Yesterday I was reading through Ezekiel 23 and 24 which are difficult verses to read - as the Lord is basically telling Israel that He is gong to punish them for the their infidelity towards him, and he uses the image of prostitution. In this set of verses Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 23:22-30 NIV
[22] “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side--- [23] the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. [24] They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. [25] I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. [26] They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. [27] So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore."
[28] “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands of those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. [29] They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark naked, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity [30] have brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols."
This was written sometime between 592-570BC.
This morning, I turned to Psalm 79 and was struck by a similar theme, but this time being prayed by Asaph. I did a bit of research and sure enough this was likely written after the fall of Jerusalem in 586/587BC, or shortly after the warnings of Ezekiel.
Psalm 79:1-9 NIV:
[1] "O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. [2] They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. [3] They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. [4] We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.
[5] How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? [6] Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; [7] for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
[8] Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. [9] Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake."
I find it interesting how they are basically praying for God to intervene on their behalf when God clearly told them this is what He was going to do to them because of their actions! Nonetheless, God does have mercy on them, and does have compassion on them and does not hold their past sins against them, for He sends Jesus to fully pay for all sins.
The question running through my mind this morning is how to rightly understand God's plans and purposes in our limited terrestrial and time limited minds. He clearly is a God of ages, of millenniums, of centuries, and decades. His plans are perfect, and at best we might have some hint. He releases His Word to the world, but is the world listening? He is looking throughout the whole world (2 Chron 16:9) for those he might strengthen.
I was thinking about how the Lord spoke through His prophets of old, and how many of their messages were just ignored or rejected. Jeremiah is a great example, for he was actually thrown in a pit for prophesying something that the leaders didn't like (See Jeremiah 38). Again, we have records of God speaking, of prophesy being fulfilled, or people repenting and then forgetting their change of heart, or sinning and God relenting, and forgiving, just so many Old Testament examples of the back and forth of dedication and falling away of the Jews, and God dealing with it all, being unaffected in His plan which never faltered, never changed, but one that was greatly misunderstood.
I was thinking about how the idea of free-will might not have been developed at this time, and essentially what God is warning them about is the consequences of their own sins! They looked to and welcomed the help of the the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Chaldeans, and entered into pacts with them and agreed to pay tribute to them for their help. When they later broke those pacts, they were punished by these nations. There was also a time where Hezekiah showed envoys of Babylon all his treasuries, which they later came and pillaged - (See 2 Kings 20:12-18) and these verses from Ezekiel are the warnings that preceded the invasion by the Babylonians. Again, it was often due to their own mistakes, their own sin that they suffered or the nation suffered. The authors ascribed this to the Lord's anger, as punishment, but in reality, it seems very much related to the decisions they made where they turned away from the Lord, seeking others Help, rather than His.
One wonders how often do we ascribe God's anger towards us, or His punishment towards us, when it is in reality the result of choices we make in our own free will? How often do we get ourselves into messes and then cry out to God for rescuing? How often do we apply our own logic, or own thinking to God's actions? I think we greatly underestimate our own responsibility, and instead try to pass on the responsibility and consequences to God, and blame Him for our own issues (at times).
I think we underestimate our importance to God, and overestimate our ability to mess up His plans. I think we tend to think of God as only active in the now, reacting to things like we do, and God is so far above this present momentary thinking and acting. We are told He has chosen us since before the world was created, and in a time based perspective this seems huge, and yet if you are outside of time, its no different at any point.
Help us Lord to lift our eyes above our present situation, to see You! Help us to be less reactive, and instead to see in our lives the long-game of Your will and purpose. Help us to recognize Your handiwork, even when we can't see it, or understand it.
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