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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday February 8, 2015
THE SIGN OF THE COOKING POT
(Messages for Israel’s enemies)
Ezekiel 24-25
In mid-January of 588
B.C. (Gregorian calendar date) Nebuchadnezzar began a two-year siege on
Jerusalem that would ultimately result in its final destruction in 586 B.C. It was
a day that Ezekiel had been forecasting for four years, and the prophet
Jeremiah had touted for more than forty years. The siege came during the ninth
year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity in Babylon, and it signaled the end of
Ezekiel’s “Prophesies of Doom” against Judah.
Here in Ezekiel 24, verses 1-14, the prophet tells the divine
parable of “The Cooking Pot” that was given to him by GOD on the very day that
the final Babylonian siege began. This parable is similar to the message in
chapter 11, where the leaders used the symbol of the “cooking pot” to give
Jerusalem a feeling of false hope and security. There the leaders had the
people thinking that, by being in the cooking pot (Jerusalem), they would be
automatically safe from any harm, including the famine, the war, the beasts,
and, fatal diseases and sicknesses that had come on them because of GOD’s
wrath. In verses 6-8 Ezekiel shouts;
“What sorrow awaits Jerusalem,
the city of murderers!
She is a cooking pot
whose corruption can’t be cleaned out.
Take the meat out in random order,
for no piece is better than another, For the blood of her murders
is splashed on the rocks.
It isn’t even spilled on the ground,
where the dust could cover it!
So I will splash her blood on a rock
for all to see,
an expression of my anger
and vengeance against her”.
Here GOD is saying that
Jerusalem is so corrupt that it doesn’t matter who HE takes out first. She had
become a city of bloodthirsty murderers who openly sacrificed their children in
the fire (Kings 16:3, Acts 7:43, Amos 5:26, 2 Chronicles 28:3 & 33:6) to
the idol god Mollech, splashing their blood on the rocks in the valley of Ben-Hinnom
(Jeremiah 19), They also caused the death of many innocent people through many
injustices and oppression. They were also leading people away from GOD, by way
of their false teaching. Now GOD says that HE will splash their blood on the
rocks of Jerusalem. In verses 9-13 the Sovereign LORD says;
“What sorrow awaits Jerusalem,
the city of murderers!
I myself will pile up the fuel beneath her.
Yes, heap on the wood!
Let the fire roar to make the pot boil.
Cook the meat with many spices,
and afterward burn the bones.
Now set the empty pot on the coals.
Heat it red hot!
Burn away the filth and corruption.
But it’s hopeless;
the corruption can’t be cleaned out.
So throw it into the fire.
Your impurity is your lewdness
and the corruption of your idolatry.
I tried to cleanse you,
but you refused.
So now you will remain in your filth
until my fury against you has been satisfied.
the city of murderers!
I myself will pile up the fuel beneath her.
Yes, heap on the wood!
Let the fire roar to make the pot boil.
Cook the meat with many spices,
and afterward burn the bones.
Now set the empty pot on the coals.
Heat it red hot!
Burn away the filth and corruption.
But it’s hopeless;
the corruption can’t be cleaned out.
So throw it into the fire.
Your impurity is your lewdness
and the corruption of your idolatry.
I tried to cleanse you,
but you refused.
So now you will remain in your filth
until my fury against you has been satisfied.
This, the LORD’s second
statement through Ezekiel in this chapter, deals specifically with the
corrupted filthy cooking pot (Jerusalem), and how the meat (the Israelites) had
allowed the pot to become corrupted and defiled by the demonic forces that
inhabited the whole land through the idols, and the shrines, that the people
worshiped in.
When we worship
anything other than GOD, the object of that worship can become inhabited by
demons who then receives our worship through that object, be it a house, a car,
another person etc. That is why GOD instructed Ezekiel on several occasions to
prophesy against the land, and other inanimate objects (Ezekiel 6, &
20:45-21:4). It is because the demons that we can’t see are controlling us
through certain objects, animals, and people that we worship.
