Ezekiel - Lesson 34

Lesson 34. What's wrong with these pictures? Images of Ezekiel's world as the lights go out. Ezekiel 33, 21 to 33. Chapter 33 concludes with three short fragments which initially appear unrelated but upon closer inspection contribute to a telling picture of the world where Ezekiel lived. The first segment, verses 21 and 22, sets the historical and chronological background for the two images painted literarily in the second and third frames. Verses 23 to 29 and 30 to 33 respectively. Verses 23 to 29 open the window into the world in and around Jerusalem of which Ezekiel had been speaking between 593 BC when this exiled priest was called to prophetic watchman duty and 585 BC when he received word that his siren call had been fulfilled. Yahweh had appeared in Jerusalem and Judah and poured out his fury on his people and his land just as he had predicted. All that remained was a devastated landscape and a handful of pathetic Judahites trying to salvage the scraps of life that were left over. Verses 30 to 33 open the window into the world of the exiles in Babylon where the prophet himself lived. In a rare moment, the prophet painted himself into this literary picture. These images are important for us to understand the significance of 586 BC for the fate of Yahweh's covenant with his people and to set the stage for the oracles of restoration that will follow in chapters 34 to 48. The good, good news is just around the corner. But let's look at these three snapshots, three images. Image number one, the final word, the city has fallen, 33, 28, 1 to 22. Now in the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a certain survivor from Jerusalem came to me and announced, the city has been struck. Now the hand of Yahweh had come upon me the previous evening by the time the survivor had arrived, and he had opened my mouth prior to his coming to me in the morning. Thus, my mouth was opened and I was no longer dumb. Without warning, a narrative autobiographical fragment interrupts Ezekiel's prophetic messages. This historical note reports two events of great consequence for the exiles and for Ezekiel. First, it reports the arrival of a fugitive from Jerusalem at Ezekiel's house with the announcement, the city has been struck. The prophet did not name the bearer of the tidings, but to Ezekiel, this anonymous survivor, Palit. Remember Pelletiah, who died suddenly when he was issuing one of these warnings? This Palit was no ordinary escapee who had just spent five or six months on the fly. Had he been fleeing from the Babylonians, he would undoubtedly have headed in the opposite direction to Egypt, like Gedaliah's assassins and Jeremiah's kidnappers did, Jeremiah 43-44. Or he would have fled to the mountains of Judah, compare 7.16. He would certainly not have fled to the land of his conquerors. This man was probably a member of the first wave of prisoners deported to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar's army had burned the city, 2 Kings 25.11. If this is correct, then his arrival confirmed the divine word. In 2425-27, Yahweh had predicted that such a person would arrive at the prophet's house to announce that Yahweh had taken away the people's stronghold, their pride and joy, and the delight of their eyes. To the rest of the exiles in Babylon, the message of Jerusalem's fall represented the worst news imaginable. But for Ezekiel, it meant vindication as a true prophet of Yahweh. The text dates the man's arrival as 5 Tevet of the twelfth year of the exile, that is January 8, 585 B.C. Now, if Jerusalem had fallen on July 14, 586, 2 Kings 25.8, it took the bearer of the news slightly less than six months to reach Ezekiel.This figure is reasonable in the light of Ezra 7.9, which notes that an entire company of returning exiles made the return journey from Babylon to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. in five months. So it all makes sense. Second, the text notes that on the day Ezekiel learned of Jerusalem's fall, he regained his normal speech. The text seems disinterested in the impact of the heralds coming on the exiles, or even the messenger's own emotion. However, several years earlier, Ezekiel had anticipated this day. He had said, some survivors will be left in it, some of their sons and daughters who are being brought out. Look at them coming out to you. But when you see how they have behaved and how treacherously they have acted, you will breathe easier, necham, literally, be relieved over the disaster that I have inflicted upon Jerusalem. That is, over everything that I have brought upon her. And they will let you breathe easier, be relieved, when you see how they have behaved and how treacherously they have acted. Then you will know that it