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• Eze. 8:1-11:25

Devotional

In the year 591 B.C., 6 years since Ezekiel arrived in Babylon, he was sitting in his house along with the elders of Judah when GOD spoke to Ezekiel in a vision. The LORD appeared to Ezekiel the same as He had previously the first time He spoke to Ezekiel, when He called Ezekiel as a prophet—He was a figure like a man, from the waist down was like fire, and from the waist up He looked like glowing metal. The LORD reached out His hand and picked Ezekiel up by the hair of his head. The Spirit then took Ezekiel, by vision, from Babylon to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the temple.

GOD showed Ezekiel several examples of the ongoing idolatry there, making the obvious point as to why He is so upset at the people of Judah. First, He showed Ezekiel the idol at the north gate of the altar, then He showed Ezekiel all of the crawling things and detestable animals along the walls and all the idols inside the temple. In front of those idols was 70 elders of Israel who were offering incense to them. Then He showed Ezekiel women who were mourning for an idol by the north gate. Then GOD showed Ezekiel 25 men bowing down to the sun in the east inside the temple.

Next, the LORD called 6 guards and a man clothed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They stood beside the bronze altar. The LORD called to the man in linen and told him to go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who mourned and grieved over the wickedness within the city. Then GOD told the 6 guards to go throughout the city and kill everyone who didn’t have that mark on their forehead—men, women and children—beginning with the elders in front of the temple. The 6 went about killing as GOD had said. Ezekiel, seeing this, fell down on his face and asked GOD if He was going to destroy the rest of Judah. GOD replied that their sin was great and that He would purge the evil from before Him.

Then Ezekiel saw the same vision of cherubim (angels) with the interlocking wheels which he had seen the first time GOD appeared to him. This time, however, the glory of the LORD (which appeared above the cherubim) left the temple, and the Spirit lifted Ezekiel up and took him to the entrance of the temple where the 25 men were. GOD told Ezekiel to prophesy against them, which Ezekiel did. While he was prophesying, one of the men died. Again, Ezekiel asked GOD if He was going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel. After one final conversation with GOD, the Spirit took Ezekiel back to Babylon where the exiles lived. And Ezekiel went about telling everyone what GOD had shown him.