Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Reading for March 8th

Read Ezekiel 17.11-21
The allegory is explained in detail.
God identifies with the Babylonian king by referring to Zedekiah's revolt against Babylon as the treason that he has committed against me.
Comments or Questions...

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Reading for March 7th

Read Ezekiel 17.1-24 The allegory of the eagles, the vine, and the cedar.
The allegory describes Jehoiachin's exile to Babylon, the installation of Zedikiah as king, and Zedikiah's demise when he revolted against Babylon.
In verses 1-2 God instructs Ezekiel to speak a riddle and an allegory.
In verses 3-10 the allegory proceeds in three stages.
 the first describes an eagle, later identified as Nebuchadnezzar, who breaks off the top shoot of the cedar and carries it to a land of trade and a city of merchants.
Lebanon was known for "the cedars of Lebanon" (Ps 104.16), but the Davidic palace in Jerusalem since it was built with cedar, is called the "House of the Forest of Lebanon" (1 Kings 7.2; Isa 22.9).
The topmost shoot therefore symbolizes the Davidic monarch Jehoiachin (Isa 11.1); and the land of trade is Babylon (16.29).
The seed that becomes a vine is Zedekiah.
The great eagle is the Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus 11, to whom Zedikiah turned for support in his revolt against Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 27).
The rhetorical questions portray the destruction of the vine.
Comments or Questions...

Monday, February 26, 2018

Reading for March 6th

Read Ezekiel 16.59-63
The everlasting covenant with Jerusalem alludes to God's eternal protection for Jerusalem and the house of David (2 Sam 7; Isa 55.3) which may be compared to Jeremiah's new covenant
(Jer 31.31-34).
God remembers the covenant; only Judah is charged with breaking (literally, "transgressing") it.
Jerusalem, not God, is charged with violating the "eternal covenant,"
according to which Jerusalem is destroyed.
Samaria and Sodom were sisters, but they will become Jerusalem's daughters,
indicating Jerusalem's premier status.
I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD restates the covenant formula (compare Hos 2.20).
Comments or Questions...

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Reading for March 5th

Read Ezekiel 16.53-58
God intends to restore the fortunes of both Sodom and Samaria and their daughters,
a reference to cities allied with each.
In addition, God will restore Jerusalem.
God intends to punish or cleanse Israel from sins much like sacrifice at the altar.
Jerusalem has become a mockery to Aram (some manuscripts read "Edom")
and Philistia, Judah's surviving neighbors.
Comments or Questions...

Friday, February 23, 2018

Reading for March 4th

Read Ezekiel 16.44-52
In charging that Jerusalem is like her mother who loathed her husband and her children,
God points to the sexual abominations of the nations who possessed the land before Israel
(Lev 18.24-30; 20.23; Gen 15.16).
God compares Jerusalem to Samaria, the elder sister to the north, and Sodom,
the younger sister to the south.
According to biblical tradition (2 Kings 17; Gen 18-19), both cities were destroyed for their sins,
but God states that Jerusalem's sins are even worse.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for March 3rd

Read Ezekiel 16.35-43
God states that all of Jerusalem's lovers, the nations with whom she was allied,
will come to punish her.
Comments or Questions...

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Reading for March 2nd

Read Ezekiel 16.15-34
God's charge that Jerusalem used the gifts to become a whore is a way to describe religious unfaithfulness.
The metaphor then shifts to political alliances with foreign nations.
Israel allied itself with Egypt during the reigns of Solomon (1 Kings 3.1) and later Hoshea
(2 Kings 17.4).
Following Israel's destruction in 722/1 BCE, Assyria granted Philistia control of Israelite and Judean territory in the coastal plain.
Israel made an alliance with Assyria during the reign of Menahem (2 Kings 15.17-22), and Judah turned to Assyria during the reign of Ahaz (2 Kings 20; Isa 39).
In verses 30-34 Ezekiel charges that Jerusalem pays her lovers.
Ahaz's "bribe" to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 16.8) would be a case in point.
When Nebuchadnezzar fist conquered Jerusalem, he stripped the Temple of its wealth
(2 Kings 24.10-17).
Comments or Questions....

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Reading for March 1st

Read Ezekiel 16.6-14
God commands the abandoned infant to live but does nothing to care for her.
She grows up like a plant but remains naked.
I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness indicates God's
intent to marry the young woman (Ruth 3.9).
Only after taking Jerusalem in marriage does God wash the blood from her and clothe her.
The description of fine clothing, jewelry, and food (see Isa 3.18-23) demonstrates God's
generosity to the unwanted Jerusalem.
Comments or Questions...