was not without good reason that I have treated her this way. The declaration of the Lord Yahweh, that is 1422-23. However, in our text, the prophet has focused attention on himself, because for him, the symbolic significance of the moment was gigantic. At the time of his call to prophetic priestly ministry in 593 BC, Yahweh had placed severe restrictions on the prophet. Go, shut yourself up inside your house, chapter 3, verses 24-27. As for you, human, they have placed cords on you and tied you up with them, and you will be unable to go out among them. But I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be speechless. You will not serve as an intercessor on their behalf, because they are a rebellious household. But whenever I speak with you, then I will open your mouth, then you shall say to them, Thus has the Lord Yahweh declared. If anyone will listen, let him listen. If anyone refuses, let him refuse. After all, they are a rebellious household. Almost exactly two years ago, on January 5, 587, Yahweh had declared to Ezekiel, As for you, human, surely on the day I take away their stronghold, their pride, the delight of their eyes, and the inspiration of their lives, their sons and daughters, on that day the fugitive will come to you to let your own ears hear it. On that day, your mouth will be open toward the fugitive, and you will speak. You will be dumb no longer. You will be an omen, mo'faith, for them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.Our text, Ezekiel 33, 22, creates the impression that Yahweh had carefully orchestrated the entire scenario. The sequence of events had begun the previous evening when the hand of Yahweh had come upon Ezekiel, that is, overwhelmed his prophet, chapter 3, 14 to 15. Ezekiel did not report how the divine hand manifested itself this time, but the results were dramatic. Echoing the prediction in 24, 25 to 7, 27, he wrote, Then my mouth was opened, and I was speechless no longer. Although he did not mention the loosening of his tongue that Yahweh had stuck to the roof of his mouth, 3, 26, the comment, And I was no longer speechless, celebrated the lifting of the sentence that had been imposed upon him more than seven years earlier. Apparently, Ezekiel felt the effects of his liberation at two levels. On the surface, now he was freed to engage in ordinary speech as a private individual again. His years of enforced non-verbal communication were over. At a deeper level, though, this event would signal a dramatic shift in his ministry. Finally, he could assume the role of a normal prophet interceding for the nation before Yahweh and offering messages of hope for the future. So long as the temple and the city had stood, these basic functions had been denied him. Although he would occasionally issue diatribes, 33, 24 to 29, 34, 1 to 10, after this, but he would focus on a new day when the corrupt tenets of official theology would be replaced by authentic spirituality and Yahweh would reconstitute the nation as his covenant people. But this change would not be credited to the people's greater receptivity. Like his dumbness and everything else about his ministry, it proceeded entirely from Yahweh's initiative and according to his own schedule. However, for Ezekiel, the burden had been lifted. Now he could anticipate the future with liberated tongue and spirit. But I'm sure this was mixed for him because now that he was free to engage in casual, informal conversation again, his one conversational partner that was dearest to him, his wife, was gone. But he said nothing about that. Ezekiel’s liberation seems to have coincided with coming of the hand of Yahweh upon him the night before. Overnight, both Ezekiel and Yahweh were vindicated. The liberated prophet stood before his people as a mofaith, a sign, an omen that is living proof of the veracity of the divine word. It took only two short words from the lips of the survivor to silence his opponent's charges of falsehood and empty pronouncements, 1221 to 28. The city has fallen, or the city has been struck in Hebrew, only two words. Yahweh had confirmed the word of his servant. Now it was time for the exiles to acknowledge the true prophet in their midst. Compare this with Jeremiah 28.9. But this event also vindicated Yahweh. He was not an impotent deity superseded by the God of the mighty Babylonians as some imagined. He was in firm control of all events, even the destruction of his own city and temple. He, Yahweh, not Marduk, declared events before they transpired, a prominent theme in Isaiah. It is not that the words themselves had any inherent or independent power that moves the world and itself become history, as some suppose, but that Yahweh, the sovereign Lord of history, speaks and performs