Bible Studies
I Will Spend My Wrath on Them (Ezek. 3:26-27)
Series: God Speaks to Our People In ExileIntroduction:
1. Ezekiel was taken into Babylonian captivity in 597 B.C. along with king Jehoiachin of Judah. 2. He was sent to take God’s word to a stubborn and rebellious people. The phrase, “He who hears, let him hear,” is used throughout Scripture. It communicates God’s willingness to communicate to His people, but suggests their unwillingness to listen. 3. The prophecies of chapters 4-5-6 predict the coming siege of Jerusalem (it occurred in 586 B.C.). Chapter 1:2 identifies this as the 5th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity (592 B.C.). So Ezekiel’s prophecy is just 6 years prior to the siege that occurred in 597 B.C. 4. In this lesson we will observe four symbolic acts that God uses to communicate to the people about what is going to happen. God will spend His wrath upon the people with plague, sword and famine. Only a remnant will escape.Discussion:
I. There are four symbolic acts described in chapters 4 and 5.A. The first is described in 4:1-3. It involves building a model of what is about to occur in Jerusalem.
1. It is not necessary that we picture a small brick like those typically used today in building a brick house. The scale of the model is not specified.
2. Ezekiel is to inscribe “Jerusalem” on it.
3. He is to build a siege wall, raise a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it.
4. He is to separate himself from the city with an iron plate. Does this represent their unwillingness to hear the word of the Lord? Does it represent God’s separation from them as they are under siege? Does it represent the iron wall of God’s judgment against them?
B. The second is described in 4:4-8. Ezekiel is to lie on his left side and then on his right side.
1. Lying on his left side represents 390 days corresponding to the number of years of the iniquity of the house of Israel.
2. Lying on his right side represents 40 days corresponding to the number of years of the iniquity of the house of Judah.
3. Ezekiel is roped so he cannot turn from side to side until the completed days of the siege. Seems to mean that God is the one in control of the siege and in control of Ezekiel as he communicates the message of God.
4. There are many things uncertain in the imagery. Are these literal years 390 and 40 respectively? If so, when do you start the counting? When is it to be ended?
C. The third is described in 4:9-17. Ezekiel is to mix various grains and eat the mixture.
1. The mixing of the various materials probably is meant to be interpreted as representing the scarcity of things to eat, so that a mixture is combined.
2. Some have suggested that wheat and barley were typical fare for the more wealthy, but millet and spelt more like mere grass seed (cf. to orchard grass, fescue).
3. The scarcity of food is further evidenced by it being weighed out. Drink also was limited.
a. Twenty shekels = 8 ounces from time to time (cf. dividing into 3rds for 3 meals per day). See convert-me.com.
b. Water, a sixth part of a hin = 1.2 pints. (cf. dividing this into 3rds for 3 meals per day). See convert-me.com.
4. Not only would food and water be scarce it would be baked over human dung. Ezekiel protested that nothing unclean had been in his mouth. He was allowed then to use cow dung for fuel to cook his bread. Israel would not only have little to eat, but what she did have would be defiled.
5. Such was the severity of the wrath of God.
D. The fourth is described in 5:1-4. Ezekiel is to shave his hair and divide it into thirds.
1. One third was burned in the fire at the center of the city.
2. One third was struck with the sword.
3. One third was scattered to the wind and a sword will be unsheathed behind them.
4. A few were bound (sewn ?) into the edges of his robes.
II. The wrath of God will be spent on His people with plague sword and famine. What does all this mean? The interpretation is given in 5:5-12, 13-17; 6:1-7, 11-14.A. One third will die by plague and famine.
B. One third will fall by the sword.
C. One third will be scattered to the wind and a sword unsheathed behind them.
D. Such is what happens as God spends His wrath on them.
E. Why? (5:5-11).
F. “Then you will know that I am the Lord” (6:11-14).
III. “However, I will leave a remnant” (6:8-10).A. Some would escape the sword even though scattered.
B. They would remember the Lord and how He had been hurt by their adulterous hearts.
C. They would loathe themselves for the evils they had committed.
D. They would recognize that their experiences were the result of their own rebellion against God.
IV. What do we learn from this?A. God knows what the future holds for the rebellious. Cf. 2 Thess. 1:6-9.
B. God’s wrath is real. It is a part of who He is. When Israel experienced that wrath God said, “Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
C. We hurt the Lord by our adulterous hearts (Ezek. 6:9).
D. We need to remember Him.
E. The people of God today are His remnant. We are those sewn into the hem of His garment. We were almost destroyed by God’s wrath. The N.T. tells us that God has preserved us by spending His wrath on Christ (Rom. 5:8-9). We are those saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Conclusion:
1. He who has an ear let him hear. 2. But he who refuses let him refuse. 3. But let it be realized that the wrath of God comes upon the rebellious.