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Reading for February 28th

Read Ezekiel 16.1-63 The allegory of Jerusalem as God's adulterous wife.
Compare Hosea's marriage to Gomer, whom he charged with harlotry to symbolize Israel's unfaithfulness to God (Hos 1-3; compare Jer 2-3).
In verses 1-5 Ezekiel portrays Jerusalem as an unwanted baby who, like many female babies in
pre-industrial cultures, is cast off to die as an economic liability.
Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite: Ezekiel believes that a mixture of Amorite
or Syrian peoples and Hittites or Anatolian peoples populated Canaan before Israel emerged.
Jerusalem was in Canaanite (Jebusite) hands prior to David's conquest.
The Jebusite population was never destroyed.
Comments or Questions...

Monday, February 19, 2018

Reading for February 27th

Read 15.1-8 The allegory of the useless vine.
Ezekiel uses rhetorical questions to compare the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the wood of a vine, which is entirely useless except for burning (see Judg 9.7-21).
In verse 2 the wood of the vine does not surpass any other wood.
In verse 3 it cannot be used to make anything, since vine branches are twisted and weak.
In verses 4-5 even when burned, the charred ends are useless.
In verses 6-8 like useless vine branches, Jerusalem will be burned.
Comments or Questions...

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Reading for February 26th

Read Ezekiel 14.12-23 Concerning individual righteousness.
After stating that God deceives false prophets and leads them to destruction, Ezekiel claims that people are responsible for their own moral action and safety from punishment.
In verses 12-20 Noah, Daniel, and Job were exemplary righteous persons who had the capacity to save others.
Noah saved his family during the flood (Gen 6-9), and Job saved his three friends who spoke wrongly about God (Job 42.7-9).
Daniel and his friends saved only themselves by their righteousness (Dan 1; 3; 6), but in the Canaanite legend of Aqhat, the righteous Dan-El saves his son Aqhat from death.
Dan-El in Ezekiel is spelled according to the Canaanite pattern (see note a).
In verses 21-23 the same punishments are applied to Jerusalem.
Comments or Questions...

Friday, February 16, 2018

Reading for February 25th

Read Ezekiel 14.1-11
Ezekiel must contend with competition from other prophets.
God states that the elders have taken their idols into their hearts, apparently a reference to their consulting pagan diviners or a charge that other Judean prophets are false.
The coarse term for idols, literally "dung balls," demonstrates Ezekiel's disdain for such persons.
In response to those who consult idols or false  prophets, God states, "I, the LORD, will answer him myself," and claims to deliberately deceive the false prophets so that they will be destroyed
(1 Kings 22).
The covenant formula (see comment of 11.14-21) they shall be my people, and I will be their God conveys God's intention to convince the people to remain loyal.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 24th

Read Ezekiel 13.1-23
Ezekiel must condemn prophets who announce peace (compare Jer 27-28).
In verses 1-7 Ezekiel charges the prophets with false prophecy, claiming that the prophesy
out of their own imagination rather than speak the word of God.
He compares them to jackals who live in the ruins of others rather than do something useful.
In verses 8-16 God is against those prophets who announce "Peace" when there is no peace.
Much like Hananiah in Jer 27-28, prophets of peace would have relied upon the Davidic
tradition of God's promise of security for the monarchy and Jerusalem.
Ezekiel compares these prophecies to a wall that is white-washed and then destroyed by
rain, hail, and wind.
Walls made of sun-dried brick are frequently destroyed by heavy rain and wind.
In verses 17-23 Ezekiel then condemns the women who prophesy falsely and practice divination.
Mirian (Ex 15.20-21), Deborah (Judg 4-5), and Huldah (2 Kings 22) demonstrate that female prophets appeared in both Israel and Judah.
He points to the divinatory side of their activities in which they employ wristbands and veils (see Moses' veil in Ex 34.29-35), and he indicates that they are paid for their services in barley and bread.
Prophecy was a profession in the ancient world (1 Sam 9.7, but contrast Am &.10-17).
The false prophetesses and diviners apparently play a role in deciding capital cases in which a person's life is at stake.
God will tear the bands from their hands and let the lives of such people go free like birds.
Birds were frequently employed in divination in the ancient world (see Isa 8.19).
Comments or Questions...

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Reading for February 23rd

Oracles concerning prophets and prophecy
12.21-14.11 Ezekiel's oracles affirm the imminent fulfillment of God's visions and challenge those prophets and prophetesses who proclaim false messages of peace.

