Ezekiel 6-11
Glory Goes,
New Covenant Comes

In the second half the psalmist confesses the blessedness of the one who God corrects and teaches out of His law, so that they will have rest from their adversaries. God never rejects His people but always loyally acts toward them in hesed. He sustains them until the time is right to destroy their enemies. He sees all that goes on, and has no fellowship with wicked rulers who make laws for their own benefit rather than that of the people. 

Sluggards who are always lying about, lie about lions. In Solomon's civilized day, the only lions in town were in zoos. The sluggard comes up with false excuses for inactivity in not doing what they should be doing, (like trusting, obeying and serving God). See Saga of the Sorry Sluggard on Truthbase.net for the loss the sluggard suffers.

The adulteress frequently catches her prey with her flattering words (Pr 7:21). Someone who is not following God, but going their own way is subject to His wrath, and will fall into a trap from which they won't escape (Pr 2:16-20).

Ps 81:12 So I gave them up to their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

God will bring judgment with the usual sword, famine, pestilence and scattering the remnant into captivity, because of Israel's idolatry, so that they may know that He is Yahweh (and the idols are not). By destroying the idols and those who worship them Yahweh was demonstrating the worthlessness of the idols and fulfilling His promise to punish the unfaithful evildoers. The oft repeated words “they shall know that I am Yahweh” is a reminder that Yahweh was the one who established them as a nation, and was the One who made a covenant with Abraham, Jacob, and them; it was not the idols that blessed them.

The dreaded day of judgment draws near. God will judge Judah according to their judgments (7:27), according to the decisions they made to sin and do their will rather than God's will. There is no escape; everything they could trust in is worthless. Because they defiled the sanctuary with their abominable worship of other gods, He will defile it with strangers.

Ezekiel gets another vision of God like chapter one, who took him to Jerusalem to see what goes on in secret worship. He sees all the abominations that the elders and people worship, which cause jealousy. The prophet, as the embodiment of the word of God digs through the wall to expose the sinful things they worship in secret: creepy crawly things (particularly serpents), Tammuz the Sumerian pagan fertility god who dies near the end of summer, is mourned, and comes back to life at the winter solstice (forerunner of pagan holiday taken over by Christmas; his consort Ishtar gave rise to Easter under Roman influence), and they even turned their backs to Yahweh to worship the sun. People tend to think that if they don't die or suffer immediate devastation, they've gotten away with their sin. Think again.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. 

Ezekiel witnesses the judgment and destruction of all who did not mourn the abominations being committed in Jerusalem. A group of killer angels follow a servant of God clothed in linen who marks those spared from judgment, similar to the blood of the Passover lamb sparing from the final plague. There are no specific identifications of the mystery man in linen, who also executes judgment on the city with coals from under the throne (in the next chapter), but some believe it might be a per-incarnate appearance of the Living Word (although in Revelation 8:5 it is an angel who judges the earth in a similar manner).

Verse 3 starts to trace the movement of the glory of the Lord from the Temple, which will continue in 10:4,18-19; depart in 11:23; and return to the Millennial temple in 43:2-5.

After the killer angels destroyed the people the agent of God takes coals from the midst of God's throne and scatters them over the city. The imagery is judgment that burns the impurities (Isa 6; 10:16; Rev 4:5; 8:5-7). God probably doesn't have coals under his throne to keep warm, but to show how judgment is inextricably bound up in His rulership and glory. If it was all about love, there would be a hot chocolate dispenser (with marshmallows) under the throne.

The vision of God's glory parallels that of chapter one and Revelation 4:5-8. Note that He is seen on His throne, exercising dominion, an integral part of His glory. In verse 18 the glory moves from the Temple back to the throne, which moves and stands at the east gate. The glory will depart the city in the next chapter, after judgment is pronounced against the leaders. In Exodus 34 God's reveals His glory to Moses, in the exercise of His rule to pardon or punish according to the terms of His hesed (covenantal loyalty).

Ex 34:5 Now Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. 6 And Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed, "Yahweh, Yahweh God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping hesed for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."

Ezekiel prophesies against the leaders who were giving false counsel to the people, denying the reality that the end is near (Ezek 7:2) and refusing to lead in the Lord's way, but instead led the people in the ways of the pagan nations. They were saying that it's time to build houses (rather than go into captivity). The meat-cauldron statement is difficult (probably indicating that they are the choice pieces in the pot, or a mockery of judgment) and is reversed by the Lord in verses seven and eleven. While Ezekiel is prophesying one of the leaders dies, prompting Ezekiel to fear that God will wipe out the remnant, which is corrected in the following verses.

God tells Ezekiel that his relatives in captivity are the remnant (not those in Jerusalem) and that He will not only be with them in their captivity, but will bring them back to the land of Israel.

When the scattered are regathered and returned to the land, they will remove all the abominations that caused the captivity, and then God will enter into the new covenant with them. As mentioned in Jeremiah 31:33 the new heart is a function of the new Spirit in them (Isa 59:21). As a result of the Spirit, God's people would walk in His ways. Some however, would refuse, and would suffer the consequences of their continued rebellion. Just like God gave Israel the land, experiencing the benefits of it would be dependent upon dependent obedience. Those with the Spirit, don't automatically obey and have a relationship of covenant obedience with God (at least this hasn't been seen yet, and the potential for rejection is obvious from verse 21). In order to experience benefits of the Spirit, one needs to dependently submit his/her will to Him rather than grieve or quench Him.

Ezekiel 18:30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"

The glory of God finally departs the city. Ichabod.