This week, we shall continue the study of the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament.
After some 5 years since his call, Ezekiel has received visions and messages largely focused on warning Jerusalem of her coming judgment through the first 23 chapters of the book. We have now come to the 24th chapter which marks the fulfillment of one of the most important warnings of his message—the destruction of Jerusalem.
(1) What is the exact day this message is received by Ezekiel? (v. 1; cross reference to 1:1 as well)
(2) What is the historical importance of this very day? (v. 2; see 2 Ki. 25:1)
(3) There is no way the
news of
the siege of Jerusalem could arrive right away to the exiles in
Babylon. In light of this, consider the following questions:
a. What would this message by Ezekiel mean to the Jews in exile?
b. How should they react to this news?
(4) The parable of destruction (vv. 3-5)
a. What does the pot represent?
b. What do the choice meat and best of the bones represent?
c. What is this parable about?
(5) Its interpretation (vv. 6-8)
a. While the pot (i.e. the city of Jerusalem) will be burnt, what will happen to her people? (v. 6)
b. What is meant by emptying it piece by piece, “without casting lots for them”? (v. 6b)
c. What kind of wickedness is depicted by v. 7? (see Note below)
d. What will be the deserved punishment? (v. 8)
(6) Parable of the pot extended (vv. 9-13)
a. What is the city of Jerusalem called? (v. 9)
b. To what extent will the pot and its contents be burnt? (v. 10)
c. When even the bones are charred, what is Ezekiel to do with the empty pot? (v. 11)
d. What does it mean? (vv. 11b-12)
e. What explanation is given? (v. 13)
(7) Time has run out (v. 14)
a. How does this message differ from all the previous ones?
b. What message is also conveyed to us and to the world today?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Leviticus 17:13 stipulates that even animal blood is to be covered and laid bare as a sign of respect to life created by God. As a result, to leave human blood uncovered is to sin “in an insolent and shameless manner” (K&D, 197), showing total disrespect to human lives created by God.
Following the message of the siege of Jerusalem, the Lord asks Ezekiel to deliver the ultimate message of death and destruction of Jerusalem through the death of his wife:
(1) What does his wife mean to Ezekiel? (v. 16)
(2) What is the Lord going to do to her?
(3) To use a visual aid to teach the people and to cause the messenger of God to personally experience the message are understandable, but to take away Ezekiel’s wife―is it necessary? Has the Lord gone too far? Will it really help the people to understand their sins and repent? What do you think?
(4) In addition to her death, what is Ezekiel to do to suppress his grief? (vv. 16-17)
(5) How hard is it for him not to be able to express his grief?
(6) How did Ezekiel react to God’s command? Did he object? Did he ask “why”? Why not?
(7) Seeing what happened to Ezekiel’s wife and Ezekiel’s behavior, how did the people respond? (v. 19)
(8) Why could they recognize that this has something to do with them?
(9) What is God’s response concerning her death? (v. 21)
(10) What should the people do at the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of their sons and daughters? Why? (v. 22)
(11) How will this news of death and destruction be confirmed? (v. 26; 33:21-22)
(12) Why should the confirmation of the destruction of Jerusalem mark the opening of the tongue of Ezekiel? (3:26-27; see Note below)
(13) In what way(s) does Ezekiel serve as a sign for the people? (Please read today’s Meditative article.)
(14) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“Ezekiel remained dumb for seven and one half years until the fall of Jerusalem (cf. 33:22). Yet, between chapters 3 and 33 Ezekiel uttered many messages…(during which time) he never ministered in the streets and assemblies of the people as other prophets did…He ministered through a strange immobility…he only spoke when the Lord opened his mouth to proclaim…In other words, these verses declare that Ezekiel would spend the seven and one-half years until the fall of Jerusalem (cf. 33:22) withdrawn from the community of the exiles and muted by God except to announce the warnings of God’s judgment, which God would enable him to recite, to those who came to him.”
(Alexander, 18)
25:1-7—Oracle against the Ammonites
From chapter 25 onward Ezekiel receives a series of oracles from the Lord to “set his face” against the nations of the world, most of whom are traditional enemies of Israel. The first oracle is against the Ammonites (see Note 1 below):
(1) To what did the Ammonites say “Aha"? (v. 3)
(2) Why should they be judged because of this? (v. 6)
(3) Who will be used to punish to them? (v. 4)
(4) What will this nation, especially its capital city, Rabbah, turn into? (vv. 4-5)
(5) What will be its final destiny? (v. 7)
25:8-11—Oracle against Moab (see Note 2 below)
(6) What did the Moabites do at the fall of Judah? (v. 8)
(7) Why should they be judged because of this?
