A STRANGE INTERLUDE
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Opening Prayer
Thank you, Lord, that you have used your Word to draw me to you, to transform me, and teach me how to follow you. Thank you, too, for its power at work in me, enabling me to serve you.
Read EZEKIEL 25
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
A Prophecy Against Ammon
25 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them. 3 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you said “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile, 4 therefore I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk. 5 I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels and Ammon into a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 6 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel, 7 therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will wipe you out from among the nations and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”
A Prophecy Against Moab
8 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, Judah has become like all the other nations,” 9 therefore I will expose the flank of Moab, beginning at its frontier towns—Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon and Kiriathaim—the glory of that land. 10 I will give Moab along with the Ammonites to the people of the East as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations; 11 and I will inflict punishment on Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
A Prophecy Against Edom
12 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because Edom took revenge on Judah and became very guilty by doing so, 13 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and kill both man and beast. I will lay it waste, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword. 14 I will take vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my wrath; they will know my vengeance, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
A Prophecy Against Philistia
15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah, 16 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast. 17 I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them.’”
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’1
Ezekiel 24 ended with the news of the imminent siege of Jerusalem. Just when the reader is desperate to know what happens next, there is a commercial break! The editor inserts eight chapters of prophecies against foreign nations before resuming the news from Jerusalem in chapter 33. Bowen says that the only people likely to read these chapters are students required to write an essay on them;2 Christopher Wright suggests that in terms of the likelihood of finding spiritual food and comfort for your soul, these chapters rank alongside the genealogies in Chronicles and the regulations on mildew in Leviticus!3
Here we have oracles against four neighboring nations, with a repeated formula ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says … because … therefore.’ It was characteristic for prophets to survey other nations of the world to demonstrate the Lord’s sovereignty over them as well as over Israel. The purpose was to show that God is God of the whole earth, with something to say about the history and destiny of nations. Further, as the audience for these oracles was not the nations but the exilic community, it was encouraging for Judah to know that God would judge the nations.4 A common accusation against the nations was that they gloated over Judah’s plight (vv. 3, 8, 15) and didn’t give a hand. To be fair, it is hard to ‘lend a helping hand when busy using it for gleeful clapping.’5
This was Ezekiel’s theological response to the nations who threatened Judah or challenged God’s dominion—particularly Moab, which was accused of denying Israel’s unique relationship with God. Ezekiel was rejecting the contemporary view that Judah’s God would not be able to protect them against the Babylonian god, Marduk, any more than the gods of the nations.
Apply
A concern that God’s name should be honored was central to Ezekiel’s prophecies: how do we prioritize God’s name in our society?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, whose name is above every other name, help me to honor you, not only with my words but with all that I am and all that I do. Help me to bring you honor in ways that draw others to you.
1 Matt 6:9,10 2 N Bowen, Ezekiel (Abingdon Press, 2010), 151. 3 C Wright, The Message of Ezekiel (IVP, 2001), 233. 4 JB Taylor, Ezekiel (IVP, 1969), 184, 185. 5 N Bowen, 154
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