Ezekiel 6
The Mountains of Israel Are Doomed
“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places’ ” (Ezekiel 6:1-3).
The Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, whom God labeled son of man. A word from the Lord often refers to an oral or written form of communication from God concerning His plans, rebukes, instructions, warnings, corrections, and more. As God’s chosen watchman, Ezekiel had to be in the correct spiritual posture to hear from the Lord because most of Israel’s leaders were deaf and mute when it came to hearing and proclaiming messages from the Lord. The Bible says: “Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain” (Isaiah 56:10-11). Most of Israel’s leaders had failed the people, and the people were no more the wiser or better. They did not rebuke the idolatry of the people, thus going along with it. Failing to warn about sin is an endorsement of sin. The Bible says: “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:28). Therefore, God’s true prophets had to stand as His prosecuting attorneys to bring charges against the leaders and people. Israel and Judah had been placed on trial, and found guilty; the sentence had been passed, and the fulfillment of it was underway.
The
Lord had Ezekiel to turn his face against the mountains of Israel. The
mountains stood for the whole land of Israel, which was theirs even when the
Lord allowed other nations to overtake them. There was land or hill country that
had been still promised to them because it was the Lord’s. The Bible says: “I
will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed
from their shoulders” (Isaiah 14:25). Even
though the Lord used various nations as His instruments of judgment against
Israel and Judah, the land was still theirs because it was His.
The Lord instructed Ezekiel to prophesy against the mountains, hills, ravines, and valleys. This meant that Ezekiel was to deliver a Word from the Lord for the entire nation of Israel, not just those in Jerusalem. Even though Israel had already been taken into captivity by the Assyrians, this Word was about their sins and the wickedness of Judah, who had learned nothing from what Israel had experienced. Therefore, Ezekiel was told to set his face against them. To set one’s face is not speaking of cosmetics, but to oppose or disapprove something without compromise. Ezekiel could not hold back the Word from the Lord due to fear or cowardice. He had to be just as unyielding regarding his message just as they were hardened in their hearts regarding their sins.
It is not easy to deliver hard words from the Lord to people we may know. It is actually easier to do so with strangers because of the criticism, mocking, scorn, and retaliation from those we may hold dear. Even so, Ezekiel could not allow his emotions to get the best of him and come between him and what the Lord commanded him to do.
The Lord told Ezekiel to tell the people that He was going to bring a sword against them and destroy their idolatrous high places of worship. The only One to be worshiped was the Lord. Instead, Israel and Judah had allow idolatry to enter their midst, so they worshiped the false gods of Baal, Asherah, and Molech. Baal was the god of the Caananites and other Middle Eastern nations. He was credited with being a fertility deity. This belief was erroneous, as God was the One who blessed His people to bear children and with prosperity. The Bible says: “He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you” (Deuteronomy 7:13). To credit a foreign god who could not hear or see with the things the Lord had done was abominable to Him.
Asherah was another of the Canaanites’ gods who was credited with being the goddess of fertility. Asherah worship involved sex and prostitution rituals. Also, the firstborn children of these worshipers were offered as sacrifices to both Asherah and Baal. This is one of the reasons the Lord had forbidden Israel to intermarry with foreign nations so they would not turn their hearts away from Him and practice such debauchery. The Bible says: “Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you” (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). Sadly, Israel and Judah did not listen and continued their idolatrous practices.
Molech was the fire-god, another god of the Canaanites, that required the human sacrifice of children. Molech was carved with outstretched hands so the priest could take the child, mostly infants, and place it in the idol’s hands as a burnt offering. This practice was strictly prohibited and forbidden by the Lord. The Bible says: “You shall not give any of your children to sacrifice to Molech; neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am Yahweh” (Leviticus 18:21). God had promised to blessed ther fruit of their wombs should they honor and obey Him. Unfortunately, Israel and Judah took their blessings and abused them by giving their children to false gods. Instead of doing as Hannah had done by offering her child, Samuel, to the Lord, they preferred to kill their children by offering them to the fires of their false gods.
America has offered many children to the fires of Molech, Asherah, and Baal. Every Planned Parenthood Clinic is a temple of Molech. Every doctor and nurse who works for these institutions is a priest and priestess of Molech. Every politician and judge who has and still is allowing the sacrifice of children to take place is a servant of Baal. Every voter who has ever voted for these politicians, lawmakers, and laws to be established has committed sin before the Lord. Every pastor who has allowed these politicians to come into the House of the Lord to campaign, knowing what they stand for, and has refused to preach against abortion, has sinned against the Lord. Everyone who has ever committed this murder has wronged the Lord, but there is forgiveness at the foot of the cross. Even when politicians, teachers, churches, and parents parents endorse and allow underage children to attempt to change their God-given gender and support this nonsense, they have sacrificed their children on the altars of Baal. Just as with Israel and Judah, the Lord requires repentance and turning away from sin. Only then will He forgive and wipe the slate clean. The Bible says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Israel and Judah refused to repent of their sins and turn away from them. This is why the Lord promised to bring the sword against them and will do the same with this nation that has morphed into Babylon.
“Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols. I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars” (Ezekiel 6:4-5).