(8) What will their punishment be? (vv. 9-10)
(9) For both Ammon and Moab, what is God’s ultimate desire in inflicting punishment on them? (vv. 7, 11)
(10) How is it going to be fulfilled? (see Jer. 48:47; 49:6)
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note 1:
Gad was allotted
the Trans-Jordan territory that belonged to the Ammonites, and it was not until the deportation of part of
Israel by Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria in 733
B.C. (2 Ki. 15:29) and the subsequent collapse of Israel that enabled the
Ammonites to retake Gad’s territory. Historically Ammon’s relationship with Israel was unfriendly (Jdg. 11:
4-33; 1 Sam. 11:1-11; 2 Sam. 10; 1 Ki. 4:13-19; 2 Ki. 24:2). Note in particular Amos’ rebuke of Ammon
(Amos 1:13-15). Ammon eventually fell
victim to the Arabs before the middle of the 6th century B.C. and
ceased to exist as an independent nation.
(see NICOT, Jeremiah, 716).
Note 2:
Moab was traditionally an enemy of Israel and hostility between the two nations went back to the days of the Exodus. The end of Moab as an independent nation seems to have come in 582 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar, no doubt because of a rebellion, marched against Moab and Ammon (see NICOT, Jeremiah, 701). It is worth-noting that Ruth, the wife of Boaz, the forefather of David and our Lord Jesus Christ (in His earthly genealogy) was a Moabite (Matt. 1:5; Ruth 1).
25:12-14—The Oracle against Edom (see Note 1 below)
(1) What is Edom guilty of? (v. 12)
(2) How did they take revenge on the house of Judah? (see Amos 1:11; Ezek. 36:1-5, especially v. 5)
(3) What will their punishment be? (v. 13, see Note 1 below as well)
(4) However, v. 14 speaks of a future revenge by the hand of God’s people. What does it mean? (see Isa. 11:14; Amos 9:11-12)
25:15-17―The Oracle against Philistia (see Note 2 below)
(5) What are the Philistines guilty of? (v. 15; cf. Zeph. 2:10)
(6) What aspects of their sins are being emphasized by the Lord? (v. 15)
(7) What will their punishment be? (vv. 16-17; see Note 2 below)
(8) What is the message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note 1:
Edom was also a long-term adversary of Israel (see Num.
20:14-21; Jdg. 11:17; 2 Sam. 8:13-14; 1 Ki. 11:14-22; 2 Ki. 8:20-22; 14:22;
16:5-6; 2 Chr. 25:14), but Israel was forbidden to ill-treat them since they
were their brothers (Deut. 2:4; 23:7-8: Gen. 36:1ff).
“The threatened devastation of the land of Edom was brought about by the Chaldeans, as is clear from Mal. 1:3; but the annihilation of the people was commenced by the Maccabeans, and completed by the Romans, about the time of the Jewish War.”
(K&D, Jeremiah, 412-3).
Note also that Teman literally means “south”, Dedan likely refers to the Dedanites who may have settled in Edom.
Note 2:
The Philistines were sea people who came into Palestine in the 12th and 11th centuries B.C. from Crete, their original home (Amos 9:7). The Philistines had long been enemies of Israel even since the time of their settlement in the Promised Land. Some of the well-known conflicts between them include that of Samson in the time of the Judges (Jdg. 13-16) and David and Goliath (1 Sam. 17). Their five major cities often mentioned in the Bible were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron (see Jos. 13:3 for example). The prophecy was fulfilled in 604/3 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar overran Ashkelon after a siege.
As previously noted, from chapter 25 onwards, Ezekiel’s prophecies are directed against various nations, but the bulk of the prophecies concern two nations, namely Tyre and Egypt—the only two nations which continued to resist the dominance of Babylon. Chapters 26-28 are devoted to prophecies and messages against Tyre and Sidon (see Note below).
26:1-17—The Prophecy Proper
(1) When did this oracle come to Ezekiel about the destruction of Tyre? (v. 1)
(2) When was Jerusalem conquered by Nebuchadnezzar? (2 Ki. 25:3)
(3) What is Tyre guilty of? (v. 2)
(4) What is the motive behind its rejoicing over the misfortune of Jerusalem? (v. 2)
(5) What lesson can we learn from this? (See Isa. 23:9 for the reason for God to bring down a nation like Tyre.)
(6) Because the fulfillment of this prophecy spans across some 250 years in history, it is important to pay attention to the details of this prophecy, with vv. 3-6 being a more general description of the punishment of Tyre:
a. Who will be used to punish Tyre? (v. 3)
b. What will happen to her walls and her towers? (v. 4a)
c. What will (eventually) happen to the rubble (the rocks and wood)? (v. 4b)
d. How will her prosperity be changed? (v. 5)
e. What will happen to her possessions? (v. 5b)
f. What will happen to her people? (v. 6)
(7) Specific details of her destruction (vv. 7-14)
a. Who will be the invaders? (v. 7)
b. What will happen to her residents and how will the city be destroyed? (vv. 8-11)
c. What will happen to their possessions and goods? (v. 12)
d. What will happen to the rubble? (v. 12b)
e. What will her fortune and prosperity be changed into? How? (vv. 13-14)
f. How final will their fate be? (v. 14b)
(8) From
the brief information given below (gathered mainly through secular historical
records), consider these questions:
a. What is the most amazing part of this prophecy?
b. How does it help affirm your belief in the credibility of the Bible as the Word of God?
26:15-18—A Shock to the Nations
(9) Why would Tyre’s destruction be such a shock to the coastal nations?