When everything is
defiled, including in the church that calls itself by GOD’s name, GOD destroys
it all, and then starts over afresh, because the filth can’t be totally purged.
Because of our mixing of the holy with the profane, even in the church, then
and now, GOD will also tear down the whole defiled religious system (Ezekiel
21:1-4), and start all over again (CHRIST’s Millennial Kingdom). And GOD will
do it because, then and now, we will refuse to let those demons that control
us, go. We will remain filthy until GOD’s fury against us has been totally
satisfied (v.13).
Taking up at verse 15
of this chapter we see a rather grim message to the exiles at Babylon. Here
Ezekiel presents the image of a stern and unyielding person, very much the
opposite of, say, Jeremiah, who often wept for the people he prophesied to.
Here GOD informs HIS faithful prophet Ezekiel, that, HE is about to take his
dearest treasure, his wife, away from him. And if that isn’t bad news enough,
GOD tells him that he must not even cry for her (except for quiet sighing), or
show any sorrow, even at her gravesite. He was not to take off his sandals, or accept
any food from consoling friends. Nor was he to perform any of the other
traditional rituals of mourning that he was accustomed to performing for close
relatives whom he adored (Vs15-17).
Here in this passage we
learn that, though we may be a believer, we are not immune to pain and
suffering. We are also reminded here, that, pain and suffering doesn’t qualify
as an excuse for not obeying GOD. Remember, I’ve told you on several occasions
that a true prophet demonstrates GOD’s message with his whole life and body. Well,
here in this passage, we see Ezekiel’s personal life with his wife being
sacrificed to convey a solemn message to a hopelessly rebellious people, who,
had refused to heed all prior warnings from GOD. In verses 21-24, following the
death of his wife Ezekiel proclaims this message from the LORD;
“I was told to give this message to
the people of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord
says: I will defile my Temple, the source of your security and pride, the place
your heart delights in. Your sons and daughters whom you left behind in Judah
will be slaughtered by the sword. Then you will do as Ezekiel has done.
You will not mourn in public or console yourselves by eating the food brought
by friends. Your heads will remain
covered, and your sandals will not be taken off. You will not mourn or weep,
but you will waste away because of your sins. You will groan among yourselves
for all the evil you have done. Ezekiel
is an example for you; you will do just as he has done. And when that time
comes, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”
In verses 25-27 the
LORD tells Ezekiel that HE will take away Israel’s stronghold (Jerusalem), and
HE will strip them of their joy and glory, their heart’s desire, and their
dearest treasure (the Temple). HE would also take away their sons and
daughters, and on that day, a refugee from Jerusalem will come to them in
Babylon to tell them everything that has happened to their beloved city. At
that time, a once silent Ezekiel will regain his voice so as to talk to the
refugee, and he (Ezekiel) will become a symbol for the exiles, and they will
know that the GOD of their ancestors is truly the one and only GOD.
In Ezekiel 25, Ezekiel
turns his attention from an already doomed Jerusalem, to the task of
prophesying against the Gentile nations that surrounded Judah. It only stands
to reason that if GOD would not spare HIS own people, certainly HE was not
going to allow the pagan nations that so influenced them, mocked them, and
blasphemed HIM, to go unpunished. History now records that both Ammon and Moab
fell to the Babylonians only five years after Judah’s destruction in 586 B.C.
Here in this chapter we
see several Gentile nations, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia all being handed
a message regarding impending judgment from the LORD, because of their sins and
mockery against Judah. Ammon, Moab, and Edom all formed the eastern border of
Judah, while Philistia is located to the west. GOD’s judgment here is based on
the “Abrahamic Covenant” which states that “those who bless the descendants of
Abraham will be blessed, and those who curse the descendants of Abraham will be
cursed” (Genesis 12:1-3, 15).
They would all be
handed down indictments and verdicts from GOD, through Ezekiel, beginning with Ammon,
who had scoffed and mocked Judah when Nebuchadnezzar decided to attack Judah
first, instead of them (Ezekiel 21:18-27). Ammon, who had earlier sided with
Judah against Babylon, was relieved by Nebuchadnezzar’s choice, and instead of
helping Judah in her plight, Ammon chose to rejoice over Judah’s demise. They
celebrated as the temple at Jerusalem was desecrated and destroyed.