Read Ezekiel 12.21-28
In verses 21-25 Ezekiel responds to those who claim that his visions will not be fulfilled.
Proverb here refers to a common saying among the people.
Vision refers to both visual and auditory experience (see Isa 2.1).
In verses 26-27 Ezekiel responds to the charge that his visions will be fulfilled only in the
distant future by stating that they are about to be realized.
Comments or Questions...

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Reading for February 22nd

Read Ezekiel 12.1-20 Symbolic actions concerning the Exile.
In verses 1-7 the first represents the exile of the house of Israel.
God calls Israel a rebellious house, but adds who have eyes to see, but do not see, who have ears to hear, but do not hear, apparently in reference to Isa 6.9-10.
Ezekiel is to prepare his baggage, dig through the wall, and depart with his face covered so that all may see that the exile of Israel is taking place.
I have made you a sign for the house of Israel (compare Isa 7.14; 8.18).
In verses 8-16 Ezekiel's action provokes questions.
He relates the symbolic action to the exile of the Davidic king, which strikes at the foundation of Judean identity and the promise of God's protection of Jerusalem and the house of David
(2 Sam 7; Ps 89; 132).
Some understand prince as a reference to Zedekiah, who served as the Babylonian-appointed regent while Jehoiachin was in exile.
Ezekiel's scenario of the prince's escape and capture reflects Zedekiah's capture near Jericho and blinding at Riblah prior to imprisonment in Babylon (2 Kings 25.1-7; Jer 52.4-11).
In verses 17-20 eating meals in fear dramatizes the realities of exile.
Comments or Questions...


Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Reading for February 21st

Read Ezekiel 11.14-25
In verses 14-21 God claims to be a sanctuary to them for a little while: God's presence in the world, rather than the Temple's presence in Jerusalem, ensures their future.
God promises to gather the people from exile, to give them the land of Israel, and to purify the people from abominations in a manner characteristic of priestly purification.
The promise of one heart (some manuscripts read "a new heart") and a new spirit within them takes up a theme from Jeremiah (Jer 32.39; see also Ezek 18.31; 36.26) concerning a new covenant in which God's Torah is written upon their hearts (Jer 31.33-34; see also Ezek 16.59-63).
"They shall be my people, and I will be their God" is a formulation  that characterizes the covenant between God and Israel/Judah (14.11; 36.28; 37.23; Jer 7.23; 31.33; 32.38; Hos 2.23; Zech 8,8).
In verses 22-24 Ezekiel is returned to Chaldea (Babylonian) to report to the exiles.
Comments or Questions...

Monday, February 12, 2018

Reading for February 20th

Read Ezekiel 11.1-25
Ezekiel prophesies both judgment and restoration for the people.
In verses 1-4 the spirit or "wind" transports Ezekiel to the east gate of the Temple where he sees twenty-five officials, probably those worshiping the sun 8.16.
Their statement, "The time is not near to build houses," rejects Jeremiah's call to build and to plant
(Jer 1.10; 31.28).
The statement, "This city is the pot, and we are the meat," indicates their belief that Jerusalem is to be sacrificed (24.1-14).
In verse 5-13 God instructs Ezekiel to hold the twenty-five leaders responsible for the deaths of the people in Jerusalem.
In stating that the dead will become the meat, and the city the pot, Ezekiel turns their statement against them, but indicates that they will be excluded because the sacrifice of the city is meant to purify Jerusalem.
He alludes to their fear of foreign invaders and again turns their fears against them by stating that they will die at the borders of Israel (see 2 Kings 25.18-21; Jer 52.24-27).
The immediate death of Pelatiah son of Benaiah confirms Ezekiel's word
(compare Am 7.10-17; Jer 27-28).
Comments or Questions...

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Reading for February 19th

Read Ezekiel 10.1-22
God commands the man clothed in linen to take burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.
Much like the sin offerings presented in the Temple (Lev 4-5), the purpose of the sacrifice is to purify Jerusalem from its iniquity and impurity so that it can be reestablished at a later time (chs. 40-48).
God's presence is signified by the cloud (Ex 19.9; 1 Kings 8.10-11) and brightness of the glory of the LORD as it moves about the Temple complex.
Because of the sanctity of the throne chariot or ark, the man clothed in linen is unable to approach, and a cherub hands him the fire (2 Sam 6.6-11).
Ezekiel's detailed description of the cherubim and the wheels differs from ch. 1 in that one of their four faces is a cherub rather than an ox.
Many medieval commentators speculate that the face of the cherub might encompass the four individual faces.
The glory of the LORD above the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD is the main or processional entrance to the Temple (Ps 24.7-9; 118.19-20).
Comments or Questions...

