits, and company came in, he was found lying 390 days on his left side and forty days on his right side, which all that saw might easily understand to mean the close besieging of that city, and people would be flocking in daily, some for curiosity and some for conscience, at the hour appointed, to see it and to take their different remarks upon it.]
[7] Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.[Arm . . . uncovered - to be ready for action, which the long Oriental garment usually covered it would prevent (Isaiah 52:10), the stretching out of his arm, as it were to deal blows about without mercy.
Thou shalt prophesy against it - This gesture of thine will be an unspoken prophecy against it. And there were those who not only understood it so, but were the more affected with it by its being so represented, for images to the eye commonly make deeper impressions upon the mind than words can, The power of imagination, if it be rightly used, and kept under the direction and correction of reason and faith, may be of good use to kindle and excite pious and devout affections, as it was here to Ezekiel and his attendants.]
[8] And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.[Bands - (3:25). His being found constantly on the same side, as if bands were laid upon him (as indeed they were by the divine command), so that he could not turn himself from one side to another till he had ended the days of the siege, did plainly represent the close and constant continuance of the besiegers about the city during that number of days, till they had gained their point.
Not turn from . . . side - to imply the impossibility of their being able to shake off the punishment.]
[9] Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
[390 days represent the time of the siege.
Two separate themes occur here. The first, which is partly in parallel with 12:17-20, has to do with the quality and scarcity of food that the inhabitants of Jerusalem must expect during a siege.
Wheat . . . barley - Instead of simple flour used for delicate cakes (Genesis 18:6), the Jews should have a coarse mixture of six different kinds of grain, such as the poorest alone would eat. The bread that G-d commands Ezekiel to bake is composed of six kinds of grains and legumes, all of which were common both to Babylon and Palestine. The meaning is that food will be hard to come by, and that one must make do with whatever comes to hand.
In the Babylonian Talmud an experiment had shown that a dog will not eat bread made in this fashion. Even food of this kind, whatever its quality or lack of it, will be severely rationed, as will be water.
Fitches - spelt.
One vessel - Mix the worst with the best to lengthen out the provision.
Three hundred and ninety - The forty days are omitted, since these latter typify the wilderness period when Israel stood separate from the Gentiles and their pollution, though partially chastened by stint of bread and water (verse 16).]
[10] And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.[eat bread by weight and with care," that is, have a stinted supply and be chastened with the milder discipline of the wilderness period.
Twenty shekels - that is, little more than ten ounces; a scant measure to sustain life (Jeremiah 52:6). But it applies not only to the siege, but to their whole subsequent state.
From time to time - At set hours this was weighed out.
The stint of the Lessen diet is fourteen ounces of meat and sixteen of drink. The prophet in Babylon had bread enough and to spare, and was by the river side, where there was plenty of water; and yet, that he might confirm his own prediction and be a sign to the children of Israel, G-d obliges him to live thus sparingly, and he submits to it. The body must be kept under and brought into subjection.]
[11] Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
[Twenty shekels of bread and the sixth part of a hin of water (about a pint and a half), or 6 ounces.]
[12] And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.[As barley cakes - Because they never had enough to make a loaf with, they eat them as barley cakes.
Dung - Not even the dung of man is worth anything! To use human dung so implies the cruelest necessity. This is a tacit reflection upon man, as intimating that he being polluted with sin his filthiness is more nauseous and horrible than that of any other creature.
The fire had to be fueled by human dung so that they would experience the same revulsion, which was signified by it, that in the extremity of the famine they should not only have nothing that was dainty, but nothing that was cleanly, about them; they must take up with what they could get. It was in violation of the law (Deut. 14:3; 23:12-14); it must therefore have been done only in vision.]
[13] And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
[Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, because they will live in lands where people do not observe the dietary laws (Dan. 1:5-16).
The eating of the polluted bread in the three hundred ninety days implies a forced residence "among the Gentiles" who were polluted with idolatry.]
[14] Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
[15] Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.[Cow’s dung - G-d then permits Ezekiel to bake his bread in the conventional way. The use of dried animal dung for this purpose was and still is in practice throughout the world, and not only in primitive societies.
Bread - Still the bread so baked is "defiled," to imply that, whatever partial abatement there might be for the prophet's sake, the main decree of G-d, as to the pollution is unalterable.]
[16] Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
[That those who remained in Jerusalem should be brought to extreme misery for want of necessary food. All supplies being cut off by the besiegers, the city would soon find the want of the country, for the king himself is served of the field; and thus the staff of bread would be broken.
Staff of bread is a local touch. The expression involves more than our metaphor of bread as the staff of life. The loaves of the day were, as they still are in many parts of the world, round. They also had holes in the center so that they could be stacked on a staff in the baker’s house. If that is what the expression implies, we have a much more graphic picture of the L-rd’s cutting off the people’s food supply by smashing the bread staffs of the city.
They should eat and drink with care, to make it go as far as might be, and with astonishment, when they saw it almost spent and knew not which way to look for a recruit. And the event shall be as bad as their fears; they cannot make it worse than it is, for they shall consume away for their iniquity; multitudes of them shall die of famine, a lingering death, worse than that by the sword (Lam. 4:9); they shall dies so as to feel themselves die. And it is sin that brings all this misery upon them: They shall consume away in their iniquity (so it may be read); they shall continue hardened and impenitent, and shall die in their sins, which is more miserable than to die on a dunghill.]
