READ IT! - Introduction to Ezekiel 6-12

Readings for this week

Monday: Ezekiel 6
Tuesday: Ezekiel 7
Wednesday: Ezekiel 8
Thursday: Ezekiel 9
Friday: Ezekiel 10
Saturday: Ezekiel 11
Sunday: Ezekiel 12

Introduction to Ezekiel 6-12

Chapters 6-7 

Chapters 6-7 within Ezekiel’s oracles of judgement against Judah describe a coming “end to all abominations.” God says through Ezekiel:

“I will slay your people in front of your idols.”
“The end has come!”
“The end has come!
The end has come!
It has roused itself against you.
See, it comes!
Doom has come upon you,
upon you who dwell in the land.
The time has come! The day is near!
There is panic, not joy, on the mountains.
I am about to pour out my wrath on you
and spend my anger against you.
I will judge you according to your conduct
and repay you for all your detestable practices.” 

Chapters 8-11 

Chapters 8-11 describe the departure of God’s Glory from Jerusalem. First, Ezekiel tells us about the idolatry taking place in the Temple. And Ezekiel describes his vision, saying that a fiery man appeared to him, grabbed him by the hair, and transported him to Jerusalem. And they arrived at the Temple, and saw at the north entrance the place where the “Idol of jealousy” stood. He also saw women mourning over the god Tammuz. They then enter the inner court and see seventy elders offering incense to “crawling things,” unclean animals, and idols. And he sees twenty-five men worshiping the sun with their backs to God’s house. And God says to him, “Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.” And Judgment is declared on the idolaters.

And Ezekiel sees God’s seven angelic servants appear. Six of them had weapons in hand, and the seventh carried a pen in his hand. Ezekiel then sees “The Glory of the LORD” entering the threshold of the Temple, and he sees the seventh of God’s servants marking the foreheads of the faithful. The other six servants then destroy all who are without the mark. And Ezekiel then sees God’s Glory departing from the Temple. And God orders cherubim to scatter burning coals all over the city. And smoke fills the outer court as God moves out. Ezekiel sees “The Glory of The LORD” ascending from the Temple with the cherubim and the wheels beneath it as though they were transporting the throne of God. And Ezekiel realizes that God’s judgement us sure to come on Jerusalem

The Spirit then transports Ezekiel to a gathering of corrupt officials. And Ezekiel prophecies to them, and when he does one man drops dead. Ezekiel cries out, and asks God if he plans to kill every last person in Israel. But God offers him the promise of Israel’s return:

“Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.”

“I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.”

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”

The Spirit then transports Ezekiel back to the exiles in Babylon. 

Chapter 12 

In chapter 12, Ezekiel gives the people the sign of the “hole in the wall.” God makes Ezekiel a sign of the exile. The people watch him pack his bags during the day, and in the evening, he digs a hole in the wall of his house and walks through with his bags. The people were like… “huh?” And Ezekiel predicts that the king of Jerusalem will try to sneak away from the siege through a hole in the wall only to be captured by the Babylonians outside.