accordingly.Above the mockery, the skepticism, and unbelief of the audience, through his prophet's liberation, Yahweh shouted from heaven, I am Yahweh, I have spoken, I have acted. That was image number one. Image number two, the final disputation, staking their claims 33-23-29. Although geographically Jerusalem and Babylon were separated by 500 miles of desert as the raven flies, the juxtaposing of the remaining two segments in this chapter is natural because both literary pictures pertain to the period immediately following the fall of Jerusalem. Following the note in verses 21-22, the city has been struck. These oracles orient the reader to the mentality of the two Judean populations that remained after the national tragedy, those few that scrounged to survive in the homeland after the destruction of the city and the exilic population in Babylon.In demonstrating the hardened condition of both groups, these segments of text function as conclusions to the first phase of Ezekiel's preaching, rather than as preludes to the second. Like the loosening of the prophet's tongue in the announcement of Jerusalem's fall, their persistent obstinacy and stubbornness also confirmed the veracity of the divine word, 2-1-3-15. Verses 24-29 represent a remarkable hybrid prophecy. On the one hand, it exhibits three elements of a classic prophetic proof saying, the motivation, verses 24-26, the pronouncement of judgment, verses 27-28, and the recognition formula, verse 29. Its goal was to demonstrate the character of Yahweh. However, it also bears the structural marks of a classical disputation oracle, a thesis expressed as a quotation of a popular saying, verse 24, a dispute, verses 25-26, and then a counter-thesis, verses 27-29. As such, the prophet intended to refute popular opinion. The popular quotation is given in verses 23-24. After the opening word-event formula, Ezekiel heard Yahweh's report of what was happening far away in the ruins of Judah.Human, this is how the people living in these ruins in the land of Israel are arguing. Even though Abraham was only one person, still he had claim to the land. However, we are many. Surely the land has been handed over to us as a possession. Well, the links between this citation and that found in an oracle delivered more than six years earlier, 11-14-21, are striking. First, while Ezekiel's rhetorical audience consisted of compatriots in exile in Babylon, like that earlier text in 11-14-21, this prophecy focused on the population behind in Jerusalem in the homeland. According to 2 Kings 25-12, Nebuchadnezzar's field commander had left the poorest of the land behind to try to maintain the Judean agricultural economy. Some have estimated the surviving remnant of Judah after the deportation and the migration to Egypt that followed the assassination of Gedaliah was as few as 20,000 people or fewer, that's all, of the once innumerable host. Although many of the outlying villages had been pillaged by the Babylonian troops, obviously the land was not totally emptied of inhabitants. Unlike the Assyrian, 2 Kings 17, the Babylonians did not transplant people from other territories to replace the populations of conquered lands. Second, as in 11-15, the prophet got his knowledge of the Judean scene from Yahweh himself. He wasn't waiting for a messenger to come and report what was happening. Like the rest of Ezekiel's pronouncements, this oracle did not represent his personal response to the crisis, but Yahweh's response. He was the one offended by the territorial claims being made. Third, in both oracles, the issue addressed concerned illegitimate claims of the inhabitants, the ones who remained, to the real estate of Judah.Indeed, the last clause of verse 24, to us the land has been given as a possession, echoes 11-15. The earlier claimants to the land had based their disposition on theological grounds. Assuming the integrity of the deity people land association, this triangle, they had argued that since the exiles found themselves outside the land of Israel, they had been rejected by Yahweh, the divine landlord, and he had transferred the rights to their property to those who stayed behind.Well, in the present instance, the people's reasoning took the form of a totally secular a-for-theory argument. Abraham was an individual, echad chayah Avraham, still he possessed the land, but we are many, v'anachanu rabbim, so the land has been given to us as a possession. These people did not acknowledge the ancient tradition of Yahweh's oath to Abraham, Genesis 13, 14-17, etc., or the tradition that the Israelite occupation of the land was the fulfillment of that promise, Exodus 6, 2-8, Deuteronomy 1-8, and many other texts.Nor did they hint at Yahweh's covenant with Abraham to be