(10) How does their lament show what kind of a city Tyre was?
26:19-21—Her Banishment to the Underworld
(11) Beyond her extinguishment from the surface of the earth, why is her judgment described in language that resembles the judgment of those in Noah’s time? (see 2 Pet. 2:5)
(12) What is the message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
The history of Tyre has been traced to the early 3rd millennium B.C., but the city’s significant contacts with Israel began under the united monarchy. In secular history, the other city within its kingdom, Sidon is often referred to and according to Homer is synonymous with “Phoenician”. However, politically the seat of power appeared to be transferred to the city of Tyre and thus the “king of Tyre” is often used to reflect this reality. Thus, Tyre and Sidon denote the same territorial state, with Tyre being looked upon as the queen of the sea merchants — a very prosperous and wealthy city with its mainland protected by an almost impregnable fortress which took Nebuchadnezzar 13 years (from 586-583) to eventually conquer (Ant. 10:11.1), at which point the king of Tyre and his noblemen escaped to its island about a mile to the west. With many of their treasures still coveted by Alexander the Great, he eventually scraped all the rocks and woods, which remained after the old city was torn down by the Babylonians, into the sea to form a pathway to conquer the city on the island some 240 years later (in 332 B.C.). Also consult today's Meditative Article.
Ezekiel’s second oracle against Tyre is in the form of a lament which incidentally shows the magnificent glory and pride of the city.
27:1-11—The Glory of Tyre—manifested in the ships (those who love boats would have a deeper appreciation of this message, no doubt)
(1) How strategically is the city located? (v. 2; see Note below)
(2) How does Tyre see herself and how has her beauty come about? (v. 4)
(3) Four kinds of wood are mentioned here (vv. 5-6: note that Senir is the name for Hermon in the OT)
a. What are the four kinds?
b. What is each kind used for?
c. What does Ezekiel seek to portray here?
(4) Mast and awnings (v. 7)
a. What kinds of materials are used for their sails and awnings?
b. What does the use of world-famous linen from Egypt and highly valued Laconian purple even for sails and awnings indicate?
(5) Crew members and soldiers (vv. 8-11)
a. The ships are manned by famous Phoenician seamen, including those from Tyre (v. 8)
b. The ships are maintained by skilled craftsmen from Gebal (Byblos) who were famously used by Solomon. (v. 9; see 1 Ki. 5:18)
c. Her mercenaries are drawn from far and wide — from Africa to their northern neighbors (vv. 10-11)
d. How have all these “brought her beauty to perfection”? (v. 11)
27:12-24—Her International
Trade—Describe the kind of trade done with Tyre by the peoples in (6)-(17):
(6) The people from the far west city of Tarshish (likely Spain) (v. 12). Why?
(7) The Greeks (v. 13)
(8) The people to the far north, men of Beth Togarmah (Ezekiel 38:6; the Armenians) (v. 14)
(9) The men of Rhodes (a region north of Tyre) (v. 15)
(10) Aram (more likely the hinterland of Syrians than Edomites) (v. 16)
(11) Judah and Israel (v. 17)
(12) Damascus (v. 18)
(13) The Danites (likely Arabian tribe) and Greeks (v. 19)
(14) Dedan (a central Arabian oasis) (v. 20)
(15) The Arabian princes (v. 21)
(16) The merchants of Sheba and other south-western Arabian people (v. 22)
(17) Haran and other Mesopotamian people (vv. 23-24)
(18) What kind of a picture is painted by Ezekiel of Tyre?
(19) Which modern city can you think of that might be comparable to Tyre?
(20) How would you describe the people of such a successful city?
(21) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“Insular Tyre possessed two harbors, a northern one called the Sidonian, because it was on the Sidonian side, and one on the opposite or south-eastern side, which was called the Egyptian harbor from the direction in which it pointed. The Sidonian was the more celebrated of the two, and consisted of an inner harbor, situated within the wall of this city and an outer one, formed by a row of rocks which lay at a distance of about three hundred paces to the north-west of the island, and ran parallel to the opposite coast of the mainland, so as to form a roadstead in which ships could anchor.“
(K&D, 219)
27:25-31—The Imminent Shipwreck
(1) With her unparalleled prosperity and impregnable fortresses, do you think Tyre would think of the day of her destruction?
(2) Would the world think she will suddenly disappear from the face of the earth? (v. 25)
(3) What will cause the ship to break into pieces? (v. 26)
(4) What does the “east wind” refer to? (v. 26)
(5) Who and what will be brought down along with her? (v. 27)
(6) What impact would her shipwreck have on those who have been reaping the prosperity of Tyre and why? (vv. 28-31)
27:32-36—The Lament of the Sailors
(7) How do they compare the shipwrecked Tyre with her former glory? (v. 32)
(8) How do they remember the former glory of Tyre? (v. 33)
(9) How do they depict the demise of Tyre? (v. 34)
(10) How does Ezekiel describe the response to her demise by the following?
a. Her coastal neighbors, especially their kings. Why? (v. 35)
b. The Merchants who used to do business with them. Why? (v. 36)
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?