Friday, February 9, 2018

Reading for February 18th

Read Ezekiel 9.1-11 The slaughter of Jerusalem.
Sacrificial slaughter at the altar of the Temple portrays the killing of the people of Jerusalem.
In verses 1-2 the six men come from the upper gate to the north with weapons in their hands to begin the slaughter.
The Babylonian army would have entered Judah from the north (see Jer 1.13-16).
The man clothed in linen wears the apparel of a priest who serves at the altar (Ex 28.39; Lex 6.10) and carries a writing case to record the sacrifices.
The bronze altar had been moved to the north by Ahaz to accommodate an Assyrian altar
(2 Kings 16.14).
In verses 3-11 the living beings are n ow named cherubim.
God commands that a mark (the ancient Hebrew letter "taw," translated "mark," looks like an X) be placed on the foreheads of those w ho sigh and groan over all the abominations,
to protect them from death.
A mark on the doorpost protects the Israelites from God's plague against the Egyptians (Ex 12.23).
All who lack the mark are to die, defiling the sanctuary.
Ezekiel attempts to intercede as Moses die (Ex 32.1-14; Num 14), but God states that the people believe that God lacks power.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 17th

Read Ezekiel 8.14-18
In verses 14-15 women weep for Tammuz, the Babylonian vegetation god who dies at the onset of the dry season and must be brought back to life to inaugurate the rains.
In verses 16-18 Ezekiel sees twenty-five men engaged in sun worship.
The sun god Shamash was the Babylonian god of law and justice.
Comments or Questions...

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Reading for February 16th

EZEKIEL'S VISION OF JERUSALEM'S DESTRUCTION
Chs. 8-11 Ezekiel portrays the destruction of Jerusalem as a priestly sacrifice
that cleanses the city from impurity.

Read Ezekiel 8.1-18 The impurity of the Temple.
In verses 1-4 the sixth year: 592 BCE.
Ezekiel returns to the imagery of his inaugural vision to describe a  human-like being.
The imagery of fire and brightness like gleaming amber describes a being that cannot be defines in earthly terms.
The entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north places the prophet at the entry of the most sacred areas of the Temple.
The glory of the God of Israel: the throne chariot of ch. 1 is present.
In verses 5-6 the image of jealousy: north of the altar was a pagan idol placed in the Temple precints.
In verses 7-13 mention of the seventy elders of the house of Israel and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan indicates that the highest leadership of the nation is involved in pagan worship inside the Temple.
Shaphan played a major role in Josiah's reform (2 Kings 22); his sons Ahikam, Elasah, and Gemariah, and grandson Micaiah supported Jeremiah (Jer 26; 29; 36).
The claim that the LORD has forsaken the land indicates the belief that God could not protect Jerusalem from Babylon.
Comments or Questions...

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Reading for February 15th

Read Ezekiel 7.10-27
The third oracle elaborates the imagery of the land's destruction in the "Day of the LORD."
In verses 10-11 the blossoming rod represents Aaron's rod, which designates Levi as the priestly tribe (Num 17), but Jeremiah, a priest descended from Eli (1 Sam 1-3), employs it as a sign of Judah's punishment (Jer 1.11-12).
The silver almond-shaped cap, recently discovered by archaeologists in Jerusalem, once adorned the rod of a priest.
the budding pride also translates as "insolence," indicating Ezekiel's view that the priestly rod is now employed for the punishment of Israel, just as Moses' rod punished Egypt (Ex 7-11).
In verses 12-13 normal life will end.
In verses 14-17 Ezekiel again takes up the imagery of sword, pestilence, and famine (chs. 5-6).
In verses 18-21 compare Isa 2.6-21, which anticipates that people will throw away their silver and gold idols on the "Day of the LORD."
In verse 22 God's intention to hide the divine face raises tremendous theological problems.
God's treasured place was the most holy place in the Temple.
In verses 23-27 the leaders are responsible for the punishment.
Comments or Questions...

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Reading for February 14th

Read Ezekiel 7.1-27 Ezekiel's prophecy of the end.
Ezekiel's three oracles draw upon the "Day of the LORD: traditions to announce the "end" of Israel (Am 5.18-20; 8.1-14; Isa 2.6-22; 13).
The "Day of the LORD" functioned originally as an announcement of God's defense of Israel, but various prophets reconfigured it as an announcement of God's punishment of Israel.
In verses 1-4 the first oracle announces the end of Israel.
End is drawn from Amos's prophecy against Bethel (Am 8.1-3), which includes the imagery of dead bodies scattered about the altar as in 6.1-7.
The four corners of the land indicates the complete destruction of the land and rehearses the four cardinal directions that underlie the symbolism of the four living creatures in ch. 1 (see Isa 11.12).
In verses 5-9 Ezekiel again employs the statement the end has come, but he shifts his language to that of the "Day of the LORD" traditions.
Comments or Questions...

