Ezekiel 13:1-16

content/bible_journal/_template.txt

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 +++
-title = "Ezekiel {}:{}–{}"
-date = "2023-03-{}"
+title = "Ezekiel $1:$2–$3"
+date = "{}"
 +++
 
-### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel{}.{}-{})
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel$1.$2-$3)

content/bible_journal/ezekiel_13:1-16.md

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+title = "Ezekiel 13:1–16"
+date = "2023-04-01"
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+
+### [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.