Recap

So far in Ezekiel, we’ve read through Ezekiel’s commissioning, his prophetic acts, finished the accusations against Judah and the nations, and started the section on the future hope. The book started five years after the first group of Israelites had been exiled to Babylon. Jerusalem was still standing, and many Israelites still lived there. Ezekiel received a vision of God on his chariot throne over Babylon.

God charged Ezekiel with speaking to the Israelites still in Jerusalem to repent and change their ways before it was too late. Ezekiel started acting out prophetic declarations. These included making a miniature model of Jerusalem and acting out sieges against it, laying on his side while eating unclean food, and shaving his head and beard.

Ezekiel had a vision of the presence of God leaving the temple and entering his throne chariot carried by the four living beings. So God declared judgement over the people, their leaders, and the prophets. God used many metaphors to depict Israel. An unfaithful bride, a proud lion now caged, a great vine that was dug up and left in the wilderness. The language was highly graphic and was intended to be shocking. It was a passage that needs wrestling with before we import it into our modern day thinking.

Then the siege of Jerusalem started. God's wrath was starting to pour out. And Ezekiel's mouth was freed so he could now move from declaring judgement on Israel to judgement on the foreign nations. We read through judgements on Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia. We then started the judgement of Tyre, a city nation focused on trade, which was much longer than any of the others. God rebuked Tyre's king for trying to set himself above God, which doubled as a rebuke for the spiritual beings who tried the same.

Then we read the judgement on Egypt. In the same way, the rebuke against Pharaoh was also a rebuke against chaos itself. Finally, Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed, freeing Ezekiel up to focus on prophesying about the future hope. This started with contrasts. The old leaders of Israel, their shepherds, were wicked and fed themselves while leading the sheep astray. God will set over his people a new shepherd who would lead them well. The foreign nations greedily look at Israel's land, but God will punish the foreign nations and restore the land to his people. Previously, the people dishonoured God's named with their wickedness. Going forward, God will give them new hearts that want to live right for him.

We read through a recreation motif, as Ezekiel sees a valley of dry bones come back to life. In the same way, God will bring back to life the land and the people that he de-created. Then came judgment on a man named Gog who was used as the embodiment of chaos and evil. One day God will destroy or chaos and evil so that his people can flourish. Then God gave Ezekiel an image of a new temple and priesthood where the people can be right and holy in his presence.

Ezekiel 45-48

With all the different tribes of God being taken into exile, there's going to be some border disputes when they all get back. People that were born into exile have never seen this land before, and are just going off what their parents told them. Because of this, God decides to draw out the border lines afresh.

He starts off with marking off the land that belongs to the temple. This space was roughly 7 miles by 5.5 miles. Within this holy district, there is land divided up for the priests, for the Levites, and land that would make up the new city of Jerusalem. Then on either side of the holy district is land given over to the prince, the one who will rule over God's people and land.

Next comes a series of instructions concerning offerings and annual feasts. God is bringing order to his creation once again. He has reinstated how to do proper worship, and how his people are meant to live. Now he is reinstating the proper rhythms and order to life. There are rules for feasts and festivals and all the appropriate offerings that should be made for each.

Think back to creation in Genesis 1. God was taking the chaos of the unformed world and bringing order to it. Then thing back to Numbers 1-10, where God brought order to the Israelite camp. Now, once again, God is taking the chaos of the world and bringing order and structure to it.

Ezekiel's vision continues as he sees water start flowing out of the front doorstep of the temple. This water flows out of the inner courts, out of the outer courts, and into the land. As Ezekiel follows this flow of water, it gets deeper and deeper. First it is ankle deep, then it gets up to Ezekiel's waist, then Ezekiel has to start swimming in it. This little trickle of water has become a great flowing river. And as Ezekiel starts walking back down towards the temple, he sees fresh life springing up by the side of the river.

In the ancient world, water was the source of life. In order for crops to grow, you needed water. Cities were often formed round sources of water. Water was both a source and a symbol of life. As we see water flowing from God's temple, we are seeing a symbol of God's presence pouring out and bringing new life to the land. While God's presence had left Israel and he had used Babylon to destroy the land and make it desolate, he will one day return and his presence will cause fresh life to rise up again.

Then we finally come to the actual dividing lines for the land for each tribe. While this stuff may seem like it isn't that important to us, this would have been hugely important to an ancient Israelite. These were the documents that clearly outlined which bits of land belonged to you. This is all part of God bringing order back to his land. The book ends on a brief description of the new city. The main defining point of this city is its new name, "The Lord Is There". God will once again live amongst his people, and he will never leave them.

Ezekiel is a strange book. It is much heavier on the imagery than many of the other prophetic books. Because of this, it can be very easy to get caught up in all the details and trying to work out exactly what they mean. The thing with imagery is that not every detail always has a meaning. Sometimes the focus is on the big picture and what the meaning of that big picture is.

That's always the best place to start with Ezekiel's imagery. First of all, try to work out what is the main point of the picture. What does it say about God and his people? Then once you've grasped that, you can begin to move towards the specific details and try to grasp at what, if anything, they point to. But don't get too caught up in them.

If you can understand and grasp the main point of an image, then that will be the biggest help. Particularly as Ezekiel's imagery is picked up by some of the New Testament writers, and if you're not familiar with its main points, you might miss the subtlety of what the New Testament writers are saying. Focusing on the main point of the images also allows us to strip some of the cultural baggage in some of the images that are deeply offensive to our modern sensibilities.

Psalm 42

As we move into the second of five books in Psalms (Psalm 42-72) we start to see new authors introduced. This psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah. Korah was likely a Levite musician. His ‘sons’ here are either his direct sons or a group descended from him.

This psalm falls into the category of lament psalm, and is structured in two halves, with each half ending with the same refrain.

Psalm 42:1-4 - I desire God

Psalm 42:5 - Why are you downcast my soul

Psalm 42:6-10 - God feels close yet far

Psalm 42:11 - Why are you downcast my soul

The psalm opens with a desperate need of the soul. The psalmist needs God, just like a deer needs water. There is some Hebrew word play happening here. The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh (נֶ֫פֶשׁ). 

Generally speaking, it means one’s whole being. But literally, it means throat. If this seems strange to you, think about the English saying, “I love you with all my heart”. When someone says this, they’re not actually speaking about the organ that pumps blood round their body. They mean all that they are.

In the same way, while the word nephesh literally means throat, it also means a person’s entire being. So the wordplay here is that the psalmist is saying their throat/whole being is thirsty for God.

The psalmist is grieved by their need for God. It leads them to tears. In search of hope, they remind themselves of good times in the past, when they would lead others in worship of God.

It’s at this point that the psalmist turns to themselves. They encourage themselves to continue to have hope. They will once again praise God, for he is their salvation.

Moving into the second section, the psalmist recognises that, despite this, they do still feel downcast. So they continue to remind themselves of God’s faithfulness. Of how God used to feel like a wave constantly washing over them. How God’s steadfast love used to be a constant reminder.

And then the psalmist comes back to their current emotions, allowing themselves to feel them for a moment. Currently, it feels like God had forgotten them. They feel wounded, as though they are wasting away without God.

Then once more the psalmist speaks to themselves, encouraging themselves to take hope. 

In this psalm, we see the value in allowing ourselves to feel the range of our emotions while not allowing ourselves to be swept up by them. 

Too often we fall into the trap of not wanting to feel our negative emotions, because we don’t want to or feel like we shouldn’t. Or we allow ourselves to get completely caught up by them.

Here the psalmist allows themself to feel their grief, but also balances it out with memories of God’s faithfulness, and ultimately commits themselves to continuing to hope in God.