God to him and to his descendants. They seemed to know nothing of the truth expressed in Isaiah 41-8, where Yahweh spoke endearingly of his people as Israel, my servant, Jacob, my chosen, seed of Abraham, my friend. For the survivors, after the destruction of the temple, all theological arguments had become irrelevant. Since Yahweh no longer resided in the land, he had no authority to determine who should own it. The reference to Abraham's insignificance, specifically, he was only one person, recalls Isaiah 51-2, as one I called him. But the tone was totally different. Not only did these folks completely overlook the role of Yahweh, but they also exploited the patriarch for purely self-interested purposes. If he, as one person, could possess the land, Yarash, even though he was only a single person, how much more should not we, since we are numerous? Well, the popular citation is patently inaccurate and perverse. On the one hand, they underestimated the patriarch's significance and overestimated their own.Abraham had indeed entered the land as the only male in his family, but by the time he had expelled the Mesopotamian alliance in Genesis 14, he was the head of a large household, and he had established himself as a major force in the region. By contrast, although the population of survivors in Jerusalem certainly exceeded the patriarch's clan, it was hardly numerous, even by ancient national standards, let alone the standards set by Yahweh's promise to Jerusalem, that his descendants would be as numerable, innumerable, as the stars of the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Genesis 13, 16, 15, 5, and elsewhere. On the other hand, they overestimated the patriarch's territorial rights. Although Abraham had lived in the land, he never actually possessed it. Indeed, had he not encountered congenial Hittites at Hebron, he would not even have had a place to bury his wife, Genesis 23. Tradition consistently portrays him as a sojourner in an alien land, Hebrews 11, 13 to 16. In fulfillment of Yahweh's word, actual possession of the land was delayed for centuries until his descendants had become a numerous people, as predicted and fulfilled by Yahweh. You can read it in Genesis 15, 12 to 21. The people's lack of spiritual sensitivity and smug self-interest contrasted with Abraham's total dependence on God. Ironically, those whom others described as the poorest of the land, 2 Kings 25, 12, have succumbed to the long-standing temptation of hubris. The faith of Abraham had been replaced by Darwinian materialism. The fittest have survived. We see this reorientation also in the survivor's disposition toward the exiles. Whereas 11, 14 to 21 had portrayed the Jerusalemites looking down their noses upon their deported kinsmen, now the exiles were out of the picture entirely. They’re not even thinking about them. The survivors back home expressed no thought for the welfare of those exiled compatriots nor any anticipation of their return. Their world had shrunk to the physical property on which they tried to scrounge a living. Not a very impressive bunch, I would think. The prophet's response, verses 25 to 29, the word therefore, l'chaim, followed by the divine injunction to the prophet to speak and a citation formula at the beginning of verse 25 signal a transition from thesis to refutation. The refutation consists of two parts, a dispute of the people's claim, verses 25 to 26, and the counter-thesis, 27 to 29.Here is Ezekiel's dispute of the people's claim, 25 to 26, you eat flesh that contains blood, you raise your eyes toward your worthless idols, you shed blood, still you claim the land. You have relied on the sword, you have committed abominations, you have defiled one another's wives, still you claim the land. Ezekiel's statement exposed the impious logic of the claimants to the territory of Judah by raising the debate to the theological plane. Far from deserving title to the land, the survivors had disqualified themselves by their wanton disregard for the responsibilities with being heirs of the Abrahamic promise. Yahweh presented his case with six specific charges in two groups of three, each of which ends with a rhetorical question. Should you then possess the land? First, the survivors in Jerusalem ate meat from which the blood had not been drained 24-7. Compare this 24-7. This taboo dated back to the time of Noah, Genesis 9, 4-6, but Yahweh built it into Israel's constitution, Leviticus 17, 10-16 and 19-26. But this was a cancel culture movement, not only 1 Samuel 14, 32-34, but Lazar, the council of the apostles in Jerusalem, had determined that the taboo remained in force for Christians as well.Second, they paid homage to worthless idols, that is, they raised their eyes to dung