Devotions

Turn Back Why Should You Die

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Judgement is coming in Ezekiel 32:23 to “those who spread terror in the land of the living”. And in Ezekiel 32:22 “all of them killed” and in Ezekiel 32:25 “all of them uncircumcised”. These great warriors fought with everything in them, yet now they go to the grave having no relationship with God, no covenant, no redemption. What futility. No wonder the Lord says in Ezekiel 33:11 ‘Surely I have no delight in the death of the wicked, except in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives’. No wonder he says in Ezekiel 33:11 “Turn back! Turn back from your ways”. But here is the Lords delight in Ezekiel 34:11 “I, will seek my flock, and I will look after them” and in Ezekiel 34:22 “I will save my flock, and they will no longer be for plunder”. 

Those Who Spread Terror

Ezekiel 32:22–32
We find here, an account that begins with Assyria in Ezekiel 32:22 “all of them killed, those fallen by the sword”. It is followed by a description of who they are in Ezekiel 32:23 “those who spread terror in the land of the living”. But now, all of them are decreed “uncircumcised” in death which in this time meant, they did not have a covenant with the Lord. They are forever cut-off from God.

  • Elam in Ezekiel 32:24 “those who went down uncircumcised”
  • Likely Persia in Ezekiel 32:25 “all of them uncircumcised”
  • Meshech, Tubal “are ruled by Gog of the land of Magog (Ezek 38:2, 3; 39:1)”2 in Ezekiel 32:26 “all of them uncircumcised”
  • (see 28 Da. 2:34, 35)1 in Ezekiel 32:28 “in the midst of uncircumcised people”
  • Edom in Ezekiel 32:29 “they will lie with the uncircumcised”
  • Sidonians in Ezekiel 32:30 “and they lie uncircumcised”
  • Pharaoh in Ezekiel 32:32 “laid down in the midst of the uncircumcised”.

We might step back for a moment and look at this list where “there are six heathen nations mentioned, viz., Asshur, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and Sidon; and if we add Egypt to the list, we shall have seven, which would be thoroughly adapted, as it was eminently intended, to depict the fate of universal heathenism.”3

These are all like gladiators fighting in the ring of global power, they all fight valiantly, yet they all die by the sword and even their great leaders lay among them and as it says in Ezekiel 32:30 “they bear their disgrace”. There is nothing remaining of value, nothing redemptive, only the silence as the cries of the terror they spread fall to the grave with them.

You Must Warn Them From Me

Ezekiel 33:1–8 

Turn Back Why Should You Die

Ezekiel 33:9–17
The Lord says in Ezekiel 33:9 “warn the wicked”. But this warning isn’t that they should stop oppressing others, that they shouldn’t rob by usury, that they shouldn’t commit murder, or any of a long list of injustice one human might do to another. This warning goes to the result of these actions, and it is not the outcome for the victims, but it is the end for the perpetrator, as repeated by the Lord through Ezekiel, “the death of the wicked”. The Lord had said this to them before in

Ezekiel 18:23 “Have I delight by any means in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord Yahweh, and not at his turning from his way, so that he lives?”

The answer is a resounding no, the Lord does not delight in the death of the wicked. As the Lord repeats this, there is something the Lord does delight in, “the wicked returning from his way, and he lives” in.

Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘Surely I have no delight in the death of the wicked, except in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives.’

And now, as if he were shouting at them, the Lord continues in Ezekiel 33:11 ‘Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil ones, for why should you die, house of Israel?’

I Will Judge You Each According to His Ways

Ezekiel 33:18–26

You Ruled Over Them With Force

Ezekiel 34:1–10 

I Will Save My Flock

Ezekiel 34:11–22
It is clear that judgement is coming on the heathen, the “uncircumcised”, those outside of the covenant. And as the judgement of the Lord comes, he says in Ezekiel 34:11 “I, will seek my flock, and I will look after them”. From Ezekiel 34:10-22 the Lord says “I will” twenty three times and four more times he says “they will”.

But the Lord is also judging throughout his flock to remove those that in Ezekiel 34:21 “shoved” and “pushed” and in Ezekiel 34:22 “plunder” in

Ezekiel 34:17 ‘And you, my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am judging between one sheep and another, between the rams and between the he-goats” ‘.

The City Was Breached, Men of War Entered

2 Ki 25:1–7

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Ezekiel 32:22-32
  • Ezekiel 33:1-26
  • Ezekiel 34:1-22
  • 2 Kings 25:1-7

References

  • 1. Blayney, B., Scott, T., & Torrey, R. A. with Canne, J., Browne. (n.d.). The Treasury of Scripture knowledge (Vol. 1, p. 532). London: Samuel Bagster and Sons.
  • 2. Baker, D. W. (1992). Meshech (Person). In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 4, p. 711). New York: Doubleday.
  • 3. Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1996). Commentary on the Old Testament (Vol. 9, p. 275). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.