How Is Lord Appointed Ezekiel
In old testament days, God would call on men to portray and deliver His message to the people of Israel and Judah. Entitled as prophets, these men served the Lord by delivering messages of blessings and curses, enforcing the covenant, and modeling in their speech and conduct God’s plans for both Israel and Judah. Frequently using poetic language, they spoke in oracles such as woe oracles, which announce the imminent destruction of the people, and promise oracles, which often mention the future and the promise of blessing. Yet, God would occasionally call on the prophets to be more than just verbal deliverers of His message, but to be living and physical examples of the coming judgment and future restoration that He had in mind for his people.
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2:1-3). The Lord appointed Ezekiel as a prophet to the Judeans in their time before and during the exile under the Babylonian kingdom. For one of the first illustrations that God called Ezekiel to perform, he had to retrieve a brick, inscribe the word ‘Jerusalem’ on it, and then place weapons of war and siege walls around this brick as a model of the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (Ezk. 4:1-3). Second, he was to lie on his left side for 390 days to represent a number of years that God would punish the Israelites for their idolatry and sins (Ezk. 4:1-5). When he had completed that task, he was to lie on his right side for 40 days, this time representing a number of years the kingdom of Judah would endure God’s punishment (Ezk. 4:6). Furthermore, God also told Ezekiel to cook for himself defiled food, which was to symbolize the sins that had contaminated God’s people (Ezk. 4:9-13). On top of all of this, God informed Ezekiel that He would take his wife, “the delight of [his] eyes and the yearning of [his] soul”, from him, yet he could not show any signs of mourning (Ezk. 24:15-18). This was a foreshadowing to the people, who would soon lose the temple, “the delight of their eyes and their soul’s desire”, to the Babylonians (Ezk. 24:21-27). In all of this, Ezekiel proved a faithful prophet to the
2:1-3). The Lord appointed Ezekiel as a prophet to the Judeans in their time before and during the exile under the Babylonian kingdom. For one of the first illustrations that God called Ezekiel to perform, he had to retrieve a brick, inscribe the word ‘Jerusalem’ on it, and then place weapons of war and siege walls around this brick as a model of the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (Ezk. 4:1-3). Second, he was to lie on his left side for 390 days to represent a number of years that God would punish the Israelites for their idolatry and sins (Ezk. 4:1-5). When he had completed that task, he was to lie on his right side for 40 days, this time representing a number of years the kingdom of Judah would endure God’s punishment (Ezk. 4:6). Furthermore, God also told Ezekiel to cook for himself defiled food, which was to symbolize the sins that had contaminated God’s people (Ezk. 4:9-13). On top of all of this, God informed Ezekiel that He would take his wife, “the delight of [his] eyes and the yearning of [his] soul”, from him, yet he could not show any signs of mourning (Ezk. 24:15-18). This was a foreshadowing to the people, who would soon lose the temple, “the delight of their eyes and their soul’s desire”, to the Babylonians (Ezk. 24:21-27). In all of this, Ezekiel proved a faithful prophet to the