37 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
37 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
|
+++
|
|||
|
|
title = "Ezekiel 13:1–16"
|
|||
|
|
date = "2023-04-01"
|
|||
|
|
+++
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel13.1-16)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now that the Lord has established that He will be fulfilling the visions He
|
|||
|
|
sends to His true prophets, like Ezekiel, He proceeds to condemn the false
|
|||
|
|
prophets who have led Israel astray. The charges are ascribing their own
|
|||
|
|
made-up prophecies to the Lord to give them an air of authenticity. He
|
|||
|
|
describes them as jackals in the ruins and faithless soldiers who do not defend
|
|||
|
|
the city's walls or try to repair the holes made in it by invading forces. This
|
|||
|
|
phrase about going up to the breaches is interesting because Moses is described
|
|||
|
|
this way when he interceded on Israel's behalf when they made the golden image
|
|||
|
|
while he received the Law from God. (_Psalm 106:23_) Naturally, this image of a
|
|||
|
|
man standing in the gap in order to turn away God's wrath points us to its
|
|||
|
|
ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Rather than protecting the people from the tides of judgement, these false
|
|||
|
|
prophets have been smearing whitewash, or plaster, over the walls that the
|
|||
|
|
people have built. While it may look good, it is a surface-level treatment that
|
|||
|
|
only papers over the unsoundness of their lives. Because of their lives, the
|
|||
|
|
false prophets will not be returning to the land, nor will they be counted
|
|||
|
|
among the census of Israel. The Lord is bringing about a deluge of rain and
|
|||
|
|
hail to batter down the walls they have built. Even though the whitewash is
|
|||
|
|
clearly a metaphor for the "word from the Lord" that these charlatans gave to
|
|||
|
|
the people, there is an ironic literalness going on too. The walls of Jerusalem
|
|||
|
|
did indeed get torn down when the Babylonians invaded, and they did so because
|
|||
|
|
the false prophets were not warning the people to repent of their sins before
|
|||
|
|
judgement came.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We are humbled, Jesus, that You would bear the wrath of God for our sin so that
|
|||
|
|
we might live within Your city.
|