pellets, there's that word again, piles of manure. In Ezekiel 18, 6, 12 and 15, the prophet had linked this expression with social ills of all sorts, including violence and oppression. Third, they committed murder. Literally, they poured out blood. In chapter 22, Ezekiel had associated this euphemism for murder with all sorts of abominable deeds. Fourth, they depended on violence. The idiom, to stand upon one's sword, occurs only here in the Bible, Hebrew Bible. The assassination of the governor Gedaliah, Jeremiah 41, and the need for another deportation by Nebuchadnezzar in 582 BC, Jeremiah 52, 30, reinforced the image of lawlessness in the land. It sounds like downtown Chicago.You stand on your guns. Five, they committed abhorrent actions, that is, abominations. As we have often mentioned, this word, toevah, served as a general expression for social and religious crimes that were the most heinous in God's sight.6, 9, 18, 6 to 7, and many other places. Six, they defiled one another's wives, presumably with all sorts of adulterous affairs. Compare 18, 6, 18, 15, 22, 11. Ezekiel’s strategy was deliberate. He characterized the inhabitants of the ruins as the antithesis to the patriarch, for whom the promise of land was accompanied by the injunction to walk before God, to be blameless before him, Genesis 17, 1, 8. But note also the explicit statement in Genesis 18, 19, I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he promised him, Genesis 18, 19. With their greed, violence, and unrighteousness, the survivors had demonstrated that they possessed neither morality nor faith.Their actions betrayed the nature of their hearts. You are what you do. While the prophets' accusations drew attention to Yahweh's charge to Abraham and more fully to the stipulations of Yahweh's covenant with the nation of Israel, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the integrity of the tripartite deity-people-land relationship depended upon covenantal fidelity. The moral degeneracy exhibited by these ritual and social ills had disqualified this generation from any legitimate claims to the promised land. Well, this refutation leads then to Ezekiel's counter-thesis. Let me give you an alternative interpretation, 27 to 29. This is what you shall say to them. Thus has the Lord Yahweh declared, By my life, as I live, whoever is found in the ruins will fall by the sword. Whoever is found out in the open field I have handed over to as food for the animals, whoever is found in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the plague. I will turn the land into an utter desolation. Her pride in her power will cease, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate without anyone passing through. And they will know that I am Yahweh when I turn the land into an utter desolation on account of all the abominable acts that they have committed. A second command to the prophet to speak followed by the citation formula in verse 27 signaled the announcement of the counter-thesis. Yahweh cast his statement in the form of a strongly worded sentence typical of judgment speeches followed by an expanded version of the recognition formula. The opening oath formula, By my life, as I live, reflects the passion with which Yahweh pronounced the judgment upon the surviving remnant in the homeland. As if the horrors of the past were not enough, Yahweh exploded all false claims to security by summoning his three great agents of wrath. The sword will smite those found among the ruins of the city, wild animals will devour those out in the open fields, and the plague will strike down those who have sought refuge in strongholds and caves. We've heard variations of this triad many times in the book. But the links to 14, 12 to 23 are particularly impressive. In verse 28, Ezekiel listed the effects of these further acts of judgment. But these were not new in kind, only in degree, total desolation.Compare the statement here with 6, 14, 15, 8, 29, 10, and 12, and 32, 15. Total desolation, utter humiliation, compare 7, 24, 36, 30, 18, and ruthless depopulation, compare 14, 15. After the devastation of 586 BC, it is remarkable that further destruction was even possible.Obviously, the handful of survivors of that tragedy had not learned their lesson and their conduct continued to provoke the wrath of God. Therefore, their Abrahamic connection offered them no privilege, let alone refuge. The concluding recognition formula expressed the divine aim in his harsh treatment of the inhabitants of the ruins, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I turn the land into an utter desolation on account of all the abominable acts that they have committed, verse 29. Yahweh continued to seek acknowledgement of his action and his person. The