A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Nobody seems to understand the various symbols and riddles in this book of Ezekiel to put all the puzzles into a cohesive and coherent picture. The Jews couldn’t understand what or how the house of Israel could have any relevance since the days they went into exile; Christians misled themselves that they have already replaced the Israelites and God’s graceful promises of eternity are now theirs!

So none got it right. In this Study, we’ll find that Ezekiel’s prophecy was meant not to be fulfilled during his time; but its timing was meant a great distance into the future (Ezekiel 12:27), into the endtime, our time and the message is primarily for the United States and secondarily its European allies.

A Study Index of Ezekiel

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

— Ezekiel a captive by the river Chebar in Chaldea
— in vision saw each cherub has four wings
— and each one has four faces
— the face of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle

~ Chapter 2

— “Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel”
— who are the children of the house of Israel?
— the spirit of God spoke unto Ezekiel
— handed a scroll of a book, written inside and outside

A Study of Chapters 1 and 2 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 3

— Ezekiel to speak unto the “house of Israel”
— caused me to eat that scroll, what does this mean?
— Ezekiel made a watchman to the “house of Israel”
— not to a people of strange speech and hard language

~ Chapter 4

— take thee a tile and lay it before thee
— iniquity of the house of Israel: 390 days
— iniquity of the house of Judah: 40 days
— Septuagint: 190/150/40 days

A Study of Chapters 3 and 4 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 5

— they walked not in my statutes nor kept my judgements
— a third burns with fire, pestilence and famine
— a third smitten by a sword
— and a third scatters into the wind, a sword follows

~ Chapter 6

— a prophecy against “the mountains of Israel”
— to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys
— a remnant will remember “all their abominations”
— and they shall know that I am the Lord

A Study of Chapters 5 and 6 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 7

— “An end! The end is upon the four winds of the earth”
— a wrath upon the multitude of the house of Israel
— all hands shall be feeble, all knees weak as water
— a trumpet is blown but “none goeth to battle”
— “in their judgements will I judge them”

~ Chapter 8

— God’s throne is toward the north
— seventy men: their faces toward the east
— and twenty-five men: worshipping the sun
— all their backs against the Temple of the Lord

A Study of Chapters 7 and 8 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 9

— “six men” prophesied to destroy the house of Israel
— a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and cry
— “Go ye after him through the city and smite
— “Let not your eyes spare, neither have ye pity
— “Slay utterly old and young; begin at my sanctuary”

~ Chapter 10

— back to another of Ezekiel’s visions, the wheels
— more about the cherubim, their wings
— the face of an Ox changed to a face of a Cherub
— the Ox and the Unicorn

A Study of Chapters 9 and 10 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 11

— twenty-five men at the east gate
— princes of the people who devise mischief
— and give wicked counsel in the city
— Pelatiah, one of the twenty-five princes, died
— vision of Shekinah departing the Temple

~ Chapter 12

— a bitter/sweet and/or sweet/bitter theme
— a remnants will declare all their abominations
— “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth”
— visions are “of the times that are far off”

A Study of Chapters 11 and 12 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 13

— a prophecy against the prophets of Israel
— Woe unto the foolish prophets,
— who follow their own spirit and see nothing!
— O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts
— your prophets see vanity and devise lies

~ Chapter 14

— a prophecy against the elders of Israel
— but their heart and stumbling block before their iniquity
— even Noah, Daniel and Job couldn’t avert God’s wrath
— I will send my four sore judgements against Israel

A Study of Chapters 13 and 14 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 15

— the vine tree to be cast into the fire for fuel?
— the house of Israel will be surrounded at all sides
— from one fire to another shall devour them
— “Out of the frying pan into the flame”

~ Chapter 16

— God will gather all thy lovers whom thou hast pleasure
— and gather thy loved ones with those thou hated
— together they’ll regather against thee
— and uncover thee and see all thy nakedness
— and they shall burn thine houses with fire
— Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil

A Study of Chapters 15 and 16 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 17

— riddle of two eagles with great wings and a vine
— riddle of the “tender young twig”
— bringing down the high tree and exalting the low tree
— in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it

~ Chapter 18

— thy fathers have eaten sour grapes
— if they “walked in my statutes and kept my judgements”
— the soul that sinneth, it shall die
— “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth”

A Study of Chapters 17 and 18 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 19

— a riddle of a lioness with her two whelps
— her whelps among young lions
— prophecy of some rods planted in the wilderness
— prophecy of strong rods broken; fire consumed them

~ Chapter 20

— ye despised my judgements and my statutes
— my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and thee
— some elders of Israel come to inquire of the Lord
— “I wrought for my name’s sake”
— a riddle or prophesy against the forest of the South

A Study of Chapters 19 and 20 HERE~ —— ~

Chapter 21

— the Targum points to the forest of the South: Spain
— “I am against thee; will draw my Sword out of its sheath”
— “and will cut off the righteous and the wicked”
— this Sword against all flesh from the South to the North
— the days of Israel’s wicked princes shall come to an end

~ Chapter 22

— the city that sheddeth blood in the midst of it
— your streets are full of blood
— “Thou hast despised mine holy Sabbaths”
— by the sword, famine, pestilence and captivity
— I will scatter and disperse thee among the nations

A Study of Chapters 21 and 22 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 23

— the whoredom of Oholah: Samaria, the ten tribes
— the whoredom of Oholibah: Judah and Jerusalem
— they constitute “both houses of Israel” Isaiah 8:14
— they have profaned My Sabbaths
— thy residue shall be devoured by fire

~ Chapter 24

— a parable unto the rebellious house
— a riddle of blood set upon the top of a rock
— she hath wearied herself with lies and filthiness
— kindle the fire and burn the bones
— Ezekiel’s wife died; he was forbidden to mourn

A Study of Chapters 23 and 24 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 25

— prophecy against the Ammonites
— God saith, “’Aha,’ against My sanctuary”
— “clap thine hands and stamp your feet”
— contemptuous hated against the land of Israel
— prophecy against Moab, Edom the Philistines

~ Chapter 26

— “I am against thee, O Tyre”
— Nebuchadnezzar from the north
— he and his chariots shall break down thy towers
— all their princes shall tremble from their thrones

A Study of Chapters 25 and 26 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 27

— a lamentation for Tyre “I am of perfect beauty”
— shall cry bitterly; weeping, howling and shrieking
— “the merchants of the peoples hiss at thee
— thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more”

~ Chapter 28

— a prophecy against the “prince of Tyre”
— “I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas”
— a prophecy against the “king of Tyre”
— Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God
— “I will destroy thee, O king that art anointed”

A Study of Chapters 27 and 28 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 29

— a prophecy against the Pharaoh of Egypt
— the great dragon lieth in the midst of his rivers
— “I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar”
— and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations
— and disperse them through the countries

~ Chapter 30

— “‘Howl ye, “Woe be the day!”
— it shall be the time of the Gentiles
— the sword shall come upon Egypt
— and I will break Pharaoh’s arms
— and there shall be no princes in Egypt

A Study of Chapters 29 and 30 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 31

— a prophecy against the Pharaoh of Egypt
— of a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches
— his height was exalted above all the trees
— the terrible of the nations shall cut him off

~ Chapter 32

— a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt
— a “tribulation as darkness shall cover thy land”
— “I will make many people amazed at thee”
— Gypsies: Heb name derived from city of Zoan
— English writings testify Romani were Egyptiens

A Study of Chapters 31 and 32 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 33

— prophet Ezekiel appointed as a watchman
— duty of warning others as a watchman unto Israel
— woe to them that sing song with pleasant voice
— and can play well on an instrument
— for they hear thy words, but they do them not

~ Chapter 34

— a prophecy against the shepherds of Israel
— eat the fat and ye clothe yourselves with the wool
— I will set up one Shepherd over them
— and My servant David a prince among them
— both civil and ecclesiastical

A Study of Chapters 33 and 34 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 35

— a prophecy against Mt Seir and Edom
— “Rage it, rage it, even the foundation!”
— “I will prepare thee for blood
— and blood shall pursue thee”
— “I will make thee perpetual desolations”

~ Chapter 36

— a prophecy against the mountains of Israel
— against “the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys”
— “I have spoken in My jealousy and in My fury
— because ye have borne the shame of the nations”
— “they profaned My name whither they have gone”

A Study of Chapters 35 and 36 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 37

— “Son of man, can these bones live?”
— “these bones are the whole house of Israel”
— “They shall walk in My judgements
— and observe My statutes and do them
— ”My servant David shall be their Prince for ever”

~ Chapter 38

— prophecy against Gog and Magog and all his allies
— Persia is from the east; Ethiopia is from the south
— Libya represents the west; Gomer is from the north
— pestilence and blood; hailstones, fire and brimstone
— “and they shall know that I am the Lord”

A Study of Chapters 37 and 38 HERE ~ —— ~

Chapter 39

— more prophecy against Gog and all his multitudes
— judgement extended to “the isles” and coastlines
— “and all the nations shall see My judgement”
— and see why the house of Jacob went into captivity
— “ll be sanctified in them in the sight of many nations”

~ Chapter 40

— for peace and tranquility of the Millennium
— there was a man; appearance of brass, a cherub?
— a reef to measure the Temple
— burnt offering and animal sacrifices brought back

A Study of Chapters 39 and 40 HERE ~ —— ~

~ Chapter 41

— the Millennium starts with the building of the Temple
— the posts, walls and doors given precise measurements
— “This is the Most Holy Place”
— side chambers and windows given measurements

~ Chapter 42

— the outer court given precise measurements
— chambers where the priests shall approach the Lord
— there shall be burnt, meat, trespass and sin offerings
— the measurements of the Temple and its precincts

A Study of Chapters 41 and 42 HERE ~ —— ~

~ Chapter 43

— the Shekinah of God come from the east
— His voice was like a noise of many waters
— show them all the ordinances and laws thereof
— that they may be ashamed of their iniquities
— therefore I have consumed them in My anger

~ Chapter 44

— the east gate shall be shut. . .
— the Prince, who shall sit and eat before the Lord
— ye have not kept charge of My holy things
— all ordinances to be observed during the Millennium
— the priests of the sons of Zadok
— shall come near to Me to minister unto Me

A Study of Chapters 43 and 44 HERE ~ —— ~

~ Chapter 45

— the tribes shall resort upon all the solemn festivals
— a portion for the Prince on both sides of holy portion
— shekel shall be a measure of value in God’s kingdom
— Prince shall execute judgement and judge righteously
— Passover, feast of seven days; unleavened bread eaten

~ Chapter 46

— the Sabbaths and the new moon shall be observed
— Prince shall oversee the sacrificial services performed
— people come before the Lord at the solemn feasts
— repeating of morning sacrifice but evening silent

A Study of Chapters 45 and 46 HERE ~ —— ~

~ Chapter 47

— the waters flow beneath the south side of the altar
— and they shall dwell in their own land
— Jerusalem has 12 gates, three on each sides of the city
— there shall be a very great multitude of fish
— on that side of the rivers, shall grow all trees for food

~ Chapter 48

— (North) Reuben~France; Judah&Levi~Israel;
— (East) Joseph~US&UK; Benjamin~Norway&Iceland;
— ~ Dan~Ireland&Denmark;
— (South) Simeon~scattered throughout;
— ~ Issachar~Finland; Zebulun~Holland;
— (West) Gad~Switzerland; Asher~Belgium; Naphtali~Sweden

A Study of Chapters 47 and 48 HERE ~ —— ~

Posted in Ezekiel

During the Millennium the most important feature is that there will be an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and offerings, along with the faithful observance of the Sabbaths, both weekly and annual. So why are we not practicing them during this current time?

The other feature is that the portion thus given to each tribe would be, on average, just two-thirds that were assigned by Joshua. And given the Great Sea is the Mediterranean Sea, and the east sea is the Dead Sea or even the Sea of Galilee, then the new Land allocated is rather small and restricted. Perhaps an area ideally holding no more than 10 to 20 million people!

This could be partly because these are only small remnants that came out of the Great Tribulation, after the Time of the Gentiles (perhaps this is the Flaming Sword from the South of Ezekiel 20-21; and during the Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years of captivity), the same as the Time of Jacob’s Troubles. The end result may, perhaps, be no more than five percent of the house of Jacob would survive to go through to dwell in the new Promised land.

Ezekiel 47

¹ Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.

— Ezekiel was brought before the waters of Shiloah Psalm 46:4; Isaiah 8:6 flowed from the rocks which is believed beneath the Temple Mount;

— waters; so Revelation 22:1 represents “the water of life as proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

² Then he brought me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way outside unto the outer gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.

— the way of the gate northward: the east gate being shut, the prophet Ezekiel in this vision is led to the north gate, out of which he goeth into the next court, and so through them all, till he comes to the north gate of the outermost court;

— and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side; or south side of the gateway.

³ And when the man who had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. — a thousand cubits, or about one-third of a mile or half a kilometer;

— the waters flow eastward, that is, towards the Kedron, and thence towards the Jordan and so into the Dead Sea.

⁴ Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.

⁵ Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over; for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. — afterward he measured a thousand; a fourth time a thousand cubits, or about a mile and a half;

— the waters flow eastward, that is, from the Kedron onward into the Dead Sea; those lifeless waters were healed, but the main point in the picture is the rapid augmentation from a petty stream, getting deeper and deeper into a mighty river;

⁶ And he said unto me, “Son of man, hast thou seen this?” Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river.

— the metaphor; if we search into the things of God, we find some things plain and easy to be understood, as the waters that were but to the ankles; others more difficult, which require a deeper search, as the waters to the knees or the loins; and some quite beyond our reach, which we cannot penetrate;

⁷ Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. — in his first appearance he observed no trees, and no mention is made of any, but it seems Ezekiel found them on this return:

— though they may not really grow so soon, they might be visionary there; as he measured the waters; sees this wonderful sight; an emblem of true Saints, believers and regenerate persons, who are trees of righteousness, planted by the river with divine spirits.

⁸ Then said he unto me, “These waters issue out toward the east country and go down into the desert and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. — these waters signify the healing effect of God, which went forth from Jerusalem, and spread into the countries about;

— also the gifts and powers of the holy spirits which accompanied it, by virtue of which is spread far and produced healing and blessed effects.

⁹ And it shall come to pass that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither; for they shall be healed, and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

— the rivers, according to the pointing of the Hebrew text this is “the two rivers” as is expressed in the original;

— this peculiar form has occasioned some perplexity, especially because in the vision of Zechariah (Zechariah 14:8) the waters are represented as divided, half of them flowing into the Dead Sea and half into the Mediterranean.

— and there shall be a great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come multitude of fish in the Dead sea where none lived before, and owing to those waters coming thither: it signifies the great number of living Saints, who shall appear wherever the truth is truly, purely and powerfully preached;

¹⁰ And it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets. Their fish shall be according to their kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceeding many.

— from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; two places, which lay, the latter one at the entrance of the Dead sea, and the former at the end of it;

— for their fish shall be according to their kind as the fish of the Great Sea, the Mediterranean, exceeding many: that is, there shall be fish of all sorts, small and great, and in large numbers as in the Mediterranean.

¹¹ But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.

— shall not be healed; these design the reprobate part of the world, obstinate and perverse sinners, that abandon themselves to their filthy lusts, and sensual pleasures like Sodom; that wallow like swine in the mire and dirt of sin; are wholly immersed in all sorts of evils and falsehoods of this world.

¹² And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters issued out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food and the leaf thereof for medicine.”

— shall grow all trees for food; such as bear fruit, that may be eaten and is good for food: by these “trees” are meant truly gracious souls, converted persons, real Saints, true believers in the Messiah Yeshua, the Christ;

¹³ Thus saith the Lord God: “This shall be the border whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. — according to the twelve tribes of Israel; in the ideal land of the restoration, not today’s Judah and Benjamin only, but all the twelve tribes are to have their portions;

— yet Levi is otherwise provided for in the “oblation,” and therefore Joseph, in accordance with Genesis 48:5, 22, and with the whole history of the nation, is to have two portions: Manasseh and Ephraim, for all Israel (all twelve tribes) is to return and dwell as one people of God under King David to their own land.

— this is further confirmed in Jeremiah 23:7 “Therefore, behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that they shall no more say, ‘The Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ v8 but, ‘the Lord liveth who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

— in the Lord’s eye, the land they are dwelling now, in western Europe, North America and Australasia, are not their land!

¹⁴ And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, concerning which I lifted up Mine hand to give it unto your fathers; and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. — again, and they shall dwell in their own land which God gave to their fathers.

¹⁵ “And this shall be the border of the land: toward the north side, from the Great Sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad,

— this shall be the border toward the north; the northern border of the land was to begin from the west point, on which side lay the Mediterranean sea, and to go on northward toward Hethlon, a place between Tyre and Damascus, and so forward to Zedad, mentioned Numbers 34:8, Hamath, and other places here mentioned in these verses.

¹⁶ Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.

¹⁷ And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenon, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.

¹⁸ “And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by the Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.

— if the east sea is the Dead Sea extending even the Sea of Galilee, then the land allocated is rather small and restricted. Probably this is the beginning of the Millennium and not many of the twelve tribes could have survived to make the trip?

¹⁹ “And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the Waters of Strife in Kadesh, the river to the Great Sea. And this is the south side southward.

— Tamar has been identified with Kurnub, a ruined village some twenty-five miles south-west of the southern end of the Dead Sea; no mention that it would extend unto the river of Egypt (Nile).

²⁰ “The west side also shall be the Great Sea from the border till a man come opposite Hamath. This is the west side. — the Mediterranean Sea is known as the Great Sea and the land given is small and restricted.

²¹ “So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. — the division of the territory given into twelve parts or tribes of Israel, to which all, but what are allotted to the Prince, the priests, the Levites and the city.

²² And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you. And they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

— the land so bounded shall be divided by lot among the families of each tribe; and strangers sojourning in Israel shall inherit just as those born in the land. The stranger shall have his inheritance by lots as well among the members of the tribe in which he sojourns, which they never had such privilege before.

²³ And it shall come to pass that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God.

— no stranger or proselyte or Gentile that joins himself to the people of God shall be excluded out of the tribe’s inheritance, among whom he hath sojourned as begotten children. Hence push back against refugees is unlawful in God’s eye.

Ezekiel 48

¹ “Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west: a portion for Dan.

— the territory falling to each tribe was somewhat smaller than of old, maybe because of some space occupied by the “oblation” (perhaps one-twentieth of the whole);

— and partly because these are those that came out of the Great Tribulation, during the Time of the Gentiles (perhaps this is also when the Flaming Sword from the South of Ezekiel 20-21; and during the Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years of captivity, during the Time of Jacob’s Troubles; the portion thus given to each tribe would be rather less than two-thirds that assigned, on the average, by Joshua; perhaps no more than five percent would survive and go through to live in the new Promised land.

For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. Hosea 5:14

² And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Asher. — the original portion of Dan was at the west of Benjamin, but a part of the tribe having conquered Laish, and settled at the extreme north, now Dan is allotted the most northern of the tribes;

— Dan ~ which today is being identified as Ireland and Denmark

³ And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side: a portion for Naphtali. — Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, and Ephraim are so far approximated to their old places as to be north of the sanctuary, Jerusalem and the Temple.

— Asher ~ Belgium

⁴ And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Manasseh. — “Zebulun and Issachar” are removed from the north to the south to make room for the second half of “Manasseh” brought over from the east of Jordan.

— Naphtali ~ Sweden

⁵ And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Ephraim.

— Manasseh ~ the United Kingdom

⁶ And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side: a portion for Reuben. — “Reuben,” brought over from the east, is placed between “Ephraim and Judah.”

— Ephraim ~ the United States

⁷ And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Judah. — Reuben; doomed formerly for incest and instability “not to excel” (Genesis 49:4). So no distinguished prophet, priest, or king had come from him;

— Reuben ~ France

⁸ “And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.

— Jerusalem would be allocated to Judah, but bordering Benjamin as would be different from the time of Joshua;

— and within the house of Judah, the priests and the Levites who would dwell among Judah in Jerusalem;

— Judah ~ modern state of Israel

⁹ The oblation that ye shall offer unto the Lord shall be of five and twenty thousand [reeds] in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.

¹⁰ And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation: toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length. And the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof.

¹¹ It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept My charge, who went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

— the original Zadok was the high priest of Israel during the reigns of David and Solomon (II Samuel 8:16–18); so now a seed will come out of the original Zadok;

¹² And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. — so this land is for “a seed will come out of the original Zadok” which could be the new high priest!

— so we could conclude that the Prince (nā·śî) is not the Son, not the Messiah, nor Melchizedek, nor one of the seed of Zadok; but most probably king David as concluded at the end of Chapter 36!

¹³ And opposite the border of the priests, the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth; all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.

¹⁴ And they shall not sell any of it, neither exchange nor alienate the firstfruits of the land; for it is holy unto the Lord.

¹⁵ “And the five thousand that are left in the breadth opposite the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs; and the city shall be in the midst thereof.

— the five thousand that are left; the two strips of territory for the Levites and the priests, each 10,000 reeds wide, being deducted from the whole width of the oblation, leaves a strip of 5,000 wide and 25,000 long which is here apportioned to the city and its suburbs;

— it is called “profane” comparatively, because it was not so holy in contrast to the Temple and the sanctuary deemed as the “holy” possession of the Levites (Ezekiel 48:14), and the “most holy” of the priests (Ezekiel 48:12), though it was still a part of the oblation.

¹⁶ And these shall be the measurements thereof: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.

— the measures; the city itself is to be an exact square of 4,500 reeds, and according to Ezekiel 48:17, was to have “suburbs,” or rather an open space on all sides of 250 reeds;

— the whole was, therefore, 5,000 reeds—a little less than ten miles—square, the exact width of the space that was left of the oblation, and leaving 10,000 reeds on each side of it.

¹⁷ And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.

¹⁸ And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward and ten thousand westward; and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion, and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city.

— shall be for food; this piece of land, only four times the size of the city itself, would seem a very insufficient provision for raising all the food unto them that serve the city; for the city officers, so that they may live nearby, whose life is spent for the city.

¹⁹ And those who serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.

— out of all the tribes of Israel; the city itself is no longer to belong to any particular tribe, as of old, but is to be situated on the common oblation and its labourers are to be taken alike from all the tribes; still there is a portion for the tribe of Levites.

²⁰ All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand. Ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city. — the verse means that the holy oblation when the possession of the city is included forms a square of 25,000 by 25,000; that is, 10 miles square, which isn’t very big.

²¹ “And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions: for the prince. And it shall be the holy oblation, and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof.

— the Land beyond the east toward the Mediterranean and beyond the west of the city toward the Dead Sea, will be allocated to the Prince, who remains a Mystery; Who is the Prince? Most probably King David or one of his seeds?

— King David was of the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:13-15), whereas Moses and Aaron; a lawgiver and a law-practitioner, were from the tribe of Levi (Exodus 6:20)

²² Moreover from the possession of the Levites and from the possession of the city which is in the midst of that which is the prince’s, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.

— the Prince’s allocation, of the tribe of Judah, seems clearly marked away from the Levites and those of the priests, which are of the tribe of Levi;

— “Benjamin” comes immediately south of the city, and “Gad” is brought over from the east to the extreme south.

²³ “As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion.

— Benjamin ~ Norway

²⁴ And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion.

— Simeon prophesied to be scattered.

²⁵ And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion.

— Issachar ~ Finland.

²⁶ And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion.

— Zebulun ~ the Netherlands (Holland).

²⁷ And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion.

— Gad ~ Switzerland

²⁸ And by the border of Gad at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the Waters of Strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the Great Sea.

²⁹ This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions,” saith the Lord God.

³⁰ “And these are the exits out of the city: On the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures,

³¹ and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. — Judah and Levi ~ Israel;

³² And at the east side, four thousand and five hundred, and three gates: and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. — Manasseh ~ UK; Ephraim ~ US; Benjamin ~ Norway, Iceland; Dan ~ Ireland, Denmark;

³³ And at the south side, four thousand and five hundred measures, and three gates: one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. — Simeon ~ scattered throughout Israel; Issachar ~ Finland; Zebulun ~ Holland;

³⁴ At the west side, four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates: one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. — Gad ~ Switzerland; Asher ~ Belgium; Naphtali ~ Sweden.

~~~

The identities of the various tribes above are largely drawn from the researches done by Steven Collins and Yair Davidiy below; although there are some variants between them. Both, however, are erroneous in their identities of Ephraim and Manasseh.

~ and this below from Yair Davidiy ~

The Tribes of Joseph dominate the USA, Britain, and related nations. Manasseh is especially evident in the USA, and was once present in Scotland. The Tribe of Reuben prevails in France;

Issachar in Switzerland and Finland; Benjamin in Belgium; Zebulon in the Netherlands; Dan in Denmark, as well as in Ireland, and parts of Britain; Naphtali in Norway, Gad in Sweden. The Tribe of Asher may be seen in Ireland; Ephraim, Manasseh and Judah in Ulster.

The Jewish People on the other hand derives mainly from the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi with minority element from the others.

³⁵ It was round about eighteen thousand measures. “And the name of the city from that day shall be: The LORD Is There.”

~ THE END ~

Posted in Ezekiel

During the Millennium the world will still have an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and other material offerings, along with observance of New Moons and the Sabbaths, both weekly and annual.

Note the Five types of Offerings during the Millennium in Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 46:12 ‘Now when the prince prepares a voluntary burnt offering, or peace offerings unto the Lord
Ezekiel 44:29 ‘They shall eat the meat offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering

Compare to the Five types of Offerings during Moses’ time:

Leviticus 1:3 ‘If his offering be a burnt sacrifice
Leviticus 2:1 ‘And when any will offer a meat offering
Leviticus 3:1 ‘And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering
Leviticus 4:3 ‘If the priest … for a sin offering
Leviticus 5:6 ‘And he shall bring his trespass offering

Now, if the Churches teach that these ordinances and sacrifices are for ritual or ‘sacrificial’ laws only, then why are these brought back during the Millennium?

Surely false teachers abound in the land of Israel today, their prophets and watchmen are just plain blind, naked and misguided!

“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18

“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10

Ezekiel 45

We now come to the usage and division of the Land, beyond the Temple or its courtyard.

¹ “‘Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the Lord, a holy portion of the land. The length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand; this shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

— an oblation; a heave offering; sacrificial gifts which were lifted up or heaved before the Lord, seeking his will; when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance; the land was originally divided by lot under Joshua, a particular share of which was to be God’s portion, as an acknowledgment of his sovereignty:

— the length shall be five and twenty thousand reeds; the Hebrew does not express either reeds, rods or cubits: although our translation supplies the word reeds, its true length remains uncertain.

² Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length with five hundred in breadth, square round about, and fifty cubits round about for the open places thereof. — cubits is mentioned here;

— five hundred in length, and five hundred in breadth, square round about: that is, five hundred reeds square, and this indicates the spaciousness, perfection and stability of the Millennium.

³ And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand and the breadth of ten thousand; and in it shall be the sanctuary and the Most Holy Place. — this verse is a repetition of the latter part of Ezekiel 45:1; hence the uncertainties of how long a reed remain.

⁴ The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who shall come near to minister unto the Lord; and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

— for the priests; sons of Zadok, who minister to the Lord, and others with them, who, though degraded from the priestly honour, yet lived upon priestly provision;

— a place for their houses; in which twenty-three of twenty-four courses of priests may dwell conveniently, while the twenty-fourth minister serve at the Temple, as by order they did.

⁵ And the five and twenty thousand of length and the ten thousand of breadth shall also the Levites, the ministers of the house, have for themselves as a possession for twenty chambers.

— Rashi says the Levites portion is to the south; for a possession for twenty chambers; adjoining the priests’ portion of the oblation, another equal portion is assigned to the Levites.

⁶ “‘And ye shall appoint as the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, opposite the oblation of the holy portion; it shall be for the whole house of Israel. — this must run parallel in length with the holy portion, though half its breadth, by which means these three portions made an exact square;

— it shall be for the whole house of Israel; that is, the two houses of Israel, including the capital city, to which all the tribes shall resort upon the solemn festivals, and shall have twelve gates, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, Ezekiel 48:31.

⁷ “‘And a portion shall be for the Prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward and from the east side eastward; and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.

— and a portion shall be for the prince; meaning the Prince (nā·śî), it could be the Prince Messiah, see Ezekiel 44:3; but this prince could be another being:

— and from the Message Bible

“The prince gets the land abutting the seven-mile east and west borders of the central sacred square, extending eastward toward the Jordan and westward toward the Mediterranean. This is the prince’s possession in Israel.

My princes will no longer bully my people, running roughshod over them. They’ll respect the land as it has been allotted to the tribes. Ezekiel 45:7-8 MSG

⁸ In the land shall be his possession in Israel; and My princes shall no more oppress My people, and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

— my princes; plural; one possibility is that the language my is indicative of possession, as Jonathan renders: This land shall be for the prince as a possession; but as in Ezekiel 45:9 “princes of Israel;” it is plural!

— another possibility is that this Prince (and / or with other princes) is yet to be identified, so the mystery remains.

⁹ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel. Remove violence and spoil, and execute judgement and justice. Take away your exactions from My people, saith the Lord God. — duties of princes are to execute judgement and justice;

— again “princes” in the plural, could these be the progeny of the Prince? If so, then the Prince wouldn’t be the Messiah as Yeshua never married? Unless, he was made or allowed to marry; so the Mystery remains;

— execute judgement; judge righteously, and look at the sentences executed, (1) exile into Babylon, (2) Jerusalem in inferno in AD70; why were they sent into exile in the first place? and relief of the oppressed; those that cried out for forgiveness and forgiveness.

¹⁰ “‘Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. — and a just ephah, and a just bath; and not make the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit, as some did, Amos 8:5.

¹¹ The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain a tenth part of a homer, and the ephah a tenth part of a homer; the measure thereof shall be according to the homer.

¹² And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels shall be your maneh. — the standard weights were lost when the Chaldeans destroyed the Temple and the people exiled, here God will revive the same measurements as used before.

¹³ “‘This is the oblation that ye shall offer: a sixth part of an ephah of a homer of wheat, and ye shall give a sixth part of an ephah of a homer of barley.

— the oblation; Ezekiel 45:13-16 provide for a regular tithe (no, not a tenth; but “one lamb out of the flock of two hundred” v15) to be paid to the Prince, in order that he may be able to furnish the required offerings at the sanctuary;

— this, like the oblation of land (Ezekiel 45:1), is described as a “heave offering,” and was the sixtieth part of the grain, the hundredth of the oil, and the two-hundredth of the flock, all being from the year’s increase.

¹⁴ Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer a tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is a homer of ten baths; for ten baths are a homer.

— and from the Message Bible

“‘These are the prescribed offerings you are to supply: one-sixtieth part of your wheat, one-sixtieth part of your barley, one-hundredth part of your oil, one sheep out of every two hundred from the lush pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings for making the atonement sacrifices for the people. Decree of God, the Master. Ezekiel 45:13-15 MSG

¹⁵ And one lamb out of the flock of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel, for a meat offering and for a burnt offering and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord God.

— for a meat offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings; not that the lamb was given for all these; but the wheat and the oil for the meat offering, and the lamb for the burnt offering and peace offerings.

¹⁶ All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel. — this oblation is for the Prince in Israel; perhaps not the high priest, but, perhaps, for the Prince Messiah; or to another yet-to-be identified Prince?

— not a tenth; but “one lamb out of the flock of two hundred” from all Israel to be paid to the Prince; it seems like this Prince is to be treated very differently from the high priest; and he was given a separate portion of the land different from that of the priests and the Levites;

¹⁷ And it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings and meat offerings and drink offerings, in the feasts and in the new moons and in the Sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering and the meat offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.

— “He shall prepare the sin offering” but is he, the Prince, going to act as a high priest to offer it? and it shall be the Prince’s part to give burnt offerings; or “upon the Prince shall be the burnt offerings” made; if he is the Son it is his overseeing duty to oversee the various offerings for the Father;

— the Temple is “my Father house.” Jesus, the Messiah, never claim it is his house. “In My Father’s house are many mansions,” John 14:2. “For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,” Isaiah 56:7;

— during the feasts, the new moons and the Sabbaths and in all solemnities of the house of Israel; in the Feasts of the Passover, Tabernacle and Pentecost, were all features of the Millennium; of his being the Passover sacrificed for mankind;

— and the “new moons” and “Sabbaths” and “solemn days” are OT phrases reinstating these festivals as the main features of the Millennium; see Isaiah 66:23.

¹⁸ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary. — perhaps there would be ashes from the red heifer to cleanse the sanctuary; that by this, according to the law, the Temple might be cleansed.

¹⁹ And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house and upon the four corners of the ledge of the altar and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.

— only after the Temple were cleansed, verse 18 above, were any sin offering allowed to be offered;

— the Q is, is this priest the same personage as the Prince in verse 17 above? Or are they separate beings?

— and the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering; an emblem of the blood of Christ, who was made sin for his people, and an offering for their sin; and which blood cleanses from all sin:

— and the priest shall put it upon the posts of the house; of the house of God, the Temple; upon everyone of the posts of it, which stood at the entrance into it; the Targum says “upon the threshold of the house:” and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar; or four horns of it;

²⁰ And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple; so shall ye reconcile the house. — and for anyone “that erreth” that sinned thoughtlessly rather than wilfully, shall you do on seven days in the month:

— and so shall you do the seventh days of the month, and so too he says above (Ezekiel 43:26): “For seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it, and they shall consecrate themselves.”

²¹ “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten. — this is understood to mean the Passover, that is, Passover will be reinstated, “a feast of a full week,”

— in actual fact, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a feast of or weeks of days, are a composite Feast and is used interchangeably in Deuteronomy 16:6 as well as throughout the New Testament era! To understand it differently is just being misguided;

And here are some rebukes for these dumb and deaf shepherd from the Scriptures:

“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18

“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10

²² And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. — shall the Prince prepare for himself, and for all the people of the land, a bullock for a sin offering; here everything again is made new; but who is this Prince?

— if this Prince is king David (Ezekiel 37:25 forever), he would be a spiritual being, but why would he still need to make a sin offering for himself?

— according to the law of Moses; every family was to prepare a lamb for themselves; but here the Prince is to prepare for himself, and all the people of the land; by that it was to be a lamb, but here it is a bullock

— and that for a sin offering; whereas during Exodus, but a goat, not a bullock as used here for a sin offering. So what is the significance of these changes?

²³ And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days, and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. — still on the seven-day Passover,

— the sin offering by the Mosaic law (Numbers 28:17; 22) was to be a he-goat for each day; here, seven bullock and seven rams everyday for burnt offering, and a he-goat everyday for a sin offering;

— prepare “the sin offering” but again, is he going to offer it?

— forty-nine of each kind of sacrifices in the space of the seven days, and ninety-eight ephahs and as many hins with them: a greatly and costly service during the Millennium which they could well efford.

²⁴ And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil for an ephah. — and he, the Prince, shall prepare the various offerings;

²⁵ In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like at the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.

— shall he, that is, the Prince, shall he prepare yo do the feast of the seven days, and numerous offerings; the month Tisri, the fifteenth, the Feast of Tabernacles is again described here;

— instead of one ram and seven lambs for the daily burnt offering as was in the law of Moses, here again during the Millennium, there would be seven bullocks and seven rams, “like as the feast of the seven days,” that is, as the seven days during the Passover week, verses 21-23.

Ezekiel 46

Like it or not, the Sabbaths, both weekly and annual, will be restored. “Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctify them,” Ezekiel 20:12.

The Sabbath/s are mentioned four times in this chapter alone, signifying its importance.

¹ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days, but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. — during the Millennium, there would be six working days;

— but on the Sabbath; on that holy rest the prospect into the Temple and to the altar shall be free and be opened; the priests should open it. The new moon festival is named and all the rest are included: this gate was to be opened on all holy days, which were days of holy service to God; but shut only on working days; but why is this so?

² And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate outside and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go forth, but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

— and the Prince (ha·nā·śî), the Messiah perhaps; shall enter the sanctuary by the east gate of the outer court, pass through that court to the inner gate, and oversee the “worship at the threshold of the gate” immediately adjoining the inner court;

— while the priests make ready their sacrifices, but he, the Prince, is not to enter the inner court, or to assume any priestly functions; how could he be a priest in the order of Melchizedek if he doesn’t perform any priestly duties? (Psalm 110:4). Afterwards he is to go forth by the same way (Ezekiel 46:8, and Ezekiel 44:3), and stands “by the post of the gate” which is open until evening, though no one else is to enter thereby;

— speaking of the Son of God as a priest:

The Lord hath sworn and will not repent: “Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek” Psalm 110:4

— again, the Q is, is this Prince the Messiah, Melchizedek or is he another yet-to-be identified Prince?

³ Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. — this seems to be the restitution of all things as the Prince enters by the way of the porch of that gate outside;

— the Prince shall go through the outer gate of the eastern gate, even the outermost gate of the porch and so pass to the inner gate, where he would oversee the whole sacrificial service performed at the altar;

— on the Sabbaths, plurals, both weekly and annually, and on the new moons; these observance would be strictly carried out. These commandments were poorly observed throughout history, now these are to be observed correctly, with the Prince overseeing everything is done correctly; the beginning of the restitution of all things;

— could he be another appointed leader: King David, their Prince, according to

²³ And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd.

²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it.

²⁵ “‘And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Ezekiel 34:23-25?

“And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children and their children’s children for ever. And My servant David shall be their Prince for ever.” Ezekiel 37:25

⁴ And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. — six lambs . . . and a ram; the burnt offering for the Sabbath, according to the Mosaic law (Numbers 28:9), was two lambs;

— this is greatly increased here, and the “meat offering” for the ram is also made larger, while that for the lambs (Ezekiel 46:5) is left to the Prince’s generosity.

⁵ And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

⁶ And on the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish and six lambs and a ram; they shall be without blemish.

— a young bullock and six lambs, and a ram; the law required for the new moons, for a burnt offering, two bullocks, seven lambs, and a ram (Numbers 28:11), so that this sacrifice is here diminished; it also required a he-goat for a sin offering, of which no mention is here made.

⁷ And he shall prepare a meat offering: an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

⁸ And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof. — while the priests make ready their sacrifices, the Prince, or the Messiah, or Melchizedek, or King David, shall continue to oversee their performances;

— or by another yet-to-be identified Prince? If so, who would he be? A seed from the house of Zadok; or a seed of the house of David?

⁹ “‘But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord at the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the North Gate to worship shall go out by the way of the South Gate, and he that entereth by the way of the South Gate shall go forth by the way of the North gate; he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth opposite it.

— when the people of the land shall come; these are people from the nations, the Gentiles;

— he, the people of the nations, that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth in by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate; that so such as were coming in, and going out, might not meet, and stop and hinder one another in going out and coming in:

— no mention is made of entering in by the east gate, which was only for the Prince in Ezekiel 44:1, and there was no entering in, or going out, on the west.

¹⁰ And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in, and when they go forth, shall go forth. — the Prince: the Son, the Messiah, or Melchizedek, or king David, or another mysterious yet-to-be identified Prince in the midst;

— not isolated as at other times, but joining the great throng of worshippers; the Prince and people must meet together at the time for the morning or evening sacrifice, be ready to present their prayers to the Father;

¹¹ “‘And at the feasts and at the solemnities, the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

¹² Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering, or peace offerings voluntarily unto the Lord, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go forth, and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.

— now when the Prince shall prepare a voluntary offering; the foregoing verses gave directions about the sacrifices the Prince was enjoined to offer upon solemn days; this gives directions concerning his free-will, or voluntary offerings;

— note that it is only a voluntary burnt offering, or peace offerings, but not a sin offering; perhaps, because the Son (if he is the Prince) never sinned; or could another yet-to-be identified Prince sinned?

— upon these occasions the eastern gate was to be opened for the Prince; but then, as soon as the service was over, and he was gone out, the gate was to be shut, indicating he is no ordinary personage.

¹³ “‘Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish; thou shalt prepare it every morning. — and a yearling lamb without blemish shalt thou prepare as a burnt-offering daily for the Father every morning or, “morning by morning” shalt thou prepare it;

— the Mosaic law required such a lamb both morning and evening (Numbers 28:3-4); here it omits the evening sacrifice, but increases the meat-offering to the sixth of an ephah of meal and the third of a hin of oil, against the tenth of an ephah of meal and the fourth of a hin of oil prescribed by the Mosaic law.

¹⁴ And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, a sixth part of an ephah and a third part of a hin of oil to temper with the fine flour — a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord.

— the repeated emphasizing of “every morning” shows that the silence as to the evening sacrifice is not a mere oversight of the matter, but perhaps, that in the new order of worship the evening sacrifice is to be omitted.

¹⁵ Thus shall they prepare the lamb and the meat offering and the oil every morning for a continual burnt offering. — “every morning” or “morning by morning”

— again, no mention is made of the evening sacrifice; while some think is included in the morning burnt offering, others think that the true reason is that Christ has appeared once in the evening of the world, and offered up himself; yea, it was literally in the evening, whereby he offered himself a type of the Passover lamb; hence no evening sacrifice is further needed.

¹⁶ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance. — if the Prince is the Messiah Jesus, the Son, then this verse has problem, as Yeshua was known not to have any children; so with Melchizedek; both having no descent;

— for this Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham, who was returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; without father, without mother and without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, he abideth a priest continually. Hebrew 7:1,3; so it seems he could not be Melchizedek;

— so maybe king David, what do you think? or to another yet-to-be identified Prince? He would be mortal, since he’s going to have sons, and children, and wife? If this is the case, he wouldn’t be either the Son, the Messiah, nor Melchizedek!!

¹⁷ But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; afterward it shall return to the prince. But his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them.

— whatever lands of the prince are given to servants, by gift, shall at the year of jubilee revert to the sons of the Prince, who shall repossess them, forasmuch as they are lands of inheritance, and of right belong to the heir.

¹⁸ Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession, that My people be not scattered every man from his possession.’”

— the Prince seems to be mortal, and chances increases for him to be a seed of Zadok or of David increases; but his land allotment is set away from other priests; on this point the weight goes to a seed of king David; but still the mystery remains.

— see parallel Scriptures in Jeremiah:

⁸ “‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more be served by him.

⁹ But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. Jeremiah 30:8-9

¹⁹ After that he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests which looked toward the north; and behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

— “the holy chambers of the priests” is where the priests shall boil the trespass offering, and the sin offering; this was the priests’ kitchen, in which they prepared the sacrifices that were to be eaten;

²⁰ Then said he unto me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering, that they bear them not out into the outer court, to sanctify the people.”

— shall boil . . . shall bake; the flesh of all sacrifices except the Passover was by the law required to be boiled, and the unbloody “meat offering,” when not already cooked, was to be baked.

²¹ Then he brought me forth into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. — behold, there was a court at every corner, where the side walls met in right angles, there was another little court.

²² In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad. These four corners were of one measure. — of forty cubits long, and thirty broad; an oblong quadrangle;

— these four corners were of the same measure; the courts that were in these four corners were of the same dimensions as to length and breadth;

²³ And there was a row of building round about in them, round about the four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about.

— and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about; under these rows of building, chambers or sheds; or under these stone walls were furnaces, and coppers, and cauldrons, set on them, for the boiling of the sacrifices.

²⁴ Then said he unto me, “These are the places of those who boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.”

— the “ministers” are the subordinate officials, the Levites; where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people; these seem to be the Levites, as distinct from the priests mentioned before; though in this prophecy they are both used of the same persons.

~~~~~

So who is the Prince?

Seems like God’s appointed leader: King David, their Prince, has a very strong case:

²³ And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd.

²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it.

²⁵ “And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods” Ezekiel 34:23-25

“And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children and their children’s children for ever. And My servant David shall be their Prince for ever.” Ezekiel 37:25

And his duties as a Prince are to get the sacrifices ready, then at the Temple, the Levites, the priests and high priest are to take over with the actually sacrificing:

Ezekiel 45:21 “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten. — this is the Passover, that is, Passover will be reinstated, “a feast of a full week,” as in Deuteronomy 16:6

²² And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. — shall the Prince prepare for himself, and for all the people of the land, a bullock for a sin offering; here everything again is renew;

— according to the law of Moses; every family was to prepare a lamb for themselves; but here the Prince is to prepare for himself, and all the people of the land; but then it was to be a lamb, but here it is a bullock.

²³ And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days, and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. — still on the seven-day Passover,

— the sin offering by the Levitical law (Numbers 28:17; 22) would to be a he-goat for each day; here, seven bullock and seven rams everyday for burnt offering, and a he-goat everyday for a sin offering;

— prepare “the sin offering” but again, sin offering being offered in Levitical times as a foreshadowing of Christ’s death, but here it would be offered as a memorial.

²⁴ And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil for an ephah. — and he, the Prince, shall make the various animals available for each offering;

²⁵ In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like at the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.

— shall he, that is, the Prince, shall make available all the animals needed for the feast of seven days, and other offerings; the month Tisri, the fifteenth, the Feast of Tabernacles is again described here;

— instead of one ram and seven lambs for the daily burnt offering as was in the Levitical law, here again during the Millennium, there would be seven bullocks and seven rams, “like as the feast of the seven days,” that is, as the seven days during the Passover week.

This ties in with God’s calling of Israel during the Exodus

And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel Exodus 19:6

Th Targum says it more specifically: Israel would be a kingdom, with crowned kings, and King David would head them all

And before Me you shall be crowned kings, and sanctified priests, and a holy people. These are the words thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel. Exodus 19:6 Jonathan

Posted in Ezekiel

During the Millennium there would be an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and other burnt and sin offerings, along with the observance of New Moons and Sabbaths; to be conducted by one of the sons of Zadok, a seed from the original high priest during the reign of Kings David and Solomon; to enter and perform Temple services again: according to the revised Levitical laws of sacrifices.

And if the Churches teach that these ordinances were for ritual purposes only, then why are these sacrifices brought back during the Millennium? Surely false teachers abound in the land of Israel today, their shepherd and watchmen are not only misguided but blind, deaf, dumb and liars!

 “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: ‘These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:”

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would wish you were either cold or hot.

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.

“Because thou sayest, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,” and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked,’” Revelation 3:14-17

Ezekiel 43

¹ Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east. — the gate; this was the eastern gate from the precincts to the outer court.

² And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth shined with His glory.

— the glory of God, the Father, enters the Temple by the East gate; the sound of his chariot is as the sound of many waters, and his glory lightens the earth; the sound of multitude of peoples rejoicing; something new in contrast to the Solomon Temple;

— as the Shekinah glory was the peculiar distinction of the old Temple; and the word ‘behold’ is an expression of joy and admiration; as if the prophet Ezekiel had said, Behold, a wonderful and joyful sight!

— the Septuagint has it “and there was a voice of an army, as the sound of many redoubling their shouts, and the earth shone like light from the glory round about.”

³ And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision that I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell upon my face.

— even according to the vision that Ezekiel saw when he came to destroy the city; that is, to pronounce God’s judgement for its destruction; not that Ezekiel destroyed the city of Jerusalem; but was destroyed by the hands of the Chaldeans;

— so the Targum says, “when I prophesied to destroy the city.”

⁴ And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. — the Shekinah, the glory of the Lord came into the Temple by the way of the eastern gate.

⁵ So the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.

— having seen the Shekinah enter by the eastern gate, Ezekiel himself a priest, is brought into the inner court, and there sees the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle when that was set up in the Temple of Solomon.

⁶ And I heard Him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. — there can be no question that God, the Father himself, who dwelled in the holy of holies, spoke directly to Ezekiel the prophet; of such a significant event, “the man” could well be the Son; if not a senior angel.

⁷ And He said unto me, “Son of man, the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and My holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings, by their whoredom nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places.

— the Father, his name Yehovah, shall dwell in the Temple of Jerusalem, and His name shall no more be defiled or “profaned” or cause to be blasphemed by immoralities or false doctrines by the children of Israel; indicating the holiness of life, purity of God’s words and worship; neither they be defiled by their kings, their priests, their false prophets, nor their their false temples;

⁸ In their setting of their threshold by My thresholds, and their post by My posts, and the wall between Me and them, they have even defiled My holy name by their abominations that they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in Mine anger.

— a bit of a flashback; for God’s holy name have been defiled by “the two houses of Israel” abominations; altars for their idols; therefore God have consumed them in his anger;

— wherefore God have consumed them; for which sins God brought destruction upon them; starting with the Chaldeans, then the Romans, as they were the rod of God’s anger; and the endtime by six plagues: Ezekiel 38:22; namely, pestilence, blood (by the sword certainly), torrential rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone; “and I will be known in the eyes of many nations (v23).”

⁹ Now let them put away their whoredom and the carcasses of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. — carcasses of their kings; it is supposed that some of their idolatrous kings were buried within the bounds of Solomon’s Temple; if so, they would be removed;

— the carcasses of their kings in their high places; or and “their high places” that is, by both; by the carcasses of their kings being buried in or near the house of God; so the Targum adds, at their death; or by human carcasses being sacrificed to Molech or Milcom, which signifies their kin;

— it was believed Manasseh and his son, Amon (II Kings 21:18, 26), were buried in their palace garden, the garden of Uzza which was near the Temple and there had erected monuments to their idols.

¹⁰ “Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. — that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; when they shall blush to see what glory their iniquities had ruined, how great losers they were by their sins;

— and let the children of Israel know what a Temple God would erect if only they had obeyed, that the whole Scriptures should be opened and applied that so they may be ashamed of their iniquities, which provoked God to cast them off until the Millennium.

¹¹ And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.

— the ordinances; rites and orders, rules of governing priests and their services. These are again repeated in the next verse, which is usual in Scriptures for emphasis, and especially with this prophet Ezekiel;

— write it in their sight: that it may be remembered, they shall have a draft of it from thy hand “and all the laws thereof” and drawn in their sight that they may inquire of any where doubt arises;

— that they may keep the whole form thereof: as Moses and Solomon had done so must the builders of this Temple, frame the whole to the pattern or exemplar set before them;

— again, if the Churches teach that these ordinances are for ritual or ‘sacrificial’ laws only, then why are these brought back during the Millennium? Surely false teachers abound in the land of Israel today, their shepherd and watchmen are blind and misguided!

“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18

“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10

¹² This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. — this is the law of the Temple; “the house” must not be restricted to the Temple proper, consisting of the holy place and the holy of holies, but encompassing the outer court, the quadrangular area of three thousand cubits square;

— upon the top of the mountain, perhaps it is meant first the nations of Israel; then the whole limit including the outer court encompassing all the nations thereof shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house applying to all mankind.

¹³ “And these are the measurements of the altar in cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): even the bottom shall be a cubit and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span; and this shall be the higher place of the altar.

— (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth), that is, the cubit is a royal cubit [the length of a forearm and a palm of the hand, about 18 plus 3 inches];

— the altar in Solomon’s Temple was of brass, 20 cubits square, and 10 cubits high (II Chronicles 4:1), while that in the Tabernacle (of shittim-wood overlaid with brass) had been 5 cubits square, and 3 cubits high (Exodus 27:1);

— that in Herod’s Temple is said to have been 32 cubits square, and 10 cubits high, and was of hewn stone. The dimensions of Ezekiel’s altar seem to have been selected for the symmetry of the numbers in the several parts. In height, although the dimension not given, it exceeded any of the others.

¹⁴ And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower ledge shall be two cubits and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge even to the greater ledge shall be four cubits and the breadth one cubit.

¹⁵ So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. — now from hence and upwards were four horns at the four corners of the altar; which indicates the strength of God; and that he is accessible to all nations that come from the four corners of the earth.

¹⁶ And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof. — and the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad; the length of it, from east to west, was twelve cubits; and the breadth, from north to south, was the same; so that it was a proper foursquare.

¹⁷ And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit, and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.”

— and his stairs shall look towards the east; steps to the altar were forbidden by the law of Moses, Exodus 20:26 wherefore, as the height of the altar of Solomon, and so of the second temple, required some steps of ascent to the top;

— here steps or stairs are expressly mentioned, which show that this refers to times when the Mosaic laws should be re-established. These stairs were placed eastward, so that those that went up them looked toward the Temple; and turned their backs to the east, or rising sun, in direct opposition to the worshippers of the sun, whose faces would be toward the east.

¹⁸ And He said unto me, “Son of man, thus saith the Lord God: These are the ordinances of the altar on the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon and to sprinkle blood thereon. — to sprinkle blood “upon the altar” thereon, according to the law of a burnt sacrifice, Leviticus 1:5.

¹⁹ And thou shalt give to the priests, the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who approach Me to minister unto Me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering. — the original Zadok was the high priest of Israel during the reigns of David and Solomon (II Samuel 8:16–18);

— a priest of the seed of Zadok, himself the priest, II Samuel 15:24, for a sin offering; the sprinkling of his blood on the horns of the altar is still needed to make an atonement for sins, and to reconcile the person that brought the sacrifice;

— under Christianity such concept would directly oppose the doctrine taught in Hebrews 10:1-18, namely, that Christ has by one offering for ever atoned for sin. “By this will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (v10).”

— “Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” Hebrew 10:18? Has Professor Walter Veith found any tempering of such verses or chapters by the Roman church to eliminate the need for any sacrifice at the Temple? Perhaps one day the library of the Vatican would be opened and we could be better informed?

²⁰ And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the border round about; thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.

— and here from the Message Bible:

“‘For a sin offering, give a bull to the priests, the Levitical priests who are from the family of Zadok who come into my presence to serve me. Take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar that project from the four corners of the top ledge and all around the lip.

That’s to purify the altar and make it fit for the sacrifice. Then take the bull for the sin offerings and burn it in the place set aside for this in the courtyard outside the Sanctuary.” Ezekiel 43:19-21 MSG

²¹ Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. — and he, the priest of Zadok’s line; this sin offering was done outside the gate where the Temple stood, outside the camp.

²² And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bullock. — and on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish “for a sin offering” this time it is “a kid of the goats without blemish” as commanded;

— the sin offering for the following days was a “without blemish” he-goat; or “kid of the goats; the ceremonies with the blood and the burning outside were no doubt the same as those on the first day, but why this again on the second day?

²³ When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

— there was on each of the seven days (from the third to the seventh), a burnt offering of a bullock and a ram, preceded by a “sin offering of a bullock” on the first day, and of a “kid of the goats” on the second day.

²⁴ And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord. — when thou hast made an end of cleansing it; the altar, by the sacrifices of the bullock and the kid on the first and second days;

— then, on the third day to the seventh, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish; all these sacrifices was to be pure and perfect.

— and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord; throughout the whole seven days of the consecration and cleansing of the altar.

²⁵ Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering; they shall also prepare a young bullock and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.

— seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering; by this it appears that the altar was seven days a consecrating and cleansing; and that on each day a goat “for a sin offering” was prepared and offered as before observed;

— but one Question remains: is this first day, second day to the seventh day counted from the start of the month or from the start of the year? if so these days would not coincide with the days of the week;

— or it this the start of the week, every week? Or, if this a one-off, at the start of the Millennium to cleanse the priesthood, the altar and all its utensils; once and for all? This last possibility would be like the anointing of the altar and all its utensils, by the sprinkling of it seven times by Moses with the holy anointing oil, for the purpose of sanctifying them (Leviticus 8:11).

²⁶ Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it, and they shall consecrate themselves. — and they shall consecrate themselves: the priests shall consecrate themselves or devote themselves to the service of the Temple.

²⁷ And when these days are expired, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.”

— upon the eighth day, which begins a new week and it is probable the first of these seven days for sacrifice might be the Sabbath, and end on our Friday; however, the first week is spent in solemn consecration of altar and priests; all weeks after are to have, day by day, the usual appointed sacrifices;

— “and I will accept you” doesn’t sound like it would be merely a memorial; but a commandment as in pre-Millennium, Ezekiel 20:40:

For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me. There will God accept them, and there will God require their offerings and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all their holy things. Ezekiel 20:40

— I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and God will be sanctified in you before the Gentiles, Ezekiel 20:41;

— actually the offerings and sacrifices in the two verses above are flashforwards, after “For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel,” beginning of Ezekiel 20:40;

— thus unless proven to the contrary, this read like sacrifices and offerings will go on throughout each and every week, that is, it will be statutory and a required commandment throughout the Millennium. But the first day to seventh day (from verse 19 to 26) could be a one-off cleansing just before the onset of the Millennium to consecrate the priests and to cleanse the altar and utensils to start the Temple service and the Millennium.

Ezekiel 44

Note the Five types of Offerings during the Millennium in Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 46:12 ‘Now when the prince prepares a voluntary burnt offering, or peace offerings unto the Lord
Ezekiel 44:29 ‘They shall eat the meat offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering

Compare to the Five types of Offerings during Moses’ time:

Leviticus 1:3 ‘If his offering be a burnt sacrifice
Leviticus 2:1 ‘And when any will offer a meat offering
Leviticus 3:1 ‘And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering
Leviticus 4:3 ‘If the priest … for a sin offering
Leviticus 5:6 ‘And he shall bring his trespass offering

¹ Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. — the gate of the outward sanctuary; this is better rendered, the outer gate of the Temple;

— the prophet Ezekiel had been in the inner court, or court of the priests, where the altar stood, and is now brought back to the eastern gate of the outer court. He finds it shut, but when he was there before, it was open; for he saw the glory of the Lord enter into the house by the way of it; but now why was it shut?

² Then said the Lord unto me, “This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened and no man shall enter in by it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut. — the Lord (יְהוָ֗ה) that is, most probably the Father, since he is associated with the Shekinah and the Temple, and not the Son, said unto me;

— shall not be opened, that is, shall not ordinarily stand open, but be shut till occasion requires it should sometimes be opened.

— no man; none of the common ordinary sort of people or none but the prince. Contrast this with the Temple of old (whether Temple or tabernacle), in which the east gate stood always open; perhaps to express the idea that the glory of God should no more depart from the Temple, but abide in it forever.

³ It is for the Prince; the Prince shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate and shall go out by the way of the same.” — the Prince (nā·śî); some Christians and Rabbis understood this to refer to the Messiah, and the Prince shall sit to eat bread before the Father.

— if he is the Messiah, as “to eat bread before the Lord” is a very honoured expression for the personage; if so a parallel scene is found in Psalm 110:1 The Lord said unto my Lord (the Son, the Messiah), “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.”

— or is this Prince another being? If so, who would he be? Could he be a seed of the original Zadok, who was the high priest of Israel during the reigns of David and Solomon (II Samuel 8:16–18)? It is a mystery!

⁴ Then he brought me the way of the north gate before the house. And I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; and I fell upon my face. — and Ezekiel looked and behold the glory of the Lord, the Shekinah, filled the Temple; as he had seen at the eastern gate, Ezekiel 43:2.

⁵ And the Lord said unto me, “Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.

— this is still the voice of the Father speaking out of the Temple to the prophet, Ezekiel 43:6; mark well; or “set thine heart” be attentive, Ezekiel, to what is about to be said, as being of great concern and importance concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof.

⁶ And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, — thus saith the Lord God, O ye house of Israel, let it suite you of all your abominations; that is, relinquish those things which are so abominable in my sight.

⁷ in that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to pollute it, even My house, when ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken My covenant because of all your abominations.

— strangers; foreigners and heathens, who had their idols in the very courts of the Temple, and there worshipped their idols;

— uncircumcised in heart; the worst of them, profane and impious; uncircumcised in flesh: no uncircumcised one should come into the court of the Temple, but you have brought them into the very sanctuary at the times of worship;

— Tobiah, an Ammonite official, possibly a governor of Ammon, was allowed by the High Priest Eliashib to lease the storerooms of the Temple to him, so that he, a stranger, could conduct business in the newly constructed Temple; (more on Tobiah colluding with Eliashib the high priest in the Temple at the end).

⁸ And ye have not kept charge of Mine holy things; but ye have set keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for yourselves.

⁹ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger, uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, or any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

— these were great sins before the Lord, as Tobiah was a stranger, an Ammonite, “uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh,” being allowed to live in one of the storerooms in the Temple;

— and as storerooms were intended for the Israelites’ grain offerings, incense, temple articles and the tithes of grain, new wine and oil meant for the work of the Temple and the Temple workers themselves;

— the above example was historical, but during the Millennium all physical humans who qualify to enter or serve in the Temple would have to be circumcised in the heart as well as in the flesh;

¹⁰ And the Levites that have gone away far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray away from Me after their idols, they shall even bear their iniquity.

— the influence of Tobiah corrupted the Levites and the priesthood, his marriage into a prominent Jewish family provided him with a foothold in the community, where they went astray, and later emerged as the Sadducees gained authority in administering the Temple service;

— “they shall even bear their iniquity” they were to face their judgement; they died away during the AD 70 inferno in Jerusalem.

¹¹ Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house and ministering to the house. They shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

— despite their sins, yet the Levites shall be ministers in my sanctuary; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people; and charge at the gates;

¹² Because they ministered unto them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore have I lifted up Mine hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity.

— “and they shall bear their iniquity” repeated for emphasis, which were executed in AD 70 during the Jerusalem inferno; so which sects went into their judgement of death!

— these sects of the Jews faced their days of vengeance and disappeared in the AD 70 inferno: All Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all ministered before their idols and faced their days of vengeance and disappeared from history. Were they receiving their judgement?

— and history recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70:

(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River;

(2) some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.

¹³ And they shall not come near unto Me to do the office of a priest unto Me, nor to come near to any of My holy things in the Most Holy Place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.

— they shall be dealt with according to their abominations, that is, their apostasy and idolatry, hence all the Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians and Essenes faced their judgement like Sodom and disappeared from history.

¹⁴ But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house for all the service thereof and for all that shall be done therein. — but God will make them keepers of the charge of the house; to be watchmen, Levites and priests; to administer the Temple, to open and shut its doors; to sweep off filths and keep it clean;

— to administer the Feasts, to eat the Passover; to all these, he must first of all be circumcised, Exodus 12:43-44.

¹⁵ But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God.

— the original Zadok was a faithful high priest of Israel during the reigns of David and Solomon (II Samuel 8:16–18);

— the sons, a posterity of Zadok the priest, II Samuel 15:24, the Levites as carriers of the ark; some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel;

— they escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.

¹⁶ They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My charge. — these are the Rabbinic Jews, of the tribe of Levi; and for priests, of the sons of Aaron; the sons of Zadok, would be chief among them;

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court and within.

— these are from the priests who were of the tribe of Levi, of the sons of Aaron, a posterity of Zadok the faithful priest, whom the Lord chose and separated to minister unto him.

¹⁸ They shall have linen headdresses upon their heads and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

— these regulations as to the priests’ services; their garments are defined and various rules prescribed in the Law are repeated with some additions in order to indicate additional care to avoid uncleanness.

¹⁹ And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.

— they (the sons of Zadok the priest) shall put off their garments; this requirement that the priests shall wear their official dress only when engaged in official duty, putting it on when they entered the inner court, and putting it off when they went out, which is only implied in Exodus and Leviticus, but is here expressly stated.

²⁰ Neither shall they shave their heads nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. — their locks to grow long; the law forbade the shaving of the head (Leviticus 21:5), but only condemned letting the hair grow long by implication, providing for it in the exceptional case of the Nazarite vow.

²¹ Neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court. — neither shall any priest drink wine, that is, as in Leviticus 10:9, “lest ye die. It shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations.”

²² Neither shall they take for their wives a widow nor her that is put away; but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who had a priest before.

— in regard both to marriage the Levitical law made a broad distinction between the ordinary priest and the high priest. The former was only forbidden to marry a divorced woman (Leviticus 21:7), but was allowed to marry a widow; the latter could marry only a virgin of Israel.

²³ And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

— the sons of Zadok the priest shall teach the people to discern between the unclean and the clean; impure thoughts, doctrines and manners, and those which are agreeable to the word of God; that they shall take pains to instruct the people in the knowledge of God.

²⁴ And in controversy they shall stand in judgement, and they shall judge it according to My judgements; and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all Mine assemblies, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.

— and in controversy they (the sons of Zadok the priest) shall stand in judgement; when any controversy arises among them concerning the law, this shall be carried into a court, and there heard, tried, judged and determined;

— and they shall hallow My Sabbaths, not a pagan Sunday; such times as are appointed for divine worship; these they shall be kept holy. And those who profame the true Sabbaths will be put to death; “for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people,” Exodus 31:14.

²⁵ And they shall come near no dead person to defile themselves; but for father or for mother, or for son or for daughter, for brother or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.

— they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves; whosoever touched a dead body became unclean (Numbers 19:11), and thereby was disqualified for attending upon God’s worship in the Temple, Leviticus 22:3.

²⁶ And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. — the uncleanliness could arise from man’s discharge (Leviticus 15:13-15) or coming in contact with a dead body (Numbers 19:11);

— seven days; that is, another seven days shall be reckoned from the time of his cleansing, before he (a posterity of Zadok the original high priest enters on Temple service again): same as the Mosaic Law, seven days were reckoned from the defilement to the purification;

— here seven days are numbered after the purification is made; and therefore, this is the same Mosaic Law that is to be observed during the Millennium.

²⁷ And on the day that he goeth into the sanctuary unto the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God.

— and in the day that the high priest of Zadok goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD; and Ezekiel 44:27 says the high priest shall offers his sin offering.

²⁸ “‘And it shall be unto them for an inheritance. I am their inheritance, and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. — the Levitical priesthood were to be supported by the tithes given to God, and by their portion of the offerings made to God.

²⁹ They shall eat the meat offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering, and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.

— and yes, Ezekiel 46:12 and Ezekiel 44:29 says the high priest still offers all the five offerings (1. burnt offering; 2. grain or meat offering; 3. peace offering; 4. sin offering; and 5. trespass offering).

³⁰ And the first of all the firstfruits of all things and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s. Ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.

— that he (one of the sons of Zadok the high priest) may cause the blessing to rest in thine house; that is, that he, the priest and minister of the word, that partakes of the above things, and is comfortably provided for and supported, may pray to the Lord for such who liberally contribute to him;

— that a blessing may come and abide upon them and their families, and prosperity and success may attend them in their worldly business and employments of life;

³¹ The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself or torn, whether it be fowl or beast. — same as in Leviticus 22:8; the same law was binding upon all the Israelites, Leviticus 17:15.

~~~~

More on Tobiah colluding with Eliashib the high priest in the Temple – Nehemiah 13:4-9

⁴ And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah.

⁵ And he (Eliashib the priest) had prepared for him (Tobiah) a great chamber, where previously they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense and the vessels and the tithes of the corn, the new wine and the oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers, and the offerings of the priests.

⁶ But in all this time I (Nehemiah) was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I came unto the king, and after certain days I obtained leave from the king.

⁷ And I came to Jerusalem and learned of the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

⁸ And it grieved me sore; therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.

⁹ Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers; and thither I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense. Nehemiah 13:4-9

Posted in Ezekiel

The start of the Millennium begins with the building of the Temple. What we have here is a very detailed description of a magnificent physical Temple, somewhat loosely patterned after the Temple of Solomon, only much larger, complete with special living quarters for priests and Levites.

Included would be an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and other material offerings, along with the faithful observance of New Moons and Sabbaths, the whole picture rivaling the Book of Leviticus itself.

Ezekiel 41

This is a continuation of the description of the Temple from Chapter 40, where the Inner and Outer Courts, plus other details, were measured and presented:

¹ Afterward he brought me to the temple and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.

— after the prophet Ezekiel had observed the courts, he (a man; one in human form; appearance of brass, a cherub? or the Son of God? Ezekiel 40:3) was brought to the Temple; the posts of six cubits broad; each cubit consisting of about one and a half foot, or eighteen inches, or one half-yard.

² And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side and five cubits on the other side; and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits.

— the length thereof, forty cubits; these are exactly the dimensions of the holy place in Solomon’s Temple. The measurements are internal, the same as in the Temple of Solomon.

³ Then went he inward and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. — he went inside; here is a noticeable change in the usual expression; in all other cases the man or angel had brought the prophet Ezekiel to the places to be measured;

— but as he is here entering the holy of holies, into which, under the law, Ezekiel might not enter, because the holy of holies was not to be entered even by a priest like Ezekiel, but only by the high priest once a year; the angel goes in alone.

⁴ So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple. And he said unto me, “This is the Most Holy Place.” — holy of holies; it was an exact square, as was Solomon’s, 1 Kings 6:20.

⁵ After that, he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side.

— the wall of the house, six cubits, the thickness of the wall is the same with that of the wall of the outer court (Ezekiel 40:5), about ten feet. Great massiveness is characteristic of the Temple, to set forth the firmness and security of the things symbolised.

⁶ And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have support, but they had no support in the wall of the house.

— there were three storeys of chambers; one above the other, and this was repeated thirty times, giving thirty chambers in each storey, or ninety in all; these chambers were exactly like those surrounding Solomon’s Temple, except that they were one cubit narrower, and the description of them is made clearer by a comparison with 1 Kings 6:5-10.

⁷ And there was an enlarging and a winding about still upward to the side chambers; for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house. Therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the middle chamber.

— there was an increase in the width of each storey of the side chambers by the distance which the wall receded, as is expressly said in 1 Kings 6:6; but whether there was a corresponding recession in the thickness of the outer wall of the chambers is not stated;

— it is also plain that the side chambers surrounded the house; and that the two upper storeys were reached by a winding staircase (Ezekiel 40:44-49).

⁸ I saw also the height of the house round about; the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. — the Temple, as has been already said (Ezekiel 40:49), was entered by a flight of steps leading up to the porch, and the “house round and side chambers” were therefore on a lower level than the Temple.

⁹ The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber outside, was five cubits; and that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within. — the thickness of the wall, which was for the side chambers without, was five cubits; this is the outward wall of the chambers, north and south, which was five cubits thick, made of stone.

¹⁰ And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. — there was a space of twenty cubits between the foundation on which the chambers and the Temple stood and the wall of the court on all three sides on which the chambers extended.

¹¹ And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north and another door toward the south; and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about.

— we may now sum up the measurements of the Temple with its chambers and surrounding space. The wall, 6 cubits; the chambers, 4; their outer wall, 5; the platform beyond, 5; the space beyond this, 20 (6 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 20 = 40);

— this was on each side, and therefore is to be doubled, making 80 cubits; to this add the 20 cubits of the inner width of the Temple, and we have exactly the 100 cubits, the width of the inner court. In the same way the length: here the porch is considered as belonging to the court, and with it the front wall of the Temple, the thickness of which is included in the length of the porch.

— beginning then at the inside of the outer walls, we have the inner length of Temple, 60 cubits; rear wall, 6; chambers, 4; outer wall, 5; platform, 5; space, 20; in all, 100 cubits. thus making an exact square.

¹² Now the building fronting the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about and the length thereof ninety cubits. — this building was to the west of the Temple, at which end stood the holy of holies, and this near to that; it was seventy cubits broad; and the length thereof ninety cubits.

¹³ So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long; and the separate place and the building with the walls thereof, a hundred cubits long; — the house; the whole Temple, oracle, sanctuary, and porch, with the walls;

— the length was ninety cubits, which, adding as before the thickness of the walls, gives 100 cubits in length, from north to south; the whole temple-building was 500 cubits from west to east, and from north to south, 500 cubits.

¹⁴ also the breadth of the face of the house and of the separate place toward the east, a hundred cubits. — toward the east; the separate place was measured on its eastern side, for the western was not approachable for the purpose of measurement;

— the whole temple-building was 500 cubits from west to east, and from north to south, 500 cubits.

¹⁵ And he measured the length of the building opposite the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, a hundred cubits, with the inner temple and the porches of the court.

¹⁶ the doorposts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories opposite the door, ceiled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows (and the windows were covered),

— the door posts and the narrow windows; of the inner Temple or the holy of holies; for this is what is last mentioned; of the door posts of it, see Ezekiel 41:3, in the holy of holies; both in Moses’s tabernacle, and Solomon’s Temple, in this inner Temple, the holy of holies were no windows, 1 Kings 8:12; Yehovah dwelt in thick darkness in human’s eyes;

¹⁷ to the space above the door, even unto the inner house and outside, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure. — over above the door; inside and outside was “by measure.” This asserts that all the overlaying was done by careful measurement.

¹⁸ And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces, — the cherubim are represented each with two faces, but in Ezekiel 1 and 10, they have each four faces.

¹⁹ so that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side; it was made through all the house round about. — a man’s face toward the palm on this side, and a lion’s face toward the palm on that side: thus was it made round about the whole house.

²⁰ From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple. — it remains obscure whether it be the “door” of the holiest or that of the holy place to which he refers, or both.

²¹ The posts of the temple were squared, and also the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other. — the door-frames of both were square and just alike.

²² The altar of wood was three cubits high and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof and the length thereof and the walls thereof were of wood. And he said unto me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”

— the altar of burnt offering in Solomon’s Temple was of brass (II Chronicles 4:1), and in the tabernacle of shittim wood (Exodus 27:1); the altar of incense in the tabernacle (Exodus 30:1) and in Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 7:48) was constructed of wood overlaid with gold, but in this temple only of wood;

— the altar had corners, probably somewhat raised, but may or may not look like horns.

²³ And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.

²⁴ And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves: two leaves for the one door and two leaves for the other door. — each had a double or two-leaved door; the doors of the holy place and the holiest;

— the Temple or holy place and the holiest had each a two-leaved door; and each of the leaves was again divided into two leaves.

²⁵ And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch outside. — cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; the doors of both places had the same decorations as the walls of each;

— and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch outside; on the outward front of the porch were some thick wainscot boards, which projected as a cover to the entrance into it.

²⁶ And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks.

— it is to be observed that in these outer parts of the Temple only palm trees were used in the ornamentation, the cherubim being reserved for the holy place and the holy of holies;

— the description of the Temple proper is now finished, and it is noticeable how very little is said of its interior furniture and arrangements; there is no mention at all of that profuse overlaying with gold so characteristic of Solomon’s Temple; nothing is said of the candlestick, or the table of showbread; even the ark itself, that climax of Israel’s symbolic worship, is not mentioned.

Ezekiel 42

¹ Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north; and he brought me into the chamber that was opposite the separate place and which was before the building toward the north. — then he brought me forth into the outer court; outer with respect to the Temple itself, or the outer part of the court, which court was that of the priests.

² Along the length of a hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits. — he brought me “before” a row of chambers 100 cubits long, east and west. “The door” of which lay on the north side of the chambers. The priests entered from the outer court; the breadth of this block of chambers was fifty cubits, north and south Ezekiel 42:8.

³ Opposite the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and opposite the pavement which was for the outer court, was gallery upon gallery in three stories.

⁴ And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits breadth inward, a way of one cubit, and their doors toward the north.

⁵ Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries were higher than these — than the lower and than the middlemost of the building.

⁶ For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts; therefore the upper building was narrowed more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground.

⁷ And the wall that was outside opposite the chambers, toward the outer court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits.

⁸ For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits; and lo, those before the temple were a hundred cubits.

⁹ And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the outer court.

¹⁰ The chambers were within the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, opposite the separate place and opposite the building.

¹¹ And the walk before them was like the appearance of the chambers which were toward the north, as long as they and as broad as they; and all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

¹² And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door in the head of the walk, the passage directly before the wall toward the east as one entereth into them.

¹³ Then said he unto me, “The north chambers and the south chambers, which are in front of the separate place, they are holy chambers where the priests who approach unto the Lord shall eat the most holy things. There shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.

— the north chambers, and the south chambers; namely, those described in the foregoing part of the chapter; they be holy chambers, where the priests shall eat the most holy things;

— the showbread, the remainder of the meat-offering, sin-offering, and trespass-offering, are expressly called the most holy things, Leviticus 6:14; 6:17; established much earlier as a ”perpetual statute” as in Leviticus 24:9;

— and are distinguished from the holy things, such as the peace-offerings, first-fruits, and tithes, Leviticus 21:22. These were to be eaten within the precincts of the Temple, by the direction of Levitical law. There shall they lay the most holy things;

— these rooms were likewise set apart for laying up the remainder of the sacrifices, till they were eaten by the priests and their families, Leviticus 10:13; 22:13;

— if the Churches teach that these activities are for ritual or sacrificial laws, then why are these brought back during the Millennium? Surely false teachers abound, their shepherd and watchmen are not only misguided but blind, deaf, dumb and liars!

“A sword is upon the liars, and they shall dote! A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed!” Jeremiah 50:36

“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18

“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10

¹⁴ When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court; but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister, for they are holy; and they shall put on other garments and shall approach those things which are for the people.”

— same thing with garments; when on duty, they are holy; because of the presence of God, these signify the robe of righteousness and of purity, that fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of Godly people; and were to be holy, pure and spotless.

¹⁵ Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about.

¹⁶ He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

¹⁷ He measured the north side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

¹⁸ He measured the south side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

¹⁹ He turned about to the west side and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

²⁰ He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place.

— this vast enclosure on all sides was a wall, a massive wall surrounding the outer court; “to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place” that is, the holy places separated from that which are common or ordinary;

— the precincts; the Temple and its courts were surrounded by an area of exact dimensions 3,000 cubits (1,500 yards) square.

Posted in Ezekiel

Several fragments of all the previous chapter are repeated in chapter 39, namely, Ezekiel 39:2-4,14-17. Comments on Gog, the chief (Rosh) prince of Meshech and Tubal continues. Meshech and Tubal; these are names believed by some to be associated with Russia; others Turkey.

Meshech in Hebrew is Mosoch and the Muscovites are said to descend from Meshech. Being brothers, Meschech is also closely associated with Tubal. Assyrian annals have them as Tabali and Mushki. The Russian city Tobolsk is said to derive from Tubal. Tbilisi is the Capital of the country of Georgia. A picture of a geographical area begins to be apparent with names associated with these tribes.

And here is the second opinion: the name Gog occurs only in connection with Magog, except in 1 Chronicles 5:4. In Numbers 24:7 it was translated as Gog” in the Samaritan and Septuagint version in place of Agag. And just as Pharaoh was used as a dynastic king for ancient Egyptians, it has been suggested that “Agag” was a dynastic name of the kings of Amalek, a grandson of Esau:

There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased. Numbers 24:7 Septuagint.

And a third opinion says the countries of Gog and Magog, which they call Gug and Mungug; from hence came the Turks, even from Tartary; so some commentaries make Gog to be the general of the Ishmaelites or Turks. This land of Magog is the same with Cathaia or Scythia, that part of Tartary from whence the Turks came; Joel Richardson is of this opinion.

Ezekiel 39

¹ “Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. — repeated from Ezekiel 38:3 to emphasize the prophecy of God’s judgement on Gog if he or his confederate doesn’t repent;

² And I will turn thee back and leave but a sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel;

— I will lead thee and turn thee wheresoever I please: thou shalt not proceed any further than I shall permit thee, but shalt be driven back. And leave but a sixth part of thee; that is, 85 percent destroyed;

— or, as others render it, I will strike thee with six plagues, those mentioned in Ezekiel 38:22, namely, pestilence, blood (by the sword certainly), overflowing rain (or torrential rains), hailstones, fire, brimstone;

³ and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. — thy left hand; the hand for holding the bow, while the right fits the arrow to the string, and draws to shoot.

⁴ Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy forces and the people that are with thee. I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

— I will give thee to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured: a great part of his army being slain, should not be buried,

— but be devoured by birds of prey, and savage beasts; such as eagles and vultures of the former sort, and lions, bears, wolves. These birds of prey and savage beasts are behaving as before, so this doesn’t sound like the Millennium;

— one scene about the peace and tranquility of the Millennium is given by Isaiah below:

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them” Isaiah 11:6.

⁵ Thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. — these are for those who hard-hearted and wouldn’t want to repent.

⁶ And I will send a fire on Magog and among them that dwell confidently in the isles; and they shall know that I am the Lord. — these are from Magog and those that dwell along the coastlands and islands and will also be called to repentence; “and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

— the Septuagint renders it, “I will send a fire on Gog,” and they shall know that I am the Lord: by his judgements executed upon them.

⁷ “‘So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

— and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: either the nations round about who before blasphemed it, saying that God was not able to deliver his people from such a potent enemy; but now they will not dare to speak any more after this manner.

⁸ Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God. This is the day whereof I have spoken. — God’s judgement is extended to “the isles” coastlines or seacoast to show that it should fall not only on Gog and his land, but on those who share Gog’s feelings of rebellion and opposition to his kingdom.

⁹ “‘And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the javelins and the spears; and they shall burn them with fire seven years,

— “seven years”~ some consider this may be very well taken in literally, and the meaning be, that so great will be the quantity of warlike weapons that will be found and gathered, that they will serve for fuel for the space of seven years.

¹⁰ so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests. For they shall burn the weapons with fire, and they shall despoil those that despoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.

— the burning of these weapons implies that nothing belonging to the enemies should be left to pollute the land.

¹¹ “‘And it shall come to pass on that day that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passersby on the east of the sea; and it shall stop the noses of the passersby. And there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it the Valley of Hamongog [that is, The multitude of Gog].

— at the “east of the sea,” that is, east of the Dead Sea, a place frightful in its physical character, and admonitory of past judgements; and there shall they bury Gog, and all his multitude; all his army, such of it as the fowls and beasts had not devoured, and the bones they had left.

¹² And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them, that they may cleanse the land. — that they may cleanse the land: not only from priestly uncleanness, a place being unclean, but by the Levitical law, where dead carcasses, or the bones of dead men, lay;

¹³ Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a day of renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God. — cleansing the land from reproach as sin is an enemy every man should strive against.

¹⁴ And they shall separate out men for continual employment, passing through the land, to bury with the passersby those who remain upon the face of the earth to cleanse it. At the end of seven months shall they search. — after the end of seven months shall they search or begin a new search, as the Targum says;

— when seven months are ended, in which the people in general will be employed in burying the dead; these men before mentioned will be sent out into each part of the land, to search in caves, and dens and ditches; among thickets, thorns, and briers, where the slain may fall;

¹⁵ And the passersby who pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamongog. — or, till the buriers of the dead bury it in the valley of the multitude of Gog.

¹⁶ And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah [that is, the multitude]. Thus shall they cleanse the land.’ — thus shall they cleanse the land; the extremest defilement, according to Levitical law, was caused by a dead body or by human bones.

¹⁷ “And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God: Speak unto every feathered fowl and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble yourselves and come. Gather yourselves on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood.

— the Targum says, “draw near everywhere round about to the slain, which I slay for you with a great slaughter upon the mountains of Israel, and ye shall eat the flesh, and drink the blood.”

— “that ye may eat flesh and drink blood” maybe taken metaphorically; perhaps just “Gather from all sides for the sacrificial feast I am preparing for you, a magnificent sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel.”

¹⁸ Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

— drink the blood of the princes; in these verses there is a curious mingling of the figurative and the literal; thus the “princes” are immediately explained by the mention of the various sacrificial animals;

¹⁹ And ye shall eat fat till ye be full and drink blood till ye be drunken of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. — the Targum says, “of the flesh of the slain, which I have slain for you;”

²⁰ Thus ye shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men and with all men of war,’ saith the Lord God. — the  Chabad Bible: “And you shall be sated on My table with horses and riders, mighty men and all warriors,” says the Lord God.

²¹ “And I will set My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgement that I have executed and My hand that I have laid upon them. — and all the nations, and there is no exception, shall see my judgement that I have executed,

— and my hand that I have laid upon them; his glory and greatness, his omniscience and omnipotence. Even the Chinese will come to realize he is the ShangDi (上帝) that they have some knowledge before, but that he has never fully revealed to them.

²² So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. — the depth of knowledge for the house of Israel increases as more experiences are accumulated; this time from God’s dealings with the Gentiles;

²³ And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity. Because they trespassed against Me, therefore hid I My face from them and gave them into the hand of their enemies; so fell they all by the sword.

— here, as in Ezekiel 30:3, “the times of the Gentiles;” is also the reconciliation between the full house of Israel and all the nations of the world, the full “70 nations” of the world under one Sovereign, one God! Hallelujah!

²⁴ According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid My face from them.

— therefore hid I my face from them; took no notice of them, showed them no favour, took no care of them; disregarded their prayers and cries, and removed his presence from them, and all the tokens of it.

So the Targum says, “I caused my Shechaniah (or majesty) to remove from them.”

²⁵ “Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Now will I bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy name — “the whole house of Israel” as the house of Jacob or the “two houses of Israel” as in Isaiah 8:14.

²⁶ after they have borne their shame and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against Me, when they dwelt safely in their land and none made them afraid.

— after that they have borne their shame; and disgrace, among the nations where they are scattered; being captives, exiles, in distress and affliction, and under the manifest tokens of the divine wrath and vengeance: it may be rendered, “and they shall bear their shame.”

²⁷ When I have brought them back from the people and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations,

— and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; when they shall publicly repent of their sins, and seek the Lord their God, and embrace and profess him, and acknowledge that God has been righteous in dealing with them.

²⁸ then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, who caused them to be led into captivity among the nations. But I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there;

— again, the depth of knowledge for the house of Israel increases as they experienced their own captivity when more experiences are accumulated; by their own experience and from God’s dealings with the Gentiles;

²⁹ neither will I hide My face any more from them, for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” — for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel; after such experiences God will no more depart from them, nor shall they depart from him;

— “Christians” will repent for their adoration and worship of the SUN and come to the full meaning of what full the Oracles of God are; and even the Jews will repent profusely for the One they had pierced; see Zechariah 12:10.

— “And in controversy they shall stand in judgement, and they shall judge it according to My judgements; and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all Mine assemblies, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths” Ezekiel 44:24;

— but how, one would ask? Well, earlier Ezekiel 38:22 has provided the answer: God will strike thee with six plagues; those mentioned, namely, pestilence, blood (by the sword certainly), overflowing rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone.

Ezekiel 40

What we have here in this chapter is a very detailed description of a magnificent physical Temple, somewhat patterned after the Temple of Solomon, and an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and other offerings, along with the faithful observance of New Moons and Sabbaths, the whole atmosphere overwhelmed the Book of Leviticus itself.

Maybe here is the start for the peace and tranquility of the Millennium?

¹ In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, on the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither.

— in the beginning of the year; this is the month Abib, or Nisan, in which the Passover was celebrated; the tenth day of the month would be when the sacrificial lamb was selected;

— in the self-same day the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel; which is sometimes called the finger of God, or the power of God, this fell upon him, or was laid on him, and impressed his mind and soul; the Targum interprets “the hand of the Lord” the spirit of prophecy.

² In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel and set me upon a very high mountain, by which there was, as it were, the form of a city on the south. — by which was as the flame of a city on the south: the prophet in the vision, and as to his view of things coming from Babylon, which lay north of Judea, has a view of the south which is the city of Jerusalem and the Temple.

³ And He brought me thither, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. — there was a man; one in human form; appearance of brass, a cherub? or the Son of God?

⁴ And the man said unto me, “Son of man, behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee; for with the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither. Declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.”

— behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears; look with both eyes, and hear with both ears; that is, look and hear attentively; for if persons only have a glance of anything or hear in a careless and indifferent manner, what they see and hear will make little impression upon them; nor will they retain, but soon forget them.

⁵ And behold, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by a cubit and a hand breadth. So he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.

— the cubit is a cubit and a hand’s breadth; to which may be added, that such was the royal cubit at Babylon, where Ezekiel now was, “the royal cubit is larger by three fingers than that which was usually measured with, or the common cubit;”

— so the Targum paraphrases it, “and in the man’s hand measuring reeds, one of which was six cubits by a cubit, which is a cubit and a hand’s breadth” and this is confirmed by what is said in Ezekiel 43:13, “(the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth)”

— the common cubit were eighteen inches, a foot and a half, or half a yard; 

— several modern translation have these measurements in feet and inches: an example is Voice, CSB, CEB, CJB, CEV, EXB, GW, GNT, etc:

— VOICE: I saw a wall surrounding the temple. The measuring reed in the man’s hand was about 10½ feet long. He measured the wall and found it to be about 10½ feet thick and 10½ feet high.

⁶ Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof and measured the threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad, and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad.

⁷ And every little chamber was one reed long and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed.

⁸ He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed.

⁹ Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward.

¹⁰ And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side and three on that side; they three were of one measure, and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.

¹¹ And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.

¹² The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side; and the little chambers were six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side.

¹³ He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another; the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door.

¹⁴ He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto the post of the court round about the gate.

¹⁵ And from the face of the gate of the entrance unto the face of the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits.

¹⁶ And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about and likewise to the arches; and windows were round about within; and upon each post were palm trees.

¹⁷ Then he brought me into the outer court, and lo, there were chambers and a pavement made for the court round about; thirty chambers were upon the pavement.

¹⁸ And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement.

¹⁹ Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court from outside, a hundred cubits eastward and northward.

²⁰ And the gate of the outer court that looked toward the north, he measured the length thereof and the breadth thereof.

²¹ And the little chambers thereof were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were the same measure as the first gate; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

²² And their windows and their arches and their palm trees were the same measure as the gate that looketh toward the east; and they went up unto it by seven steps, and the arches thereof were before them.

²³ And the gate of the inner court was opposite the gate toward the north and toward the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits.

²⁴ After that he brought me toward the south, and behold, a gate toward the south; and he measured the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures.

²⁵ And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about like those windows; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

²⁶ And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side and another on that side, upon the posts thereof.

²⁷ And there was a gate in the inner court toward the south; and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.

²⁸ And he brought me to the inner court by the South Gate. And he measured the South Gate according to these measures,

²⁹ and the little chambers thereof and the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures. And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about; it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

³⁰ And the arches round about were five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad.

³¹ And the arches thereof were toward the outer court, and palm trees were upon the posts thereof; and the going up to it had eight steps. — and the going up to it had eight steps, for the inner court rose higher above the outer court than the latter did above the exterior.

³² And he brought me into the inner court toward the east; and he measured the gate according to these measures.

³³ And the little chambers thereof and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were according to these measures. And there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about; it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

³⁴ And the arches thereof were toward the outer court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side and on that side; and the going up to it had eight steps. — it had eight steps, the symmetry of the entire structure thus being shown once more.

³⁵ And he brought me to the North Gate and measured it according to these measures

³⁶ the little chambers thereof, the posts thereof and the arches thereof, and the windows to it round about. The length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

³⁷ And the posts thereof were toward the outer court, and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side and on that side; and the going up to it had eight steps. — eight steps again! Eight signifies a new beginning.

³⁸ And the chambers and the entries thereof were by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt offering.

³⁹ And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.

⁴⁰ And at the side outside, as one goeth up to the entry of the North Gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.

⁴¹ Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side by the side of the gate, eight tables upon which they slew their sacrifices.

⁴² And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, of a cubit and a half long and a cubit and a half broad and one cubit high, upon which also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice.

— burnt offering and animal sacrifices will be brought back into practice. Why brought these back for those who preached such nonsense: “Christ died and the ceremonial laws are therefore obsolete?”

⁴³ And within were hooks, a handbreadth wide, fastened round about; and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.

⁴⁴ And outside the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the North Gate, and their prospect was toward the south, one at the side of the East Gate having the prospect toward the north.

— the chambers of the choristers: the chambers of the Levites who sing; whose duty and privilege it is to sing psalms, hymns and other songs.

— and outside the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, these two cells being immediately at the entrance of the court, which was at the side of the north gate, and their prospect was toward the south, that is, the one faced in that direction; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north, so that the two faced each other.

⁴⁵ And he said unto me, “This chamber whose prospect is toward the south is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house.

⁴⁶ And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar; these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, who come near to the Lord to minister unto Him.”

⁴⁷ So he measured the court, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare, and the altar that was before the house.

⁴⁸ And he brought me to the porch of the house and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side.

⁴⁹ The length of the porch was twenty cubits and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps by which they went up to it; and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side and another on that side.

— all nine chapters 40-48 are devoted mainly to the Grand New Temple in Jerusalem; the City and the land allocation for each tribe following Israel’s return to the Promised Land;

— the Laws, statutes and both the weekly and annual Sabbaths will be brought back:

“And in controversy they shall stand in judgement, and they shall judge it according to My judgements; and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all Mine assemblies, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths,” Ezekiel 44:24.

And despite Ephraim being the birthright holder, the Lord chooses not Joseph, but Judah to oversee His Temple ceremony and worship:

“Moreover He refused the tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which He loved,” Psalm 78:67-69.

This Ezekiel Temple and its courts will be five hundred cubits in length with five hundred in breadth: – “875 by 875 feet” — much enlarged compared to Solomon’s or Herod’s to reduce chances of stampedes during festivals when Jerusalem will be flooded by people from all the nations:

“Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length with five hundred in breadth, square round about, and fifty cubits round about for the open places thereof,” Ezekiel 45:2.

Various forms of offerings and sacrifices will be reinstated:

“It shall be the prince’s duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel,” Ezekiel 45:17.

And the Ephraimites, who had been stiffed-necked all along, will no longer be quarreling with Judah pertaining as to how many days to observe Passover, a composite feast of seven days where only the unleavened is to be eaten:

“‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten,” Ezekiel 45:21.

And about the Law, both written and case Laws:

Judah is My lawgiver, Psalm 108:8.

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 37 contains a prophecy of both the Jews’ and Israelites’ return from captivity to their own land; of the union of the each tribes with one another; their restoration is represented by a vision of dry bones made alive. But is this the start of the Millennium?

Ezekiel 37

¹ The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

— since Ezekiel’s message is for the endtime and meant for the house of Israel, which is the United States and its European allies and “thy remnant shall fall by the sword . . . and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire”

— that is, if those remnant are put to the sword, and any residue be put to the fire, then no more would be left, reaffirming there is no place of safety for those hopeful to have one. Second, any living would have to be resurrected from the valley of dry bones;

— further details and enlightenment could be derived from Ezekiel 23:

And I will set My jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire, Ezekiel 23:25

² and caused me to pass by them round about; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. — this dryness reaffirms they are from the dead; or if they are living, they are useless except for the fire. Or, together with their shepherd, they are either BLIND or DUMB, but they could also be DEAF, for it was prophesied:

“His watchmen are BLIND; they are all ignorant; they are all DUMB dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10

³ And He said unto me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, Thou knowest.” — and he said unto me, son of man, can these bones live? ~ is there any probability to believe they shall live?

⁴ Again He said unto me, “Prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, ‘O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. — so these dry bones are prophesied to be able to hear; hence their Deafness taken away;

⁵ Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. — the word of prophecy from the Lord, indicating, as usual, it it a prophecy and a reference to a future time.

⁶ And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.’” — God said of these dry bones “and ye shall know that I am the Lord” implying that they never have known God, despite pretenders claiming they were Christians;

— how could they? In today’s world, no less than 99.99 percent of professing Christians don’t even know the basic tenet of understanding the Oracles of God!

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

⁸ And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

— these from the house of Israel would be resurrected, but because they still need breath, they are resurrected into only a mortal life, not spiritual as yet. Most of the time, these sheep have been fleeced by their shepherd; and are only told lies after lies.

⁹ Then said He unto me, “Prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’”

— and breathe upon these slain or dead, that they may live; as in the proper form of living men; and yet no principle of spiritual life in them; but, like Adam’s body, of the earth, earthly, and breathless, till the Lord stirred up their spirits.

¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

— among these in this great army in the flesh would probably be (1) Pharaoh, the one during the Exodus (2) Nebuchadnezzar and (3) Judas Iscariot: they would be great characters during the Millennium to preach and witness to the whole whole how sinful they were and how they come to the conclusion that God, the God of Israel, in his kindness and mercy, is Greater than all!

¹¹ Then He said unto me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried and our hope is lost. We are cut off from our parts.’

— these bones are the whole house of Israel; this phrase takes in the ten tribes, as well as the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah inclusive.

— in Isaiah 8:14 it is expressed as the “two houses of Israel” or “both houses of Israel;” which means the house of Judah could also be expressed as the house of Israel! ~ and depending on context, the house of Israel could only meant the 2-tribes house of Judah as in Ezekiel 8:6,11,12 and Matthew 15:24;

More from Ezekiel 12:15, after God had scattered them among the nations and disperse them in the countries; then “the whole house of Israel” shall all be coming back, all in their Land of Promise, between the two Great Rivers: the Nile and the Euphrates!

And further details of the “whole house of Israel” from Ezekiel 36:4

“therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about”

— the “mountains of Israel;” that is, concerning the United States, France and the United Kingdom (including Canada, Australia and New Zealand);

— and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys; the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark (including Greenland), Norway, and Sweden, Finland and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg;

— and to the rivers (or ravines), where during the nineteenth century, the British Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” their colonies, their new territories; and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British Navy left the scene;

— the “whole house of Israel” would include the house of Judah, which today, is the modern state of Israel already well established in the Promised Land.

¹² Therefore prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

¹³ And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves,

— from God’s perspective, death is both unclean and an insignificant event, hence he forbid his priests to come near the dead among his people; but the high priests, only their parents and close relation (Leviticus 21:1-11); all others are forbidden;

¹⁴ and shall put My Spirit in you and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall ye know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord.’”

— this phase ye or they “shall know that I am the Lord” or a variation here implies that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their numerous churches know God today! Hence this re-affirms they are all either BLIND or DUMB, and they could also be DEAF, for it was prophesied in Isaiah 56:10

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, — the Targum renders it as the word of prophecy from the Lord. If Ezra sees it as a prophecy, it is a reference to a futuristic time.

¹⁶ “Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick and write upon it, ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write upon it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’

— earlier in Ezekiel 36:1 these are described as “the mountain of Israel;” this prophecy is concerning the top dog, the United States; followed by its European allies, UK and France;

— and in Ezekiel 36:4 “the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

¹⁷ And join them one to another into one stick, and they shall become one in thine hand.

¹⁸ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, ‘Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?’

¹⁹ say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand.’

— behold and they shall be one stick; that is, that they shall no longer be two kingdoms; hence the twelve tribes will come together and form One Kingdom.

²⁰ And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

²¹ “And say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations whither they have gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land.

— “and bring them into their own land” that is, from God’s perspective, the land they are now residing are not considered their land;

²² And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be King to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.

— and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, as they were during the times of David and Solomon.

²³ Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned and will cleanse them. So shall they be My people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ “‘And David My servant shall be King over them, and they all shall have one Shepherd. They shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. — is this the Millennium? Is this the same King David of ancient Israel? Or is he an equivalent?

— and they shall also walk in my judgements, and keep my statutes, and do them; these would definitely include the statutes and ordinances which they had dismissed as “ceremonial” law;

— and since the Temple will be rebuilt; and which the Jews, who control Jerusalem, will be performing them for and on behalf of all the other tribes of Jacob, and for all other nations;

“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. (Genesis 49:8) — Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, comes in for the supremacy;

— thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; that is, always ready to strangle its enemies to death;

— thy father’s children shall bow down before thee; before the kings that should spring from this tribe of Judah, and should rule over all the rest of the eleven tribes, as David and Solomon had done, to whom civil adoration and respect should be given to them.

²⁵ And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children and their children’s children for ever. And My servant David shall be their Prince for ever. — is this the Millennium? Is this the same King David of ancient Israel? Or is he a type, or an equivalent?

²⁶ Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. — the Temple will be rebuilt, and the Glory of God, the Shekhinah will return; for more see Ezekiel chapter 40 to chapter 48;

²⁷ My tabernacle also shall be with them. Yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

²⁸ And the nations shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.’” — the Temple will be filled with the Glory of God; the Shekhinah will be manifested before all the nations of the world.

— the Question remains, is this the start of the Millennium? If so the Messiah (Christ) and His saints would rule the world, some over one city, others ten. Would these saints be given power over the nations, yet so powerless with no power to allow their subjects, Gog and Magog, to go all the way to Jerusalem and mount a war against its inhabitants? And all the way from east Asia, say China, Korea or even Japan? It seems inconceivable. Or, is “My servant David” a form of John the Baptist that came in the name of Elijah? Your thoughts?

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Malachi 4:5

Ezekiel 38

The Gog and Magog Prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39 had been over narrated by various shepherd of different shades to further their illusions; but enough to cause their sleepy sheep to wake up once in a while if any fire broke out in the Middle-East.

This Gog and Magog Prophecy comes after Ezekiel 20 to 21: The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South! after the Psalm 83 Prophecy; after Ezekiel 29 to 30: A Greater “Out of Egypt” Exodus; after Ezekiel 36 and 37: the Return of the Full House of Israel!

Only AFTER all the above have been fulfilled, would Gog and Magog Prophecy appear on the scene.

Notice ALL his shepherd are either blind or dumb; or both:

“His watchmen are BLIND; they are all ignorant; they are all DUMB dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10

Then the Lord said unto me, ‘The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart’” Jeremiah 14:14

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

² “Son of man, set thy face against Gog, in the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him — Gog¹⁴⁶³ גוג (Agag ⁹⁰אגג) of the land of Magog, is an abbreviated expression for “Gog from the land of Magog;”

— Magog, Meshech and Tubal, these are the sons of Japheth; Gomer, and his son, Togarmah, are mentioned later in verse 6; omitting the Japhetic tribes of Madai, Javan and Tiras; Genesis 10:2), and led by their chief, Gog, Russia; and Gog is acting as their Chief; their Prince;

The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. ³And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah ⁴And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. Genesis 10:2-4

— in Revelation 20:8, after the thousand years are over, “Gog and Magog” might be a term adopted by John either as mystical names or symbolic names of rebellious nations against the eminence of those ruling from Jerusalem; or rebelling “against the mountains of Israel” with Jerusalem as its Capital;

— second opinion says the countries of Gog and Magog, which they call Gug and Mungug; from hence came the Turks, even from Tartary; Josephus (Antiqu.l.1.c.6.sect.1) says that the posterity of Magog are called Scythians, and these inhabited Tartary; so some commentaries make Gog to be the general of the Ishmaelites or Edomites or Turks. This land of Magog is the same with Cathaia or Scythia, that part of Tartary from whence the Turks came;

— most old maps of the posterity of Japheth went north and dwelled in Anatolia or somewhere nearby, which is where Turkey today, and hence the phase “in the land of Magog” is referring to the land where Turkey is situated today; prominent support of this second opinion comes from Joel Richardson;

— a third opinion; could the term chief or title “Gog” be translated as Agag or as the Amalekitish kings instead? The name Gog occurs only in connection with Magog, except in 1 Chronicles 5:4. In Numbers 24:7 it was translated as “Gog” in the Septuagint in place of Agag. It has been suggested that “Agag” was a dynastic name of the kings of Amalek, a grandson of Esau; just as Pharaoh was used as a dynastic name for the ancient Egyptians, Caesar of Rome; or of more modern times, the Czar of Russia;

There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased. Numbers 24:7 (Septuagint) “Agag” in the Masoretic; throughout history there is no concept of any “kingdom of Gog” but a “kingdom of Agag” could be conceptualized as the kingdom of the Amalekites; or it could even be the posterity of Esau;

— a fourth opinion confirms the third, it arose from the Targum, the prophecy of Eldad and Medad (Number 11:27 Jonathan), referring to endtime, “Behold, a king will arise from the land of Magog, at the end of the days” which says similarly a king will arise from the land of Magog at the end of the days. Thus this solidifies that Gog is a dynastic title of a king, a king of the Amalekite vigour for their hatred of Israel.

³ and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. — Gog is not a name among the sons of Japheth, but designated as from the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal[

— some from the first opinion identify Moscow as Meshech and Tobolsk as Tubal; a country called Ros; from whence the Russians came;

⁴ And I will turn thee back and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords;

— “Gog and Magog” seems to have a evil design for the mountains of Israel, hailing a war cry: “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance,” sounding like a decree from today’s Ayatollah of Iran, hence drawing God’s response;

⁵ Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them, all of them with shield and helmet; — Persia, or Elam (for more, see Jeremiah 49) these, with Ethiopia, and Libya, are known to be from among the sons or grandsons of Ham (or with a mix with Shem)

⁶ Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters and all his bands — Gomer, the eldest son of Japheth, is here mentioned; and many people with thee; in Revelation 20:8 Gog and Magog shall go out to deceive the nations to the four quarters of the earth;

— but here, Persia (which, today is Iran) is from the east; Ethiopia or Cush is from the south; Libya or Put represents the west; and the house of Togarmah is from the north; that is, all four directions; and representatives from all the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

⁷ “‘Be thou prepared and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. — TLB translation says “Be prepared! Stay mobilized. You are their leader, Gog!”

⁸ After many days thou shalt be visited. In the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste; but it is brought forth out of the nations and they shall dwell safely, all of them.

— after many days thou shalt be visited; this expression “after many days” indicates that what is predicted through Ezekiel’s eyes is far into the future; hence it is our endtime days, or our near future;

— led by “Gog and Magog” ‘in the latter years,’ numerous rebellious nations will launch an attack on the mountains of Israel from all directions; note: mountainS in plural, indicating more nations are then within the land between the great Rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates (for more see “I am thy shield!” (Genesis 15);

— the nation of ‘Israel’ today is only one nation; but here until the end of chapter 39, it is against “the mountains of Israel” indicating that the United States, the United Kingdom and France have returned to the Land of Promise between the two Great Rivers (for more see “I am thy shield!” (Genesis 15) and Return of the Full House of Israel);

— note that (1) Damascus or Syria is not among “Gog and Magog” by which time a larger portion of Syria, including Damascus, it capital; would have been destroyed; Isaiah 17; (2) Lebanon, including Tyre and Sidon; (3) Jordan, known by its biblical name as Ammon and or Moab; would all have been absorbed into Greater Israel!

⁹ Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm. Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy troops, and many people with thee. — ‘in the latter years,’ yet not within the Millennium where wars and fighting would have stopped.

¹⁰ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: It shall also come to pass that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought; — is this the Millennium? If so, Satan would be bound and he won’t be able to influence the nations?

— at the same time shall things come into thy mind; when the Israelites shall be in their own land, dwelling in great security; and when Gog and his companions shall make preparation to enter into their land suddenly and furiously; and thou shall think an evil thought, many schemes and devices; to do mischief, to dispossess them of their land, and plunder their substance.

¹¹ and thou shalt say, “I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates”

— evil thoughts abound with these nations, thus this couldn’t be the Millennium where all people would be given a new heart with a new spirit.

¹² to take a spoil and to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited and upon the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.

— this intended plundering by Gog as the chief of numerous rebellious nations and peoples with him against a reconstituted Israel will be met with God’s judgement and retribution of his might.

¹³ Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, “Art thou come to despoil us? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?”’

— Sheba refers to an ancient kingdom located in southwestern Arabia, known for its wealth and trade. The Queen of Sheba is a prominent figure in Jewish and Islamic traditions, famous for her visit to King Solomon to test his wisdom and witness his riches; Dedan (now part of Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia) was an oasis and city-state of north-western Arabia;

— and “Tarshish and all her strong lions;” Tarshish could be Malta, Sicily or some coastline along the Mediterranean Sea; the Targum interpretes this as “and the merchants of the sea, and all their kings;” whereas the Septuagint says the “Carthaginian merchants, and all their villages.” So who really is modern-day Tarshish “with all the young lions”? Ancient Carthage

— all these nations joining together to inquire of the advancing armies of Gog: “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?” Saudi Arabia would be anxious, wondering if the confederate would come yo take their wealth?

¹⁴ “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: On that day when My people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?

— the nations would be tested whether they could learn from the Israelites experience or if not, they could face God’s judgement and retribution of his might.

¹⁵ And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army.

— in relation to Jerusalem, Gog, the chief of their princes, a confederation of nations, is indicated as coming from the north. So who is their Chief? The two major nations lying north of Jerusalem are Turkey and Russia;

— most Evangelicals including the CoG Communities say Gog is Russia; whereas Joel Richardson says Gog is Turkey; so who is this chief, Gog, from the land of Magog? Both Russia and Turkey lying north of Jerusalem. We’ll have to wait and see.

¹⁶ And thou shalt come up against My people of Israel as a cloud to cover the land. It shall be in the latter days; and I will bring thee against My land, that the nations may know Me when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

— the timing is during “the latter days” so in this context it is before the Millennium; the Targum says, “that the people may know the vengeance of my power, when I shall be sanctified in thee, who shall see thy vengeance, O Gog.”

¹⁷ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old times by My servants the prophets of Israel who prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?

— besides Ezekiel, there would be other prophets that spoke of Gog, hence the plural form of prophet.

¹⁸ And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that My fury shall come upon My face. — these are rebellious Gentile nations who are stubborn and refuse to learn from the experiences of the Israelites.

¹⁹ For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken: Surely on that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel,

— why this “great shaking” in Israel only; more probably it is because Gog and his confederate is there in the land of Israel; or is this inclusive of the whole world?

— or perhaps this is about a scene in Isaiah 24:20; and if it is the earth, this would be inclusive of the whole world, which shall reel to and fro like a drunkard; the cities in confusion; the land utterly emptied!

“The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” Isaiah 24:20

²⁰ so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence; and the mountains shall be thrown down and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

— this scene runs parallel like when the Israelites were at the foot of Mount Sinai when the mountain quaked with thunders getting louder and louder, with Moses speaking with God in a voice also like thunders that frightened the Israelites as written in Exodus 19:18–20.

¹⁸ And Mount Sinai was altogether in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

¹⁹ And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

²⁰ And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount; and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount, and Moses went up. Exodus 19:18-20

²¹ And I will call for a sword against him throughout all My mountains, saith the Lord God. Every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

— this will be a civil war within “Gog and Magog” warring among the confederate, with numerous nations swords against each other’s throats.

²² And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him and upon his troops and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.

— and I will plead against them with pestilence and with blood; not only the sword against the confederate and the sword of Gog’s soldiers against one another; but the Lord himself would plead with them by his laws and commandments, “and they shall also walk in my judgements and keep my statutes and do them” or be executed judgement against them;

— as the Targum; and send a pestilence in his army, which should destroy vast numbers of it; as the army of Sennacherib was destroyed by one when he went before Jerusalem; and make a great slaughter among them by that and other judgements;

— or with six plagues; namely, pestilence, blood (by guns or by the sword certainly), torrential rains, hailstones, fire and brimstone;

²³ Thus will I magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am the Lord.’

— “and I will be known in the eyes of many nations” could be known by another term, “the times of the Gentiles;”

For the day is near, Even the day of the Lord is near;
It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles. Ezekiel 30:3

— the “day of the Lord” had been mistaken as Sunday; but it is the times of the Gentiles where God revealed himself to them as he had earlier revealed to the Israelites, and Gentiles would be given an opportunity to learn all of God’s ordinances and statutes, his laws and his judgements;

— and even observe his Sabbaths: weekly, annual and land Sabbath; those who refuse to obey will similarly be horse-whipped with “hailstones, fire and brimstone” like the Israelites before them; given an opportunity, and after that, a judgement;

— and lastly, “and they shall know that I am the Lord,” (together with verse 16 “that the nations may know Me”) indicate these Gentiles would have learned their lessons, repented and survive at the end; that is, all nations, all nations without exception, would have their share of opportunity for warning, repentance and redemption during their judgements before the Glory of God.

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 35 is a prophecy of the destruction of Edom, who had threatened Israel, their hatred and slaughter of the Israelites, finally led to their own downfall.

But who are the posterity of Edom/Esau today? The answer lies in the book of Obadiah which deals with the posterity of Esau; and Jonathan Targum identifies Esau (Sepharad of the Southland identified) as Spain! Obadiah 1:20; the Targums identified Sepharad with Spain, hence, Spanish Jews are called Sephardim.

Wikipedia: Sepharad (/sɛfəræd/or səˈfɛərəd/ Hebrew: סְפָרַד Sp̄āraḏ; also Sefarad, Sephared, Sfard) is the Hebrew name for Spain. A place called Sepharad, probably referring to Sardis in Lydia (‘Sfard’ in Lydian), in the Book of Obadiah (Obadiah 1:20, 6th century BC) of the Hebrew Bible. The name was later applied to Spain.

Ezekiel 35

¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — as the Targum says, the word of prophecy from the Lord; that is, another prophecy as the next verse says.

² “Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it — Son of man set thy face against Mount Seir; which derived its name from Seir the Horite, who first possessed it; and was succeeded by Esau and his posterity, the Edomites; (Genesis 36:8; Deuteronomy 2:12), so that the country of Edom or Idumea is intended here.

³ and say unto it, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out Mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. — behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee: not the face of the prophet only, but the face of God himself was against them;

— the Targum says, “behold, I send my fury upon thee.”

⁴ I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. — “and thou shalt know that I am the Lord” indicates the children of Edom repented, they do know God ultimately and survive!

⁵ Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end,

— because thou hast had a perpetual hatred; subsisting in the posterity of Esau against the posterity of Jacob, because the latter supplanted the former, and got the birthright from him;

“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.

“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:42 Jonathan

— when the Israelites were struggling out of Egypt, it started when the Edomites refused permission for them to pass through their land (Numbers 20:14-21); to their invasion of Judah (II Chronicles 20:10-11); to their aiding Nebuchadnezzar in the overthrow of Jerusalem (Obadiah 1:1,13);

— to the outrageous conduct of the Herods and their dynasty centuries later against God’s plan during the days of Christ and the apostles. The Herods were Idumaeans or Edomites;

— (more at the end: “Rage it, rage it, even to the foundation thereof!” Psalms 137:7)

⁶ therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee for blood, and blood shall pursue thee. Since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. — therefore, as I live; is a form of an oath; the Lord swears by himself, because he couldn’t swear any greater;

— since thou hast loved cruelty, and taken delight in shedding blood, vengeance and slaughter shall pursue thee, and thou shalt fall into the hands of those that will be as eager to shed blood; the Targum says; “they that slay with the sword shall pursue thee.”

⁷ Thus will I make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. — this was fulfilled; for the Nabatheans having driven the Edomites out of their ancient habitations in the time of the Babylonish captivity;

— they then settled themselves in the southern part of Judea, where they were afterward conquered by Hyrcanus, and were obliged to embrace the Jewish religion.

⁸ And I will fill his mountains with his slain men; in thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy rivers shall they fall that are slain with the sword. — take them as a whole, there is nothing like them in the world, especially those living near Petra.

⁹ I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. — thy cities shall not be restored to thee again;

— not only Mount Seir, but all the rest of the mountains, in Idumea; where they shall flee for refuge, and the enemy shall pursue them, and slay them; and where their carcasses will fall in such numbers, as to cover the mountains with them;

— and ye shall know that I am the Lord when they shall see all these things exactly accomplished, that the omniscient God of Israel could foretell events and come to their senses, thus they survive rather having their names remember no more.

¹⁰ “‘Because thou hast said, “These two nations and these two countries shall be mine and we will possess it,” though the Lord was there, — these two nations; these are Israel and Judah, the covenant people after Solomon, the northern and the southern Israels, Samaria and Jerusalem.

¹¹ therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I have judged thee.

— when I have judged thee: so God is known by the judgements that he executeth, like Petra in the picture above or to Jerusalem in AD 70, when such wicked ones are taken in their own works, as snares which themselves have laid.

— Petra, “when I have judged thee” is now described as:

“This land, once so rich in flocks and herds, so mighty in its rock-hewn cities, so extensive in its commercial activities, so renowned for the architectural splendor of its palaces, is now a desolated and deserted wilderness. Its whole population consists of three or four miserable tiny villages. No merchant would now dare to enter it; its highways are unused; its cities are in ruins.” Plumptre

¹² And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are laid desolate. They are given us to consume.”

— and that God have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel; by clapping their hands and stamping their feet, rejoicing against the people of Israel and Judah literally, and the churches and people of God figuratively.

For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thine hands and stamped with the feet and rejoiced in heart with all thy contemptuous hate against the land of Israel, Ezekiel 25:6

¹³ Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard them. — blasphemies against Israel and against me; God regards what is said or done against his people as done against God himself.

¹⁴ Thus saith the Lord God: When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. — this gives the requisite antithesis to Ezekiel 35:15; as Edom rejoiced over the destruction of Judah, the whole earth that overjoyed at her desolation would face similar fate.

¹⁵ As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee. Thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am the Lord.’”

— even though all Edom were made desolate, they repented and survive at the end: “and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

— and finally the remnant of Israel are not lead into “a place of safety” but are to be “scattered into all the winds.”

. . . and I will execute judgements in thee [Israel], and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds, Ezekiel 5:10.

~~~

The Lord was asked to remember in Psalms 137 against the Edomites who had asked that Jerusalem be razed to its foundations:

Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, who said, “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” Psalms 137:7.

To call for the razing of the Temple of God “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” is a heavy crime against the God of the Most High. The Almighty dwelled there and these Edomites cheered the Babylonians to burn it down? Madness! Just Madness!

And again, a reminder of those or any who clap their hands and stamp their feet against the fall of Israel

For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thine hands and stamped with the feet and rejoiced in heart with all thy contemptuous hate against the land of Israel, Ezekiel 25:6

will be punished severely.

Ezekiel 36

The house of Israel verses the house of Judah

Although Isaiah 8:14 refers to “both houses of Israel” or the “two houses of Israel” it implies the single full house of Jacob, the full twelve or thirteen tribes.

For detailed studies on Ephraim and Manasseh (1) The Birthrights (2) Ephraim and Manasseh (3) Ephraim as the Thirteenth Tribe 

(4) Who is this lying Ephraim? (5) The Ox with horns of a Unicorn

But Jacob was given a new name, Israel, in which the full house of Israel as in Ezekiel 20:40, the twelve tribes are all included. And after King Solomon, the single house of Jacob or now call Israel was broken into two, the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

Hence, the names of the two houses are separated, namely the 10-tribes “house of Israel” and the 2-tribes “house of Judah.” Further, the “two houses of Israel” in Isaiah 8:14 is redefined as “the house of Jacob” in Isaiah 8:17.

State it in another way, the word “Israel” has five (or even six) possible meanings:

(1) Jacob’s name was given as Israel, since the angel gave him a new name, Israel; Genesis 32:28

(2) Jacob said, “and let my name be named on them” Genesis 48:16; that is, the name “Israel” is to be installed to the children of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh;

(3) the children of Israel, or all the house of Israel in Ezekiel 20:40 in the sense of all the progeny of Jacob, all twelve tribes; sometimes expressed as the “whole house of Israel;”

(4) the house of Israel in Ezekiel 4:3-5 as a single northern “house of Israel” which would mean the ‘first’ house of Israel or the house of 10-tribes Israel; and then another as;

(5) the ‘second’ house of Israel or the 2-tribes house of Judah as in Ezekiel 4:6; this happened during Rehoboam reign when the kingdom was broken into the house of Israel (north) and the house of Judah (south); in this context, the house of Israel could be the 2-tribes Israel as in Ezekiel 8:6,11,12 and Matthew 15:24;

(6) Israel, the modern state of Israel, established in 1917 by the Balfour declaration and gained independence in 1948.

In understanding prophecies, In understanding prophecies, the third and fourth meanings are mostly in use; the fifth very rarely. Still, it may seem confusing, but one should be able to separate the two by sounding out the context.

For understanding who the modern tribes of Judah and Joseph are, the best book to have expounded this subject is “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen (1847-1930).

~~chap8,14&48end;19,33&36beg~~

¹ “Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel and say, ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.

— repeated “the mountain of Israel;” this prophecy is concerning the desolations of the United States, the United Kingdom and France. And “Israel” mentioned 14 times in this chapter alone, is judged in relation to other nations.

² Thus saith the Lord God: Because the enemy hath said against you, “Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession,”’

— because the enemy, particularly the Edomites or Idumeans, had said against you, aha: rejoicing at the calamity of Israel as in the preceding chapter; and who are chiefly meant; and also the Ammonites and Tyrians,

“and say unto the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thou saidst, “Aha,” against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity,” Ezekiel 25:3;

— and be reminded of an earlier prophecy between the rivalry of Esau and Jacob:

“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.

“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.

“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:42 Jonathan

³ therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Because they have made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the nations, and ye are taken up on the lips of talkers and are an infamy (gossip: the state of being well known for some bad quality or deed; or scoffing) of the people,

— and Edomites shall swallow you on every side; their southern neighbours were like ravenous beasts of prey, gaping upon them with their mouths; and they were brought down by the king of Babylon, helped their destruction; and everyone shared in the spoil by plundering them.

⁴ therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about”

— “the mountains of Israel;” that is, concerning the United States, France and the United Kingdom (including Canada, Australia and New Zealand);

— not only were mountains spoken to, but now, “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark (including Greenland), Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg;

— the rivers of the mountains of Israel are their maritime trade routes that flow into foreign land: British West Indies, Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands; Gibraltar, Malta, Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, Sri Lanka, Penang, Malacca, Singapore, Hong Kong …

⁵ therefore thus saith the Lord God: Surely in the fire of My jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the nations and against all Edom, who have appointed My land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out as a prey.’

— to those neighbouring nations that “have appropriated My land for a possession” (Septuagint) were Ammon, Moab and Edom; with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey; with the utmost joy they joined Nebuchadnezzar’s army when he invaded the land of Judea and besieged Jerusalem;

— out of pure malice and spite to the people of the Jews, in order to eject them from the possession of their land, that it might become a prey to them; who said, “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!”

Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, who said, “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” Psalms 137:7

— the posterity of Edom; being singled out above all others; Rashi and Jewish writings identify the posterity of Esau, Edomites (Magdiel) as Rome; however the prophet Obadiah identifies the posterity of Esau as Spain; together, Italy (Rome) and Spain, they are the core Catholic nations today; and this hybrid entity is further analyzed in

(1) Obadiah; and (2) The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!

⁶ Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My fury, because ye have borne the shame of the nations.

— because ye have borne the shame of the nations; their reproaches and scoffings, their injuries and abuses; all which were resented by the Lord; surely they shall bear their shame; the punishment that which is justly due to them for reproaching and putting to shame the people of God.

⁷ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I have lifted up Mine hand. Surely the nations who are about you, they shall bear their shame. — surely the nations that around you shall bear their shame; the punishment of their shame; that which is justly due to them for reproaching and putting to shame the people of God:

— or they shall be a laughing stock to others, and be reproached and derided themselves, and so be paid in their own coin; a just retaliation for their treatment of those from the house of Jacob.

⁸ “‘But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. — “at hand to come” means they would be safely back to the Land of Promise;

— or the original land of Judea and Samaria; there ye shall shoot forth your branches; that is, the branches from the trees that grew upon them; the vines and the olive trees, planted on hills and mountains;

— these branches would come from their colonies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands; Gibraltar; Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, Réunion.

⁹ For behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown. — they shall return to their own border in the Promise Land, land promised to Abraham (for more, see “I am thy shield!” Genesis 15)

¹⁰ And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be built. — all the house of Jacob, all the tribes of Israel, the ten tribes as well as the other two: for all shall return; in fact, a large portion of Judah had already returned.

¹¹ And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and bring fruit. And I will settle you according to your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

— and I will settle you after your old estates; that is, you mountains shall be inhabited by those that formerly dwelt in you, and you shall be enjoyed by your right owners; by those who had you in possession from the beginning, from the times of Joshua; by whom you were settled on them by lot, according to their several tribes. These land shall to be taken back from Ammon, Moab and Edom (verse 5 above).

¹² Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even My people Israel; and they shall possess thee and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men. — a clearer picture could be derived from reading The Message Bible:

“‘But you, Mountains of Israel, will burst with new growth, putting out branches and bearing fruit for my people Israel. My people are coming home! Do you see? I’m back again. I’m on your side.

You’ll be plowed and planted as before! I’ll see to it that your population grows all over Israel, that the towns fill up with people, that the ruins are rebuilt. I’ll make this place teem with life—human and animal. The country will burst into life, life, and more life, your towns and villages full of people just as in the old days.

I’ll treat you better than I ever have. And you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll put people over you—my own people Israel! They’ll take care of you and you’ll be their inheritance. Never again will you be a harsh and unforgiving land to them. Ezekiel 36:11-12 MSG

¹³ Thus saith the Lord God: Because they say unto you, “Thou, land, devourest up men and hast bereaved thy nations,” — some say to you, “The land of Israel is known for devouring its people and depriving them of their children,” Voice

¹⁴ therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord God. — because some say, the land of Israel is known for devouring its people, by famine, sword, or pestilence and depriving them of their children, thus saith the Lord God, that shall cease.

¹⁵ Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the nations any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God.’” — not that “any more” repeated three times for emphasis;

— neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God; fall by famine, sword, or pestilence, or any other judgment caused by sin:

— or, “thou shalt not bereave” and which the Targum and many versions follow: now what is promised is its full accomplishment upon the full return of the house of Jacob from their ‘Babylonish’ captivity.

CSB says: I will no longer allow the insults of the nations to be heard against you, and you will not have to endure the reproach of the peoples anymore; you will no longer cause your nation to stumble. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’” Ezekiel 36:14-15

For more, see A Greater “Out of Egypt” Exodus

¹⁶ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — as the Targum says, the word of prophecy from the Lord; that is, another prophecy regarding the house of Israel as the next verse indicates.

¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings; their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. — the comparison with the house of Israel is as a woman to be cleansed who has been set apart for uncleanness.

¹⁸ Therefore I poured My fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. — God’s fury upon the house of Israel was shed because of her idols and for the blood they had shed upon the land; the innocent and righteous blood.

¹⁹ And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

— the house of Israel dispersed like the Egyptians, and they were dispersed through the countries like the Gypsies; or blown about as chaff, stubble, or any such like thing, by the wind;

— according to Israel’s self proclaimed standards and according to their doings I judged them; condemned and punished them as their evil ways and wicked works deserved.

²⁰ And when they entered unto the nation whither they went, they profaned My holy name, when they said to them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of His land.’

— among the nations, they profaned my holy name; by their pornography, sexual immorality and promiscuity, by their violation of both tablets of laws; by their gun violence, family breakdown, homelessness;

— among other nations, they use dirty language while invoking God’s name, whereby they gave the Gentiles an occasion to reproach them, their religion, and their God, Romans 2:24;

— and not only do they promote LGBTQIA+ and other filths but being hubris and narcissistic they also try to promote and enforce them onto other nations; in doing so “they profaned My holy name,” so said the Lord!

²¹ But I had pity for Mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations whither they went. — but for my holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned my holy name among the nations whither you go.

²² “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for Mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye went.

— it is emphasized that God would restore his people, not for their sakes, not for the house of Israel’s sake, but for his own.

²³ And I will sanctify My great name which was profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. — to sanctify is the opposite of to profane;

— God will restore his great name to its holy state which has been desecrated in every nation by the nation of Israel! After all these things come to pass, God will reveal his holiness through Israel right before our eyes, then these Gentile nations will know that I am the Lord God.

²⁴ For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

— the mention of “I will take you . . . out of all countries” shows Ezekiel’s prophecy to have been directed beyond their time or immediate future; second, this haven’t been fulfilled yet; but the sound bites could be heard from the ground now.

²⁵ “‘Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

— that cleansing is the removal of already contracted defilement, especially idolatry, one such example is facing the East, worshipping the Sun; Christmas, which honor the Mithraism; Easters, a celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex.

²⁶ A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. — this is a scene flashing forward into the Millennium in the days of the Messiah.

²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgements and do them. — “and ye shall keep My judgements” or ye shall be careful to keep them or understand God’s judgement; one significant judgement was implemented in AD 70; as some sects faced their judgement and were sent to their death?

— these sects faced their adverse judgement and “disappeared” in the AD 70 inferno: All Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all had their days of vengeance and disappeared from history. Were they receiving their judgement?

— but history recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70: (1) The early Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River;

— (2) some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel; they were headed by a rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.

For more, see AN AUTOPSY OF JERUSALEM IN THE AD 70 INFERNO

²⁸ And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. — this is flashing forward into the Millennium in the days of the Messiah;

— and ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; not only shall be brought into it, but shall inhabit it, and continue there, and that in great safety and plenty; because this land between the rivers is the gift from God, and what he gave to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by promise so long ago, and to their posterity.

²⁹ “‘I will also save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. — this is flashing forward into the Millennium in the days of the Messiah;

³⁰ And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the nations. — more details of the Millennium could be found from Ezekiel 40 to Ezekiel 48;

³¹ Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

— only then would they remember, but not now where they is full of pride, arrogance and jingoism: “If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future” Madeleine Albright.

³² Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel! — not for their sakes, not for the house of Israel’s sake, but for God’s own; as you would be ashamed and confounded of your own ways.

³³ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be rebuilt. — again, this is flashing forward into the Millennium in the days of the Messiah;

³⁴ And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

³⁵ And they shall say, “This land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities have become fortified and are inhabited.” — more details of the Millennium could be found from Ezekiel 40 to 48;

³⁶ Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined places and plant that which was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.’

— “I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it;” God has spoken of it by his prophets; he has promised it in his word, and he will surely do it; there is certainly no Plan B, for he is true and faithful to his promises, and able to perform;

— but many false shepherds have claimed that because of Israel’s sin, God’s project of the OT had failed, his numerous promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob nullified, and then the Almighty God quickly revert to another plan, Plan B: a new redemptive process calls the “Covenant of Grace!”

³⁷ “Thus saith the Lord God: I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. I will increase them with men like a flock. — yet again I’m going to do what Israel asks. I’ll increase their population as with a flock of sheep.

³⁸ As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the Lord.” — solemn feasts are all the solemn days and festivals listed in Leviticus 23; all will be kept;

— God said of the house of Israel that “they shall know that I am the Lord” this implies that they do not know God at this time, despite many claim they are Christians, a few pretentious at best. How could they? In today’s world of professing Christians, no less than 99.99 percent of them disgracefully don’t even know the Oracles of God!

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 33 specifies the duty of watchman and the sins of his people; it contains a vindication of the justice of God; a threatening of destruction to those who remained in the land after the taking of the city of Jerusalem; and in chapter 34, it highlights the hypocrisy of the prophets who choose to feed themselves rather than feed the flock.

Earlier, we have established that although Ezekiel has his face set toward Jerusalem, this prophecy is meant for the house of Israel “for many years to come” (Ezekiel 12:27); that is, at the endtime. And, here, remember, the top dog of the house of Israel is primarily the United States of America, and secondarily its European allies.

For understanding who the modern tribes of Judah and Joseph are, the best book to have expounded this subject is “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen (1847-1930). ~~ chap8&14end;19,33&36beg ~~

More on (1) The Birthrights (2) Ephraim and Manasseh (3) Ephraim as the Thirteenth Tribe 

(4) Who is this lying Ephraim? (5) The Ox with horns of a Unicorn

Further, the word “Israel” has five (or even six) possible meanings:

(1) Israel in place of Jacob, since the angel gave Jacob a new name, Israel; Genesis 32:28

(2) Jacob said, “and let my name be named on them” Genesis 48:16; that is, the name “Israel” is to be installed to the children of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh;

(3) the children of Israel, or all the house of Israel as in Ezekiel 20:40 in the sense of all the progeny of Jacob, all twelve tribes; sometimes expressed as the “whole house of Israel;”

(4) the house of Israel as in Ezekiel 4:3-5 as a single northern “house of Israel” which would mean the ‘first’ house of Israel or as the house of 10-tribes Israel; and then another as;

(5) the ‘second’ house of Israel as the 2-tribes house of Judah as in Ezekiel 4:6; this happened during Rehoboam reign when the kingdom was broken into the house of Israel (north) and the house of Judah (south); in this context, the house of Israel could be the 2-tribes Israel as in Ezekiel 8:6,11,12 and Matthew 15:24;

(6) Israel, the modern state of Israel, established in 1917 by the Balfour declaration and gained independence in 1948.

In understanding prophecies, the third and fourth meanings are mostly in use; the fifth very rarely. Still, it may seem confusing, but one should be able to separate the two by sounding out the context.

Ezekiel 33

¹ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum renders it.

² “Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man from their borders and set him as their watchman, and

— the prophet Ezekiel is a watchman to the house of Israel; his appointment to be a watchman is extremely important as it is derived from God and not from the people.

³ if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people,

— if what he seeth the sword come upon the land; or those that kill with the sword; as soon as he observes a body of armed men, more or less, marching towards the borders of the land with a manifest intention to enter and invade it;

— he blow the trumpet and warn the people; by blowing the trumpet, the signal they would understand that an enemy was at hand or near; or warn them by word of mouth where he could do it and when it was necessary.

⁴ then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. — if the sword come and take him away; those that kill with the sword, no blame can be laid upon any but himself; the watchman will be clear.

⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning: his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. — as a watchman to the house of Israel, his duty is to warn sinners of their misery and impending danger.

⁶ But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.’

— but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hands; he shall be punished for not doing his duty,

— for not giving the due warning of danger, on which account the man was surprised with the enemy and taken away unawares; and therefore his death shall be laid to the watchman and he must be answerable for it.

⁷ “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee as a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth and warn them from Me.

— the book of Ezekiel is primarily directed to the children of Israel; all other nations, without exception, are periphery:

³ And He said unto me, “Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against Me. They and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day;

⁴ for they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God.’ Ezekiel 2:3-4

— this prophecy is meant for the house of Israel, which is primarily the United States of America, and secondarily its European allies;

— therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me; the Targum says, “thou shalt receive the word from my Word, and warn them from sinning before me.”

⁸ When I say unto the wicked, ‘O wicked man, thou shalt surely die,’ if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand — the watchman must answer for the blood of all that perish through his negligence.

⁹ Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. — blood had by this time been shed, but the watchman is to be cleared “if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it.”

¹⁰ “Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel: ‘Thus ye speak, saying, “If our transgressions and our sins be upon us and we pine away in them, how should we then live?”’

— son of man to speak unto the “house of Israel” re-emphasizing a prophecy which is meant for the United States and its European allies; foremost, most are not keeping the Sabbaths.

¹¹ Say unto them: ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?’

— again the “house of Israel” re-emphasizing a prophecy which is meant for the United States and its European allies; their sabbath which is Sundays, where the original keepers were the Samaritans, brought from the Assyrians to corrupt the children of Israel;

— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer Judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there;

— for more see 

(1) Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline; and

(2) The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!

¹² Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness, neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.’

— a good person’s righteous life won’t save him when he decides to sin, and a bad person’s wicked life won’t prevent him from repenting his wickedness.

¹³ When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live, if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. — Exodus 31:14 “Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you. Every one who defileth it shall surely be put to death;

— for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall “be cut off from among his people.” The punishment for breaking the Sabbath was death. When someone is put to death, obviously he “hath committed a sin, he shall die for it” or cut off from among his people; Exodus 31:14;

— these sects of the Jews faced their days of vengeance by FIRE and disappeared in the AD 70 inferno: all the Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all faced their days of vengeance and disappeared from history. Were they receiving their “fire”?

¹⁴ Again, when I say unto the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die,’ if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right,

¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give back that which he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. — history recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70:

(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River.

(2) Some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who was smuggled out of besieged Jerusalem in a coffin. They escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.

¹⁶ None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him. He hath done that which is lawful and right: he shall surely live. — they live (1) the Christians, known as Nazarenes; and (2) certain Pharisees, who became the Rabbinic Jew today.

¹⁷ “Yet the children of thy people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ But as for them, their way is not equal. — instead of turning away and by repenting, the house of Israel complains even further; that His way is not according to the rules of justice and equity.

¹⁸ When the righteous turneth from his righteousness and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. — a re-instatement of verse 13 above.

¹⁹ But if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. — a re-instatement of verses 14-15 above.

²⁰ Yet ye say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one according to his ways.” — the wicked still obstinately persists in their false charges: “The way of the Lord is not equal.”

²¹ And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, “The city is smitten!” — that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me; as it was foretold and promised he should, Ezekiel 24:26;

— saying, the city is smitten; the city of Jerusalem; the walls were broken down, the houses burnt and the whole destroyed.

²² Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening before he that had escaped came, and He had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb. — and had opened my mouth as he promised he would, Ezekiel 3:26-27 so that he spoke freely and boldly.

²³ Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord, as Ezra would renders it.

²⁴ “Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes in the land of Israel speak, saying, ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.’

— ‘if Abraham, being only a single person, had the whole region of Judea and Samaria (and more) given him, there is much greater reason to conclude, that God will preserve the possession of more to us, who are a numerous part of Abraham’s posterity.’

²⁵ Therefore say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Ye eat meat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood. And shall ye possess the land? — eat meat with the blood is a sin, and so with lift up your eyes toward your idols.

²⁶ Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbor’s wife. And shall ye possess the land?’ —shall you possess the land? Can such sinners flatter themselves that they shall inherit the land promised to a righteous and good forefather, and to the like seed?

²⁷ Say thou thus unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that are in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

— and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured; a reminder of “so will I send upon you famine and evil beasts” Ezekiel 5:17.

“For thus saith the Lord God: How much more when I send My four sore judgements upon Jerusalem; the sword and the famine and the noisome beast and the pestilence; to cut off from it man and beast?” Ezekiel 14:21

²⁸ For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. — could this period of the land been desolated ties in with Israel 190 and Judah’s 40 years of iniquities? see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline; “mountains of Israel” would be a reference to the United States, United Kingdom and France;

— for in II Chronicles 36:21 it says, “The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.” This is a reference to Jeremiah 25:11

²⁹ Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.’ — and they “shall know that I am the Lord” indicating that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their numerous churches know God today! But are all sleeping!

His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Isaiah 56:10

³⁰ “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, ‘Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.’

— every man to his brother, saying, come, l pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord; let us go perhaps we shall hear some new thing, which would be pleasing.

³¹ And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

— “for with their mouth they show much love” such as grace of God, covernent of Grace, or even the throne of grace, “but their heart goeth after their covetousness.”

³² And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear thy words, but they don’t do them;

— songs of mercies like ‘Amazing Grace’ or flattering like ‘How Great Thou Art,’ ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ or ‘Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty.’ They are so popular and endearing with “pleasant voice” and “play well on an instrument” that the flock are so mesmerized that God’s commandments are swept aside.

³³ And when this cometh to pass — lo, it will come — then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.” — and when this cometh to pass; the prophecy before delivered out, concerning the desolations in the land of Israel; that is, by the sword, pestilence, and wild beasts;

— lo, it will come; whatever is predicted by the Lord; in the mouth of his prophets, certainly comes to pass: then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them; that Ezekiel was one such prophet by the exact accomplishment of his predictions.

Ezekiel 34

In this chapter, God is against the shepherds of Israel, that is, their rulers, both in church and state, are called to an account, as having been very much accessory to the sin and ruin of Israel, by their neglect of the duties of their station.

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum renders it.

² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

— Woe be to the shepherds! ~ false teachers, pastors, ministers, those that fleeceth the flock; they have been principal causes of many sins, and exemplary actors in other sins;

— for which many woes are exposed; many already are to come, and the rest will come, in which woes these wolves in sheep’s skin have more than their ordinary share.

³ Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill the ones that are fed; but ye feed not the flock. — but ye feed not the flock; did not govern the people well,

— by doing justice and judgement among men; did not deliver out words of truth and sound teachings, to feed the minds of men with which is the duty of those that preside in the church of God.

⁴ The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

— these are shepherds who neglect their duty, and abuse the trust reposed in them; sheep wander and lose themselves, shepherds should seek such and bring them home.

⁵ And they were scattered because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. — and they became meat to all beasts; the Targum says, “and they were delivered to all the kingdoms of the people to be consumed;”

— such beasts as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Ammonites, Moabites, and others; and also be applied to false teachers, those grievous wolves, which spare not the flock, into whose hands members of churches fall when neglected by their shepherds.

⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yea, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. — through all the mountains; when endangered, affrighted, pursued, they got upon the mountains; or it may refer to their wandering after idols worshipped in high places.

⁷ “‘Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: — ye prophets and teachers of the Scriptures, who ought to have attended to the word of God, to his doctrines of truth.

⁸ As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because My flock became a prey and My flock became meat to every beast of the field because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not My flock,

— neither did my shepherds search for my flock; that was scattered, and carried captive, and became a prey to others; but these shepherds fed themselves;

⁹ therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. — repeated from verse 7 above, for emphasis.

¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more. For I will deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

— thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds; they have made me their enemy by their negligence and abuse of their power, and I will appear and act as such; they have been enemies to my sheep, though pretending to be their shepherds;

— I will be an open enemy to them; and will require my flock at their hands; I will require a severe account from their kings and princes (who acquiesce with LGBTqia+ agenda to gain popularity); their priests and prophets (who generally teach a false sabbath).

¹¹ “‘For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I, even I, will both search My sheep and seek them out. — I, even I: the construction is emphatically in the Hebrew and well expressed here; I will search my sheep in all countries and in all places where they are.

¹² As a shepherd seeketh out his flock on the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered on the cloudy and dark day. — the cloudy day; when the storm first began to arise from abroad or at home; here in persecutions, there in warlike preparations.

¹³ And I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country.

— from all parts of the world; whom he searches for, and effectually calls by his spirits, and separates them from the rest of the world and brings them into his churches, and among his people.

¹⁴ I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

— the high mountains of Israel; the phrase is “the mountain of the height of Israel” (as in Ezekiel 17:23; 20:40); notice a subtle difference in the singular number; the reason for the singular is that Ezekiel spoke of the central seat of the kingdom, Mount Zion, where the Messiah would appear to teach them.

¹⁵ I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. — and God will bring them out from the nations, to Jerusalem and the Promised Land.

¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost and bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong: I will feed them with judgement. — God will feed them with sound judgement; he will judge, chastise and punish them.

¹⁷ “‘And as for you, O My flock, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the hegoats. — behold, God will judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats: between the smaller and weaker cattle, the sheep and the lambs;

— now, the Lord, as he observed a difference between them, he would make this manifest and take the part of the one against the other; even the part of the weaker against the stronger; the Targum says, “behold, judge between man and man, sinners and the ungodly.”

¹⁸ Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? And to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

— from the Message Bible

“‘And as for you, my dear flock, I’m stepping in and judging between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. Aren’t you satisfied to feed in good pasture without taking over the whole place? Can’t you be satisfied to drink from the clear stream without muddying the water with your feet? Why do the rest of my sheep have to make do with grass that’s trampled down and water that’s been muddied? Ezekiel 34:17-19 MSG

¹⁹ And as for My flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. — the Targum of the whole verse says, “and my people eat the residue of the food of your ministers, and drink the residue of the drink of your ministers.”

²⁰ “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them: Behold I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. — behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. The Targum says, “between the rich man and the poor man.”

²¹ Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns till ye have scattered them abroad, — because you fat sheep bully the weak, you fleeceth the flock, push them around, and threaten them with your horns until you scatter them to distant mountains;

²² therefore will I save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. — therefore will I save my flock; or redeem my people; that is, by his Son as his Shepherd and Servant:

²³ And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. — this reunites the house of Israel and the house of Judah; and even all Gentiles.

²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it. — The Targum: “I the Lord have decreed it in my word.”

²⁵ “‘And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. — evil beasts: during the Babylonish captivity evil beasts had exceedingly increased, through seventy years’ desolation in Judea.

²⁶ And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. — “My hill” is Mount Zion; a similar figurative language in Isaiah 31:4.

²⁷ And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves by them.

— the trees of the fields and orchards will bear abundant fruit, the soil of the fields will produce ample crops, and My people will rest securely within their land. They will know that I am the Eternal when I destroy the dominion of their oppressors and liberate them from those who made them slaves.

²⁸ And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. — the wilderness or pasture-country and the woods, the places most exposed to beasts and birds of prey, become places of security.

²⁹ And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more. — never again will famine strike their land; never again will other nations sneer at them.

³⁰ Thus shall they know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are My people, saith the Lord God. — they “shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them” indicating that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their churches know God is with them; “even the house of Israel, are My people!”

³¹ And ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.’” — these words at the conclusion of the chapter, explain the metaphor; namely, that what was said of a flock and its shepherds, is to be understood of men and their shepherds, ministers;

— and of God’s people, whom their ecclesiastical ministers misled and oppressed, but whom God watches over, provides for, and takes care as a real shepherd does. This too lays an obligation upon civil princes, governors and magistrates, to govern faithfully and justly the people whom they were committing their trust.

Posted in Ezekiel

Four chapters (29 to 32) are allocated to Egypt, indicating its importance, but why so if it wasn’t related somehow to the house of Israel?

Chapter 31 opens with the Lord speaking to the Pharaoh of Egypt, giving him an example of Assyria, and to anyone else, as a warning of what could happen to them (or us) too.

Ezekiel 31

¹ And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

² “Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: “‘Whom art thou like in thy greatness? — and to his multitude; the multitude of his subjects, in whom the Pharaoh trusted and of which he boasted.

³ Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

— behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon; the king of Assyria is compared to a large and flourishing cedar, for the extent of his dominions, the prosperous state of his empire, and his exaltation above all other princes, which drew upon him their envy;

— here grew the tallest, most stately, broad and flourishing ones; and in its branches all the birds of the heaven made their nests, and under its boughs all the beasts of the field brought forth, and in its shadow sat great nations of all kinds.

⁴ The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.

— the waters made the king of Assyria great; the waters of the river Tigris, near to which stood the city of Nineveh, the metropolis of the Assyrian monarchy; the traffic brought by which river made it rich and great, and the whole empire, and its king.

⁵ Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters when he shot forth. — his height was exalted; his majesty, grandeur, power, glory and his pride too ran up on high.

⁶ All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young; and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

— and under his shadow dwelt all great nations; under his protection, care, and government, many large kingdoms and states were; yea, all were either subject to him, or sought to be his friends and allies: this explains the figurative expressions above;

— the Targum says, “by his army he subdued all the strong towers; and under his governors he subjected all the provinces of the earth; and in the shadow of his kingdom dwelt all the numerous people.”

⁷ Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches, for his root was by great waters. — and it became beautiful in its stature, in the length of its tendrils, for its roots were upon abundant waters.

⁸ The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches, nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

— the cedars; kings, the greatest and most magnificent, are from the Assyrian; the fir trees; the chestnut, are emblem of lesser kings and kingdoms;

⁹ I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches, so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied him.

— so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him, the Pharaoh king of Egypt; all the kings of the earth, though they dared not openly speak against him, or oppose him; yet they inwardly grieved at and secretly grudged his grandeur and majesty, superior to theirs;

— the Targum says, “I have made him beautiful by the multitude of his mighty ones; and all the kings of the east trembled before him, because of the strength of his power, which he had from the Lord.”

¹⁰ “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height, — speaking of the Pharaoh king of Egypt;

¹¹ I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mightiest of the nations. He shall surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness. — speaking of the Pharaoh king of Egypt; delivered into “the mightiest of the nations,” for which Nebuchadnezzar is known for.

¹² And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off and have left him. Upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow and have left him.

— by this is signified the destruction of the power of the Egyptians by the Babylonians.

¹³ Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches, — fowls and beasts are all “his multitude” verse 2 above.

¹⁴ to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height—all that drink water. For they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

— for they, all “his multitude,” are delivered unto death in the nether parts of the earth; they are mortal as other men; who will not spare them because of their crowns and sceptres; and when they will be laid in the grave, in the lowest parts of the earth, who used to sit upon elevated thrones of state.

¹⁵ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. — speaking of the Pharaoh king of Egypt; all “his multitude” to mourn for him.

¹⁶ I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

— speaking of the Pharaoh king of Egypt; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water; the greatest kings and potentates of the world, the chief and principal of the Assyrian empire; all that ruled over multitudes of people, and partook of their wealth and riches, and were supported in grandeur and dignity; who had been in the state of the dead before this time.

¹⁷ They also went down into hell with him unto them that are slain with the sword, and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the nations. — all “his multitude” will go down into hell with the Pharaoh king of Egypt;

¹⁸ To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth. Thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword. “‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.’”

— this is Pharaoh, and all his multitude, saith the Lord God; this account represents Pharaoh, his grandeur, his pride, and his ruin; this shows what will be the end of him, and of his numerous subjects. The Septuagint renders it, “so will be Pharaoh” in like manner will he fall, and all his people with him for the Lord God has said it, and it shall assuredly come to pass.

— the Targum says, “to whom art thou like now in glory and greatness among the kings of the east? and thou shall be brought down with the kings of the east into the lower part of the earth; in the midst of sinners thou shalt sleep, with those that are slain by the sword; this is Pharaoh, and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 32

Chapter 32 continues with a prophecy against either Egypt or the Pharaoh from chapter 29; making four chapters in all, which is about 10 percent of the book of Ezekiel, which is of significance to take note of, but why?

This chapter opens with a lamentation for the Pharaoh of Egypt, giving him a warning of being carried away by Babylon.

¹ And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — in the twelfth year; that is, of Jehoiachin’s captivity, about which time this prophecy is focused on;

² “Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say unto him, “‘Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas; and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubled the waters with thy feet and fouled their rivers.

— Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh the king of Egypt; a “young lion” would be more appropriately applied to Judah, Genesis 49:8-9; by comparison, Egypt would an old lion, if he is also an lion;

— whale; rather, any monster of the waters; here, the crocodile of the Nile; but as a lion on dry land, a crocodile in the waters; that is, an object of terror everywhere.

³ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: I will therefore spread out My net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in My net. — the king of Egypt is compared to a large fish taken in a net; so would Judah, so with Ephraim;

— and there is a prophesied snare for all people and nations of the earth;

Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. Isaiah 24:17-18

⁴ Then will I leave thee upon the land; I will cast thee forth upon the open field and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. — God will bring the king of Egypt to land, and left dead to be the prey of the fowls of the air and beasts of the field for food.

⁵ And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height.

— and fill the valleys with thy height; his huge army, and with which he prided and lifted up himself, and thought himself safe in; which should fall in such great numbers as to cover the plains and valleys where the battle was fought.

⁶ I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.

— and the rivers shall be full of the carcasses and blood of his army; they should lie on mountains and valleys, on the land and in the rivers; as the rivers of Egypt of old were;

⁷ And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. — the “heaven” being an emblem of a kingdom itself; the “sun” of an emperor or king, or kingly power; the “moon” of the queen, or of the priesthood; the “stars” of nobles, princes, counsellors;

— the Targum says,

“tribulation shall cover thee when I shall extinguish the splendour of the glory of thy kingdom from heaven; and the people of thine army shall be lessened, who are many as the stars; a king with his army shall cover thee as a cloud that ascends and covers the sun, and as the moon, whose light does not shine in the day.”

⁸ All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God. — the Targum says, “tribulation as darkness shall cover thy land.”

⁹ “‘I will also vex the hearts of many people when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. — I will also downgrade the status of your nation; the expression intensify the bitterness of the downfall;

— into countries which thou hast not known; at a distance from Egypt, and which had no commerce nor communication with them, nor were their friends and allies;

¹⁰ Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee when I shall brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.

— amazed; astonished and puzzled, not knowing what resolutions to take, what advice to follow, or what to do;

— they shall tremble; be greatly afraid, least an enemy like Nebuchadnezzar, who was used as God’s sword, should smite them in the day of thy fall; not kings for their subjects, nor subjects for their kings, but every man for himself.

¹¹ “‘For thus saith the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee; — three times Nebuchadnezzar was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” (Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10);

— a savaging Nebuchadnezzar was just an instrument being used by God to horse-whipped Israel into shape; and now, to horse-whipped Egypt; and the same with Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ even saying to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Thy foundation shall be laid,’ (Isaiah 44:28).

¹² by the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them. And they shall despoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. — “thy multitude” this is not talking of the Pharaoh but as a type for the Israelites and her alliance.

¹³ I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. — there should so few remain of men and beasts, that the waters of the rivers would not be disturbed, either by men passing over them, and doing any business upon them, or by beasts drinking at them.

¹⁴ Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God. — like oil; emblem of quietness; no longer shall they descend violently on other countries as the overflowing Nile, but shall be still and sluggish in action;

— the Targum says, “there will I cause the people to rest, and I will lead their kings quietly, saith the Lord God.”

¹⁵ When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the Lord.’

— “then shall they know that I am the Lord” indicates they wouldn’t be put to an end, but come to know that God eventually is known for his justice and good judgement.

¹⁶ “This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her. The daughters of the nations shall lament her; they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord God.”

— the daughters of the nations: this tells us who they are that shall lament Egypt, the provinces and cities of their neighbouring nations; or literally, the daughters, the tender-hearted virgins and women abroad.

¹⁷ It came to pass also in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the month itself is not mentioned, but since the previous prophecy was in the twelfth, or last month of the year, this could be in the same.

¹⁸ “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth with them that go down into the pit.

— “wail for the multitude of Egypt and cast them down; unto the nether parts of the earth” ~ the Gypsies, have been cast down as an itinerant people scattered across various parts of central Europe and the Balkans (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, the Czech and Slovak republics, and Hungary) and Southern France, as well as Turkey;

— but allegedly to have originated from northern India, yet only scanty evidence are given and none seems to be living there today. In fact all evidence point to the fact that they have originated from Egypt, and scattered around various countries;

— “And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries” Ezekiel 29:12

— today, Gypsies are known as Roma, but in Hebrew, their name is derived from the Egyptian city of Zoan, known as “the royal city of the Pharaohs” or Tanis (as the Targum says), at one time the royal and capital of the country; and this is from Wikipedia (Romani people):

Hebrew: צוענים‎, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of  Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ‎, meaning “wander”

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien.

— and from the French and others’ entries:

French: gitan/tsigane, English gypsy, gipsy / dʒɪpsiː/, Irish: giofóg, Spanish/Catalan/Italian gitano, Basque: ijito, Turkish: çingene, all from Greek: Αἰγύπτιος, romanized: Aigýptios “Egyptian” (corrupted form: Γύφτος, Gýftos), and Hungarian: fáraónépe from Greek: φαραώ, romanized: pharaó “pharaoh” referring to their Egyptian provenance. And the medieval French referred the Romanies as Égyptiens.

¹⁹ ‘Whom dost thou pass in beauty? Go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.’

— instead of “the nations” it is the uncircumcised used 10 times with a pejorative connotation in this chapter alone; so why such a change? Perhaps the true message of these admonition is directed against Israel, and only using Egypt as a type!

— go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised; go down to the grave, and take thy place, and lie there among the wicked and most profligate of mankind, and such as might be most despised by the Egyptians, since they were already of the un-circumcision;

— the Targum says, “go down and sleep with sinners.”

²⁰ They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword; draw her and all her multitudes. — by the sword; either of one another in civil war, or of their neighbours they invaded, or of Babylonians that invaded them.

²¹ The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: ‘They are gone down; they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’

— again, this subtle shift from heathen or ‘Egypt’ to the uncircumcised seems unnatural; unless this prophecy is an encrypted message concerning the destiny for both houses of Judah and Israel, where they were expected to be circumcised?

— second, the phrase “slain by the sword” or a small variant of it, are used nine times on this chapter alone; this seems to add weight that this is an encrypted message concerning the destiny for both houses of Israel and Judah during their 190/40 years of captivity for their iniquity in Ezekiel 4!

²² “Assyria is there and all her company; his graves are about him, all of them slain, fallen by the sword,

— Ashur is there, and all her company; in the state of the dead, or in a most desolate and ruinous condition; the great Assyrian monarchy, their kings, their princes, nobles, generals, soldiers and the vast subjects in all their dominions;

²³ whose graves are set in the sides of the pit and her company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. — “all of them slain, fallen by the sword” similar to “slain by the sword”

— also “the land of the living” is continuous repeated from verse 23 to 27, and then again verse 32? But why so many repeats? Could this tied in with The Sword and Flaming Fire from the South!

²⁴ “There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.

— Elam was consequently renamed Persia; “all of them slain, fallen by the sword” and “uncircumcised” repeated.

²⁵ They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are round about him, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword. Though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. He is put in the midst of them that are slain.

— “all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword” ~ surely this is talking of both houses of Judah and Israel instead of Egypt!

²⁶ “There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude. Her graves are round about him, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.

— again, “all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword” continuous repeats with small variation. Also “the land of the living” is continuous repeated from verse 23 to 27, and then again verse 32? But why so many repeats?

²⁷ And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, who are gone down to hell with their weapons of war; and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

— “with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, who are gone down to hell” repeats with small variation; also “the land of the living” is continuous repeated from verse 23 to 27, and then again verse 32? But why so many repeats unless they are meant to be for both houses of Judah and Israel?

²⁸ Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.

— the word “sword” is used 16 times, mostly about being slain or fell by the sword in this chapter along, showing much emphasis about how their fate lies. Also, “in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword” ~ a variant of the same;

²⁹ “There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword. They shall lie with the uncircumcised and with them that go down to the pit.

— Edom; the posterity of Esau, the name of the country too in which they dwelt, “shall lie with the uncircumcised and with them that go down to the pit” ~ another variant

³⁰ “There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who are gone down with the slain. With their terror they are ashamed of their might, and they lie uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

— there are here six nations, Asshur, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, Edom, Sidon, which added to Egypt make up seven, “they lie uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword” ~ another variant

³¹ “Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord God. — Pharaoh and all his army are slain with the sword, “slain by the sword,” repeated;

³² For I have caused My terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.”

— even Pharaoh and all his multitude, “laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword” ~ another variant; also “the land of the living”

— Egypt was described as “the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his river” (Ezekiel 29:3) are now being “are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude.” What a drastic fall! But is this talking of the house of Israel at the endtime? The United States has eleven fleets roaming up and down the five oceans around the world today!

Under “Romani people” from Wikipedia:

The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien. The Spanish term Gitano and French Gitan have similar etymologies. They are ultimately derived from the Greek Αιγύπτιοι (Aigyptioi), meaning Egyptian, via Latin.

This designation owes its existence to the belief, common in the Middle Ages, that the Romani, or some related group (such as the Middle Eastern Dom people), were itinerant Egyptians. This belief appears to be derived from verses in the Biblical Book of Ezekiel (29:6 and 12–13) which refer to the Egyptians being scattered among the nations by an angry God.

In his book The Zincali: an account of the Gypsies of Spain, George Borrow notes that when they first appeared in Germany, it was under the character of Egyptians doing penance for their having refused hospitality to Mary and her son. As described in Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the medieval French referred to the Romanies as Egyptiens.

As Gypsies, these Egyptians endured God’s judgment, being deprived of a homeland, scattered throughout the nations, and despised by every towns and villages they encountered. Yet, they were not regarded as known by God, which were a special term reserved only for both houses of Israel.

Notice the composite message of sweetness and bitterness to the house of Israel below!

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” Amos 3:2

“And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone” Deuteronomy 28:64

Hence, could what these Gypsies have been going through were to provide a glimpse of what the house of Israel would be going through?

And speaking of a rebellious house, that this, the house of Israel:

¹⁴ And I will scatter toward every wind all who are about him to help him, and all his troops; and I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵ And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations and disperse them in the countries.

¹⁶ But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations whither they come; and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 12:14-16

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 27 and 28 continue with the same prophecy and lamentation against Tyre that started in Chapter 26. Why three chapters? Something must be rather significant.

Whereas Chapter 26 centers on Tyre, chapter 27 branches out to surrounding territories and trading outposts. And chapter 28 starts with the prince of Tyre but goes beyond the temporal, from the prince of Tyre to the king of Tyre. And why such subtle change?

Ezekiel 27

¹ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

² “Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre, — take up a lamentation for Tyre; this compares to the mournful lamentations as practiced at funerals.

³ and say unto Tyre, ‘O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, who art a merchant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God: “‘O Tyre, thou hast said, “I am of perfect beauty.”

— who art a merchant of the people for many isles; these came from several quarters to trade with her in her markets; and who supplied other isles and countries with all sorts of commodities, for which they either resorted to her, or she sent by ships unto them.

⁴ Thy borders are in the midst of the seas; thy builders have perfected thy beauty. — thy borders are the seas, fixed by the Lord himself; Tyre stood about half a mile from the continent, surrounded with the waters of the sea, till it was made a peninsula by Alexander;

— thy builders have perfected thy beauty. The Sidonians were the first builders of the city and which was afterwards perfected by other builders, who also brought the art of ship buildings in her to such a perfection which made her famous throughout the ancient world.

⁵ They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.

— they made masts from cedars; large poles for the yards and sails to be fastened to, for receiving the wind necessary in navigation; especially for large vessels; most were made from the cedars of Lebanon; the Tyrians are said to be the first inventors of navigation.

⁶ Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Cyprus. — isles of Chittim; some consider Chittim the Old Testament name for Cyprus;

⁷ Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. — isles of Elishah; Elishah was mentioned among the sons of Javan; the regions referred to are the coasts of Asia Minor.

⁸ The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy mariners; thy wise men, O Tyre, that were in thee, were thy pilots. — thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots; such, as had learnt the art of navigation;

⁹ The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy caulkers; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to trade for thy merchandise. — all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise; ships from all parts were in her harbours, which brought goods into her, and carried goods out of her, by way of merchandise;

— so the Targum says, “all that go down into the sea, and the ships; they were rowers, and they brought merchandise into the midst of thee.”

¹⁰ “‘They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war. They hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.

¹¹ The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers. They hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.

¹² “‘Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. — Tarshish; Tartessus in Spain; Spain was rich in the metals named, which were exported to Tyre.

¹³ Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. — these are Japhet’s sons as documented in Genesis 10:2; so Tyre was even trading with people from the far east, from east Asia.

¹⁴ Those of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules — is listed in Genesis 10:3 as the third son of Gomer, and grandson of Japheth, brother of Ashkenaz and Riphath.

— Togarmah is again mentioned in Ezekiel as a nation from the “far north.” Ezekiel 38:6 mentions Togarmah together with Tubal as supplying soldiers to the army of Gog. Ezekiel 27:14 mentions Togarmah together with Tubal, Javan and Meshech as supplying horses to the Tyrians.

¹⁵ The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand; they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and — Dedan (now part of Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia); a descendant of Ham through Cush, was an oasis and city-state of north-western Arabia.

¹⁶ Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making; they traded in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. — the Syrians had these to trade with at Tyre; in fact Tyre was later absorbed into Syria.

¹⁷ Judah and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants; they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. — Judah; the two tribes, or kingdom of Judah; the land of Israel; the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes until their dispersion.

¹⁸ Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches, in the wine of Helbon and white wool. — wine of Helbon; identified with a village of the same name, three and a half hours north of Damascus.

¹⁹ Dan also and Javan, going to and fro, traded in thy fairs; bright iron, cassia, and calamus were in thy market. — Dan also and Javan, going to and fro, occupied in thy fairs; either the inhabitants of the tribe of Dan; or of Laish, sometime called Dan.

²⁰ Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. — Dedan and Sheba occur both among the descendants of Ham.

²¹ Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they traded with thee in lambs and rams and goats; in these were they thy merchants. — regions which afforded good pasturage for sheep and goats for their altars and for sacrifices.

²² The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants; they traded in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. — according to Josephus Sheba was also the home of the biblical “Princess Tharbis” said to have been the first wife of Moses when he was still Prince of Egypt;

— Raamah or Rama is a name found in the Bible (Hebrew: רעמה, Ra‛mâh), means “lofty” or “exalted” and also may mean “thunder.” The name is first mentioned as the fourth son of Cush, who is the son of Ham, who is the son of Noah in Genesis 10:7.

²³ Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad were thy merchants. — those who live at ease enriching themselves are to be lamented, if they are not prepared for trouble. 

²⁴ These were thy merchants in all sorts of things—in blue clothes, and embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.

²⁵ The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market, and thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. — even the ships of Tarshish sung or spake great things of Tyre’s riches, like sing praises.

²⁶ Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. — the prophet now, in metaphorical language, speaks of the danger into which the rulers and statesmen of Tyre had brought her by their pride and ill-concerted measures.

²⁷ Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy caulkers, and the traders of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.

— thy riches and all thy company, shall fall into the midst of the seas; shall be as utterly ruined and destroyed as if they were sunk in the sea by a shipwreck.

²⁸ The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. — thy pilots, or governors, as the Targum says; the sense is, that such should be the cry of the principal men of the city when it should be taken;

²⁹ And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall come down from their ships; they shall stand upon the land, — the most mighty and magnificent kingdoms and states, sooner or later, would come down.

³⁰ and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly and shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in the ashes. — shall cry bitterly; with great weeping, howling, and shrieking;

³¹ And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird themselves with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. — and they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee; either by shaving their heads, or tearing off their hair, as mourners in distress have been used to do;

³² And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee and lament over thee, saying, “What city is like Tyre, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?” — in the midst of the sea: alas! what was once her safeguard is now her grave, what enriched her once hath now swallowed all up at once.

³³ When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filled many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. — thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and pithy merchandise;

— by taking off the goods of their subjects, whereby they were able to pay their taxes, and support them in their grandeur and dignity; as well as by furnishing them gold and silver, and precious stones; or by the toll and custom of the goods traded.

³⁴ In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall. — thy merchandise and trade shall cease, and the mixed multitude of traders from all over the world shall perish; mariners and soldiers, and persons of every rank and degree, age and gender.

³⁵ All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid; they shall be troubled in their countenance. — and their kings shall be sore afraid; that it will be their turn next; and as well knowing that they were less able to contend with so mighty a monarch as the king of Babylon was, or Alexander the great, than Tyre;

³⁶ The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.’”” — the merchants of the peoples hiss at thee? how fickle are mankind! Tyre was then the most popular and powerful nation on earth; but the very merchants who were delighted to be “her traffickers” are here revealed as hissing at their former leader;

— “They totally disowned her; they hissed at her in a derogatory manner, perhaps thinking thereby to gain favor with the Babylonians.

— could this prophecy speak of the United States and her G7 compatriots? Could the Global South all rise up and hissed at Nato and the G7?

— and never shalt be any more; historically Tyre was still an important city centuries later during the times of Alexander the Great, so this must be for the endtime; and is this a prophecy against Tyre that has no promise of restoration? Seems so as the end of chapter 26 says the same thing that Tyre “shalt be no more.”

— other concluding versions for Tyre: from now on you are nothing; and you will never exist again; and you are gone forever; for you are gone, never to return.

Ezekiel 28

Chapter 28 is still a prophecy of the destruction and a lamentation of Tyre, starting as the “prince of Tyre,” but ends up as the “king of Tyre.” God has a mysterious way of conveying his messages!

¹ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, — as before, with another prophecy against the city of Tyre, now prince of Tyre in verse 3 but subtly shifting to the king of Tyre in verse 12;

² “Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said, “I am a god, I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas,” yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.

— because thy heart is lifted up in pride and self-conceit; and thou hast said: Namely, in thy heart; I am a god I am like a god. I sit in the seat of God;

— I sit in the seat of God; words indicating the speaker’s pride and arrogance; the language, though primarily here applied to the “king” of Tyre, as similar language is to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon;

— inaccessible by mortals; indicating this prince of Tyre goes beyond the temporal, became the king of Tyre.

³ Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee. — the Septuagint render it by way of interrogation, “art thou not wiser than Daniel?

— it is just like Nebuchadnezzar’s pride but under God who said of him Daniel 4:30-31. Yet thou art man, and not God;

⁴ With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasuries. — thou art wiser than Daniel, with thy wisdom and with thy understanding thou hast gotten thee riches;

— through skill in navigation and trade, for which the Tyrians and their princes were famous, they acquired great wealth: by carnal techniques has amassed vast treasures and has brought immense riches into the pope’s and churches’ coffers, and the paying of three tithes among the CoG Communities when temple services had been abolished long ago.

⁵ By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. — and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches; which are apt to puff up and swell with a vain opinion of themselves;

— and to make haughty, insolent, and scornful, in their behaviour to others; the whore of Rome is represented as proud, vain, and haughty, Revelation 18:7.

⁶ “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God, — thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; seeking thine own glory; setting up thyself above all others; assuming that to thyself which belongs to God; and making thyself equal to him, or showing thyself as if thou art God.

⁷ behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. — “strangers” refugees: Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Sudanese, Moroccans, Algerians and Libyans; Mexicans, Haitians and Venezuelans are coming;

— “the terrible of the nations” the most heinous and depraved of the nations, the strangers: al-Qaeda, ISIS and their affiliates; “and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom;”

— their beautiful city and spacious buildings, the palaces of their king and nobles, their walls and towers erected and warriors so well skilled in military affairs.

⁸ They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. — “and thou shalt die the deaths in the midst of the seas” ~ that die in a sea battles, whose carcasses are thrown overboard, and devoured by fishes.

⁹ Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, “I am God”? But thou shalt be a man, and no god in the hand of him that slayeth thee. — but thou art just be another mortal; and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

¹⁰ Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.’” — thou shalt die the deaths of those like the heathens; or the death of the wicked.

¹¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — below is another scene, or a prophecy concerning the ruin of the king of Tyre.

¹² “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. — take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, who is before called the prince of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:2); and who he was. Note a subtle change of scene, from “the prince” to “the king” of Tyre;

¹³ Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy taborets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

— now this prophecy of Tyre has moved beyond the temporal; he was in the garden of Eden, for none since Adam and Eve has there being another being in the Garden of Eden.

¹⁴ Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. — that is, “the anointed cherub that covereth;” the Targum understands all this of regal power, and renders it, “thou art a king anointed for a kingdom:”

— for out of the throne of God went thunders and lightnings, the cherub’s sword of fire is identified with the lightning-flash, and that in its turn met the thunderbolts of God;

— the idea of a holy mountain of God, as being the seat of the king of Tyre; the Targum says, “and over the holy people thou hast thought to rule.” So perhaps he was supposed to rule, over a kingdom, but because of iniquity, that privilege was taken away?

¹⁵ Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. — this being, the adversary, was created; till iniquity was found in him; pride, blasphemy against God, and contempt of his people, as well as violence and deceit;

— thy heart has lifted itself up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom together with thy splendor: all these characteristics were found in “the king of Tyre.”

¹⁶ By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

— and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire; from among the creation (people, angels) of God;

— the Targum says, “I will destroy thee, O king that art anointed, because thou thoughtest to rule over the holy people.”

¹⁷ Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground; I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. — thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; riches, wealth, power and authority.

— thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; outward lustre and glory, which dazzled his eyes;

— I will cast thee to the ground; I will bring down thy pride, dethrone thee, and make thee sit in the dust; sully and darken all thy brightness.

¹⁸ Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic. Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee; it shall devour thee; and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

— and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee; the kings and merchants of the earth, who shall stand and look on the city as it is burning, and when reduced to ashes; which denotes the utter destruction of it, Revelation 18:9

The Targum says, “I will give thee as ashes on the earth,’ and shall be no more.

¹⁹ All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.’”

— at thy fall; that such a mighty cherub, and powerful prince, should be destroyed; thus all that know thee shall be astonished at thee;

— and never shalt thou be any more; similar to Ammon, this prophecy against the anointed cherub, the king of Tyre has no promise of restoration.

²⁰ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — with another prophecy as before, against the city of Sidon, from where Jezebel hailed from;

²¹ “Son of man, set thy face against Sidon, and prophesy against it — Sidon is a city in Lebanon, but further north of Tyre;

— Tyre, and its sister city Sidon, both in Lebanon, were pagan to the center of their existence. It was Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, king of the Sidonians, who brought the whole pagan institution into Israel in the days of Ahab, precipitating the contest with Elijah on Mount Carmel;

— incidentally, Tyre and Sidon’s influence demonstrated the godless influence of Israel’s apostate kings and their foreign wives; Jezebel was the wife of Ahab. Together they instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale. Later, in Revelation 2:20, Jezebel is associated as a false prophetess for seducing and fornicating an endtime church;

²² and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her and shall be sanctified in her.

— I will be glorified; when my judgements make my justice, power, sovereignty and truth appear, both you Sidonians and others about, shall confess my glory and ascribe honour to me.

²³ For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

— “and they shall know that I am the Lord” repeated four times in this chapter (verses 22, 23, 24, 26) — Sidon survives, unlike Tyre, which perished and be remembered no more: Ezekiel 26:21.

²⁴ And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all who are round about them, who despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. — a pricking brier; that is,  a vexation to the house of Israel; or as thorns to their sides;

— the Targum of the whole says, “and there shall be no more to the house of Israel a king that doth evil (or hurt), or a governor that oppresses all round about them that spoil them;” the Septuagint “no more be in the house of Israel a thorn of bitterness;”

²⁵ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to My servant Jacob.

— the house of Israel are now scattered; the land they live now are never declared their land; their land is the one “given to My servant Jacob.”

²⁶ And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.’”

— and they shall know that I am the Lord their God; Sidon survives, after they could see the hand of God in it, acknowledge his justice, and confess that their gods were idols, and that the God of Israel is the only true God;

— Gentiles that knowing or unknowingly despised them shall be severely punished;

Flashing forward, see Ezekiel 36 & 37 – Return of the Full House of Israel

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 25 continues with the same prophecy against the Ammonites which started in Chapter 21. Just a recap: We might speculate why the Ammonites were singled out here for this special oracle; but it might have pertained to the share they had in the murder of Gedaliah, by the hand of Ishmael and the Ammonites gave these killers refuge.

Second, in historic time, when Nebuchadnezzar took his route to Jerusalem, and destroyed the city, returned to Babylon, he went about without making any attempt upon the Ammonites; which so flushed the Ammonites that they insulted the Jews and laughed at their destruction, as if their God couldn’t save them.

And thirdly, Tobiah was an Ammonite, perhaps a governor, who along with Sanballat the Horonite and Geshem the Arabian, attempted to hinder Nehemiah’s efforts to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. And besides taking over the storerooms of the Temple for his own use, he corrupted the Jewish high priest Eliashib with Samaritan’s view of some Temple practices; thus profaning God’s Sanctuary.

And finally, the Ammonites are modern Jordan (or are they; or that a new group of people, the Jordanians, had replaced the ancient Ammonites) sitting on land allocated to three of the tribes of Israel, and they maybe taking back their ancestral Promised land, land that could even stretch further east and north toward the Euphrates River.

Ezekiel 25

¹ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, — as the Targum says, the word of prophecy from the Lord; that is, another prophecy as the next verse says.

² “Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them; — the Ammonites; the posterity of Lot by the younger daughter, near neighbours, but bitter enemies to the Jews and who hated their religion; prophesy against them;

³ and say unto the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thou saidst, “Aha,” against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity,

— note the double-fold judgement; (1) against the land of Israel; and (2) against the house of Judah;

— and against the house of Judah; it is wicked to rejoice at the calamities of any, especially of God’s people when they went into captivity; the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were carried captives by Nebuchadnezzar;

— (1) first deportation, under Jehoiakim (succeeded Jehoahaz, who replaced Josiah but reigned only 3 months); began giving tribute to Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC; purportedly including Daniel;

— (2) second deportation under Jeconiah, (reign: 598 – 597 BC);

— (3) third under Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC); which completed the destruction of Judah;

— and gave the utmost pleasure to their enemies the Ammonites; who were so disrespectful as to rejoice at the destruction of God’s temple: “’Aha,’ against My sanctuary” which they abhorred; this brutish and barbarous behaviour of theirs is resented by the Lord.

⁴ behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the East as a possession; and they shall set their palaces in thee and make their dwellings in thee. They shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.

— the ancient men of the east for a possession; the Chaldeans, the Medes and Persians, they lay eastward of Jerusalem; and/or it may be the Arabians, who are often called the men of the east;

— the men of the east in modern era could be the locusts of Revelation 9, who have power to sting like scorpions; from the east (more like from the south-east, but still east), often the Arabian, Mohammedans or Saracens, where it could be meant a swarm of endtime Muslims, are compared to grasshoppers, or locusts: Judges 7:12; “all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts.”

— and from the Message Bible

God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, face Ammon and preach against the people: Listen to the Message of God, the Master. This is what God has to say: Because you cheered when my Sanctuary was desecrated and the land of Judah was devastated and the people of Israel were taken into exile, I’m giving you over to the people of the east. They’ll move in and make themselves at home, eating the food right off your tables and drinking your milk. I’ll turn your capital, Rabbah, into pasture for camels and all your villages into corrals for flocks. Then you’ll realize that I am God. Ezekiel 25:3-5 MSG

⁵ And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels and Ammon a couching place for flocks; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. — Rabbah was the capital of Ammon; today is Amman;

— and I will make Ammon or Rabbath a stable for camels; creatures much used by eastern nations, especially the Arabians; who pitching their tents about Rabbah, the royal city.

⁶ For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thine hands and stamped with the feet and rejoiced in heart with all thy contemptuous hate against the land of Israel, — because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with thy feet: gestures expressive of joy and gladness;

— the Ammonites; therefore, behold, I will stretch out my hand against thee, and give thee to the nations for booty, and cut thee off from the peoples, and exterminate thee from the lands; for the ancient king of Babylon had a design against them, at the same time he came against Jerusalem, and was in doubt for a while which he should attack first; see Ezekiel 21:20.

⁷ behold, therefore I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee and will deliver thee as spoil to the nations; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries. I will destroy thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.’

— and I will cut thee off from the people; Ammon, thou shalt no more be accounted among the nations, but cease from being a people;

— “and thou shalt know that I am the Lord” indicates the Ammonites repented, they would know God ultimately and survive! Yet, ironically, they “cease from being a people.”

⁸ “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Because Moab and Seir do say, “Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen,” — the Moabites were first prophesied of, and then the Edomites who both joined in mocking, behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathens;

— Moabites mocks: Judah fares no better with them than with the rest of the nations, who do not profess and serve the same God they do; yet they are fallen into the hands of the king of Babylon;

— and yet are brought into the same miserable circumstances, and left in them, as others are; where is their God they boast of, and their superior excellence to the rest of the world? ~ thus blasphemously, as well as wickedly, did they insult them, which was provoking to the Lord;

— the Targum renders it interrogatively, “in what do the house of Judah differ from all people?” ~ the Septuagint, “behold, are not the house of Israel and Judah in like manner as all the [other] nations?”

⁹ therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country; Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim; — I will open the side or border; that is, lay it open to attack from the side or border of their enemies into the cities, from his frontier;

¹⁰ unto the men of the East with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations. — this prophecy against Ammon and the Ammonites has no promise of restoration;

— this seems to contradict verse 7 above where “thou shalt know that I am the Lord.” One apparent solution could be that there are several tribes of Ammonites; and some live, but others perish!

¹¹ And I will execute judgements upon Moab, and they shall know that I am the Lord.’ — and Moab, the Moabites was Lot by incest with his eldest daughter; they, too, would suffer the same fate, no, not quite, as “and they shall know that I am the Lord,” indicates they will survive and come to acknowledge God.

¹² “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Because Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended and revenged himself upon them, — because Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance: the Edomites bore an old grudge against the Jews,

— not only because their father Jacob had got the birthright and blessing from their father Esau; but also because they were made tributaries to them in David’s time, and afterwards severely chastised by Amaziah (II King 14); these things they laid up in their minds, and vowed revenge whenever they had an opportunity; and now one offered at the destruction of Jerusalem, which they took;

— Edom dwelt to the South of the house of Jacob in ancient history; a study of the book of Obadiah incorporates the prophecy of Edom in more details; but briefly here, it is Spain in Europe and the Latinos in the Americas, who live South of the children of Israel in ancient times as well as today.

¹³ therefore thus saith the Lord God: I will also stretch out Mine hand upon Edom and will cut off man and beast from it, and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.

— one theory is that the Ottoman Turks (or today’s Turkey) are the sons of Teman, a grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:15); hence, perhaps, they could be another branch of the house of Esau.

¹⁴ And I will lay My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they shall do in Edom according to Mine anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance, saith the Lord God.’

— by the hand of my people Israel; this points distinctly to the fact that Edom should be accomplished by the hand of the Israelites, a prophecy which was fulfilled when they were conquered by John Hyrcanus, and compelled to submit to circumcision as a mark of absorption into the Jewish people;

— some nations that “clap thine hands and stamp your feet” when these happen again will get a Spanking so bad that their names will be remembered no more; but here, “they shall know My vengeance.”

¹⁵ “Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge and have taken vengeance with a scornful heart to destroy it for the old hatred, — with a spiteful heart; with hatred to them, and contempt of those of the house of Israel;

¹⁶ therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will stretch out Mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant of the seacoast. — the Philistines lies to the West of Judah; much of their land were destroyed; Ashkelon had been absorbed into the house of Israel; others soon to come;

¹⁷ And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay My vengeance upon them.’” — “and they shall know that I am the Lord,” indicates they will survive and eventually come to acknowledge God;

— “when I shall lay my vengeance upon them,” that is, they will see the hand of God in it, acknowledge his justice, and confess that their gods were idols, and that the God of Israel is the only true God.

Ezekiel 26

¹ And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

² “Son of man, because Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people; she is turned unto me; I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste,’

— son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, aha…. as rejoicing at her destruction, and insulting over her in it; which was scornful and inhuman, and resented by the Lord.

³ therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to roll up.

— and God will cause many nations to come up against thee, O Tyre, as the sea causeth his waves to come up; the Chaldean army, consisting of soldiers of many nations; who for their number, noise, and fury, are compared to the raging waves of the sea;

— so the Targum says, “I will bring up against thee, O Tyre, an army of many people, as the sea ascendeth in the raging of its waves.”

⁴ And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. — Tyre, at that time the most famous city for trade and commerce in the world; and make her like the top of a rock means Tyre will be made barren.

⁵ It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God; and it shall become a spoil to the nations. — the army of many nations, one that besieged it for thirteen years was under Nebuchadnezzar.

⁶ And her daughters who are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord. — and they shall know that I am the Lord when they shall see all these things exactly accomplished, that the omniscient God could foretell events and come to their senses, thus they survive rather having their names remember no more;

— the Targum says, “and the inhabitants of the villages which are in the field shall be killed by the sword,” and they shall know that I am the Lord.

⁷ “For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings from the north, with horses and with chariots and with horsemen and companies, and many people. — “king of kings” because of the many countries subject to his sway, whose kings were his vassals; hence king of kings;

— Nebuchadnezzar, was king of Babylon, a king of kings from the NORTH, but at the endtime, the prophecised SWORD (Ezekiel 20:45to 21:5) is destined to come from the SOUTH!

⁸ He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field; and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a siege mound against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. — and lift up the buckler against thee; or “shield” that is, as the Targum paraphrases it, “set against thee such who are armed with shields.”

⁹ And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. — and with his axes he shall break down thy towers; the word here used signifies anything made of iron, as swords, spears, hammers, and axes; the latter, being more proper to demolish towers.

¹⁰ By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover thee. Thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen and of the wheels and of the chariots when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.

— he shall enter into thy gates; Nebuchadnezzar, without fear, shall enter and possess his conquest, which Tyre at last yielded to him after thirteen years of hard siege.

¹¹ With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets. He shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. — Josephus wrote: “that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre thirteen years,” before the fruits fell onto the ground. Tyre had a large fleet and were very rich with merchandise.

¹² And they shall make a spoil of thy riches and make a prey of thy merchandise; and they shall break down thy walls and destroy thy pleasant houses; and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.

— and they shall make a spoil of thy riches; the Chaldean army, when they entered the city, and got possession of it, would plunder it, and divide the riches of it among them.

¹³ And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease, and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. — and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard; neither vocal nor instrumental music; and this could one day be the case of Rome, of which Tyre was a type, Revelation 18:22.

¹⁴ And I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon. Thou shalt be built no more; for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God. — and I will make thee like the top of a rock; that is, smooth and bare; and thou shall be a place to spread nets upon; and thou shalt be built no more.

¹⁵ “Thus saith the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?

¹⁶ Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes and put off their embroidered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment and be astonished at thee.

— the princes, governors and rulers of other countries that dwell by the sea: by which he signifies that her destruction would be so horrible that all the world would hear of it, trembled and be afraid;

— all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones; all the princes and rich merchants (or the merchants who are as princes) of Sidon, Carthage, and other maritime cities that maintained a trade with Tyre, and got great wealth by that means, shall express a deep grief and concern for thee.

¹⁷ And they shall take up a lamentation for thee and say to thee: “‘How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who cause their terror to be on all that haunt it! — see how high, how great Tyre had been; see how low Tyre has became. 

¹⁸ Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.’ — shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall? all those that dwell upon the sea-coast near thee shall be thrown into a consternation at the news of thy being taken and destroyed;

¹⁹ “For thus saith the Lord God: When I shall make thee a desolate city like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall bring up the deep upon thee and great waters shall cover thee, — and great waters shall cover thee; either, literally, the waters of the sea, or metaphorically, great afflictions shall cover thee.

²⁰ when I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit with the people of olden times, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited, and I shall set glory in the land of the living.”

— when buried under the sea she goes down into the abode of the dead, and possibly he regards the “places desolate of old” as also gone down and gathered in the underworld.

²¹ I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more. Though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord God.”

— Oops, it seems here that Tyre “shalt be no more,” seems contrary to what verse 6 says, “and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Perhaps verse 6 was meant for the time of Nebuchadnezzar, but here it’s the endtime? Any other possibilities?

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 23 exposes the harlotries of Israel, or the ten tribes, under the name of Aholah, which they committed with the Assyrians, of whom they had learned them, are exposed, and their punishment for them is declared.

And then the harlotries of Judah, or the two tribes, under the name of Aholibah, are represented as greater than those of the ten tribes. Together they constitute the “two houses of Israel” or “both houses of Israel” as in Isaiah 8:14.

Ezekiel 23

¹ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum renders it. So Ezra expounds it as a prophecy and a reference to our time (Ezekiel 12:27).

² “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother, — the daughters of one mother; the two of them were from one nation, separated into two in the days of Rehoboam.

³ and they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth. There were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

— “they played the harlot in Egypt …” the proof of this is their apostasy with their reverence and worship of the Golden Calf which took roots in Egypt.

⁴ And the names of them were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister; and they were Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. Thus were their names: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem, Oholibah.

— in allegory, Samaria epresents the idolatries of the house of Israel or the ten tribes, under the name of Aholah, which they committed with the Assyrians, and their punishment for them is declared; and Aholibah represents the idolatries of Judah or the two tribes.

⁵ “And Oholah played the harlot when she was Mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, — for the Assyrians; this is Menachem the son of Gadi (II Kings 15:19), who gave tribute to Pul king of Assyria in order “that his hands might be with him to strengthen the kingdom in his hand;”

— Samaria was like an adulterous woman, for had their true God for worship, they would not have needed the kings of Assyria for alliance, but playing the harlot with her neighbours.

⁶ who were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. — clothed with blue; richly apparelled and as the humour of that nation, in rich and beautiful blue, very magnificent to the eye.

⁷ Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria and with all on whom she doted. With all their idols she defiled herself. — and she bestowed her harlotries upon them; her adulterous heart and her promiscuous spirit she bestowed upon them, for she desired them as harlots.

⁸ Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity and poured their whoredom upon her. — and they bruised the breasts of her virginity; who before retained the pure worship of God, and was like a chaste virgin;

— and poured their whoredom upon her; expressions of the numerous acts of idolatry committed together by them.

⁹ Therefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. — wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers; if Samaria is the United States today could she be lured by “her most trusted lovers”? Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines?

— since the 2020s it seems like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia are beginning to pursue their own foreign policies at odd with the United States.

¹⁰ These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters and slew her with the sword; and she became notorious among women, for they had executed judgement upon her.

— for they had executed judgement upon her; that is, the “Assyrians” who were the instruments in God’s hand in doing justice and inflicting judgements on her. God is the true executor in their Assyrian captivity, same as the Romans in 70 AD during the Jerusalem inferno.

¹¹ “And when her sister Oholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her — and in her whoredoms more than her sister; guilty of more harlotries than the ten tribes as in the times of Manasseh.

¹² She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbors, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

— Judah also flirted with the Assyrians, her neighbours (see II Kings 16:7); today the modern state of Israel flirted with the Abrahamic Accords: between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, an extension of an earlier Oslo Accords.

¹³ Then I saw that she was defiled, that they both took one way, — I saw that she was corrupted, defiled; that her heart was already set on her idols; that they both, Samaria and Jerusalem; that Judah fell into the same idolatrous practices as Israel.

¹⁴ and that she increased her whoredoms. For when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, — vermilion, the peculiar color of the Chaldeans, as purple was of the Assyrians.

¹⁵ girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, in the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity

— of Chaldea; the land of their nativity; either where these heroes were born whose images were portrayed; or where Abraham was born, putting them in mind of the idolatries of their ancestors, where they were now returning to.

¹⁶ and as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. — the trading relationship between Judæa and Babylon was so close that many of the people had seen the Babylonians personally, while others knew of them through their report.

¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. — and they defiled her with their whoredom; or with their idols, as the Targum says;

— they drew them into their idolatrous practices; which were defiling them, and by whom they were corrupted from their own God.

¹⁸ So she uncovered her whoredoms and uncovered her nakedness. Then My mind was alienated from her, as My mind was alienated from her sister. — then my mind was alienated from her; as a virtuous husband is alienated from an adulterous wife.

¹⁹ Yet she multiplied her whoredoms in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. — not literally playing the whores: this refers to remembering their idolatries in Egypt, which she now resolves to act over again.

²⁰ For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses and whose issue is like the issue of horses. — and asses and horses are introduced to show the intensity of their lust.

²¹ Thus thou called to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.” — in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth: committing fornication, that is, harlotry with them; signified by pressing and bruising the breasts and paps of virgins.

²² “Therefore, O Oholibah, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side:

— the kings of Judah played alternately Egypt against Babylon, and Babylon against Egypt. Jehoahaz was displaced by Necho for Jehoiakim, who then turned to the Chaldaeans, and afterward rebelling sought aid from Egypt;

— behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee; the Chaldeans, whom they had formerly loved, and in whose alliance they were, and whose idols they worshipped:

²³ the Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. — Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa; possibly words expressive of rank, or names of small Chaldaean tribes, selected for their resemblance to expressive Hebrew words.

²⁴ And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, who shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about; and I will set judgement before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgements.

— and I will set judgement before them, and they (your enemies) shall judge thee according to their judgements; that is, I will deliver you into their hands, and they shall judge and condemn you; not according to my laws and yours, but according to their own laws;

— they shall deal with you as rebels and covenant breakers, as Zedekiah was: he broke the covenant with the king of Babylon, and rebelled against him: and this was fulfilled when he fell into his hands, and when he slew his children before his face, and then put out his eyes;

²⁵ And I will set My jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

— they shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword; as gallants use their harlots when they leave them, or jealous husbands their adulterous wives, disfiguring them, that they may be marked and known what they are, and be despised by others;

— as has been the custom in some countries, particularly with the Egyptians, to cut off the noses of adulterous persons; here it is to be understood figuratively: by the “nose” is meant the king, who is higher than his people, as the nose is the highest part in a man’s face;

— and by the “ears” the priest who caused a noise to be heard when he entered into the temple with his bells; or rather because it was the priest’s office to attend to the word of God, to teach the people; in general;

— so the Targum paraphrases it, “thy princes and thy nobles shall go into captivity, and thy people shall be killed with the sword:” they shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire; take and carry their sons and daughters captive and burn with fire the city left by them.

— the city of Jerusalem, the temple, the king’s palaces, the houses of the great men and others in it which were all burnt with fire when taken by the Chaldeans, Jeremiah 52:13;

— and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire; so would all be consumed? No remnant at all? (more details at the end of this chapter).

²⁶ They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes and take away thy fair jewels. — flash forward to our time; the Nazis took all the gold, silvers and any jewellery or ornament from the Jews before pushing them into their gas chambers.

²⁷ Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt, so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. — nor remember “Egypt” any more, with love, trust or desire of any relationship with her, but all thy remembrance of Egypt shall be with deep shame and loathing.

²⁸ For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of those whom thou hatest, into the hand of those from whom thy mind is alienated,

— for thus saith the Lord God, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest; historically the the Chaldeans and Babylonians, before loved by her, and flirted upon, but now hated and rebelled against;

— but who are those enemies of the future? where they are to fall into similar hands; and this the Lord threatens to bring upon them for their sins; and he having said it, would be be performed; and it is to be repeated in the endtime.

²⁹ And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labor and shall leave thee naked and bare; and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be uncovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

— naked; both literally thou shalt not have clothes to cover thy nakedness; and figuratively, thou shalt be left in a most disgraced state, and the shame of all thy harlotries shall not cover thee.

³⁰ I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the nations, and because thou art polluted with their idols. — because thou hast gone whoring after the heathens, and because thou art polluted with their idols;

— imitated them in their idolatries; worshipped the same dunghill gods as they did, with which it was no wonder they should be polluted, and become abominable unto God.

³¹ Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. — thy sister; Samaria and the ten tribes, both great idolatresses and played harlotaries;

— therefore will I give her cup into thine hand; the cup of her vengeance, as the Targum says; inflict the same punishment on the two tribes as on the ten, and suffer them to be carried captive as they had been.

³² “Thus saith the Lord God: “Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large; thou shalt be laughed to scorn and held in derision; it containeth much. — it containeth much; the cup of humiliation already drunk by Samaria was large, and filled with pain and sorrow, yet Jerusalem must drink it amid the derision and for laughter of her neighbours.

³³ Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of dismay and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria. — with the cup of astonishment and desolation; their punishment would be so great, their condition so desolate, that it should astonish them, and bereave them of their senses.

³⁴ Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the shards thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts. For I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. — and pluck off thine own breasts; as men in their drunken fits, being like mad men, tear their own flesh; and so the Targum paraphrases it, “thou shall tear thy flesh.”

³⁵ “Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten Me and cast Me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.”

— because thou hast forgotten me; his word, worship and ordinances and did not attend unto them, but worshipped strange gods: so the Targum says “because thou hast left my worship.”

— therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms; that is, the guilt of their sins, the punishment of their harlotries and idolatries; and shame and confusion for them.

³⁶ The Lord said moreover unto me: “Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? Yea, declare unto them their abominations, — yea, declare unto them their abominations; their abominable sins, their murders, adulteries and harlotries;

— set them in a true light before them, in all their aggravated circumstances; that, if it can be, they may be brought to a true sight and sense of them, into repentance; be ashamed of them, loath them, confess them and forsake them.

³⁷ that they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery and have also caused their sons, whom they bore unto Me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. — that they have committed adultery; either literally, adultery with their neighbours’ wives, which was a prevailing sin with this people;

— or figuratively, spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry and harlotaries; and blood is in their hands; the Targum says, “they have shed the blood of innocents with their hands,” that is, the blood of prophets and righteous men.

³⁸ Moreover this they have done unto Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and have profaned My Sabbaths. — defiled my sanctuary; my holy things, house, altar, sacrifices, and oblations; a part of the temple or churches put for the true worship of God;

— Sabbaths; notice the plural, Sabbaths; and instead of observing the Sabbaths, they observe by following the sun-worshipping Samaritans, where they observe the SUN; on SUNday; facing the East; their backs against the Temple;

— others, the Church of God Communities would always have their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a SUNday, Whitsundays; worshipping the Sun.

³⁹ For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My sanctuary to profane it; and lo, thus have they done in the midst of Mine house. — and, lo, thus they have done in the midst of mine house; set up idols there, and worshipped them; as they did in the temple itself;

And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’S house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with 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

⁴⁰ And furthermore, ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and lo, they came, for whom thou didst wash thyself, painted thy eyes, and decked thyself with ornaments, — for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments; just as harlots do to make themselves agreeable to their lovers;

— who use washes and paint, as Jezebel did, and dress themselves in their best clothes, and adorn themselves in the best manner they can. Harlots had their particular attire, by which they were known, Proverbs 7:10.

⁴¹ and sattest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set Mine incense and Mine oil. — upon a stately bed; a magnificent, rich bed, on which women sat to feast, when men leant on their sides, which would not have been a comely posture to a woman.

⁴² And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her; and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, who put bracelets upon their hands and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

— Sabeans; not content with the princely, handsome Assyrians, the sisters brought to themselves the rude hordes of Sabeans (Job 1:15); sometimes reads “robbers.”

⁴³ “Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries: ‘Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?’ — the Targum says, “now she will leave her idols, and return to thy worship; but she returned not.”

⁴⁴ Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot; so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah, the lewd women. — as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot; with the same heat of lust, with the same greediness and eager desire as young men do when they go into a brothel where beautiful harlots live.

⁴⁵ And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses and after the manner of women that shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is in their hands. — stoning was the punishment of adulterers and putting to death with the sword like that of murderers.

⁴⁶ “For thus saith the Lord God: I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and despoiled. — to be removed; to be carried away captive into the land of Chaldea;

— and spoiled and plundered by the rapine of the soldiers in their own land and by the cruelty of their masters to whom they shall be slaves in a strange land.

⁴⁷ And the company shall stone them with stones and dispatch them with their swords. They shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. — they shall slay their sons and their daughters; when they broke into the city, and took it; or when they found them making their escape, and hiding themselves in secret places;

— and burn up their houses with fire; as they did; the temple, the king’s palace, the houses of noblemen, and all the houses in Jerusalem; see Jeremiah 52:13.

⁴⁸ Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do according to your lewdness. — that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness;

— that is, that all provinces, as the Targum says, all kingdoms; states, churches and people, hearing and reading the judgements of God on this people for their idolatry, may learn to shun it; it is even an instruction to us, at this distance, not to commit idolatry as they did,

⁴⁹ And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.” — only after such judgement and punishment would they know that I am the Lord God; which means the modern people who call themselves Christians, are not what they call themselves, but pretenders.

~~~

More on verse 25 “thy remnant shall fall by the sword.” Since Ezekiel’s message is for the endtime and meant for the house of Israel, which is the United States and its European allies and “and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.” — if those remnant are put to the sword, then no more will be left, reaffirming there is no place of safety for those hopeful to have one.

But wait, this apparently contradicts Ezekiel 12:16, where “But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the Lord.“

Or, after testifying all their abominations to the nations, then they are put down by the sword? The last “residue shall be devoured by the fire?” A remnant of martyrs?

Your thoughts for this apparent contraction, please; thanks. Or indeed a remnant of martyrs is on its way?

Ezekiel 24

This chapter prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple; but as said before, it is also meant for the house of Israel at the endtime.

By the sign of flesh boiling in a pot are shown the miseries that would come; and by the sign of Ezekiel’s being forbidden to mourn for the sudden death of his wife is that the calamities coming on the captives would be so astonishing as to exceed all expressions of sorrow.

¹ Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — in the tenth month (Tevet), in the tenth day of the month (double-tenth); Jehoiachin’s captivity (by which all these prophecies are dated) coincided with Zedekiah’s reign;

— the date here given is therefore the same as in Jeremiah 39:1; Jeremiah 52:4; II Kings 25:1, and was afterwards observed by the Jews as a fast (Zechariah 8:19). It was on this day Nebuchadnezzar laid the siege of Jerusalem.

² “Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: The king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. — this day was the tenth day of the month, in the tenth month (Tevet; a double-tenth; hence remember in Zechariah 8:19);

— although this parable is set “against Jerusalem,” this message is actually meant for the house of Israel which is the United States and its European allies.

³ And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it. — the pot on the fire represented Jerusalem besieged by the Chaldeans: all orders and ranks were within the walls, prepared as a prey for the enemy;

— pour water into it; fill it with water; for as the pot full of water on the fire till the water be thoroughly heated, so shall Jerusalem be filled with the judgements of God.

⁴ Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece — the thigh and the shoulder; choice meats; that is, the most distinguished of the people; the princes and gentry, the wealthiest, to the slower process of boiling.

⁵ Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it; and make it boil well, and let them boil the bones of it therein. — analogies clearly visible in this parable: the pot or cauldron (in v3 above) is the city;

— the choices of the flesh is its people (kings and queens, princes and princesses, nobles, magistrates, priests and rulers of the people); the immense fire under it is the fire of war; the setting of the cauldron on the fire is the beginning of the siege;

— the rust in the pot (introduced later) is the inherent wickedness of the people; the “choice bones (Ezekiel 24:4)” are the bones with meat attached to them; being “choice” bones indicates that the nobility and the landed gentry will also be ruined by the war; the “bones under the cauldron (Ezekiel 24:5)” are the large bones used, along with the logs for fuel;

— the removal of the flesh from the cauldron indicates the destruction of the whole city, rich and poor alike, high and low, indiscriminately, whether by sword, by pestilence, by famine or into captivity by deportation;

— the emptying of the cauldron indicated the removal of the city’s population; the cauldron’s still being rusted indicated Jerusalem’s worthlessness, at that time, as regarded God’s eternal purpose, entailing, of course, the necessity for its complete destruction.

⁶ “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein and whose scum is not gone out of it! Bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. — scum is extraneous matter or impurities risen to or formed on the surface of a liquid often as a foul filmy covering;

— to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not disposed; when a pot boils, a scum arises, and appears upon the top of the water, which the cook usually takes them off;

— this indicates the filthiness and wickedness of the people, which would be seen and exposed by the judgements of God; yet should not be removed, but continue on them, unrepented of, and therefore unpardoned. It signifies that they would remain hardened in their sins;

— and that the judgements of God would have no effect upon them to bring them to repentance; and that God would have no mercy on them, or pardon their sins;

 — the Targum says, “captivity upon captivity shall go out with her, because repentance was not in her.”

⁷ For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust. — she set it upon the top of a rock; where it could not soak in as when spilled upon soft earth: this indicates her openness and impudence in shedding blood, as not being ashamed nor afraid of its punishment;

— but as rather glorying in it; perhaps there may be some allusion to the tops of hills and mountains where idolatry was committed, attended with shedding of human blood:

— she poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust; she did not take any methods to hide her sin; having no sense of the heinousness of it, nor any consciousness of guilt, or any remorse or repentance; respect it had to a law which obliged to cover blood shed with dust, Leviticus 17:13;

— the Targum of the whole says, “because innocent blood which is shed in the midst of her; with pride and with a high arm she shed it; she shed it not through ignorance, that she might repent of it.”

⁸ That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered. — they ought to have put away their transgressions, as the scum, which rises by the heat of the fire, is taken to the top of the pot; that it might be easily seen and not be forgotten.

⁹ “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great. — God’s hand shall be seen inflicting all those sore afflictions on them; judgements are a fire, the fuel whereof is to be great; for it is a fire that consumes the bloody city.

¹⁰ Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned. — spice it well; either to take away the noisome smell, or to express the pleasing savour of this justice to God.

¹¹ Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. — that the scum may be consumed; the abominable wickedness of this people; since they were not brought to repentance, they with their sins should be consumed.

¹² She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her; her scum shall be in the fire. — the United States has wearied herself with lies; lies serving her idols, which were lying vanities; by trusting to her alliances of nations, which deceived her; or by committing sin, in which there was no satisfaction;

Lies, and continuous lies, one of the main characteristics of the United States, Ephraim:

“Ephraim surrounds me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” Hosea 11:12

¹³ In thy filthiness is lewdness. Because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused My fury to rest upon thee.

— they ought to have put away their transgressions, as the scum, which rises by the heat of the fire, is taken from the top of the pot, but they grew worse.

¹⁴ I, the Lord, have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it. I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent. According to thy ways and according to thy doings shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God.’”

— I the Lord have spoken it; it shall come to pass; what God has said shall be accomplished; his word shall not return void and empty, or be without effect:

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’” Isaiah 46:9-10 

¹⁵ Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

¹⁶ “Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. — I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; meaning Ezekiel’s wife; who very probably was of a beautiful countenance;

— this lovely object of his affection the Lord signifies he would take away from him by death unto himself; that is, suddenly and at once;

— and so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, “with a sudden stroke;” the Septuagint: behold I take from the desire of thine eyes by violence;

— and from the Message Bible

God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, I’m about to take from you the delight of your life—a real blow, I know. But, please, no tears. Keep your grief to yourself. No public mourning. Get dressed as usual and go about your work—none of the usual funeral rituals.” Ezekiel 24:15-17 MSG

¹⁷ Forbear to cry. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind the attire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.” — though mourning for the dead is a duty, these things are now forbidden to Ezekiel in his sorrow, because the state of the nation was in such a dire situation.

¹⁸ So I spoke unto the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. — and at even my wife died; suddenly, as it was said she would; this shows who is meant by the desire of his eyes, and what by taking her away;

— and Ezekiel did as he was commanded in the morning; neither moaned, nor sighed, nor wept, nor shed a tear, nor used any of the common ceremonies of mourning, but dressed and ate as at other times; this was the next morning after his wife died.

¹⁹ And the people said unto me, “Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?” — the people came to me, asking, “Tell us why you’re acting like this. What does it mean, anyway?”

²⁰ Then I answered them, “The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the word of the Lord came unto Ezekiel; ordering him to do all he did; for he did nothing of himself, but all according to God’s will.

²¹ Speak unto the house of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. — notice; God is speaking to the house of Israel, not to the house of Judah!

— thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will profane my sanctuary; the temple, but could he has meant the palaces, the houses of the princes, the royalties, the rich and the noble?

— since this is God speaking to the house of Israel how would this parallel for the common people in the endtime? New York city? London? Paris? Bombed back to the Stone Age, like Aleppo?

²² And ye shall do as I have done: Ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. — and ye, the house of Israel, shall do as Ezekiel had done; do not cover your lips; as a token of mourning; as the Targum says; there shall be none to comfort them, or send bread to them; they shall all be alike mourners.

²³ And your attires shall be upon your heads and your shoes upon your feet. Ye shall not mourn nor weep, but ye shall pine away [meaning: to become thin and weak because of sadness or loss] for your iniquities and mourn one toward another. — and mourn one toward another; that is, in secret; because of their enemies;

— so great should be their miseries and calamities, that they should be struck dumb, and quite astonished and stupefied with them; that they should not be able to vent their sorrow by any outward act of mourning.

²⁴ Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do. And when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord God.’ — when the prophecy is fulfilled, and all these calamities come upon the city and temple, ye shall know (after much trials and tribulations) that I am the Lord;

— ye “shall know that I am the Lord” indicating that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their numerous churches know God today; but are all sleeping!

²⁵ “Also, thou son of man, shall it not be on the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,

— as for you, on the day I seize their strength, the joyous aspect of their pride, the desire of their eyes, sons and daughters, their complete delight, and all their grandchildren;

²⁶ that he that escapeth on that day shall come unto thee to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? — on that day, despite being difficult for any fugitive to come on the day of the destruction;

— therefore this is the meaning: On that day that the fugitive will come to you to let you hear [of the destruction] with your own ears, on that day, their mouth will be opened; to let you hear with your own ears: to announce the news that the city has been struck;

— and from the Message Bible

“And you, son of man: The day I take away the people’s refuge, their great joy, the delight of their life, what they’ve most longed for, along with all their children—on that very day a survivor will arrive and tell you what happened to the city. You’ll break your silence and start talking again, talking to the survivor. Again, you’ll be an example for them. And they’ll recognize that I am God.” Ezekiel 24:25-27 MSG

²⁷ On that day shall thy mouth be opened to him who has escaped, and thou shalt speak and be no more dumb. And thou shalt be a sign unto them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

— the Divine voice seems to decree for Ezekiel a period of temporary silence and inactivity. Perhaps Ezekiel 3:25 should read, “I will lay bands on thee and bind thee;” at any rate, he is restrained in some way, whether, as some suppose, by some physical restraint or merely by the angry incredulity of his hearers, from proclaiming his message in public;

— Ezekiel does not open his mouth, except in his own house to those who consult him privately (Ezekiel 8:1), until his message was delivered and confirmed by the fall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 3:21-27).

Posted in Ezekiel

Earlier, we have established that although Ezekiel has his face set toward Jerusalem, his prophecy is meant for the house of Israel at the endtime “for many years to come” (Ezekiel 12:27). Here, he is re-emphasizing “the Sword from the South.”

In fact, the word “Sword” being repeated over and over again, occurs fourteen times in this chapter alone, doubled and thriced for its significance. And remember, this prophecy is meant for the house of Israel which is primarily the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France and secondarily their European allies. . .

For a more detailed Study of Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5 about this serious subject, see A Sword from the South! click here

Ezekiel 21

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — here is an explanation of the riddle of the last chapter. It is declared that the word of the Lord was a “prophesy against the land of Israel” and the whole land, that all might know it was his decree against a wicked and rebellious people. 

² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel; — “against the land of Israel” ~ the sword glitters to the terror of those against whom it is drawn; that is, this message for the house of Israel is meant for the United States and its European allies;

— many believe Russia and China are the main threat of the United States; but no, American threat comes from the South! And for Western Europe, the threat comes from the south of Europe; that is, North and Central Africa, and perhaps even the Indian sub-continent, which is also south;

— some interprets “set thy face toward Jerusalem” to mean a prophecy against Judah by the then Nebuchadnezzar; but this is working backward, since the kingdom of Judah had already fallen, and Ezekiel himself were among his captives by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1), and, second, this Ezekiel warning were never delivered to the house of Judah before or during that fall before Babylon; and, thirdly, this warning message was mainly to the northern house of Israel at the endtime;

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. — and will draw forth my Sword out of his sheath; a similar situation occurred earlier to ancient Judah when the Chaldean army rushed out of Babylon into Judea and made the inhabitants captives;

— but the Chaldean was from the North toward the South (Ezekiel 1:4), but this is different and something new; this is from the South toward the North (Ezekiel 20:47, 21:4!) Poor thing, among the wicked the righteous will also be “cut off” ~ there is no place of safety that many among the endtime pretentious that are hoping for.

⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north, — his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North; oh, okay, this might give us a clue what “set your face toward the South” and “kindle a fire in thee. . . from the South” are meant at the end of the preceding chapter.

— this Sword will come from the South! This is serious! It’s not just unwanted immigrants, these are warriors, conquering warriors set to slaughter!! For those in Europe, they might come from the whole of Africa; and for the United States, they might come from the whole South, all the Latinos of South America! And “against all flesh;”

— (and flaming flame in Ezekiel 20:47) but in this chapter a subtle change: “My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North.” ~ that is, all flesh will die! Okay this view might be over the top, but then again, why so much emphasis of the Sword in this chapter?

— Jonathan on Obadiah 1:20 renders Sepharad as Ispamiah: Spain (Rashi quoting the Targum: Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the Southland as Spain); the Targums identified Ispamiah or Sepharad (Obadiah 1:20) with Spain, hence, Spanish Jews are called Sephardim; Zarephath and the exile of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the southland.

— Wikipedia: Sepharad (/sɛfəræd/or səˈfɛərəd/ Hebrew: סְפָרַד Sp̄āraḏ; also Sefarad, Sephared, Sfard) is the Hebrew name for the Iberian Peninsula, consisting of both modern-time Western Europe’s Spain and Portugal. A place called Sepharad, probably referring to Sardis in Lydia (‘Sfard’ in Lydian), in the Book of Obadiah. The name was later applied to Spain.

5 that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’ — more about the Sword! it shall not return any more; that is, into its sheath, until it has done all its work; meaning that the invading army should not return to their own land until they had executed the whole will of God upon the endtime house of Israel; this is the fire that should not be quenched;

— one Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in US that had migrated from the South; they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”

— McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60); is McKinsey’s analysis wrong?

⁶ Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins [‘hearts’ in other versions], and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. — sigh, therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; as if thy loins were broke, and go as if they were, and sigh as thou goest;

— or as a woman in travail, having her hands upon her loins as ready to break, and in the utmost distress; or heave, and groan, and sigh, till the girdle of the loins is broke, and by these motions and gesture show the miserable state of this people, and how much thou art affected with it.

⁷ And it shall be, when they say unto thee, ‘Why sighest thou?’ that thou shalt answer, ‘For the tidings, because it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water.’ Behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.”

— ‘why sighest thou?’ . . . because it cometh” ~ the report of an invading army from the South, with a Sword approaching and besieging their land, the land of modern Israel, which Ezekiel had heard from the Lord;

— and the thing itself was just at hand, and would certainly be so bad; that was the issues that affected Ezekiel, and caused so much sorrow and lamentations;

⁸ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

⁹ “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord. Say: “‘A sword, a sword is sharpened and also furbished! — a Sword, a Sword, it is sharpened, and also furbished; it is sharpened that it may make a slaughter;

— it is furbished that it may be as lightning: the rod for the house of Israel; primarily the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France; and secondarily their European allies. And it is given to be furbished, that it may be handled: the Sword, it is sharpened, yea, it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer from the South.

¹⁰ It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter. Should we then make mirth? It contemneth the rod of My son, as every tree.

¹¹ “‘And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled; this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished to give it into the hand of the slayer. — the Targum says, “he gave their vengeance to be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon,” ~ and three times elsewhere (Jeremiah 25:9,27:6,43:10) God describes Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant.”

¹² Cry and howl, son of man! For it shall be upon My people; it shall be upon all the princes of Israel. Terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon My people; smite therefore upon thy thigh.

— cry and wail, son of man; for it is upon “the princes of Israel” that is, (1) primarily the royal families and nobles of Britain, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden [but not including Spain although they have princes, ‘cos they are the posterity of Esau]: they are delivered over to the Sword with my people;

— these “princes of Israel” also include (2) the likes of Bill Gates, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch and the Rockefellers; but most important, the Rothschilds, who spanned numerous generations centered in the City of London and in other western capital cities;

— smite therefore upon thy thigh; as one grieved in spirit, in great distress and anguish, or the sense of a terrible and irreparable evil happening, as experienced by Jeremiah:

Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ Jeremiah 31:19.

¹³ Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? It shall be no more, saith the Lord God.’ — and what if the sword disdain or scorn even the rod?

— here God foretells, that if the princes of Israel should despise, or not accept the correction or punishment brought upon them by the trial, these princes would be entirely broken, and be no more!

— and from the Message Bible

¹² “Yell out and wail, son of man.
    The sword is against my people!
The princes of Israel
    and my people—abandoned to the sword!
Wring your hands!
    Tear out your hair!

¹³ “‘Testing comes.
    Why have you despised discipline?
You can’t get around it.
    Decree of God, the Master.’

^14-17 “So, prophesy, son of man!
    Clap your hands. Get their attention.
Tell them that the sword’s coming down
    once, twice, three times.
It’s a sword to kill,
    a sword for a massacre,
A sword relentless,
    a sword inescapable—
People collapsing right and left,
    going down like dominoes.
I’ve stationed a murderous sword
    at every gate in the city,
Flashing like lightning,
    brandished murderously.
Cut to the right, thrust to the left,
    murderous, sharp-edged sword!
Then I’ll clap my hands,
    a signal that my anger is spent.
        I, God, have spoken.” Ezekiel 21:12-17 MSG

¹⁴ “Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain. It is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their secret chambers. — “sword” mentioned three times in this verse, showing its importance;

— and smite thine hands together; the meaning of the clapping of the hands, smiting the hands together is an indication of violent grief; normally accompanied by the loud crying and wailing;

— “Let the sword be doubled the third time…” the sword shall overtake them, not merely in the open battlefield, but in the chambers whither they flee to hide themselves; showing and power of the Sword coming against the “the princes of Israel” ~ all hope of escape would certainly be gone;

— which entereth into their privy chambers; that is, their most protected palaces, underground bunkers and forts; where “the princes of Israel” should endeavour to hide themselves, but in vain, like Saddam Hussein, none shall escape; their privy hideouts and palaces could not be kept in secret to secure them.

¹⁵ I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint and their ruins be multiplied. Ah! It is made bright; it is sharpened for the slaughter. — against all their gates, that is, against all security of “the princes of Israel”

— Gill: I have set the point of the sword against all their gates…. the word rendered “point” is nowhere else used, and is differently translated: by some the “fear” of the Sword; by others the “cry” of the Sword, or of those that are slain with it, as the Targum paraphrases it, “those that slay with the sword.”

— their ruins be multiplied; literally, their stumbling blocks be multiplied. The thought is that in the coming desolation trouble shall be on every side and in their perplexity occasions for ill-advised action shall arise all around.

¹⁶ Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. — Gather thyself up, O princes of Israel, to the right or to the left. Another rendering is: “Turn thee backwards! get thee to the right! Set thee forwards! Get thee to the left!”

¹⁷ I will also smite Mine hands together, and I will cause My fury to rest. I, the Lord, have said it.” — God will also smite his hands together in token of encouragement. He will animate and encourage the slayers to go on. God even said he needs to express His fury so he could find rest; the Targum says, “and even I will bring vengeance upon vengeance.”

¹⁸ The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,

¹⁹ “Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; both shall come forth out of one land. And choose thou a place; choose it at the head of the way to the city.

— by the spirit of prophecy Ezekiel foresaw Nebuchadnezzar’s march from Babylon, and Ezekiel was asked to choose the two ways, by one or other of which the invading army must march from Babylon to Judea and Jerusalem;

— from the Voice

The word of the Eternal came to me: ¹⁹ Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of Babylon’s king to take. Have both roads begin in the same place. Make a signpost, and put it at the fork in the road: ²⁰ one road leading the sword to Ammon and its capital, Rabbah; the other road leading to Judah and its fortified capital, Jerusalem. Ezekiel 21:18-20 Voice

²⁰ Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah in Jerusalem, the fortified. — normally the Babylonians came from the North, but through Rabbah of the Ammonites would be from the East.

²¹ For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked at the liver.

— to use divination; that is, consulting witchcraft; he consulted with images (“teraphim”) that is, household gods, like what Rachel store from her father, Genesis 31:19,34, and she died of childbirth;

— he looked in the liver; it was a more scientific practice of the ancients to make an inspection of the entrails (especially the liver) of animals offered in sacrifice, to fruitlessly judge the success or failure of an undertaking.

²² At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem: to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a siege mound, and to build a fort.

— and ‘Head for Jerusalem!’ says the Message Bible and from the Voice:

The king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road and he decides by divination which of the two roads to take. He draws straws, he throws god-dice, he examines a goat liver. He opens his right hand: The omen says, ‘Head for Jerusalem!’ So he’s on his way with battering rams, roused to kill, sounding the battle cry, pounding down city gates, building siege works. Ezekiel 21:21-22 MSG

Kings never go into battle without first looking for signs and omens. War is too risky—even for Babylon—not to have the blessings of the gods. The Babylonian king stops at the crossroads: which way should he go? So he calls for his priests to consult the gods for signs. Their mediation may be something like drawing straws. At times it involves the ancient practice of “reading” the liver of a sacrificial animal. When a king wants to make sure his decision is the correct one, he uses several forms of divination. The ancients do not believe in chance; they believe their gods are involved in orchestrating their lives and decisions. In this case, Babylon’s king happens to be correct because the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is directing him to take the road to Jerusalem. Ezekiel 21:21-22 Voice

²³ And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths; but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken. — and it shall be unto them as a false vision; that is, these mockers and unbelievers shall laugh at this prophecy as a vain thing;

— the Voice “Everyone in Jerusalem will believe the omen to be false because they had pledged loyalty to Babylon. But his actions will remind the doubters of their guilt, and they will be taken prisoners.”

²⁴ “Therefore thus saith the Lord God: ‘Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye have come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.

— ye shall be taken with the hand; as easily as a bird is, when in the snare. The Targum says, “ye shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

²⁵ And thou, profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end, — the details given in the above few verses were about ancient Judah and its invasion, but Ezekiel’s message is for the endtime;

— “wicked prince of Israel” ~ singular, that is, this wicked prince of Israel stands out above the general wickedness of all the other princes; so who will he be, we need to wait and see;

— such details are written in coded language and only God knows what all these messages are to play out; so we may have to observe how world events eventuates in the next couple of years; which means these comments will need to be updated every now and then. Be patient, we’ll get there.

²⁶ thus saith the Lord God: “‘Remove the diadem and take off the crown; this shall not be the same. Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high; — thus saith the Lord God, remove the diadem, and take off the crown; that is, from Zedekiah; and as these are the regalia and ensigns of royal dignity, taking them off signifies the deposition of someone as a king;

— “exalt him that is low” is to exalt the Zarah line from the Pharez line. For more details, see “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen

²⁷ I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. And it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it to Him.’

— from Jerusalem to Ireland, from to Scotland and then finally to England; thus three overturns, until he come whose right it is; the right of the crown and final king of Israel as scepter holder; also the Messiah, being descended from a royalty of kings of the house of Judah, and of the seed of David.

²⁸ “And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; even say thou: “‘The sword, the sword is drawn; for the slaughter it is furbished to consume because of the glittering”

²⁹ while they [the Ammonites] see vanity unto thee, while they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked whose day is come when their iniquity shall have an end. — the Ammonites, today’s Jordan, also had false prophets among them;

— according to the Book of Nehemiah, Tobiah was an Ammonite official who attempted to hinder Nehemiah’s efforts to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, influenced and corrupted the Jewish high priest, Eliashib, and took over the storerooms of the Temple for his own use.

³⁰ Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. — they, today’s Jordan, would be judged in their own land, and could be destroyed.

³¹ And I will pour out Mine indignation upon thee; I will blow against thee in the fire of My wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy. — the false prophets of the Ammonites made false prophecies of victory; they would never recover their power, but in time would be wholly forgotten.

³² Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land. Thou shalt be no more remembered; for I the Lord have spoken it.’” — thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; such large numbers shall be slain everywhere, that the land shall flow with the blood of them; who shall lie unburied, and rot, and putrefy upon the ground:

— and thou shalt be remembered no more. This prophecy against Ammon and the Ammonites has no promise of restoration; and although they were not to be carried away captive as Judah, they were to perish in his own land; for the Lord have spoken it (more below).

