Ezekiel 5-8

Don't miss the pics I've posted of JJ and Smokey and Cowboy Jerry! :)

chapter 5 Oh my.....what a crazy book we are reading! Well....it IS still the OLD Testament! :) This is where Ezekiel "acts out" the siege of Jerusalem....took me a while to read and then realize what was really going on and why!! Thank goodness for commentaries! :) So these are "props" for the drama .......a large sun-dried brick on which Ezekiel draws an outline of the city; and the metal plate on which they bake their flat loaves of bread. We are in the realm of the symbol, as so often is in this book. The people watch and get the message. With growing horror they see him weigh out his meagre measure of mixed grain and eke out his water ration. T hey see the prophet wasting away, as the population of Jerusalem will do under seige. Then they watch him shave his head, sharing Jerusalem's disgrace. They will see him burn his hair and toss it away, till only a tiny handful--representing the exiles themselves--remains. It is an awesome lesson.

chapters 6-7 The acted message is reinforced by the spoken word. The people's flagrant idolatry is about to bring destruction upon themselves.....judgment from which there is no escape. They they will know that the Lord is God indeed. Terrible, total calamity is befalling the land.

chapter 8 there is total departure from the true religion of Israel. A Canaanite god has been set up in the Lord's Temple and the leaders are practicing animal worship while the women are mourning the Sumerian god. Men have turned their backs on God to worship the sun.

tomorrow: 9-12