Welcome to My Poetry Site
Hello there, (The bible reading is at the bottom if you would like to read it)
Ezekiel 17:1 – 18:3
Imagine driving along on a wet road and knowingly taking a bend too quickly. As the car skids, your passenger barks out instructions to regain control of the car, but you do not listen. You see a wall ahead and you want to avoid it your way even though your passenger has far more wisdom than you. The wall is coming closer and the instructions are getting more urgent, but you pay no attention, until what was recoverable becomes a huge crash.
In this metaphor of the two eagles and a vine, Ezekiel zooms into a particular time in Israel’s history where a passenger, Jeremiah, spends the latter part of his life trying to instruct the then King, Zedekiah, out of a huge skid which if not recovered from would affect him and all of the other passengers of Israel.
From the book of Jeremiah, we see that the first eagle described is Nebuchadnezzar, who deported the Israelite exiles to Babylon. He then placed Zedekiah ‘in charge’ of Israel making a treaty with him to enable political stability. This is a big skid situation and God placed Jeremiah to advise, but Zedekiah went against both God and Nebuchadnezzar by engaging with a second eagle, the then Egyptian pharaoh to fight against eagle number one.
As a result, the crash into the wall of judgement was a big one with two fatalities. Nebuchadnezzar stormed Jerusalem and deported Zedekiah and killed his sons and Israel’s army was destroyed.
But, again, as in yesterday’s reading we see that as well as God being a perfect judge, He is also Love. Looking to the future, He makes promises of replanting the tree of Israel, this time with strong roots that will not be able to be pulled away by eagles. He promises a huge thriving tree bearing much fruit where every type of bird will nest.
We hear Jesus talking in such a way when He speaks of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:31-32). Today, we form part of that growing, thriving tree, the church. Through the finished work of our Saviour Jesus Christ, we can boldly run to the throne of God when we realise we are in a skid (Hebrews 4:16). He will not punish us as we are post-resurrection people. Instead, He will love us and help us back on course because He has already punished His Son.
In running to Him, we display our submission to our Husband and our disregard for the enemy of sin. This is the opposite of the adultery in yesterday’s reading.
*******************************
Heavenly Father. Thank You for Your grace. Help us to be on-guard when we feel ourselves slipping from You so that we can run to You and be freely restored. Amen
Steve Harewood
****************************************************************************************
Ezekiel 17 scripture:
17 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ‘Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell it to the Israelites as a parable. 3 Say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: a great eagle with powerful wings, long feathers and full plumage of varied colours came to Lebanon. Taking hold of the top of a cedar, 4 he broke off its topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted it in a city of traders.
5 ‘“He took one of the seedlings of the land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water, 6 and it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned towards him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out leafy boughs.
7 ‘“But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and full plumage. The vine now sent out its roots towards him from the plot where it was planted and stretched out its branches to him for water. 8 It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine.”
9 ‘Say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? All its new growth will wither. It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots. 10 It has been planted, but will it thrive? Will it not wither completely when the east wind strikes it – wither away in the plot where it grew?”’
11 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 12 ‘Say to this rebellious people, “Do you not know what these things mean?” Say to them: “The king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and carried off her king and her nobles, bringing them back with him to Babylon. 13 Then he took a member of the royal family and made a treaty with him, putting him under oath. He also carried away the leading men of the land, 14 so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to rise again, surviving only by keeping his treaty. 15 But the king rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt to get horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the treaty and yet escape?
16 ‘“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, he shall die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke. 17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him in war, when ramps are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives. 18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.
19 ‘“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: as surely as I live, I will repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant. 20 I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment on him there because he was unfaithful to me. 21 All his choice troops will fall by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to the winds. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken.
22 ‘“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. 24 All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.
‘“I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.”’
The one who sins will die
18 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ‘What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
‘“The parents eat sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge”?
3 ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.
Scripture taken from biblegateway.com
OUT OF THE FRYING PAN (Bible study on Ezekiel 17)
