36 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
36 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Ezekiel 8:14–18"
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date = "2023-03-20"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel8.14-18)
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The Lord shows Ezekiel two more abominations that are occuring in His temple.
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The first is a group of women weeping for Tammuz at the north gate of the
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temple court. This one needs a bit more context than we are given. Tammuz was a
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pagan deity associated with the fields and the underworld. His myths are
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similar to the story of Persephone and Hades, except he plays both roles:
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Tammuz makes the vegetation grow until he dies in the summer heat and goes to
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the land of the dead. His adherents ritually mourn his passing until he returns
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to the land of the living to bring the greenery back with the wet season. Time
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and again the Lord has shown He brings the rain and makes it stop, and He has
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the power over life and death as well. How quickly the people forget the truth.
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The final abomination was surely the worst for Ezekiel, because it involved not
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the laity, but priests consecrated to the Lord like himself. At least, that's
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what they should be, in the inner court of the temple. Instead of offering
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sacrifices to the Lord, or facing the temple in prayer, they have turned their
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backs upon the Holy Place and are bowing down to worship the rising sun. Think
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of it! It'd be like finding out the pastor of your church was actually a
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Buddhist.
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With all this happening in and around His own house, the very place He makes
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His dwelling on earth, is it any wonder that God is angry with His people? But
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it wasn't only this, but also that the land was filled with violence and
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bloodshed. Injustice abounded, as the Lord had prohibited, and so He will
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punish the wicked and He will not spare them.
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* * *
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Grant us a righteous indignation against our sin, that we may repent of it.
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