Ezekiel 7

1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
As Jehovah, Adonai Jehovah sends another message through Ezekiel to the southern kingdom of Judah, He says that an end is come. It is extremely important to pay attention to what is said in these two verses. The end is said to come upon “the four corners of the LAND”. The word in the Hebrew for land is the same word as used for the whole Earth. Yet this message is not about an end of the planet, but only of the things going on within the land of the Jews. We will see this again in Revelation, and have already encountered in with regard to prior discussions of the new earth (e.g. 2 Pet. 3).
Please remember this point!!!
3Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. 4And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 5Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
Jehovah says that the end of Judah’s abominations is come now (it is imminent). Remember what things the Law said are abominations to God: homosexuality (Lev. 18:22; 1 Kings 15:12); incest (Lev. 18); following the laws of foreign nations (Lev. 18); idolatry (Deut. 7:25-26); human sacrifice (Deut. 12:31); attempting to be like the nations around them in general (Deut. 18:9-12); transvestites (Deut. 22:5); pride, lying, murder, etc. (Prov. 6:16-19) all of which Israel was guilty of. All of it was learned from allowing the cultures of the surrounding nations to influence them. Please note that it is not JUST idolatry.
This evil spoke of in verse 5 is a calamity or chaos not a wicked thing for God cannot do that which is against His own nature, i.e. sin. God had had enough and punishment was all that the Jews would understand at this point.
6An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. 7The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. 8Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
God says that an end is come, the dawn (morning) of their destruction is come, the day is near, shortly would God’s fury be poured out on them, his anger accomplished. This did not mean that the Jews had to wait more than 2000 years or even 400 years. When God says a thing is near, shortly to come to pass, He speaks in terms humans (beings bound by time) understand.
This prophecy was in the time of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah before Nebuchadnezzar completely conquered the nation.
9And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.
It is Jehovah God’s purview to recompense, to bring vengeance against the unrighteous. One of the ways our faith is built in God even today is that we know He keeps His promises...ALL of his promises.
10Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. 11Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.
An interesting image here of the blossoming rod. It harkens forward to the fig tree in the Olivet Discourse and to the lesson of the fig tree that Christ withered in Mark 11, or Paul’s discussion of the vine in Romans 11. In this case the tree branch (Judah) has produced evil flower...pride, which is an abomination to God, and from it, the fruit is violence and wickedness.
12The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 13For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
This section refers to the idea of the selling and buying of Jewish property according to Mosaical Law. When in need, an Israelite could sell his land knowing it would return to him in the year of Jubile (Lev. 25, 27). But Ezekiel warns that the buyer of the land will not now benefit from such a purchase, and the seller not mourn, because neither will be alive to concern themselves with its benefits, or if they do live, they will be in captivity too long (70 years – Daniel) to do anything about it.
14They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 15The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
God says that when the Jews blow the trumpet in warning to prepare for battle none will go forth. They would not be ready at the trumpet because of how soon God was bringing judgment against them. War and famine are once again brought against them as is pestilence.
16But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
Any who do escape will be separated from their loved ones (like doves separated from their mates).
17All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
They shall have great fear for their identity as a nation. This is more than individual fear during a time of war, this is the collective fear of the Jews that they will not survive.
18They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. 19They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity. 20As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them. 21And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it. 22My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
The Jews, so prideful of their wealth (God given) will be made prisoners, caused to shave their heads, and live in shame for their sins. Their great wealth will be plundered, even the wealth of the temple was stolen and Solomon’s glorious temple burned (2 Kings 25).
23Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. 25Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. 26Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. 27The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Jehovah will bind the land of Judah and give it to the Gentile nations. All that was Judaism will be in captivity, the royalty made the servants of the Gentiles, and the Law of Moses will be forgotten in the land.
In Truth and Love.
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*Ezekiel 29-32
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*Ezekiel 36
*Ezekiel 37
*Ezekiel 38-39
*Ezekiel 40-48
Category:Apocalyptic