expansion summarizes both the divine involvement and the human causation behind these devastated historical events. This is an awful snapshot of life in the homeland, but it prepares the way for the final image here, image number three, the final vindication, 33, 30 to 33. As for you human, your compatriots, your fellow exiles are talking about you near the walls and in the doorways of the houses. Each person proposes to his fellow as follows, come and hear what the message is that issues forth from Yahweh. So my people come to you in droves, literally, like the coming of people, and they sit before you. They hear your words, but they refuse to act on them because they act only with lust in their mouths, and their hearts pursue nothing but ill-gotten wealth. Look, to them you are like a singer of sensual songs with a beautiful voice and a fine musical touch. They hear your words, but they refuse to put them into practice. But when it comes, and come it certainly will, then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst. The opening, as for you human, refocuses attention on the exilic situation, specifically the prophet and his relationship to the Judeans with him in Babylon. Here, Ezekiel's divine master checked in with his officially designated spokesman. Surely the prophet was well aware of the exile's rejection of his ministry. But the aim of this report is clear, to offer the prophet divine pastoral encouragement at the conclusion of this most unpleasant and what must have been a most frustrating phase of his ministry. Yahweh had forewarned Ezekiel of public opposition at the time of his call and commissioning, but he had promised that if he would faithfully fulfill his charge, the reward would be public recognition of his prophetic status.So now when the prophet had reached this stage, Yahweh invited him to see beyond the hardness of his audience and take consolation in his relationship with himself, with Yahweh. This was Yahweh's personal pastoral word for his spokesman, following up on 2921, where we heard, in that day I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel and I will grant to you opening of the mouth in their midst, then they will know that I am Yahweh. Yahweh hereby reassured Ezekiel that he was aware of all that he had endured and reminding him that recent events had vindicated his status and role as a true prophet. In contrast to the fake prophets in chapter 13. Here we catch a rare glimpse into Ezekiel's personal interactions with his countrymen in Babylon. Of course, we have had some hints about the exile's disposition toward him.From 14.3 and 23, we learn that the elders sought to exploit his presence among them for revelatory purposes. But Ezekiel's response to these overtures had been harsh. According to 8.1, the appearance of the elders before the prophet in his house had precipitated the vision of the abominations in the temple and the departure of the divine glory.When that vision had ended, Ezekiel had reported to his visitors all that he had seen, 11.25, but he left no hint there about how they reacted. The oracles in 12.21 to 28 suggest that many in his audience rejected his predictions as empty and irrelevant. And in 20.49, they dismissed him disparagingly as a spinner of parables. However hostile Ezekiel's compatriots might have been in the past. This text suggests that by the time Jerusalem fell, the relationship between prophet and audience had become casual at least, if not friendly. Apparently, his compatriots, B'nai Amechah, sons of your people, freely entered and left his house and his life.They were in and out After opening with the characteristic direct address of the prophet, Yahweh began with a thesis type statement. Apparently the whole community of exiles was talking about Ezekiel. The reference to the walls and the doorways, this is a merism, suggesting that wherever people found shade from the scorching Mesopotamian sun, and whenever they had time for a quick chat, Ezekiel's name surfaced as the subject of discussion.Specifically, his Judean neighbors egged each other on to go to the prophet's house and receive a message from Yahweh. We've heard, Zeke's got another word, let's go. The direct quotation in verse 30 reflects their true disposition. Come and hear what the message is that issues forth from Yahweh. This overtly theological statement contrasts with the secular claims of the inhabitants of Jerusalem's ruins quoted in the previous text. On the surface, the statement assumed important facts. One, Yahweh exists and is a factor in the exiled community's thinking, even after the debacle of 586 BC. I guess that's positive. Two, Yahweh speaks even on foreign soil of Babylon.And three, Ezekiel is his spokesman. Obviously, the