Year 2, Week 18, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 18, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Ezekiel 13-14.

Today’s reading continues the Book of Ezekiel. Today’s reading proceeds further into the first segment of Ezekiel (chapters 1-24), which is a series of prophecies about impending judgment on the people of Judah for their persistent disobedience to the LORD. Ezekiel 13 indicts the false prophets whose words come not from the LORD but their own imaginations: “The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the LORD!” (Ezekiel 13:1-2). Much like the false prophets that Jeremiah confronted, the prophets that Ezekiel rebukes had proclaimed a false peace: “Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall!” (Ezekiel 13:10-11). Ezekiel 14, like Ezekiel 8, entails a visit to Ezekiel from the elders of Jerusalem: “And the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast” (Ezekiel 14:12-13). Instead of encouragement from Ezekiel the elders hear words of rebuke: “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations” (Ezekiel 14:6).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the nature of the rebuke that Ezekiel brought to the elders: “And the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them?” (Ezekiel 14:2-3). The elders apparently sought Ezekiel out for a consultation. The LORD refuses to allow Himself to be consulted by the elders through the prophet. Their outward interest in a inquiry with Ezekiel is incompatible with their inward infatuation with false gods: “For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the LORD will answer him myself. And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 14:7-8). The way that the LORD sees it, to devote their hearts in service to idols, while outwardly feigning loyalty to the LORD, is too offensive to the LORD. The LORD will set his face against these elders who had set their face toward false gods.

Ezekiel specifies two matters about the elder’s practice of idolatry. First, “these men have taken their idols into their hearts.” This is an important statement for understanding the nature of false worship. Often, idolatry consists of constructing a physical object or some sort of visual image: “So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 8:10). The elders certainly had these images and objects that they worshipped. The reality of images and object as the focus of false worship is a crucial element in the act of false worship: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Exodus 20:4-5a). However, Ezekiel highlights another essential component of idolatry. Idolatry need not be an external image or object; idolatry can be purely internal, that is, it can operate in the thoughts and desires of the heart. We can ascribe ultimate value to many things and believe we cannot live without; we can inordinately desire created things-good things, but we can desire them more than we desire God Himself. The thoughts and desires of our hearts, if oriented around anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ, will exert control over our emotions and pursuits.

Ezekiel specifies a second matter about the elder’s practice of idolatry. The elders also, “set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces.” While this phrase is harder to decipher and seems to only be used by Ezekiel, I would suggest that it describes the blinding effect that idols have in a person’s life. A reverence of idols keeps us from seeing reality. We become blind to reality—or at least have limited or obscured view—and therefore trip and stumble in life: "They served their idols, which became a snare to them” (Psalm 106:36). The irony of the blinding effect of worshipping a false god is that we become like what we worship: “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see…Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:4-5,8). Only as we worship the LORD can we see: “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light” (Psalm 36:7-9).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe