The Mystery of Esau and Ephraim

As Ezekiel continues his visions of God in Jerusalem, his prophecy is for the children of Israel at the endtime.

In chapter 9 it has the core subject about killing those who preside over God’s Sanctuary, and in the endtime, the saints. Yet these saints are to be slain: “Slay utterly old and young . . . and begin at my Sanctuary,” Ezekiel 9:6.

But a small remnants are spared; why spared these and not the others?

Ezekiel 9

¹ He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, “Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.” — he cried also in mine ears with a loud voice…. that is, the Shekinah, whom the prophet saw in the temple, and who directed him from place to place, now wanted to show him all the abominations committed there;

— saying, cause them that have the charge over the city to draw near; or, “those appointed over the city,” as the Targum says; that is, the city of Jerusalem; by whom are meant the ministering angels, who had been the guardians of it, but now were to be employed another way;

— even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand; weapons of war, as bows and arrows, sword and spear.

² And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. And they went in and stood beside the brazen altar. — in the good old days, these “six men” or six destroyers could be the generals of Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 39:3; but in modern times, they could be Chechens, Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Libyans and Afghans.

— in the Talmud: “wrath, anger, fury, destruction, breach, and consumption.”

³ And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; — and the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was…. that is, the glorious God; or the Shekinah, removed from thence, as a token of his being about to depart from the temple, and with its protection removed, the temple was destroy in a short time.

— the Targum says, “the glory of the God of Israel departed in the cherub on which he dwelt, in the house of the holy of holies;” the cherubim removed with him, as were his chariot in which he rode.

⁴ and the Lord said unto him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry because of all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.” — and you shall mark a sign: you shall mark a sign on the foreheads of the righteous men in order to show the destroyers those men whom they should not strike.

— Gill: It is a Rabbinical thought, mentioned by Kimchi that Gabriel had orders to write the letter ת (tav; the last letter of the alphabet) in ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, which signified תחיה, “thou shall live”. And for the wicked the same letter ת were written in blood upon the foreheads, but it signified תמות, “thou shall die”.

— the letter ת in the original paleo Hebrew looks like an x sign.

⁵ And to the others He said in mine hearing, “Go ye after him through the city and smite. Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity.

⁶ Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” Then they began with the elder men who were before the house. — Gill: and begin at my sanctuary; the temple, the house of God, and the priests and Levites that dwelt there;

— the Septuagint version is, “begin at my saints”; those who professed themselves to be saints of the Lord, and were separated and devoted to his service; and so the Rabbins say, do not read ממקדשי, “at my sanctuary”; but ממקודשי, “at those that sanctify me”, or “my sanctified ones”; which they interpret of those that keep the whole law, from “aleph” to “tau”.

⁷ And He said unto them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go ye forth.” And they went forth and slew in the city.

⁸ And it came to pass, while they were slaying them and I was left, that I fell upon my face and cried, and said, “Ah Lord God! Wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem?” — when Ezekiel was delivering his message both the house of Israel and Judah were already in captivity. He was among the captives at the river Chebar, so Ezekiel’s messages were actually meant for those living far into the future, in our time, to the modern house of Israel, the chief of whom is Ephraim, the United States of America — in thy pouring out of thy fury by famine, pestilence, and sword.

⁹ Then said He unto me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood and the city full of perverseness; for they say, ‘The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.’

¹⁰ And as for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their ways upon their heads.”

¹¹ And behold, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as Thou hast commanded me.”

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More on Ezekiel 9:6 Slay utterly old and young . . . and begin at my sanctuary:

Today many pretentious Christians, especially among the CoG Communities, believe they will go into a place of safety? But this is just a fantasy. It’s far more likely that lightnings and thunderstorms would begin with these professing Christians.

Deuteronomy 16:18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

Deuteronomy 17:¹¹ According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. ¹² And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die.

Moses knew he would die soon and his understanding had been conveyed to the judges, the Levites and priests where the true interpretation of the law were taught. So in the book of Deuteronomy Moses spoke and explained unto all Israel “according unto all that the Lord had given him” as to how to keep them, the blessing they would have if they obey, or cursing if they disobey, in a language they could understand. Men may have good intentions, but may do things seen as presumptuously? What is presumptuous or presumptuously? 

Below are its synonyms: 

arrogant, bumptious, cavalier, chesty, haughty, high-and-mighty, high-handed, high-hat, huffish, huffy, imperious, important, lofty, lordly, masterful, overweening, peremptory, pompous, presuming, pretentious, self-asserting, self-assertive, sniffy, supercilious, superior, uppish, uppity

The Jews were prophesied they would mourn One whom they had rejected: “And they shall look to Me whom they have pierced; then they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son” (Zechariah 12:10). But these Christians have nothing to mourn? Currently these endtime virgins are described as lukewarm and in need of nothing, but would they not mourn when they realise that they had been blind, wretched and naked, seeing finally that Christ had suffered far more through His torn flesh and shed blood than they had ever realised? No?

Today more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honoring the SUN by observing SUNday. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the SUN toward the east,” Ezekiel 8:16.

Others, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, the Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a SUNday. Always on SUNdays. And these are supposedly in God’s sanctuary, but God says He is a jealous God, so these pretentious Christians could be spewed out of His mouth! No? Regardless, there are those being described in Revelation 3:17 — wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: or else I will spew thee out of My mouth (v16,19).”

Despite the above, there’ll be a remnant that are spared: “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry because of all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof,” Ezekiel 9:4. These remnants “who sigh and who cry” will be marked with a letter ת in ink on the forehead;

— but the question is, do we qualify to be in this category?

Ezekiel 10

Chapter 10 is a vision, very much like that in the first chapter, with some difference, and with a different view, the design of it being to represent the wrath of God against Jerusalem, and his departure from the city and temple. A throne much like that in Ezekiel 1:26 is described.

¹ Then I looked, and behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them, as it were, a sapphire stone with the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

² And He spoke unto the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city.” And he went in in my sight. — and He spake unto the man clothed with linen…. that is, the God of Israel gave orders to the man clothed in linen, who appears in another character, and represents the Chaldean or Roman army; these “coals of fire” were an emblem of the wrath of God against Jerusalem.

³ Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. — now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house…. according to the Targum, it was the south side of the house; opposite the north; that’s where the gross idolatries were committed.

⁴ Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’S glory. — this is a token and intimation of the Lord’s leaving of the temple; and a little before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

⁵ And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaketh. — and the sound of the cherubim’s wings was heard even to the outer court…. or outward court. The sound of the Kingdom, and salvation by Christ; the sound of this in the swift ministry of the apostles, signified by the “cherubim’s wings”, went into all the earth, and throughout the whole Gentile world.

⁶ And it came to pass that when He had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims,” then he went in and stood beside the wheels.

⁷ And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen, who took it and went out. — who took it, and went out; took the fire, and went out of the temple, and scattered it upon the city of Jerusalem; so representing the Chaldean, or rather the Roman army, burning it with fire.

— but Ezekiel is a prophetic book, so the most important Question remains for us to ponder during the endtime: who would burn down the house of Israel?

⁸ And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings. — one of them put forth his hand, which was seen by the prophet, but this was only the “form” of one; which is not to be taken literally, but as seen in the vision of prophecy; and being under their wings denotes secrecy and privacy.

⁹ And when I looked, behold, the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a beryl stone.

¹⁰ And as for their appearance, all four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

¹¹ When they went, they went upon their four sides. They turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.

¹² And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about — even the wheels that the four had.

¹³ As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, “O wheel.”

¹⁴ And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. — the first face was the face of a cherub; this in place of the ox’s face, indicating, perhaps, that the face of an ox and a cherub has the same significance.

But the Ox is also the symbol of the United States; the UK has the Unicorn (more below).

¹⁵ And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the River of Chebar.

¹⁶ And when the cherubims went, the wheels went alongside them; and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

¹⁷ When they stood, these stood, and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also; for the spirit of the living creature was in them. — when they stood, these stood…. when the one were inactive, lifeless, and without motion, making no progress in knowledge, experience, and practice, the other were so likewise.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims. — the departure of the glory of God from the threshold to the east gate of the Lord’s house, with the motion of the cherubim and wheels along with him. 

¹⁹ And the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over above them.

²⁰ This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the River of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

²¹ Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. — and everyone four wings: the Septuagint reads eight wings; and the Syriac version “six”; so many in all indeed they had.

²² And the likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I saw by the River of Chebar, their appearances and themselves. They went every one straight forward. — they went everyone straight forward; their motion as well as their form were alike; they kept one even course, looking right on, and their eyes right before them.

~~~

More on the Ox and the Unicorn:

His glory is like the firstling of his ox (bullock), and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh,” Deuteronomy 33:17.

In the above verse, the Ox (verse 14 above) and Ephraim are named first, the firstborn of his (Joseph’s) “bullock is his glory”: the reference being to Ephraim; followed by Unicorn and Manasseh.

Although Manasseh was the firstborn, Joseph the father crossed his hands and placed Ephraim as firstborn, hence Ephraim, often known as the thirteenth tribe, represents not just the house of Joseph, but more often the house of the 10-tribes Northern Kingdom.

In Rabbinic teachings: the myriads (ten thousands) slain by Joshua, of the tribe of Ephraim: These are the myriads descended from Ephraim;

— and the thousands of Manasseh: these are the thousands slain by Gideon, who was of the tribe of Manasseh. These are the thousands descended from Manasseh.

In his blessings Jacob ascribes to Ephraim ten thousands, and to Manasseh only thousands; thus foreshowing, that Ephraim the younger was to be the more numerous of the two, as Jacob had before prophesied of them.

~ by Japheth on September 8, 2021.

Posted in Ezekiel