prophet no longer needed to summon his people to attention. They came on their own. To the casual observer, the people's response to Ezekiel's ministry appears impressive. Verse 31 presents the exiles as disciples, eager to learn all they can from some great teacher. So they come in droves and they crowd into his house and sit in front of him, like the enthusiastic of responses of crowds that gather to hear motivational speakers. This scene exhibits all the signs of oratorial success. Even the reference to disciples as my people, that is Yahweh's people, they come as if they were my people, suggests that all was normal in the relationship between the people on the one hand and the prophet and the deity on the other hand. However, verses 31b to 32 speak of a vast difference between the reality and the facade. The people's apparent eagerness for a word from Yahweh camouflaged a blatant refusal to take that word seriously. The report cited two symptoms of the people's attitude. First, their presence before the prophet was motivated by a craving for the sensuous and the sensational. Erotic speech was on their lips, and Ezekiel had become for them a singer of erotic songs. Ezekiel's oracles titillated his hearers. They offered temporary satisfaction, but like any other addiction, they drove his audience back for more. Second, his people were motivated by greed. I'm not sure of the connection, but their heart commitment was to gain, and they would use any means, violent or unjust, to satisfy their avarice, their greed. Totally self-interested, they thought they could manipulate God through this prophet. These are the twin sins of insincerity, sensuality, and greed. The former explains the people's interest in Ezekiel's message. The latter accounts for the refusal to heed that message. Verse 32 elaborates only on the former, perhaps because Ezekiel had dealt with the problem of greed earlier in other oracles. To the people, the prophet himself was like a crooner, a singer of love songs. He was an American idol, or rather, an alien Judean idol in the Babylonian world of the exiles, an entertainer renowned for his beautiful voice, and skill in playing the instrument. I didn't know Ezekiel had a guitar with him. This observation goes far beyond Isaiah 5, 1 to 7, where more than 100 years earlier, that prophet had actually used an inspired love song as a medium of prophetic communication. But the exiles treated Ezekiel perversely, as a pop star, the hottest ticket in town. He was like a video game, a circus act. His people were entertained by his announcements of judgment and appeals for repentance, and despite the horrors of Ezekiel's verbal images of judgment, they kept coming back for more, entertained by scenes of violence. Instead of dealing with the truth to which his messages called attention, his antics and utterances provided an escape from reality. Rhetorical form had overshadowed rhetorical function. Artistry had interfered with communication. Of course, the prophet was not to blame for what the people did with his performances. It was not his fault that they got carried away by his rhetorical genius and idolized the medium of communication, while hard-heartedly and flint-facedly rejecting his message. This episode laid the responsibility squarely on his audience. They refused to take his message seriously. The people's reaction affirmed Ezekiel's artistic genius, but they missed the sacred message, crafted for life-changing effect. With their reader-response hermeneutic, they could make his antics mean anything they wanted. Despite the prophet's deadly serious proclamation, they had reduced him to a nightclub entertainer and his utterance to an erotic diversion. Their attendance at his performances merely sustained the illusion that they were a spiritual congregation. They come to you as my people, as if they were my people, eager to hear a word from Yahweh. Verse 33 carried an ominous message for the audience, even if it was reassuring for the prophet. When the predicted events occurred, and there was no doubt that they would, then they would realize how much more than an entertainer Ezekiel was. The text does not specify which further actions of Yahweh he envisioned after the events of 586 BC. Since many of his oracles against the foreign nations were dated after the fall of Jerusalem, Ezekiel probably continued to address his hardened fellow exiles, calling for repentance on the one hand and warning of further judgment on the other. In any case, the modified recognition formula assured the prophet of his ultimate public vindication. He brought the house down with his performances, but this did not mean that Yahweh had ceased to speak or work, nor would he cease to stand behind his prophetic