Because you said, "Aha!" over my sanctuary when it was desecrated, and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile, therefore I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession. (Ezekiel 25:3,4)Chapter 24 ends with the death of Ezekiel's wife, the delight of [his] eyes, which illustrates God's sorrow over the impending death of Jerusalem. Yet Ezekiel is instructed not to mourn outwardly for his wife as a model of how the exiles are to receive the news of Jerusalem's destruction.
Yahweh had allowed, even ordained, the fall of Jerusalem to illustrate and preserve his holiness. This in no way diminishes God's love for his people. Between the death of Ezekiel's wife and the messenger bringing the bad news of Jerusalem's fall, the writer has inserted Oracles Against the Nations (chapters 25-32). Even in exile, God is still defending Judah. Neighboring kingdoms Ammon and Moab are singled out because they rejoiced at Judah's misfortune. Edom and Philistia are charged with exacting revenge - kicking Judah when it was down. To utilize another simile, like a protective father, God deals a spanking to these schoolyard bullies.
Even in the midst of Judah's humiliation, God would not desert his bride. God is and always will be our Defender.
Have you ever felt abandoned by God only to discover that he was there all the time, protecting you from harm?
I have to admit I totally struggle with today's scriptures. I just cannot understand why God would kill his beloved wife and then tell him not to mourn for her. That would be like him taking Janelle or Craig from us and telling us to not mourn for them because it is an example of what is coming in the future. If Ezekiel was doing what God wanted him to do, then why do such a terrible thing to him personally? Wouldn't there be another way of getting the message across without personally hurting his prophet? Like I said, I really struggle with this.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you're saying. When I read a difficult passage like this, I remember what Jesus said to Philip: "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). If what I read in the Old Testament isn't congruent with the picture of God in Jesus, I start wondering if I'm missing something. Does the difficult passage fit with the context of the whole of Scripture? Could there be information I'm not privy to?
ReplyDeleteI don't think God's statement: "I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes," necessarily mean God killed Ezekiel's wife. It could mean that God knew the woman was going to die and decided to use it as an illustration, a visual aid, to help get his message across.
Then again, I recently heard a recorded interview with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann who said something like: "We're to quick to let God off the hook when it comes to difficult passages, and clearly God does bear some culpability for his actions." His idea is that we should not offer up easy answers to difficult questions and just allow the dissonance to exist without feeling like we have to fix it.