If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.
9 June. Ezekiel chapters 32-34
Chapter 32 continues the woe against Egypt, but with a new dimension in verses 20-32. Here Ezekiel pictures Sheol (or “the Pit”), the land of the dead – not “hell” as we imagine it but the shady underworld where the spirits of the dead live on. And the picture is of all the warriors from many nations across many centuries, all cast down unceremoniously into the “uttermost parts of the pit”. This is apparently as a punishment, all for the same offence: “they spread terror in the land of the living”. Today’s Islamist terrorists who think they are going to some kind of paradise as glorious martyrs would be better reading this, for their fate will be the same – no glory, only the “shame” of “lying with the uncircumcised” (and by implication not in God’s favour).
Chapter 33 contains several important principles. Firstly there is the reminder to Ezekiel (whose mouth is about to be opened to speak his prophecies aloud for the first time) that as a prophet he is like a watchman who is obliged to sound a warning when he sees danger, and will be held to account when he fails to do so. Then, there is the principle (not obvious in the woes and condemnations that have preceded it) that what matters to God is what people actually do now, and not what they say they will do, or their previous behaviour. To those who think of God as only punishing sin, it is important to understand this: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live” (33). At the end of the chapter Ezekiel is told that the people who love to come and hear him speak will in fact mostly not obey the message that he brings – something that all preachers and those who call for change in society are all too aware of.
Chapter 34 is one of the key passages of the Old Testament, picturing God as the good shepherd who would look after his sheep. It is a wonderful picture of a god who cares for each person’s individual needs and wants them to leave in peace. In doing so, though, it is his duty as a shepherd to stop the stronger sheep from bullying and taking advantage of the weaker ones, and to distinguish between sheep and goats. He also has to step in personally when those whom he has appointed as acting shepherds (the priests and Levites) have failed in their duty and acted selfishly with no care for the sheep. Jesus must have had this passage in mind when he told the parable of the sheep and goats Matthew 25) and also when he described himself as the “good shepherd” (John 10:11) – by implication saying he is taking over control from the religious leaders who had failed their people. No wonder they start to seek to get rid of him after that.