The Lord was totally angered by the idolatry that was taking place with His people. Not only were they worshiping idols outside of His temple, but they had totally defiled the Lord’s house. The Prophet Isaiah denounced Israel’s idolatry as well because they took pride in magic rituals from the ancient Near Eastern nations, pagan customs, horses and chariots, fortified walls, graven images made from their own hands, cedars, high hills and mountains, and trading ships.[1] They did not honor the Lord for His blessings but paid homage to false gods who could not see, hear, or speak made from their own hands. How foolish they were to worship something they had to create themselves. Therefore, the Lord was going to demolish their wicked altars and idols, which they credited with giving them prosperity as the heathen nations did. The Bible says: “See now, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water, the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter. ‘I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them’ ” (Isaiah 3:1-4).
The very idols and altars they worshiped at were going to be the places marking their deaths. Since they wanted to sacrifice to their false gods, lying before their gods would be their bones where they could worship no more. Most of Judah’s kings and leaders had been unfaithful to the Lord. For example, King Manasseh, whose name means God caused me to forget my trouble, was Hezekiah's son and the longest-reigning king in Judah. Unfortunately, he did not follow the ways of his father and was credited with causing Judah to stray from the Lord, leading to their ultimate destruction.[2] Manasseh rebuilt the idolatrous high places his father had destroyed, erected altars to Baal, made Asherah poles, worshiped the stars, placed idolatrous altars in the Lord’s temple and its courts, sacrificed his children, practiced black magic, shed innocent blood, and consulted mediums. He committed worse sins than the foreign nations and the kings before him, which angered the Lord, thus bringing a curse upon Judah (2 Kings 21).
“ Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord “ (Ezekiel 6:6-7).
The Lord promised that there would be death all around the inhabitants of Judah. Every altar would be torn down. Every false god would be smashed into pieces. Every town would be left in ruins. The nation would be given over to the sword as God would allow the foreign nations to overtake them and be His instruments of judgment. Only then woud they recognize the Lord as the One and only true God.
Isn’t it sad when punishment is the only way to get through to a child? For those of you who have children, you can possibly relate that there are times when the only way you could influence your children to correct the error of their ways was through taking desirables away from them, such as phones, laptops, entertainment, etc., and rendering a punishment as a form of correction. It’s the same way with God. The blessings of God, land, protection, fertility, and prosperity were conditional blessings based on Israel and Judah’s obedience to Him. Unfortunately, when they disobedied, their blessing began to fade until all they once had was taken away.
“But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them” (Ezekiel 6:8-10).
In God’s grace and mercy, He would spare some of Judah. There was a faithful remnant who did not bow to the idols of Baal, such as Daniel and his three friends who had been taken during the first siege to Babylon. Then there were others whom God did not allow to be destroyed and who would be repentant later after they witnessed all of the calamities God would allow them to experience. Their lust for idols would have proven pointless, and then they would recognize the evil they had done against the Lord and their foolishness. Where they had continuously ignored the Lord’s warnings through His prophets, they would ultimately see that His words were not idle threats but realities of what the Lord promised to do.
People inside and outside the church are ignoring the Lord’s warning just as they did during Judah’s day. Despite the Lord’s warnings, many are choosing to ignore the obvious signs of the calamities that will come about on this nation and abroad. Unfortunately, as Judah did, many will not acknowledge or turn to the Lord until such judgments come down. Only then will God get their attention; even then, many will not repent in their defiance against the Lord. The Bible says: “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague” (Ezekiel 6:11).
The Lord hated and had had enough of Judah’s sins, so he commanded Ezekiel to clap his hands and stomp his feet to get the people’s attention as a sign of distress. Then he was to cry out Alas or Woe that the sword, famine, and plague were coming to their land because of their sins. The Lord was no longer holding back, and His warnings were getting louder and louder. The people needed to know that their time was nearly up, and all that He had prophesied through His prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others were nearing their fulfillment.
“ One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I pour out my wrath on them. And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak—places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols” (Ezekiel 6:12-13).
Death by a plague, sword, and famine was a part of the Lord’s wrath to come to rebellious Judah. What good would their worthless idols be to them then when bodies of the dead would be lying everywhere? There would be nowhere to run, for whom the Lord deemed would die would indeed perish without escape. Similarly today, there would be no underground bunkers to run to, nor flights outer space. One will not be able to jump on the next train or bus heading out. When the food supply is cut, the electric goes black, the ATM’s stop working, and the gas won’t pump, those who have placed their faith in things instead of God will see that their gods are just as useless as Judah’s were. Therefore, when the Lord judges a nation, there is no escape except for whom He chooses. Repentance is the message for today, and it is about turning away from sin. The Bible says: “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ ” (Matthew 4:17). If this was the message Jesus preached while on earth, how much more are we as His followers to do the same during these last days?
“And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah—wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 6:14).
When the Lord stretches out His hand, it can either be for or against you. The Lord’s outstretched hand towards Judah was His curse against them.
[1] Jacob Milgrom, "The Nature and Extent of Idolatry in Eighth-Seventh Century Judah," Hebrew Union College Annual 69 (1998): xx, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23508852.
[2] Chad Brand, Eric Mitchell, and Holman Reference Editorial Staff, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2015), 1050.
No comments:
Post a Comment