Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-06-03

w llCA J6nOIdCHlIu was Cal Ileo
into captivity in the year 597 B. c..
Ezekiel was one of those deported
to Babylon with him. This, as we
learned last week. was eleven years
before the City of Jerusalem fl ally
fell and the nation subdued; but ii
mad such an important bearing on
tho history of the nation that
Ezekiel dated all of his prophesies
from that event.
Ezekiel was at that time 25 years
Sold. Five years later Geek. l: l., 2
when he was thirty years old, he re-
.ceived his call to prophesy. Being
a priest of the Levitical order, this
was most significant, for thirty years
of age was the time when Levites be-
gan their priestly function. This
is all the more significant when we
recall that Jesus was thirty years
of age when he began his public
ministry as the Messiah.
For six years EZekiel's messages
were to the people already in captlv-
lty land through them to some eX-
tent to the peoples still in Jerusalem)
warning them against believing the
' false prophets who were telling them
that their beloved city could not be
taken. OF course, they did not want
Up think the worst, but Ezekiel con-
nually warned them that it was
fod S will that Jerusalem should
Mall and that the people be taken
.atheir sins. With these warnings he
also urged them to repent.
Often these messages were given
in the most striking way. He would
lie on his left side part of the
day for 800 days and eat only 20
sheckles of food cooked over a fire
madn of human or animal refuse in
sorder to impress the truth that he
was trying to give them that there
would be $50 days of the iniquity of
Israel; then on his right side for 40
days to show the 40 years. that
Judah was to suffer. One day he
took a tile and drew on it a map
of Jerusalem. and then made toy
soldiers and laid siege to it--show-
Ing them in model what would hap
pen in reality. Another time he put
on clothes for a long march and
slipped out of his house by night,
to show that the people yet at home
would have to take a long march
and their king would march in blind
ness-which you remember was ac-
complished afterwards, in Zedel1iah' s
case. Once he shaved his hair and
beard and weighed it in three parts,
one of which he burned. another he
cut up with a knife, and the third
he scattered to the winds to show
them what would happen to the peo-
pie still at Jerusalem.
Perhaps one of the most terrible
trials to him was a sermon that he
had to preach out of his own life.
We must not get the idea that those
~I1O lnn i l.
IN prisons or bound in chains. They
had homes; they were engaged in
business. At TeI-abib by the river
Chebar, where Ezekiel lived, arch
biologists have recently discovered a
large department store doing bust
ness under the name of "Murashu &
Sons" and along with this many
other signs bearing Jewish names.
Ezekiel himself lived in his own
house (ch. SD, to which elders of
the congregation came, thus showing
that they had been allowed to pre-
serve their organization. He was
happily married and was so devoted
to his wife that he speaks of her
as "the desire of thine eyes" One
day the word of Jehovah came to him
telling him that his wife, the desire
of his eyes, would be taken away
from him suddenly and that he must
not show any signs of mourning for
her. $50 / spake unto the people
in the morning as ] was commanded"
(ch. 24:19). He was thus to show
how suddenly Jerusalem, the desire
OF their eyes, was to be taken from
them; and that their woe had gone
beyond the point of mourning.
These messages the people refused
to believe, but six years after he
I, ic int ctY in al oh "a
news was brought that Jerusalem
had fallen, the kings sons We're
killed, the king blinded and on his
way to Babylon as a captive All of
Ezekiel'S words had come true. This
brings us in the book to CHI. 33, which
marks distinct division of it in two.
All of the prophecies after this were
OF a different tone and type. In
stead of warning them now. he be-
gins TO encourage the people and 10
inspire them with the hope that they
will be returned to their own dear
land at some time.
And they needed encoura cement.
All that they held dear had been lost,
and they were sad indeed Perhaps
their feelings may best be appreci-
ated by studying one of the songs
that has been left us. Music and
song, being the most effective
methods of expressing the hearts
e9tions, are good induces as to what
thyakeart is experiencing. Cribs be-
true it is sad OF think of what
the succeeding generations will think
of this generation, judging it by its
horrible cartoon of music-jaZz y The
137th Psalm grew out of the eX-
periences of the captives in Babylon.
BY the rivers of BABYLON, there we
sat down and wept, when we remem'
bered Zion"
Fertility all around them, luXuriant
growth and fruitfulness on the banks
and streams and in theN countries fed
by it-this was the sight that greeted
their ewes every day: and amidst this
their thoughts turned to their be
loved Zion and thought of the desc
lated cities. the unworked fields, the
forsal<en houses. the barren wastes
No wonder they wept when they re
HIINRhNn ohI1