seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ezekiel 6:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them 3 and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols. 5 I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. 7 Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.
8 “‘But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. 9 Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. 10 And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.
11 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague. 12 One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I pour out my wrath on them. 13 And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak—places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols. 14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah[a]—wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
a. Ezekiel 6:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; a few Hebrew manuscripts Riblah
Still.... today.... people are worshiping their own shiny idols. Still.... today.... people are suffering from idol hardened hearts.
This is from the easy English site.
The sin that would cause disaster for Jerusalem was the worship of false gods. The worship of false gods in Israel started in the time of the judges. (In other words, the people who led Israel before the country had kings. See the Book of Judges.) Men like Samuel, David, Asa and Hezekiah had tried to stop it. But the worship of false gods did not stop. In the time of King Manasseh, the worship of false gods increased. He ruled for 55 years. By the time of Ezekiel, this evil worship was out of control.
God told Ezekiel to look toward the mountains in Israel. Ezekiel had to look in that direction as he spoke this prophecy to the *xiles.
The Lord was speaking to the mountains and hills in Israel. The tops of hills were the places where the people worshipped the false gods. The main gods were Baal and the sun god. In the streams and valleys, they worshipped other gods such as Molech.
Those who are at these altars will die there. The Lord will break down all the altars and kill the people. The dead bodies and the bones will ruin the altars. So, the altars will be unclean and people cannot again use them again for worship.
To clap the hands can be an expression of joy or pain. Here it is the pain of what is to happen to their people. The exiles will clap hands and they will put their feet down hard. They will cry out with strong emotions. They will feel how terrible it will be for the Israelites.
There will be no escape from the anger of God. Wherever the people may go, they will die of diseases. If they remain in the country called Israel, they will die by the sword. (In other words, their enemies will kill them.) Those who are in Jerusalem will die because of a lack of food. Where they worshipped their false gods, there they will die.
God will destroy all the altars and high places. God will destroy all the false gods of the Israelites. No part of the holy country will escape the anger of God. God will destroy from the desert to Diblah. This means he will destroy from the south to the north of the country. The whole of the country will be as an empty desert.
The Lord will keep some of his people alive. Then they will know that he is God.
This is from bibletrack.org.So, why will Jerusalem fall? For the same reason Israel and Judah had already fallen - idolatry and the worshipping of false gods. That's right! All of this would continue in Jerusalem until the complete fall...and all because they turned to other gods. Make no mistake about it; this was the sin that God would not tolerate. Notice the directness here of this message. Idols and high places (pagan altars) get repeated mention in this chapter. Here, as is the case throughout the Old Testament, this pagan worship is characterized as spiritual harlotry and called an "abomination." Ezekiel pulls no punches here regarding the exact sin of the inhabitants of Jerusalem causing their demise.
No one listening to Ezekiel could possibly misunderstand the reason for the wrath of God being poured out upon Jerusalem, and the means by which it would happen are once again put before them with great detail: famine, sword and exile. However, notice the one bright spot in this chapter, the remnant of verse 8. There were three major invasions by the Babylonians of the Palestine area. The first was the one here in which Daniel was taken in 605 B.C. The second was 597 B.C. when King Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim surrendered to the Babylonians and was deported along with all the other influential people in Jerusalem/Judah; Zedekiah became the puppet king (by Babylonian appointment) of Jerusalem/Judah at that time. Under King Zedekiah, Jerusalem fell completely in 587/586 B.C. when the last exiles were removed from the city. Ezekiel prophesies that some of these exiles will repent toward God.
I keep trying to make excuses for the humans...... or trying to explain why God would want to wipe them out..... but it's really simple.... these stupid humans had allowed themselves to be sold a big lie..... someone found out they could make money out of carving little statues and that's what they did.... and those stupid humans made up religious ceremonies based on those little statues..... leaving God out. On top of that.... these stupid humans had one "god" that was made of metal. They would heat that "god" up until it glowed and then they threw a baby on its "lap" as a sacrifice. While the baby burned to death.... screaming..... they sang worship songs to the "god".
Earth was set up with a couple who could procreate and populate it. Earth was supposed to be a beautiful garden of a planet..... with children running and playing...... Earth was set up as a place where God could enjoy His creations..... God told them..... He was jealous. He told them to stop playing with those statues..... they wouldn't listen.
My neighbor is really upset with the volunteers in our community. Our little community has a newsletter..... and Christmas is not mentioned in it anywhere. Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are mentioned. There was even a little blurb about Boxing Day..... but the word "Christmas" is not allowed. Reading Ezekiel.... after reading Jeremiah...... the idea of humans blotting out Christmas..... other than the presents and food [of course]...... is terrifying.
