Recap

So far in Ezekiel we’ve read through Ezekiel’s commissioning and start his prophetic acts. 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, sat upon his throne over Babylon. The throne was carried by four creatures that had, amongst other features, wheels for feet. The symbolism here was that God is not restricted to just being the God of Israel. He can move, because he has authority over all the earth.

God charged Ezekiel with speaking to the Israelites still in Jerusalem to repent and change their ways before it was too late. But God also warned Ezekiel that the people would likely not listen to him. After taking a week to process all he had seen and heard, Ezekiel started acting out prophetic declarations. He made a miniature model of Jerusalem and acted out sieges against it. He laid on his left side for 390 days to symbolise the 390 years that the northern kingdom of Israel would suffer. He then laid on his right side for forty days to symbolise the forty years those in the southern kingdom of Judah would suffer.

Throughout this whole time, Ezekiel was meant to eat food cooked over human dung. This would represent the unclean food that the people would be forced to eat in exile. When Ezekiel protested, as one who had been trained as a priest and kept himself clean, God relented and allowed him to eat food cooked over cow dung instead.

Ezekiel 5-8

God tells Ezekiel to take a sword and shave his head and beard with it. Then he was to weigh out his hair into three parts. One third was to be burnt, one third to be cut to pieces with the sword, and the final third to be scattered to the wind. Of the ones scattered, he is to take a few and weave them into his robe, and then burn some others.

God then explains the meaning of this act. This hair is like Jerusalem and Judah. Just as Ezekiel used a sword to remove his hair from his head and face, God will send an army to remove the people from their land. Just as Ezekiel weighed out his hair, God will bring judgement on his people.

The third of the hair burnt is like the third of the people who will die of pestilence and starvation as the city is destroyed. The third of the hair that was cut to pieces with the sword is like the third of the people that will be cut down by this coming army. And finally, the third of the hair that was scattered to the wind is like the third of the people who were taken into exile.

God's anger is ready to be poured out. He will send famine and arrows to kill his people. But the one bit that God doesn't explain is the few strands of hair that Ezekiel picked out after he had cast them to the wind, to weave into his robe. These few hairs represent the remnant of God's people that will one day come back and be restored. But right now, God doesn't want to give his people hope. He is trying to warn them of their impending doom.

Some time later, God comes again to Ezekiel in Babylon and tells him to turn his face towards Israel and prophesy against them. God is going to bring destruction to his people because of their high places (places of worshipping false gods), their altars, and their idols. The people have continued in their idolatry and worshipping foreign gods and God is going to put an end to it.

But this time he does want to give his people some hope. There will be a few of those who go into exile that will repent and will be disgusted by the idolatry and false worship that they used to be part of. These few will come and know God again. And then God once again mentions his three main ways of destruction; sword, famine, and pestilence. God will come to kill and destroy his people and will lay the bodies by their old altars and idols so everyone can see the dangers of worshipping these things.

The next word that God brings is a summary of the meaning behind all the visual acts that Ezekiel has done so far. Ezekiel is to declare God's judgement has come. In all of Israel the people will be punished for their wickedness. Ezekiel speaks this over the people. May disaster come. End come. Doom come. May the time come.

God will pour out his wrath and punish his people. It has grown like a plant and is now in full bloom. It is here. So God will send sword, pestilence, and famine to destroy. There will be people cut down in the city, and those who are consumed by pestilence and famine.

Even those few who manage to escape will be left weak and mourning. All the gold and silver the people have collected for themselves will do them no good. All the things the people have previously put their trust in will be useless to them, and will be taken as plunder by their enemies.

The land is full of wickedness, and God will put an end to it. The people constantly seek a word from God from prophets, but the priests and leaders ignore the laws of God they already have. God will punish them for their wickedness.

After some time has passed, God comes again to Ezekiel to give him four visions and words of how the people have contaminated the temple in Jerusalem. In the first vision, Ezekiel saw a figure that was made of fire from the waist down and like polished metal. In Ezekiel 1, this figure was identified as the glory of God.

This figure picked Ezekiel up and carried him from Babylon all the way to the temple in Jerusalem. There God speaks to him and tells him to look north, at the entrance gates to the temple. There he sees an image of jealousy. This word 'image' can also be translated as 'idol'. We're not told exactly what this image is, but the point is that the people are worshipping idols at the entrance gates of the temple and it is provoking God to jealousy.

But it gets worse. God takes Ezekiel from the entrance gates into the courtyard of the temple. Within the courtyard, there was a wall with a hole in it. As Ezekiel dug away at the hole, he found a door to a secret room. Inside, the elders of the city were worshipping animals that had been engraved in the walls. Leaders of the city worshipping animals within the courtyard of the temple.

But it gets worse. Next, God takes Ezekiel to the entrance of the temple itself. There was a woman weeping for, and praying to, the Babylonian god, Tammuz. Tammuz was the god of harvests and farming. This may have also included livestock. Here, at the very entrance to the temple, God's people were crying out to foreign gods. But still it can get worse.

Finally, going into the temple itself, Ezekiel sees twenty-five men worshipping the sun. God's people had completely abandoned him. They had brought their worship of foreign gods, animals, and the sun into every area that had previously belonged to God.

Psalm 30

This psalm is attributed to king David and falls into the category of praise psalm, specifically a thanksgiving psalm. The psalmist, potentially David, is thanking and praising God for saving them from sickness, or from near death. 

Psalm 30:1-3 - A testimony of praise

Psalm 30:4-5 - An encouragement for others to praise

Psalm 30:6-12 - The psalmists’ own experience

The psalm opens with its purpose. The psalmist praises God because the Lord has heard the cries, and healed them, saving them from death.

Turning to those around them, they encourage others to praise God. They speak to the saints, the faithful ones, telling them to give thanks. The reason they can give thanks? While God’s anger may be present, and there may be weeping now, they will soon be replaced with God’s favour and joy.

The psalmist begins to share their own experience. They had made a commitment to stand with God, and then it had seemed like God had hidden his face. So the psalmist continues to hold on to God, crying out to him for help.

And he did. God turned the psalmist’s mourning into dancing, their clothes of grief into clothes of joy. Because of this, the psalmist will never cease to praise God and share of his goodness.

The psalm is a reminder to us to share the good that God has done for us. We are to be honest and real about the difficult times, but then celebrate with others when God proves himself faithful.