Monday, February 5, 2018

Reading for February 13th

Read Ezekiel 6.11-14
Ezekiel returns to the imagery of sword, pestilence, and famine (5.1-17) to tie his oracles against Israel to the fate of Jerusalem.
Altars, on every high hill, on all the mountain tops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak: a common formulaic description of pagan worship (Deut 12.2; 1 Kings 14.23; Jer 2.20).
The wilderness designates the Negeb desert in southern Judah, and Riblah ("Diblah" in Hebrew; the Hebrew letters "resh" and "dalet" are similar and sometimes confused) is in Syria (2 Kings 23.33).
Comments or Questions...

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Reading for February 12th

Ezekiel's oracles against the land of Israel
Chs. 6-7 Ezekiel does not distinguish between Israel and Judah, but addresses the entire land and people of Israel arrayed around the Temple (Num 2; Ezek 48).
The most holy place serves as the sacred center of the Temple, the Jerusalem Temple as the sacred center of Israel, and Israel as sacred center of the world.

Read Ezekiel 6.1-14 Oracle against the mountains of Israel.
The mountains of Israel: the homeland of Israel in the hills of Samaria and Judah.
In verses 1-7 Ezekiel identifies the cause of punishment in the various altars and high places where the people worship, which compromise the sanctity of the land.
As a Zadokite priest, Ezekiel holds that legitimate worship of God must take place only in the Jerusalem Temple (Deut 12).
The scattering of dead corpses around the altars renders the land impure 
(Num 19; see also Lev 21.10-12).
The prophet employs the prophetic "proof saying," then you shall know that I am the LORD, throughout the book to identify God as the source of the prophet's words
(Ex 20.2; Lev 19.3-4; see also Ex 3.13-22; Deut 5.6).
In verses 8-10 Ezekiel relies on Isaiah's concept of a remnant of Israel (Isa 4.2-6; 10.20-23) to demonstrate God's power to destroy and punish.
Comments or Questions...


Saturday, February 3, 2018

Reading for February 11th

Read Ezekiel 5.5-17
God sums up the theology of punishment that Ezekiel's symbolic actions illustrate.
Charging that Israel acts like the nations (see 1 Sam 8.4-5) by defiling the Temple, God states that the people will suffer war and exile, and will perish by pestilence, famine, and sword.
God's threat to make Israel a desolation and an object of mocking among the nations and to unleash famine, wild animals, etc., against the people recalls threats made in Jer 24.9-10
(see also Deut 28.37; 1 Kings 9.7).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 10th

Read Ezekiel 5.1-4
The sword or barber's razor (Isa 7.20) symbolizes the weapons on the Babylonians.
One third of the hair is burned to represent those who die when the city is burned; one third is struck with the sword to symbolize those killed around the city; and one third is scattered to symbolize those who escape only to be pursued by the Babylonians.
Some of the hair is burned once again to symbolize the suffering of the people.
Comments or Questions...

Friday, February 2, 2018

Reading for February 9th

Read Ezekiel 4.9-17
Ezekiel uses a variety of grains to demonstrate that there is insufficient grain to make an entire loaf.
Twenty shekels: About ten ounces.
One-sixth of a him: About two-thirds of a quart.
In order to demonstrate the difficult conditions of the coming siege, God commands Ezekiel to bake bread using human dung as fuel.
When he protests that this is a breach of priestly purity, God allows him to use cow's dung.
In verses 16-17 see Isa 3.1.
Comments or Questions...

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Reading for February 8th

Read Ezekiel 4.1-8
Prophets perform symbolic actions to dramatize their statements and enable them to take effect
(Isa 20; Jer 13; 19).
Ezekiel builds a model of Jerusalem under siege.
The action draws upon the imagery of Jer 1.18.
The background of three hundred and ninety and forty is not entirely certain, and the Septuagint
(the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) contains entirely different figures.
If one counts backwards from the destruction of the Temple in 587 BCE, the total of 430 years points to the time of the establishment of the united monarchy of Israel under Saul in 1017 BCE.
Counting forward 390 years from that date takes one to 627 BCE, the twelfth year of Josiah's reign, the year in which his reforms begin (2 Chr 34.3; compare 2 Kings 22.3).
Josiah failed in his attempt to reunite Israel and Judah.
The remaining 40 years accounts for the time between the beginning of Josiah's reform and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Comments or Questions...