Reading for February 8th

Read Ezekiel 36.36-49. They have defiled my sanctuary and profaned my sabbaths: See ch. 8. They even sent for men to come from far away is a reference to Judean attempts to find allies (compare Jer 27.3). The sister's punishment reflects that of an adulterous woman (Lev 20.10) or a person who profanes God (Lev 20.2-5). So that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness: Ezekiel is fequently accused of misogyny. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 7th

Read Ezekiel 23.22-35. Ezekiel declres that Oholibah's lovers, the Babylonians and their allies will conquer Jerusalem. Pekod (see Jer 50.21), Shoa, and Koa, are Aramean tribes allied with Babylon. Drinking from the sister's cup is a common motif in Judean prophecy (Isa 51.17, 22; Jer 25.15-29; 5 1.7; Hab 2.16). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 6th

Read Ezekiel 23.11-21. Ezekiel charges that Oholibah, Jerusalem, was even worse than her sister in pursing both the Assyrians and the Chaldeans or Babylonians (see Jer 3.6-10, 11). King Ahaz of Judah requested Assyrian assistance against Israel in the Syro-Ephraimitic War (2 Kings 16), and Hezekiah later made an alliance with Babylon against Assyria (2 Kings 20.11-19; Isa 39). The reference to relations with Egypt may recall Solomon's early alliance with Egypt (1 Kings3.1) and Jeholiakim's support from Pharaoh Neco prior to his turn to Babylon. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 5th

Read Ezekiel 23.1-10. In 23.1-49: Oholah and Oholibah. Presupposing the portrayal of Israel as God's wife (compare Hos 1-3; Jer 2-3), Ezekiel employs the metaphor of harlotry to describe Samaria and Jerusalem (see ch 16). Oholah, "her tent," refers to Samaria. The name Oholah alludes to the presence of God who dwells in a tent (according to the Exodus and Wilderness traditions; compare 2 Sam 7.6). Oholibah, "my tent is in her," refers to Jerusalem and the presence of the Temple. In verses 5-10: Oholah's or Samaria's relations with the officers of Assyria presuppose its earlier alliance with Assyria under the Jehu dynasty, specifically, Menahern (2 Kings 15.17-22), and Hoshea (2 Kings 17.1-6). Ezekiel portrays this alliance as harlotry and argues that it led to Israel's destruction. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 4th

Read Ezekiel 22.17-31. In verses 17-22: Just as prescious metals are smelted to remove dross, Israel will be purified in fire to remove its sins and impurities (Isa 1.21-26). In verses 23-31: The prophet names all classes of people in Jerusalem, including its princes, its priests, its officals, its prophets, and the people of the land. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 3rd

Read Ezekiel 22.1-16. In 22.1-31: oracles against Jerusalem. Compare Isa 1.2-31. In verses 2-16: Ezekiel's preoccupation with blood derives from his role as a priest, which requires the proper treatment of blood since it is sacred (lev 17). The crimes listed here derive especially from the Holiness Code in Lev 17-26: shedding Blood (Lev 19.26; Gen 9.1-7); contempt against parents (Lev 20.9; Ex 21.17); extortion of the aliens, orphans, and widows (Lev 19.33-34; Ex 22.21-22; Deut 14.29); holy things ... sabbaths (Lev 19.30); uncover father's nakedness (Lev 18.8; 20.11); relations with mentsrating women (Lev 18.19); incest (Lev 18; 20); bribery (Lev 19.15) interest on loans (Lev 25.36-37); extortion of a nieghbor (Lev 19.15-18, 35-36). Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 2nd

Read Ezekiel 21.18-32. In 21.18-32: The sword of Babylon. In 18-23: When Babylonian king reaches a fork in the road, he employs divination to decide which route to take. His alternatives are Jerusalem and Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. Ammon is one of Judah's allies in revolt against Babylon (Jer 27.3). Jerusalem is a former ally of Babylon (2 Kings 20.12-19, Isa 39), but Judah's revolt justifies the protracted siege. He shakes the arrows, he consults the terephim, he inspects the liver: common techniques of divination. Terephim are household or clan gods (Gen 31.19; Judg 17.5; 18.17, 20). In verses 24-27: The vile, wicked prince is Zedekiah. In verses 28-32: The sword will be weided against Ammon, but it will be destroyed in Babylon where it was created. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 1st

Read Ezekiel 21.8-17. In 21.8-17: Ezekiel's song of the sword. You have despised the rod: A rod might normally be used for disipline (Prov 10.13; 22.15), but now a deadly instrument is required. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 31st

Read Ezekiel 21.1-7. In 21.1-32: Oracles concerning God's sword. These oracles may have accompamied a symbolic action involving a sword (5.1-4; 14.21). In verses 1-7: Ezekiel speaks toward the Jerusalem sanctuary as the holy center of the nation. Comments or Question..

Reading for January 30th

Read Ezkiel 20.45-49. In 20.45-49: A prophecy against the Negeb. The Negeb is the desert region of southern Judah from which spies were sent into Canaan (Num 13.17, 22) prior to there be lion in the wilderness. South designates the location of the Edomites (25.13), who are condemned for assisting Babylon in Judah's destruction (25.12-14). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 29th

Read Ezekiel 20.33-44. God returns Israel to the wilderness to purge and restore the nation. In verse 33: I will be king over you: One of God's fundemental claims. In verse 35: Wilderness of the peoples associates Israel's exile among the nations with the wilderness traditions. In verse 37: Pass under the staff: be counted to determine the offering due to God (Lev 27.32). In verses 40-44: My holy mountain: The Jerusalem Temple. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 28th

Read Ezekiel 20.27-32. In 20.27-32: Apostasy in the land of Israel. In verse 32: Let us be like the nations: see Deut 17.14; 1 Sam 8.4-5 concerning the institution of kingship. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 27th

Read Ezekiel 20.18-26. Following Israel's rebellion at the report of the spies, God condemened the people to death in the wilderness (Num 14.26-38). The rebellion of the second generation refers to acts of apostasy following the incident of the spies (Meribah, Num 20; Baal or Peor; Num 25). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 26th

Read Ezekiel 20.1-17. In 20.1-44: Ezkiel's assessment of Israel's past and future. Ezekiel's overview of Israel's history in the wilderness provides a basis for projecting a future in which Israel will be returned to the wilderness and purged. In verses 1-2: The seventh year ... fifth moon ... tenth day: August 14, 591 BCE. In verses 3-4: God refuses to answer the elders and instead calls upon Ezekiel to judge them. In verses 5-32: God rehearses the history of Israel's rebellion during the Exodus and Wilderness periods (see Ps 106). In verses 5-6: I chose Israel: God uses royal language (see 2 Sam 6.21; 1 Kings 8.16) to prepare the reader for God's role as king (v. 33). I am the Lord your God ... I would bring them out of the land of Egypt: see Ex 20.2. In verse 7-8: Apostasy in Egypt: Ex 14.10-12; Josh 24.14; Ps 106.7. In verse 9: I acted for the sake of my name.: a key issue in Ezekiel (20.14, 22; 36.22; compare Ex 15.3; 32.12). In verses 10-26: Apostasy in the wilderness (Ex 32.12-17). In verses 11-12: The sabbath is the foundational sign of the covenant (Ex 20.8-11; 31.12-17). In verses 13-17:The rebellion of the first generation is the golden calf incident (Ex 32-34) and and reaction to the report of the spies (Num 13-14) in which Moses persuaded God not to destroy the entire people (Ex 33.12-33; Num 14.13-25). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 25th

Read Ezekiel 19.1-14. In 19.1-14: Two allegories concerning the demise of the Davidic monarchy. Ezekiel laments the demise of the Davidic monarchy with two allegories styled as dirges or songs of mourning. In verse 1: Raise up a lamentation for the princes of Israel: Hebrew poetry tyipcally had three stressed syllables in each line. The lament, however, used a three-stress line followed by a two-stressed line. The poems use the 2/3 stress pattern (called "qinah") of the funeral lament. Ezekiel refers to the kings as "princes," thereby expressing the kig's diminished status in relation to the priests (34.24; 45.7-8). In verses 2-9: The lion symbolizes the tribe of Judah and the royal house of David (gen 49.8-12). A lioness was your mother refers to Judah or all Israel. Note the identification of Israel as the bride of God in Hosea (Hos 1-3), Jeremiah (Jer 2-3), and Ezekiel (ch 16). The first cub who is brought ... with hooks to the land of Egypt is Jehoahaz, who was exiled to Egypt by Pharaoh Neco after Josiah's death (2 Kings 23.31-34; 2 Chr 36.1-4). The second cub who learned to catch prey and devoured people would be Jehoiakim, who Pharaoh Neco placed on the throne after exiling Jehoahaz. Jeremiah condemns Jehoiakim for his injustice (jer 21.11-22.19). And brought brought him to the king of Babylon, they brought into custody; Jehoiakin, who was exiled to Babylon following Jehoakim's failed revolt (2 Kings 24.18-17; 2 Chr 36.9-10). In verses 10-14: This poem employs the imagery of the vine (see ch 15; 17; compare Isa 5.1-7). It is impossible to dentifiy the poem's imagery with specific individuals or countries (see Isa 10.5-11.16; 1.29-31; 6.13). The east wind dried up: the "Sharab" or "Hamsin," a dry desert wind like the Santa Ana wids in southern California, is fequently employes as a symbol of God's power (Ex 14.21; 15.8-10; Isa 11.15). Now it is transplanted into the wilderness: Jeholachin's exile. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 24th