statesman. This was God's personal pastoral visitation to his prophet. I understand what you're dealing with. Well, now that we have seen what was wrong with the literary pictures painted in Ezekiel 33, 21 to 33, we may step back and reflect what they might or should mean to us. The oracle against the pathetic survivors rummaging around the garbage in the wake of Jerusalem's fall holds out several surprises for those who reduce divine activity to simplistic formulas. First, Yahweh may have abandoned his temple, but he was still present. He stood above the earth and the land of Israel in particular as a witness to the deeds of humans. When they refused to conduct their affairs according to his standards of righteousness and morality, he acts in judgment. When the survivors of the destruction retain the old values and simply rebuild the old ways of life, God remains the enemy. For those who persist in rebellion, there is no escape. The tentacles of divine judgment reach both to the farthest corners of the earth and into the homes of those who claim to be the heirs of his promises. Second, this oracle warns those who claim to be the people of God not to miss or pervert the lessons of history. It's tempting for survivors of disaster to interpret their fortune as a sign of personal merit instead of an act of divine grace. But apart from a commitment to the divine Lord and a spiritual sensitivity to his will, expressed in ready obedience, there is no title to the land, nor to any other blessings of God. The privilege of being a son or daughter of Abraham must be accompanied by a commitment to walk before the Lord and to be blameless in one's conduct, like Abraham. As Paul declared to the Roman believers in Romans 4, to have access to the favor of God requires that we be spiritual descendants of Abraham. Apart from faith in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no title to his blessing, whether that be in the land promised to the ancestors or simply the sheer privilege of his favor. Third, God's disposition toward his land and his people is not determined by soft sentimentality. As human observers, we feel sorry for the miserable remnant trying to establish itself among the ruins of Jerusalem after 586 B.C. devastation. We may even admire them for their tenacity and their determination to make the best of a deplorable situation. But God doesn't react this way, nor does people's pain excuse them from the call to covenant fidelity. Claims to the birthright must be accompanied by devotion to his will. The theological significance of the second literary fragment for the contemporary Western Church, particularly for understanding its prophetic mission, is even more profound, perhaps, which leads to number four. Messengers of God are not called to success but to faithfulness. We've said this before at the time of Ezekiel's call when we considered the first few chapters. At the time of this prophetic event, Ezekiel had been preaching among his fellow exiles for almost a decade. Although his oracles of judgment upon the city of Jerusalem and Judah had been fulfilled, few, if any, of his rhetorical aims had been achieved with his real audience, the exiles. But the prophet was undaunted. He had learned long ago at the time of his call not to base his security or sense of effectiveness on the response of his audience. This text warns against confusing success with skill as a communicator and or ability to charm large crowds. Sometimes a full house is a sign that nothing is right about what is happening here. The preacher is not called to entertain but to speak for God. Fifth, appreciation for literary flair and rhetorical skill may, in fact, camouflage a hardened heart. Like the survivors back in the homeland, the exiles had failed to grasp the theological significance of the arrival of the latest band of deportees. They should have recognized the work of God and heeded the pronouncement of his messenger. But where hearts have fossilized, the pleas of a prophet become entertaining skits. Divine passion is reduced to artistic enthusiasm. A cynical church evaluates the divine word for its aesthetic qualities and God's messenger for their ability to hold an audience, not for its transforming power. Finally, those who are called by God as his spokesman may find security in him. The challenge for the communicator of divine truth is to be gripped by the message as to be as gripped by the message as the divine commissioner himself. To cast that message in as effective a form as possible and then to commit the results to God. As Paul declared, the one who calls you is faithful and he will certainly do it, 1 Thessalonians 5.24. After all, Jesus is Yahweh. He has spoken. He will act in keeping with his word.