[Also, I answer one of your questions at the end of this email.]
A theme that has been emerging over a few weeks: all the neighboring countries have blood on their hands, so to speak. [Here God speaks to Edom; i.e., Esau's descendants] “Your eternal hatred for the people of Israel led you to butcher them when they were helpless, when I had already punished them for all their sins. As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come!” (Ezekiel 35:5-6 NLT - http://bible.com/116/ezk.35.5-6.nlt )
Over and over, we find God having His prophets give similar messages to the countries surrounding Judah and Israel. God criticizes them all. During the time of the troubles God brought on His people, these neighbors either did nothing to help them or actively added to the harm. The lesson: it would be wrong of us to assume we are acting on behalf of God by adding harm to those He is already chastising or by standing idly by as it happens to them. In other words: No piling on! Instead, we should be providing comfort and assistance to them during their time of distress!
Blessings,
Steve
________________________
We’re reading The One Year Chronological Bible, New Living Translation (Tyndale). It’s best with your own copy. Or, copy and paste this link to the daily reading schedule:
_________________________
Discovery of the week: Joseph's Grandaughter (Sheerah, daughter of Ephraim) built three towns! (Sept 2nd, 1st Chronicles 7:24)
Highlights:
Lamentation falls into three days - August 26, 27, and 28. I highly recommend reading all five chapters at one sitting. That will mean backing up to yesterday for Chapter 1, and then continuing through the first reading on the 28th to pick up Chapter 5. It’s a pretty quick read, and the notes, below, should help. Also, this week: the end of Jeremiah, a little Obadiah, a lot of Ezekiel, a smidgen of 1st Chronicles, a Psalm(!), and a lot of Jesus references.
August 26th - Lamentation Chapter 1 - Fairly bleak stuff about the fall of Jerusalem. In verse 9, “Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out “ (if only she had a savior ...). And in verse 21, more of other countries rejoicing at the problems faced by God’s people.
August 27th - Lamentations 2:11 - A little fun in the midst of lamenting. Jeremiah is known as the Weeping Prophet because he reflects that so much in his two books. This passage reminded me of a duet by the great Ray Charles and the equally great Oak Ridge Boys. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czjcI4fdE44&app=desktop
August 27th - Lamentations 3:22-24 - One of the greatest passages in scripture (and one of my favorites). What makes it extraordinary is the preceding verse (21) which, in the midst of lamenting all the troubles of Jeremiah's time in service to God, he writes, "Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:" The next three verses are often used as lyrics for hymns and praise songs. One version was written by our friend, Amy Bessire. She would never have described herself as a musician. The only reason you can find her songs in hymnals and praise books is that she made up tunes to help herself memorize scriptures. Even so, she often said God gave her this one all at once. Here is Amy's version of The Steadfast Love of the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJYf9KnxwbQ&app=desktop
August 27th - Lamentations 3:27 - JESUS (God's yoke)
August 27th - Lamentations 3:30 - JESUS (turn the other cheek)
August 27th - Lamentations 4:12-13 - See who is to blame? And why? Jesus touches on this same kind of betrayal when he says it would be better for spiritual leaders to drown themselves (“millstone about their neck”) if they harm any child (Matthew 18:6).
August 28th - Lamentation 5:21 - Revive us again! The concept of revival/restoration appears all across both the Old and New Testaments. This one, as well as Psalm 85:6, feed into the hymn many us us sang in church.
August 28th - Obadiah 1:10-14 - Dealing with (i.e., helping) close relatives who are suffering ... even if they "brought it on themselves."
August 30th - Ezekiel 34 (verses 4, 8, 10a, 23) - JESUS (the GOOD Shepherd: John 10:11
August 30th - Ezekiel 34:17 (JESUS) x-ref to Matthew 28:31-46 (Separating the sheep from the goats). ALSO: Showers of blessings! ... the basis of that hymn is from 34:26
August 30th - Ezekiel 34:31 ... X-ref to Psalm 100 (among others) Sheep of God's pasture
August 30th - Ezekiel 36:26-27 Heart of stone (again ref 11:19)
August 31st - Ezekiel 37:1-14 - Dem Bones!
August 31st - Ezekiel 37:24-28 - JESUS ("My servant David ... one Shepard ... prince forever)
September 1st - Ezekiel 33:11-19 - "I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people!" And, “I judge each of you according to your deeds.”
September 1st - Psalm 137 - written during the exile to Babylon. It's a lament (with a shocking end!). Here is a portion of it (the beginning) in this very lovely song that perfectly captures all of the lamenting ... (after the brief ad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0voSWdX4jo&app=desktop
Next week:
An angel reveals to Ezekiel God's plan to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem ... "The Handwriting on the wall" ... Daniel in the Lions Den ... Cyrus defeats Babylon and releases the captives so they can return to Jerusalem.
A question about Ezekiel 18
I've been asked me to elaborate some on this passage, particularly with reference to the concept of the "sins of the fathers" visited on the children.
There are two different expressions in scripture: (1) separating the punishment to fall on the sinner, only, and (2) connecting one generation’s punishment to later generations.
On a cursory reading, it may sound like God is having it both ways. So, let’s unpack it.
Last week, I made this comment:
August 20 - Ezekiel 18:1-32 - God declares the end of making a person's descendants also paying for that person's sins: “The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.” Ezekiel 18:20 NLT - http://bible.com/116/ezk.18.20.nlt.
Cross-Ref to Jesus in John 9:1-3 ("Who sinned, this man or his parents?")
I believe the answer starts with this verse from Exodus: “You must not bow down to them [idols] or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.”
(Exodus 20:5 NLT - http://bible.com/116/exo.20.5.nlt)
It may sound, on first readings, that God is confused, but that, of course, is not the real situation. Both concepts do appear in the early books; particularly Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The difference, as noted in the Exodus passage, is this: those later generations are continuing to reject God (other translations have the word "hate" in place of "reject" ... I think the NLT gets it right.). It is the idea that they have extended the sin of their parents by continuing to act in the same, sinful, way. God never visited the sins of the fathers on descendants who turned from the evil ways of their ancestors and returned to God. We have seen abundant evidence of this in our reading, so far.
So, Ezekiel's pronouncement is a significant change in that God is saying each generation will have its own opportunity to worship or reject God, not tied in any way to the previous generation. It's a subtle change, but also a "sea change," if you will. It is a precursor to Jesus and the forgiveness of sins "once for all" brought about by His obedience and sacrifice. I think we may take this for granted, today —our sin is just ours— but we are blessed with the assurance that our sins do not fall on our children ... for any reason.
I hope that helps explain it.
No comments:
Post a Comment