Now, for their
punishment, GOD would start with them first, and allow the Babylonians to set
up camp and pitch tents in their land, harvest their crops, and steal their livestock.
And because they celebrated Israel’s demise, their capital city, Rabbah, would
be turned into pastureland for camels, and the remainder of their land would be
an enclosure for keeping sheep. As a civilization, they would be utterly
destroyed (Vs.1-7).
In verses 8-11, we see
a message for Moab, who, in contempt for GOD’s chosen nation, said that “Judah
was nothing special, and were just like any other nation”. This attitude is
seen by GOD as being blasphemous toward HIM. However, in truth, the relationship
between Israel and Moab had deteriorated since the time of King Saul’s regime,
when he conquered and made Moab a “vassal state” to Israel, and Moab remained
that way throughout King Solomon’s reign. And so, when Judah was destroyed by
Babylon, as far as the pagan world was concerned, it gave credence to the
contemptuous words and saying of Moab. And now GOD was bent on restoring HIS
reputation as a GOD WHO is sovereign and in control of all things holy and
secular.
Here GOD says that HE
will open up Moab’s eastern flank and wipe out their glorious frontier cities,
Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim (v.9), and then HE would hand Moab
over to the Babylonians. And so GOD promises to, first, take away Moab’s
defense and protection, and then, HE would take away their freedom.
In verses 12-14,
Ezekiel turns his prophesying to the nation of Edom. Edom’s conflict with
Israel dates all the way back to the time when Edom refused to allow Israel to
cross its border when they were wandering in the desert following their exodus
from Egypt (Numbers 20:14-21). Ezekiel says here that Edom’s sin was that she
“took revenge on the house of Judah”.
Edom saw Judah’s
conflict with Babylon as a grand opportunity to strengthen her own position of
power in the region. Edom believed that, if Judah were destroyed, she would be
able to gain a foothold in the area south of the Dead Sea. And so they aided
Babylon in her efforts to destroy Jerusalem. Now, GOD was saying that HE would
aid in Edom’s destruction. Here GOD says that, “I will raise my fist of judgment against
Edom. I will wipe out its people and animals with the sword. I will make a
wasteland of everything from Teman to Dedan. I will accomplish this by the hand
of my people of Israel. They will carry out my vengeance with anger, and Edom
will know that this vengeance is from me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” (Vs.13-14 – NLT).
In verses 15-17, the
people of Philistia are given their warning from the LORD by Ezekiel.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord
says: The people of Philistia have acted against Judah out of bitter revenge
and long-standing contempt. Therefore,
this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I
will raise my fist of judgment against the land of the Philistines. I will wipe
out the Kerethites and utterly destroy the people who live by the sea. I will execute terrible vengeance against them to
punish them for what they have done. And when I have inflicted my revenge, they
will know that I am the Lord.” (NLT)
The Philistines had
been in conflict with the Israelites since the Israeli conquest of the
“Promised Land”. Israel had failed in their attempt to conquer the Philistines,
in part, because of the Philistines superior military. However, because of the
Israelites disobedience to GOD at that time, it was really GOD’s will that
allowed the Philistines to be successful against HIS chosen people.
King David finally
subdued the Philistines early on in his reign over the “United Kingdom” of
Israel, and Philistia remained Israel’s vassal state all the way through the
reign of King Solomon. However, following the break-up of Israel’s northern
kingdom and Judah after Solomon’s death, the feud between the two was renewed. Philistia
was able to win her freedom from Israel during the reign of King Jehoram, King
Jehoshaphat’s son and heir, and over the years, power between the two countries
shifted back and forward. Time and time again the Philistines tried to usurp
GOD’s authority, and time and time again GOD would put her down. In fact, it
was not until Nebuchadnezzar conquered both countries, Judah and Philistia,
that their feuding came to a screeching halt.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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