The Lord is dealing with the house of Israel and has released a decree in Jeremiah 21:7 “I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah … into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar”. He describes their coming encounter, a siege that takes about a year and a half, as a cooking pot being brought to a boil. Then the Lord says in Ezekiel 24:14 “According to your ways and according to your deeds they will judge you!”. The Lord also decrees punishment for Israels enemies; Moab and Seir, Edom, the Philistines each also according to their own deeds.
I Will Cause Obscene Conduct to Cease From the Land
Ezekiel 23:40–49
Their conduct is described in Ezekiel 23:40-44 and the judgement that is coming in Ezekiel 23:45-48. But this judgement is to be delivered by men. We sometimes think that every judgement is carried out by the Lord, but they are often at the hands of men.
Perhaps Yahweh Will Do With Us According to All His Miraculous Acts
Jeremiah 21:1–7
Zedekiah had been placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar but rebelled against him. So, Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem for the third and final time because in
2 Chronicles 36:12 “And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for Yahweh”.
Now, Zedekiah comes asking Jeremiah to intercede for him with the Lord, but the Lord has exhausted himself with Zedekiah. So the Lord says in
Jeremiah 21:7 “I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar”.
The Way of Life and the Way of Death
Jeremiah 21:8–14
Place the Pot! Boil it Vigorously
According to Your Ways and Your Deeds
Ezekiel 24:9–17
The Lord gives Ezekiel and object lesson for the people of Jerusalem to see. In Ezekiel 24:1 he says “Woe to the city of bloodguilt!”. Then put the boiling pot on the fire and fill it but the pot is dirty, full of rust in
Ezekiel 24:10–11 “Pile up the logs; kindle the fire; finish cooking the meat, and mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned. 11 And make it stand empty upon its burning coals so that it may become hot, and its copper may become molten and be melted in the midst of it, so that its uncleanness and its rust be consumed”.
The message is clear as “the interpretation of the parable in vv. 10ff. is clothed in the form of a thing actually done. The pot with the pieces of flesh and the bones, which are to be boiled in it and boiled away, represents Jerusalem with its inhabitants. The fire, with which they are boiled, is the fire of war, and the setting of the pot upon the fire is the commencement of the siege, by which the population of the city is to be boiled away like the flesh and bones in a pot”.1
Now he says in Ezekiel 24:14 “According to your ways and according to your deeds they will judge you!”. It is up to the Chaldeans to judge. It is by their standards that they would be judged. And the king, Zedekiah, had rebelled not only against God, but also against Nebuchadrezzar in 2 Chronicles 36:13 and Jeremiah 52:3. And in Jeremiah 52:4-7 we find the year and a half siege of Jerusalem ending in famine for the city and then a breach where the city was overtaken.
You Shall Waste Away Because of Your Iniquities
Ezekiel 24:18–27
You Rejoiced in Yourself With All of Your Malice Over the Land of Israel
Because of Moab and Seir, Edom, the Philistines
Ezekiel 25:8–17
The Lord decrees punishment on three of “the house of Israels” neighbors and each according to their actions.
- First, is Moab and Seir who said in Ezekiel 25:8 ‘The house of Judah is like all of the nations’.
These three, “Moab, Seir, and Ammon were contiguous countries, stretching in one line from Gilead on the north to the Red Sea … (they said) The Jews fare no better than others: it is of no use to them to serve Jehovah, who, they say, is the only true God”.2
These people denied the power of God and treated Israel as common, “Their crime is contempt for Judah and rejection of her claims to be a peculiar people with a uniquely powerful God … Oracles against Moab occur in the writings of other prophets also (cf. Isa. 15; 16; Jer. 48; Amos 2:1–3; Zeph. 2:8–11)”.3
Their punishment is in Ezekiel 25:10 “the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations”.
- Second is Edom in Ezekiel 25:12 “avenging himself with vengeance for the house of Judah”.
“It was not simple hatred, but deep-brooding, implacable revenge. The grudge of Edom or Esau was originally for Jacob’s robbing him of Isaac’s blessing (Ge 25:23; 27:27–41) … They therefore gave vent to their spite by joining the Chaldeans in destroying Jerusalem (Ps 137:7; La 4:22; Ob 1:10–14), and then intercepting and killing the fugitive Jews (Am 1:11) and occupying part of the Jewish land as far as Hebron”.4
Edom’s punishment is in Ezekiel 25:13 “I will make it a ruin from Teman and Dedan; they will fall by the sword”. But this punishment will not come through the Caldeans, instead, in Ezekiel 25:14 “And I will exact my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel”.
- Last is the Philistines who in
Ezekiel 25:15 “avenged themselves relentlessly with malice in themselves for destruction with everlasting hostility”.
Their punishment is in
Ezekiel 25:17 “And I will execute on them great vengeance with punishments of rage, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I exact my vengeance on them!”
But it is this last part of the verse that is of note because it is not the mercy of God that we may expect. Here the Lord says “They shall know Me, not in mercy, but by My vengeance on them (Ps 9:16)”.5
Study Verses
- Jeremiah 21:1–7 Perhaps Yahweh Will Do With Us According to All His Miraculous Acts
- Ezekiel 24:9–17 According to Your Ways and Your Deeds
- Because of Moab and Seir, Edom, the Philistines
Today’s Reading
- Jeremiah 21:1-14
- Ezekiel 23:40-49
- Ezekiel 24:1-27
- Ezekiel 25:1-17
References
- 1. Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1996). Commentary on the Old Testament (Vol. 9, p. 195). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
- 2. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 598). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
- 3. Taylor, J. B. (1969). Ezekiel: an Introduction and commentary (Vol. 22, p. 184). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
- 4. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, pp. 598–599). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
- 5. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 599). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.