[17] That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
[May want - So because they served not G-d with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, He made them serve their enemies in the want of all things. To eat meat made up by Gentile hands otherwise than according to the law of the Jewish church, which they were always taught to call defiled, and which they would have as great an dislike to as a man would have to bread prepared with dung, that is kneaded and mounded with dung.
Astonied one with another - mutually regard one another with astonishment: the stupefied look of despairing want.]
[Job 33:12] Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
[In this - the difference between the charge which Elihu exhibited against Job and that which was preferred against him by his other friends; they would not own that he was just at all.
You are not just - His activities to convince him that he had spoken amiss in speaking thus, and that he ought to humble himself before G-d for it and by repentance to unsay it. You have laid charges against G-d's dealings, but you have not been able to justify those charges.
Many that are just yet, in some particular instances, do not speak and act like themselves; and as, on the one hand, we must not fail to tell even a good man wherein he mistakes and does amiss, nor flatter him in his errors and passions, for in that we are not kind, so on the other hand we must not draw men’s characters, nor pass a judgment on them, from one instance, or some few misplaced words, for in that we are not just.
G-d is greater than man - Two things Elihu proposes to Job’s consideration, to convince him that he had said amiss:
That G-d is infinitely above us, and therefore it is madness to contend with Him; for if he pleads against us with His great power we cannot stand before Him. Between G-d and man there is no proportion. There is enough in this one plain unquestionable truth, That G-d is greater than man, if duly improved, for ever to put to silence and to shame all our complaints of His providence and our exceptions against His dealings with us. He is not only more wise and powerful than we are, and therefore it is to no purpose to contend with Him who will be too hard for us, but more holy, just, and good, for these are the transcendent glories and excellencies of the divine nature; in these G-d is greater than man, and therefore it is absurd and unreasonable to find fault with Him, for He is certainly in the right.]
Should one avoid confutation if they are lead to call people into accountability?
After all it would ruffle people’s feathers and does not make the messenger very favorable.
Have you ever been in the middle of something and needed an 'iron pan' to block the noise so you can hear directly from G-d?
One must not speak in the flesh before getting into the Spirit to see how He wants it delivered.
Can we learn anything from the OT stories?
Is sin still sin?
Are we going to be held accountable one day for all the words, jesters and actions we do?
What does it say about tying a milestone around the neck?
Does G-d use all different ways to warn us or punish us as in the days of old?
Have you ever felt like the scapegoat?
A true friend will speak the truth, it may be tough love, but better than loving one into hell fire.
What have you learn from this lesson?
Dry Bones
Ezek. 37:1 The hand of the L-rd was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the L-rd, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
[2] And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
[3] And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, O L-rd G-D, Thou knowest.
[4] Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them,
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the L-rd.
[5] Thus saith the L-rd G-D unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live:
[6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the L-RD.
[7] So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
"A prophecy in action is render more patently to believers, and the prophecy in the word.
Spiritually a believer may assume all the resemblance of spiritual life, yet have none,
and so be dead before Me.
Their bones are dried, their hope is lost, their national state is as hopeless of revival, as marrow less-bones are of rejoining, but I am the G-d of the impossible and can restore your hope.”
[8] And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
“Then I will cover you successively with sinews, skin, and flesh, that will give you beauty; but still you will have "no breath" of life in you.”
[9] Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the L-rd G-D; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
“For I am calling the dry bones to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth that were scattered by all the winds of doctrine, they are to get back to My Word and
when they come being only join together as unsightly skeletons.”
[10] So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
“The winds are My Spirit of life or breath of life; allow it to blow on you.
I speak resurrection to come forth!
For I, being the ever-living G-d, the G-d of not the dead, but living persons, that is, of those bodies of believers in My Word.
My love will bind you to rise again out of your graves - out of your politically dead state. And you will stand on your feet, joining an exceeding great army to be used mightily for My glory."
Thus saith the L-rd: O ye dry bones, hear the word of the L-rd!
[2] And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
[3] And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, O L-rd G-D, Thou knowest.
[4] Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them,
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the L-rd.
[5] Thus saith the L-rd G-D unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live:
[6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the L-RD.
[7] So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
"A prophecy in action is render more patently to believers, and the prophecy in the word.
Spiritually a believer may assume all the resemblance of spiritual life, yet have none,
and so be dead before Me.
Their bones are dried, their hope is lost, their national state is as hopeless of revival, as marrow less-bones are of rejoining, but I am the G-d of the impossible and can restore your hope.”
[8] And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
“Then I will cover you successively with sinews, skin, and flesh, that will give you beauty; but still you will have "no breath" of life in you.”
[9] Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the L-rd G-D; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
“For I am calling the dry bones to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth that were scattered by all the winds of doctrine, they are to get back to My Word and
when they come being only join together as unsightly skeletons.”
[10] So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
“The winds are My Spirit of life or breath of life; allow it to blow on you.
I speak resurrection to come forth!
For I, being the ever-living G-d, the G-d of not the dead, but living persons, that is, of those bodies of believers in My Word.
My love will bind you to rise again out of your graves - out of your politically dead state. And you will stand on your feet, joining an exceeding great army to be used mightily for My glory."
Thus saith the L-rd: O ye dry bones, hear the word of the L-rd!
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