Ezekiel Notes

Ezekiel Chapters 4-24,  God warns people   -prophetic messages   -symbolic acts   Initial warnings Chapters 4-7, Ezekiel dramatizes the coming siege and destruction of Jerusalem   -chapter 4  dramatizes the siege   -chapter 5 dramatizes the dispersion   -chapter 6-7 says that human effort will not prevent the destruction      DATES: June   597    Jehoiachin taken captive in the second captivity July 5    593  Ezekiel 1:1 September 17  592  Ezekiel 8:1 August 14  591  Ezekiel 20:1 January 15   588  Ezekiel 24:1 January 15  588  Beginning of the second siege (2 Kings 25:1) Ezekiel 26:1- 32:17    seven more messages July 18  586  Fall of Jerusalem January 8  585  Ezekiel 33:21 April 28   573  Ezekiel 40:1, the Millennial vision       Chapters 4-11 ·          Ezekiel demonstrated the fact of the siege with the tablet and model city, the rationed food, laying on his side and shaving his hair. ·          He explained the reason for the siege. ·          He has now been given an other vision showing why judgment was necessary.   Chapter 12 ·          The people can not understand.  Their theology and understanding of God is so confused they can not make sense or believe Ezekiel’s words. ·          Ezekiel gives two more dramas to demonstrate.  God says “They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.” (12:1)  ·          The first drama is to dig through the wall of his house like an exile. (12:4) ·          The second drama is to eat food and shudder with fear (12:17) Ezekiel follows the two dramas with five messages: ·          12:21-25– Message One– False Doctrinal statement “The days go by and every vision comes to nothing.” ·          12:26-28– Message Two– False Doctrinal statement “The vision he sees is for many years from now.” ·          13—Message Three– Foolish prophets condemned ·          14:1-11—Message Four—Idolatrous Elders condemned ·          14:12-23—Message Five—No one can save or intercede for Israel now   Ezekiel 15-17 ·          Three proverbs ·          The useless vine ·          The adulterous wife ·          The great eagle       A new series of messages that follow the second vision   12:1  A new series of messages.   No date is given so this is not a new vision, but are the messages that accompany   Ezekiel sharing the meaning of his vision.   Chapters 12– 19 are messages coming from the vision of chapters 8-11   12:2  The captive Israelites who Ezekiel spoke to were the remnant but still a rebellious   remnant.  They did not understand Ezekiel’s teachings.  They believed in a quick   return and the preservation of Jerusalem.  Chapters 12-19 indicate these were the   false prophecies, misunderstandings or false hopes that they held to:    a)  They did not think judgment would come in their lives (chapter 12)   b)  Ezekiel had prophets competing with him.  These prophets gave the people false   hope and false promises. (chapter 13)   c)  The leaders where the ones to be judged no the people (chapter 14)   d)  A truly righteous man or leader would emerge and pray for and lead the people.   (chapter 14)   e)  Israel was the chosen people (chapter 15,16)   f)  Ezekiel was thought to be saying that God judged descendents for their fore-  father’s sin.  This would be an unfair judgment and so an untrue prophecy.  (chapter 17)   g)  If the forefather’s had sinned then judgment was coming and nothing could stop   it since the sin was already committed (chapter 18)   h)  Judah’s current king Zedekiah could be trusted and would succeed in driving  Babylon out of Israel.  (chapter 19)   Ezekiel would respond to each of these false prophecies, misunderstandings or false hopes.   Ezekiel Follows Each Vision with Prophecy and Instruction Ezekiel had a vision in chapters 1-3 and chapters 8-11. These visions were then followed by prophecy and instruction to make the purpose of the vision personally understandable and applicable for the people.   The vision of chapters 1-3 was followed by instructions in chapters 4-7 The vision of chapters 8-11 was followed by instructions in chapters 12-19   Focus of the vision (8-11) and instruction (12-19) is the coming judgment due to corrupt leadership.       12:3-16  ·          Ezekiel’s acting, models and demonstration had drawn attention but most people still did not understand. ·          So here he does another drama by acting out the deportation. ·          Everyone who saw it had themselves been deported and would have recognized the act. ·          The point—More exiles are coming.   12:5 ·          The Hebrew word translated “wall” means a “house wall” and not a “city wall.”   12:9 ·          “What are you doing” ·          Answer:  It is an oracle of God and concerns Zedekiah and his people in Jerusalem. ·          “I am a sign to you.” means these actions were a sign that when fulfilled the people would know that Ezekiel was telling them  God’s word and plan.   12:12 ·          The true king of Judah was King Jehoiachin (a captive in Babylon), his uncle Zedekiah was merely a prince acting as king.   12:12-13 ·          Ezekiel prophecies Zedekiah’s capture ·          The actual event is recorded in 2 Kings 25:4-6; Jeremiah 39:4,5; Jeremiah 52:7-8   12:15 ·          The purpose of the Exile to Babylon   1)  You will know the Lord when his word is seen   2)  The nations will know that the Lord was not too weak to protect his people but his   people were too wicked for him not to judge them.  The nations would naturally  think Israel’s God and religion were weak.  Israel was to go into the nations to   testify that they were wicked and that their God was holy and true.   Demonstrating Fear 12:17-20 ·          Because of the violence of all who live there in this generation.   