Read Ezekiel 18.10-32. Inverses 10-13: The son of a righteous person who sins is repsonsible and will die. In verses 14-18: The sone of a sinner who does right will be spared. In verses 19-20: Ezekiel's opponents contend that the son is guilty for the sins of the father, but Exekiel states that only the person who commints sins will be punished for them. In verses 21-24: A new principle enters the debate. Ezekiel contends that a wicked person who repents wiill be saved, but a righteous person who sins will be condemned. In verses 25-29: Ezekiel restates the preceding principle about repentance. In verses 30-32: A new heart and a new spirit (see 11.19; Jer 31.31-34; 32.36-41). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 23rd

Read Ezekiel .5-9. Ezekiel describes four cases. The first is a righteous man, whose actions are described in accordance with provisions from the Holiness Code (Lev 17-26): eat upon the mountains, eat meat with disposing of blood properly at the Temple (Lev 17; 19.26); lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, improper worship of God (see Ex 20.4-6; leve 19.4); defile his nieghbor's wife, adultery (Lev 20.10; see also 19.20-22); appraoch a woman during her menstral period (Lev 15.19-24); does not oppress anyone, economic oppression is unholy (Lev 19.13); restores to the debtor his pledge and covers the naked with a garment, a person's only cloak could be take as pledge for a loan, buut it had to be returned if the debtor need it (Ex 22.25-27); does not take advance or accued interest (Ex 22.25-37; lev 25.35-38); executes true justice between contending parties, in a court of law (Lev 19.15-19. The righteous person shall live. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 22nd

Read Ezekiel 18.1-4. In 18.1-12: Concerning the responsiblity of the individual. The prophet disputes the view that Israel's punishment is due to the sins of the past generations (see Ex 20.5). In verses 1-4: The opposing view is quoted as a proverb, "The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the chidlren's teeth are set on edge" (see Jer 31.29-30). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 21st

Read Ezekiel 17.22-24. God employs the allegory pf the cedar to promise the restoration of the Davidic monarchy (Isa 11.1-10; Jer 23.5-6; 33.15). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 20th

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..

Reading for January 19th

Read Ezekiel 17.1-10. In 17.1-24: The allegory of the eagles, the vines, and the cedar. The allegory describes Jehoiachin's exile to Babylon, the installation of Zedekiah as king and Zedekiah'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 caled the "Hose of the Forest of Lebanaon" (1 Kings 7.2; Isa 22.9). The top most shoot there fore symbolizes the Davidic monarch Jehoiachin (isa 11.1); and the land of of trade is Babylon (16.2). The seed that becomes a vine is Zedekiah. The great eeagle is the Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus II, to whom Zedekiah turned for support in his revolt against Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 27). The rehtorical questions portray the destruction of the vine. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 18th

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 maybe compared to Jeremiah's new covenant (Jer 31.31-34). God remembers the covenant only Judah is charged withnbreaking (literally, "trangressing") 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..

Reading for January 17th

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

Reading for January 16th

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 January 15th

Read Ezekiel 16.35-43. God states that all of Jerusalem's lovers, the nations with who she was allied, will come to punish her. Deuteronomy 22.22-24 requires that an adulteress be stoned to death Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 14th

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 costal plain. Isreal made an alliance with Ayssia during the reign of Menahem (2 Kings 15.17-22), and Judah turned to Assyria during the reign of Ahaz (2 Kings 16). Hezekiah established relations with Babylon (2 Kings 20; Isa 39). In verses 30-34: Ezekiel charges thatJerusalem pays her lovers. Ahaz's "bribe" to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 16.8) would be the case in point. When Nebuchadnezzar first conquered Jerusalem, he stripped the Temple of its wealth (2 Kings 24.10-17). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 13th

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 Only after taking Jerusalem in marraige 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..

Reading for January 12th

Read Ezekiel 16.1-5. In 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). Ezekiel portrays Jerusaelm 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 Canannite (Jebusite) hands prior to David's conquest. The Jebusite population was never destroyed. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 11th

Read Ezekiel 15.1-8. In 15.1-8: The allegory of the useless vine. Ezekiel uses rehetorical 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 vince 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..

Reading for January 10th

Read Ezekiel 14.12-23. In 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 capicity to save others. Noah saved his family during the flood (Gen 6-9), and Job saved his three friends who spoke wrong about God (Jon=b 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. In verse 21-22: the same punishments are applied to Jerusalem. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 9th

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 corse 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 diliberately deceive the false prophets so they will be destroyed (1 Kings 22). The covenant formula 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..