Clarification of the Time of Judgment 12:21-28 ·          Apathy had hardened their understanding ·          “Secular Humanism” had calloused their spiritual sensitivity ·          Their conclusion of Ezekiel’s obvious message was to place it in the category with Isaiah, Micah and etc.  The category of unfulfilled prophecies.  ·          2 Peter 3:1-10  1 Thes. 5:1-11 12:27 ·          “The distant future”       Ezekiel 13:1-23   Judgment of Prophets   Israel’s hope of a soon return and distant judgment came from “foolish” prophets.   13:3,4—Foolish prophets told to “Hear the word of the Lord” and not “Follow their own spirit.”   “Foolish” is Hebrew “nabal” and means more than “stupid”.    It includes spiritual and moral insensitivity contrary to the nature of a wise man.   A fool is blasphemous in Psalms 74:18   A fool is arrogant in 1 Samuel 25:25   A fool is atheistic in Psalm 14:1   Here a fool relies on their own heart, and not on God’s revelation (13:3)   See Jeremiah 23:16-17   The foolish prophet mistakes his own heart for the word of God. They had visions but they were psychological not from the Spirit of God   13:4– Jackals among ruins   Prophets are the jackals.  Ruins are the people/society.   Jackals hunt through ruins to find a den for themselves.   The prophets are among the people/society only to secure a den for themselves.   The prophets failed to help or prepare the people/society for the future.   The prophets abused their gifts and office which dulled the people’s ears   to hear Ezekiel’s and other’s true message.   13:5  “breaks in the wall”  were the violation of the law of Moses.   They should have identified the breaks in the law and then corrected and repaired them.   Psalms 106:23   Ezekiel 22:30   Isaiah 58:12-repairers of the breach   13:8-16   The flimsy wall is a partition wall (interior, non-supporting) used in place of an   exterior supporting wall.   The flimsy wall might have been an alliance with Egypt or a prophecy of peace and   prosperity that led people to build houses and settle in for a time of false security.   The whitewash (or, plaster)  was used to cover up structure.   The whitewash, like sheetrock, covers up the studs, headers, beams, etc. if they are   there.   Their wall was flimsy.  Their wall was “false hope.”       The white wash is the prophecies and teaching that encouraged people to trust it.   Those who did the work are the foolish prophets.     The False Prophetess 13:17-23 ·          They prophesied out of their own imaginations and not by the Spirit or Word of God. ·          They had created a system of fears and a series of false security to sell to the people. ·          They wore pieces of cloth on their wrist and magic charms on these clothes that held power ·          They wore long veils that came down and mysteriously covered their bodies ·          The false fears and false hope they gave people led innocent, but gullible people to death. ·          Also, their incantations may have devoured people from the earth and allowed many wicked people  to prosper. ·          They destroyed people’s lives for the sake of gaining food and natural provisions. ·          It is common in all levels of religion for the spiritual world to become nothing more than a means to prosper in the temporary physical world.   13:22 ·          An interesting verse   “you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief”        It appears they were telling people God was against them when God was not.             This false theology disheartened people who were actually righteous. ·          This same false theology failed to condemn the wicked who where living in sin, but where encouraged to continue in their way of life by these foolish women.         Ezekiel 14 14:1 ·          The elders among the captives in Babylon were coming to see Ezekiel.   14:3 ·          God has a message for these elders. ·          God says they have “idols in their hears” and “put wicked stumbling blocks before their  faces.”   14:4 ·          God says that if an Israelite inquires of the Lord in this condition (“idols” and “blocks”) then “the Lord will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry.” ·          This means God will not answer the Israelite’s question but will tell him what he needs to hear.  He will not tell him what he wants, but what he needs.   14:6 ·          God tells them, “Repent!”   14:7 ·          God will set his face against the man who comes to God for direction He will set his face against him   14:9 ·          The Lord will “entice” the prophet who wants to give a pleasing answer and not the truth to the man enquiring of the Lord. ·          “Entice” is the Hebrew word “pathah”.  The root means “to open”, “to be roomy”, “to be simple”, “to delude”.   It means “allure, deceive, flatter, persuade.” ·          The New International Dictionary of OT says, “Scriptures speak of the Lord deceitfully inspiring false prophets” concerning this verse and 1 Kings 22:21-23   14:12 ·          Beginning of the 5th message. 14:13 ·          Cut of food, Send famine, kill men, kill animals. . . Economic Disaster ·          Noah, Daniel and Job could not save the land 14:15 ·          Wild beast killing children. . . Uncontrolled Crime and Lawlessness ·          Noah, Daniel and Job could not save the land 14:17 ·          The sword passes through the land. . . War within your borders 14:19 ·          Plague through bloodshed upon the land . . .National collapse and take over 14:21 ·          The four dreadful judgments are the same as Rev. 6:8 and Leviticus 26:14 14:23 ·          Ezekiel is told that when he sees the behavior of the coming captives he will understand.