~~~~

This prophecy against Ammon has no promise of restoration. Why? We might speculate why the Ammonites were singled out here for this special oracle; but it might have pertained to the share they had in the murder of Gedaliah, by the hand of Ishmael and the Ammonites gave these killers refuge;

Second, in historic time, when Nebuchadnezzar took his route to Jerusalem, and destroyed the city, returned to Babylon, he went about without making any attempt upon the Ammonites; which so flushed the Ammonites that they insulted the Jews and laughed at their destruction, as if their God whom they served could not save them.

And thirdly, Tobiah was an Ammonite, perhaps a governor, who along with Sanballat the Horonite and Geshem the Arabian, attempted to (1) hinder Nehemiah’s efforts to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, and he (2) influenced the Jewish high priest Eliashib, and took over the storerooms of the Temple for his own use; and Tobiah, an Ammonite (3) conspired with Sanballat the Samaritan of the law for the returning Jews their renegade way of observing Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost); and (4) where the holiest site for the Temple should be, which the Jews believe is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem but the renegade “mixed” population Samaritans believe is Mount Gerizim near modern Nablus in ancient Shechem.

And finally, the Ammonites are modern Jordan (or are they; or that a new group of people, the Jordanians, had replaced the ancient Ammonites) sitting on land allocated to three of the tribes of Israel east of the Jordan, and the house of Israel may soon be taking their ancestral Promised land back, land that could even stretch to the Euphrates River.

Ezekiel 22

In Chapter 10, God’s four judgements — SWORD, war. FAMINE, occasioned by drought. PESTILENCE, epidemic diseases which sweep off a great part of the inhabitants of a land. And in this chapter it is BLOOD! Which is repeated 8 times for emphasis.

¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the Targum says, the word of prophecy from the Lord; that is, another prophecy;

² “Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? Yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations. — the bloody city?… or, “city of blood” or “cities of blood” so called on account of murders perpetrated in her as in the United States with so much gun violence today.

³ Then say thou, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. — this is a reference to cities in the house of Israel;

— and maketh idols against herself, to defile herself; being guilty, not only of murder, but of idolatry; she was an idol maker and an idol worshipper; and which was against herself, as well as against God;

⁴ Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed, and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years. Therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the nations and a mocking to all countries.

— “I have made thee a reproach among the nations” ~ this is a prophecy of what will soon happen as indicated in the future tense used in the next verse, “Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee.”

— mockings from all countries and shedding of blood could indicate civil war within the nation, see Is Britain on the Brink of Civil War?

⁵ Those that are near and those that are far from thee shall mock thee, who art infamous and much vexed. — the “much vexed” refers to the internal confusion, commotions and social disorders which characterised the decaying state of the nation;

⁶ “‘Behold, the princes of Israel, every one was in thee to their power to shed blood. — behold, the princes of Israel; those that belonged to (1) the royal family, princes and princesses, (2) the rich and nobles of the land, governors, city chiefs, oligarchs, members of Parliament or Congressmen of a nation.

⁷ In thee have they made light of father and mother. In the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger. In thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. — filial respect for fathers and mothers was one of the most frequently enjoined precepts of the law (see Leviticus 19:32; Leviticus 20:9);

— they vexed the fatherless and the widow; that were weak and helpless and had none to protect them, father and husband being dead; when, according to their first rank and station as princes, they ought to have been their defenders; but, instead of that, distressed, afflicted, and grieved them.

⁸ Thou hast despised Mine holy things and hast profaned My Sabbaths. — thou hast despised mine holy thing; the holy place, the temple, and the worship of it;

— holy persons, the priests that officiated there; holy sacrifices offered up by them; the holy word of God read and explained; and there all holy ordinances administered. These words are directed at Jerusalem, the holy city, and to the inhabitants of it, who ought to have been holy men;

— and hast profaned my sabbaths; by doing their own work, and neglecting the service of God; and which was an inlet, as it usually is, to all manner of sin

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,” Isaiah 58:13

Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctify them. Ezekiel 20:12

⁹ In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood, and in thee they eat upon the mountains. In the midst of thee they commit lewdness [indecency or obscenity].

— men that carry tales; informers and trepanners, or persons that, corrupted with money, give in false witness against the innocent; and the princes of Israel (v6 above) had hands in it; spreading lies about WMD that Saddam Hussein had and going to war against Iraq;

— in the midst of thee they commit lewdness; a general word for all manner of uncleanness, as adultery, fornication, incest, etc.

¹⁰ In thee have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution. — the worst of heathens, there have been and are some that incestuously defile their fathers’ bed.

¹¹ And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law, and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

— horrible, shameless doings! the father-in-law committing incest with the wife’s daughter, and brothers defile their own sisters; all this against the light of nature, the law of civilized nations, and the law of God. 

¹² In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood. Thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained from thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten Me, saith the Lord God.

— innocent blood, as the Targum says; judges upon the bench, whose office it is to take the part of the innocent, and clear him from unjust charges; and protect him from the violence of wicked and unreasonable men; that lay things to his charge, which, if true, would require blood;

— and yet men in such offices took bribes to bring in the innocent guilty, and pass sentence of death on him; which is a most shocking iniquity indeed: to take bribes in pecuniary matters is very wicked; but to do it in cases which affect life is most dreadfully cruel;

— or if it is to be understood of such persons who take bribes to bear false witness against a man, to the taking away of his life, it is a very heinous and detestable sin; for, as for a set of jurymen bribed to bring in a wrong verdict, which would be equally a most enormous crime;

— and from the Message Bible;

“‘Your leaders, the princes of Israel among you, compete in crime. You’re a community that’s insolent to parents, abusive to outsiders, oppressive against orphans and widows. You treat my holy things with contempt and desecrate my Sabbaths. You have people spreading lies and spilling blood, flocking to the hills to the sex shrines and fornicating unrestrained. Incest is common. Men force themselves on women regardless of whether they’re ready or willing. Sex is now anarchy. Anyone is fair game: neighbor, daughter-in-law, sister. Murder is for hire, usury is rampant, extortion is commonplace. Ezekiel 22:6-12 MSG

¹³ “‘Behold, therefore I have smitten Mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.

— behold, therefore, I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made; as one amazed at it; or as filled with indignation against it; or as grieved and distressed at it; or else as rejoicing at the punishment going to be inflicted on them for it;

— and from the Message Bible;

“‘Now look! I’ve clapped my hands, calling everyone’s attention to your rapacious greed and your bloody brutalities. Can you stick with it? Will you be able to keep at this once I start dealing with you? “‘I, God, have spoken. I’ll put an end to this. I’ll throw you to the four winds. I’ll scatter you all over the world. I’ll put a full stop to your filthy living. You will be defiled, spattered with your own mud in the eyes of the nations. And you’ll recognize that I am God.’” Ezekiel 22:13-16 MSG

¹⁴ Can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, the Lord, have spoken it, and will do it. — can thine hands be strong, to hold the sword, and manage against the warlike Nebuchadnezzar and his army?

— the Targum says, “I have decreed by my word, and I will establish it.”

¹⁵ And I will scatter thee among the nations and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. — to be scattered and dispersed the house of Israel throughout various provinces of other nations, as chaff is by the winds.

¹⁶ And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the nations, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.’” — take thine inheritance in thyself; formerly thou wast my inheritance; but now, full of guilt, thou art no longer mine, but thine own inheritance to thyself; “in the sight of the heathen,”

— from the Message Bible

“‘Now look! I’ve clapped my hands, calling everyone’s attention to your rapacious greed and your bloody brutalities. Can you stick with it? Will you be able to keep at this once I start dealing with you? “

‘I, God, have spoken. I’ll put an end to this. I’ll throw you to the four winds. I’ll scatter you all over the world. I’ll put a full stop to your filthy living. You will be defiled, spattered with your own mud in the eyes of the nations. And you’ll recognize that I am God.’” Ezekiel 22:13-16 MSG

¹⁷ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — as the Targum says, the word of prophecy from the Lord;

¹⁸ “Son of man, the house of Israel has to Me become dross [something regarded as worthless; rubbish]. All they are brass and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

— from the Message Bible

God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, the people of Israel are slag to me, the useless byproduct of refined copper, tin, iron, and lead left at the smelter—a worthless slag heap. So tell them, ‘God, the Master, has spoken: Because you’ve all become worthless slag, you’re on notice: I’ll assemble you in Jerusalem.

As men gather silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into a furnace and blow fire on it to melt it down, so in my wrath I’ll gather you and melt you down. I’ll blow on you with the fire of my wrath to melt you down in the furnace. As silver is melted down, you’ll be melted down. That should get through to you. Then you’ll recognize that I, God, have let my wrath loose on you.’” Ezekiel 22:17-22 MSG

¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: ‘Because ye have all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. — indeed judgement appeared in 70 AD; “all become dross” in the hands of the Romans, but it was actually God gathering them for judgement.

²⁰ As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it to melt it, so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you.

— several metals of the baser sort are here mentioned, by a gradation from the better to the worse; tin being not so good as brass, and iron of less value than either, and “I will leave you there and melt you”

— (a) the Essenses, who formulated their own calendar, but God is a jealous Being; and they melted away;

— (b) the Sadducees (who observed a Passover and Pentecost similar to the Samaritan’s) where both defiled the tenets from the Sanhedrin and were wiped out by the Sword and by Fire!

²¹ Yea, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. — and I will leave you there, and melt you; that is, I will leave you to the sword, famine, and pestilence, to be destroyed by them;

— or with fire at the burning of the city: or, “I will rest” as the refiner does; having put his metal into the furnace, and blown the fire, sits still till all is melted.

²² As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out My fury upon you.’”

— 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 (more at the end).

²³ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

²⁴ “Son of man, say unto her: ‘Thou art the land that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation.’

²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

²⁶ Her priests have violated My law and have profaned Mine holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. — and Judah’s 70 years in captivity was because of a neglect of the land Sabbath!

¹⁹ And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
²⁰ And those who had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,
²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years. II Chronicles 36:19-21

²⁷ Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. — the princes in the midst of Israel; those that belonged to the royal family, the rich and nobles of the land, governors, city chiefs, members of Parliament of Congress of a nation.

²⁸ And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord God,’ when the Lord hath not spoken. — saying, thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken; herein mimicking the true prophets, who came in the name of the Lord,

— and usually prefaced their prophecies with a thus saith the Lord; and so did these false prophets, when the Lord said nothing to them, and gave them no commission to speak in his name, or say the things they did.

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy; yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

— from the Message Bible

^26-29 “‘Your priests violated my law and desecrated my holy things. They can’t tell the difference between sacred and secular. They tell people there’s no difference between right and wrong. They’re contemptuous of my holy Sabbaths, profaning me by trying to pull me down to their level. Your politicians are like wolves prowling and killing and rapaciously taking whatever they want. Your preachers cover up for the politicians by pretending to have received visions and special revelations. They say, “This is what God, the Master, says . . .” when God hasn’t said so much as one word. Extortion is rife, robbery is epidemic, the poor and needy are abused, outsiders are kicked around at will, with no access to justice.’

^30-31 “I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one. So I’ll empty out my wrath on them, burn them to a crisp with my hot anger, serve them with the consequences of all they’ve done. Decree of God, the Master.” Ezekiel 22:28-30 MSG

³⁰ And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

— God looks for helpers but He found none; no repairer of the breach volunteer willing to act as intercessor, nor restorer of path to truth; no mediator for the people, as Abraham for Sodom, Moses for Israel; or any, like Aaron, that stood between the living and the dead to stay the plague.

³¹ Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.” — I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; by the sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity.

For a more detailed Study (see Ezekiel 20:45 to chapter 21:5) about this subject A Sword from the South! click here

~~~~

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.

Posted in Ezekiel

The issues in the following chapters are concerning the house of Israel verses the house of Judah.

Although Isaiah 8:14 refers to “both houses of Israel” or the “two houses of Israel” it implies the single whole house of Jacob, the full twelve tribes.

But Jacob was given a new name, Israel, in which the full house of Israel as in Ezekiel 20:40, the twelve tribes are all included. And after King Solomon, the single house of Jacob or now call Israel was broken into two, the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

Hence, the names of the two houses are separated, namely the 10-tribes “house of Israel” and the 2-tribes “house of Judah.” Further, the “two houses of Israel” in Isaiah 8:14 is redefined as “the house of Jacob” in Isaiah 8:17.

State it in another way in more details, the word “Israel” has five (or even six) possible meanings:

(1) Israel in place of Jacob, since the angel gave Jacob a new name, Israel; Genesis 32:28

(2) Jacob said, “and let my name be named on them” Genesis 48:16; that is, the name “Israel” is to be installed to the children of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh;

(3) the children of Israel, or all the house of Israel in Ezekiel 20:40 in the sense of all the progeny of Jacob, all twelve tribes; sometimes expressed as the “whole house of Israel;”

(4) the house of Israel in Ezekiel 4:3-5 as a single northern “house of Israel” which would mean the ‘first’ house of Israel or the house of 10-tribes Israel; and then another as;

(5) the ‘second’ house of Israel or the 2-tribes house of Judah as in Ezekiel 4:6; this happened during Rehoboam reign when the kingdom was broken into the house of Israel (north) and the house of Judah (south); in this context, the house of Israel could be the 2-tribes Israel as in Ezekiel 8:6,11,12 and Matthew 15:24;

(6) Israel, the modern state of Israel, established in 1917 by the Balfour declaration and gained independence in 1948.

In understanding prophecies, the second and third meanings are mostly in use; the fourth very rarely. Still, it may seem confusing, but one should be able to separate the two by sounding out the context.

For understanding who the modern tribes of Judah and Joseph are, the best book to have expounded this subject is “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen (1847-1930).

~~ chap8&14end;19,33&36beg ~~

Chapter 19 starts with a riddle of a lioness with her two whelps among other young lions. So what does each of them represent? The riddle seems to be a prophecy over the complexities of the house of Israel and the royal house of Judah spread out over the next two and a half thousands years.

The scepter, which belongs to the royal house of Judah, are mentioned only twice in the book of Ezekiel, both in this chapter. And earlier, we have established that this Ezekiel prophecy was for a time far into the future (Ezekiel 12:27). In fact it’s for the endtime, our time, and so here we are.

Ezekiel 19

The best book to have expounded this riddle is “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen (1847-1930).

In summary, this riddle is a continuation of chapter 17 concerning a mysterious prophecy regarding both the house of Judah and the house of Israel. Here in this chapter it shows how the planting and rebuilding of David’s throne had survived beyond captivity into the land of Israel and beyond.

¹“Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, — so this chapter is a lamentation; notice it started at the beginning with a lamentation and at the end it says: “This is a lamentation and shall be a lamentation,” for the princes of Israel; but who are the princes of Israel?

— the princes of Israel are from the royal house of Judah but sprung off into Israel and beyond; kings and princes who were entrusted with power and authority to exercise the laws of the nation; and who should have been wise counsellors of the people, but to God, these are the men who give wicked counsel and Ezekiel was asked to mourn for them;

— “the princes of Israel” that is, these are not those who administer his temple, but further out; (1) primarily the royal families and nobles of Britain, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden [but not including Spain although they have princes, ‘cos they are the posterity of Esau]:

— (2) from Ezekiel 11:1-2 that is, rulers and governor; cities chiefs; from God’s point of view, “men who devise mischief and give wicked counsel,” mayors and their rich and influential: plus the likes of Bill Gates, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, the Rockefellers; and most important, the Rothschilds, who spanned numerous generations centered in the City of London and in other western capital cities;

² and say: “‘What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions; she nourished her whelps among young lions. — this indicates an original royal family that had spread her wings over many nations.

³ And she brought up one of her whelps; it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

⁴ The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. — this young lion could well be Joseph, who was sold as a slave into Egypt, later his sons, headed by Ephraim, the younger yet the ‘firstborn’ of Joseph, were to led the house of Israel.

⁵ Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. — the house of Israel, headed by Ephraim, went into captivity, the lioness waited but her hope was lost as this young lion never came back; so the mother’s hope now lies with another whelp; the house of Judah.

⁶ And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey and devoured men. — the house of Judah grew and became a nation.

⁷ And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate and the fullness thereof by the noise of his roaring. — the subject ‘he’ is now her enemies, Judah’s enemies.

⁸ Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. — first the Assyrians came to lay a siege against the house of Judah but they were repelled off. A while later the Chaldeans came and managed to conquer this young nation.

⁹ And they put him under guard in chains (put him in a cage as some versions say), and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

— this young lion, “brought to the king of Babylon,” is clearly established to be house of Judah, the scepter holder, but its royal family had vanished;

— no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel; but yes, upon only a smaller hill of Israel: Ireland.

¹⁰ “‘Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters; she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. — thy mother is like a vine in thy blood; having royal blood, this lioness is the royal family that had established herself over many nations.

¹¹ And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bore rule; and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.

— a rod or scepter is an emblem of authority; with numerous offspring and prosperity this royal family would split and spread into numerous other royal families that ruled over many nations in throughout Europe, both East and West.

¹² But she was plucked up in fury; she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

— many of the royal families were overcame “cast down” by revolutions: – France (1830), Portugal (1910), Russia (1917), Germany (1918), Hungary (1918), Italy (1946), Romania (1947), Greece (1974); – they withered and fire consumed them; their monarchies died one way or another, these nations all became republics.

¹³ And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. — a few royal families remains, planted on dry and thirsty ground; powerless and without authority; instead or rule they only reign; that is, in name only: Britain, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

¹⁴ And fire has gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a scepter to rule.’ This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”

— and fire is gone out of a rod of her; this speaks of the destruction of the royal family; she hath no strong rod; few of the royal blood of Judah or only weak ones will be left. And from that time onward, perhaps, no new royals would ever sat upon the throne of Israel;

— those that remains would end up in captivity too as fire would consume them;

— this chapter starts with lamentation and ends with lamentation; that is, dark days also lay ahead for their children as fire is ready to devour them as it devours her fruit. As the catastrophe shall be so complete, there will be a lot of mourning as lamentation will be compounded by further lamentation.

Ezekiel 20

This chapter is a continuation of lamentation for the princes and people of the house of Israel, on account of what had already befallen them, and what was yet to come.

Among God’s concerns, hallowing or polluting the Sabbaths being the main issue, mentioned six times (verses 12,13,16,20,21,24) in this chapter alone, more than in any other chapters.

These are those that are left after one third died of famine and pestilence, another third of the sword, and these are those left over or those that survive in captivity.

The identities of the various tribes above are largely drawn from the researches done by Steven Collins and Yair Davidiy below; although there are some variants between them. Both, however, are erroneous in their identities of Ephraim and Manasseh.

For more on the true identity of Ephraim and Manasseh, see (1) The Birthrights (2) Ephraim and Manasseh (3) Ephraim as the Thirteenth Tribe (4) Who is this lying Ephraim? (5) The Ox with horns of a Unicorn

For understanding who the modern tribes of Judah and Joseph are, the best book to have expounded this subject is “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by JH Allen (1847-1930).

¹ And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me. — these were either some of the elders that were carried captive, who came to inquire how long they should continue in exile; or what methods they should use to free themselves from it;

— and sat before me; it is usually after some great calamities would these elders humble themselves and come to seek the Lord, by which time (verse 3 below) Ezekiel is forbidden to tell them that he would not be inquired of by them. During peace time these same people are usually contented to ignore God.

² Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying,

³ “Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Have ye come to inquire of Me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.’

— as I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you; knowing their wickedness and hypocrisy, which were detestable to him, and therefore would not hear what they had to say, nor give them any answer, or direct them what they should do.

⁴ Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers; — cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

— God reminded them of the sins which were abominable in themselves and unto God, by which they would be led to see the abominable evils which they also had been guilty of, in which they had imitated their fathers;

⁵ and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up Mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up Mine hand unto them, saying, “I am the Lord your God.”

— here begins the account of their fathers; of God’s unmerited goodness to them since their deliverance from Egypt, and of their sins and how it fared with them.

⁶ on the day that I lifted up Mine hand unto them to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands,

— which is the glory of all lands; that is, either which fertility, signified by milk and honey, is the glory of all lands, being so fruitful, is more glorious or desirable than any other country; it greatly surpassing all others in its situation, soil, and climate;

— the Targum says, “which is the praise of all provinces:” that is, was praised and commended by the inhabitants of all other provinces for the plenty in it; which must needs be very great, to support so large a number of inhabitants in it, and yet its compass but small;

⁷ then said I unto them: “Cast away every man of ye the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” — evidence from this verse shows the Israelites were still deeply indulged in things Egypt’s; the golden calf being the principle idol.

⁸ But they rebelled against Me and would not hearken unto Me. They did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. “‘Then I said, “I will pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.”

⁹ But I wrought for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations among whom they were, in whose sight I made Myself known unto them in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

— “I wrought for my name’s sake” this is a reference to the fact that God on several occasions did not judge Israel according to what they certainly deserved; but, that in order to prevent the nations from questioning God’s ability to protect his people, simply went on and blessed them in spite of their sins. Two examples of this are found in Exodus 32:12 and in Numbers 14:16.

¹⁰ Therefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.

¹¹ And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgements, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. — God’s statutes and Judgements are dedicated to his servants to implement, starting with the Great Assembly, later the Sanhedrin. Today this Sanhedrin has been re-established here, inheriting and embedded with the following mandates:

¹⁸ “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgement.

¹⁹ Thou shalt not distort judgement; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for a bribe doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. Deuteronomy 16:18-19

¹¹ According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgement which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do. Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show 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; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

¹³ And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Deuteronomy 17:11-13

“I create darkness; I create evil; I, the LORD, do all these things” Isaiah 45:7. And what happened in 70 AD in Jerusalem and Judea when God exercised His judgement?

History recorded only two sects that escaped this inferno:

(1) The Nazarenes as the early Christians were known in Acts 24:5. Many died as martyrs but according to Eusebius, some received divine warning and escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River.

(2) Pharisees of the House of Hillel escaped to Yavne. These were headed by a rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin; he was smuggled out of besieged Jerusalem in a coffin. Later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the Calendar.

¹² Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctify them.

¹³ But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They walked not in My statutes and they despised My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. “‘Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them.

History recorded two prominent sects that died during this AD 70 Judgement:

(a) The Sadducees and Boethusians, following the heretic Samaritan way of observing Passover, kept it on the night of the fourteenth; they perished in the inferno;

(b) The Essenes, after they had repudiated the calendar that was sanctioned by the Sanhedrin, then went about presumptuously making one of their own. They all perished in God’s FURY by either the flaming Sword or the consuming Fire.

¹⁴ But I wrought for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. — “I wrought for my name’s sake” ~ this is repeated from verse 9 for emphasis.

¹⁵ Yet also I lifted up My hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands,

¹⁶ because they despised My judgements and walked not in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. — today more than 98.5 percent of pretending Christians are worshipping God by 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.

¹⁷ Nevertheless Mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

¹⁸ “‘But I said unto their children in the wilderness: “Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgements, nor defile yourselves with their idols.

¹⁹ I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, and keep My judgements, and do them;

²⁰ and hallow My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” — others, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, the Church of God Communities are showing their contempt by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a SUNday; always on SUNdays;

— and the Sabbaths are God’s sign, “that ye may know that I am the Lord your God,” ~ unfortunately these pretenders 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).”

²¹ Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me. They walked not in My statutes, neither kept My judgements to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted My Sabbaths. “‘Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness.

— again, God’s FURY would be poured out for polluting His Sabbaths! The crime might seem innocuous but God’s judgement is that they would be cut off;

²² Nevertheless I withdrew Mine hand and wrought for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth. — “I withdrew Mine hand and wrought for my name’s sake” ~ again, this is repeated from verse 9 and 14 with some variations for emphasis.

²³ I lifted up Mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries,

²⁴ because they had not executed My judgements, but had despised My statutes and had polluted My Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. — beware! repeats of offending His Sabbaths for emphasis. And God’s judgement is that they would be cut off;

²⁵ Therefore I gave them also statutes that were not good and judgements whereby they should not live;

²⁶ and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all who openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.’

²⁷ “Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they have committed a trespass against Me.

²⁸ For when I had brought them into the land for which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink offerings.

²⁹ Then I said unto them: What is the high place whereunto ye go?’” (And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.)

³⁰ “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? And commit ye whoredom after their abominations?

³¹ For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

³² “‘And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all: in that ye say, “We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.”

³³ “‘As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm and with fury poured out, will I rule over you.

³⁴ And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out; — this is flashing forward to the Second Exodus; for more about a “fury poured out,” see A Greater “Out of Egypt” Exodus;

³⁵ and I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. — “I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples” ~ this new wilderness was not a geographical wilderness like the wilderness of Egypt, but a wilderness, “of strange peoples, unusual social customs, etc,”

— it was the wilderness of their captivity in an unknown civilization, the Assyrian; and the vast majority of Israel would not pass that test of being an Israelite, any more than their fathers had passed it in the former wilderness, Egypt;

— most of them, enamored with the wealth and splendor of modern “civilization” would never leave for a return to Palestine, even when free to do so. Such persons were described as, “Separated by the refining process, and not allowed to participate in the restoration.”

³⁶ As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.

³⁷ And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

³⁸ and I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against Me. I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. — lots of purgings to undergo before the house of Israel “shall know that I am the Lord.”

— at this moment they are either all pretenders or deceitful shepherd!

“Then the Lord said unto me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart.” Jeremiah 14:14

³⁹ “‘As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God: Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto Me; but pollute ye My holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

— “go ye, serve every one his idols” this is the same kind of commandment that God gave to Judas Iscariot, when he said, “What thou doest, do quickly.” God never restrains anyone from evil who has already made up his mind to do more evil: “We lied, We cheated, We stole… It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” That would appear to be the condition of those elders who sat in front of Ezekiel.

⁴⁰ For in Mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve Me. There will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. — “all the house of Israel” shall serve God; all of them in the land, serve Me;

— “all hostilities and separation between Israel and Judah shall cease;” this is in great contrast we have today:

“Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still” Isaiah 9:21

— the vast majority of today’s professing Christianity (99.99 percent) in the house of Ephraim and Manasseh make one fundamental error against his brother Judah in studying The Oracles of God.

⁴¹ I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the nations.

— and I will be sanctified in you before the nations; the outside world will take notice of the power and eminence of God, in the conversion and restoration of house of Israel, and praise and glorify him on account of His doing; and when He will be visibly feared, served, and worshipped, in the midst of Israel;

— again, this is flashing forward to the Second Exodus; for more about a “fury poured out,” see A Greater “Out of Egypt” Exodus;

⁴² And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to your fathers. — again, lots of purgings to undergo before the house of Israel “shall know that I am the Lord.” Currently, their pastors are either pretenders or deceitful shepherd!

⁴³ And there shall ye remember your ways and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.

⁴⁴ And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.’”

— again and again, lots of purgings to undergo before the house of Israel “shall know that I am the Lord.” At this moment all their preachers are either pretenders or deceitful shepherd!

⁴⁵ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the southland. — prophesy against the forest of the southland; this prophecy “against” indicates something with a bad outcome, which could be literal or could be symbolic, or even both;

— but remember again that this prophecy meant is for the house of Israel and is “of the times that are far off (Ezekiel 12:27); far into the future, this time, our time.

⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the south: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

— this “kindle a fire” could be literal: the southern United States and southern Europe could be “kindled with fire” and much of the farmland could be in drought and be burnt up and eventually led to famine;

— but it could also be symbolic, where the south of United States (Mexico and much of the Latin Americas) and the south of Europe (North and Central Africa, and perhaps the Indian sub-continent) could be burnt with famine and civil unrest that led to huge unwanted migration to the north;

— and it shall devour every green and dry tree; all sorts of persons should be consumed, high and low, rich and poor, good and bad; and if good men should suffer, comparable to green trees, which fire will not so easily burn, not being fit fuel for it; then much more bad men, who were by far the most numerous, comparable to dry trees, and so fit fuel for the flames, and easily consumed thereby;

— and this flaming flame will spread from the south to the north: “and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned.”

⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’” — by this “all flesh shall see that I” the God of heaven will be manifested to all the rest of the nations;

— “it shall not be quenched” that is, God’s plan wouldn’t be quenched; God needs not have a Plan B, all that He has in mind is Plan A otherwise He wouldn’t be able to declare the end from the beginning; those who preach otherwise are just deceitful workers: Jeremiah 14:14

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’” Isaiah 46:9-10

⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’” — parables, riddles and enigmas; sobering thoughts, isn’t it? If there are alternative ideas, please feel free to share, thanks.

For a detailed Study about this riddle, see A Sword from the South!

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 17 starts with a riddle of two eagles and a vine and some mysteries along the historical footpaths in the complexities of the house of Judah and the house of Israel. The best book to have expounded this riddle is “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by JH Allen (1847-1930).

In summary, this chapter is a mysterious prophecy as a form of a riddle to both Judah and Israel, which shows how the planting and rebuilding of David’s throne had survived beyond the captivity.

“And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel; and say,

Thus says the Lord God; A great eagle… came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar: he cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.

He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature… and shot forth sprigs” (Ezekiel 17:1-6).

An Amazing Commission—and a Breach Healed!

The great eagle at the beginning of the riddle was the king of Babylon, who took Zedekiah captive. From verse 1 to 6 it describes the destruction of Zedekiah’s Pharez lineage. The execution of his sons is the cropping off of the cedar’s young twigs. The “vine of low stature… [shooting] forth sprigs” reflects Judah’s freedom to movement while in captivity in Babylon.

The second great eagle (v7) refers to Jeremiah who took the princess from Babylon to Egypt, and later, beyond the seas to the British Isles.

This part of the prophecy pertained to the first eagle of Ezekiel’s riddle—the rooting up and tearing down of the existing throne in Judah. But within this same prophecy, the planting and building up is also addressed, which is the work of the second eagle performed by prophet Jeremiah.

Verses 22-23 go on to describe what was Jeremiah’s commission to re-establish David’s throne in another location. God says that He will take of the highest branch—the seed of King Zedekiah—and set it or plant it.

The “tender young twig” of verse 22 could be none other than one of the king’s daughters that Jeremiah took with him to plant in the British Isles. Thus, the “high mountain and eminent” depicts the nations of Israel as God knew they were destined to become, once the birthright promise was realized.

God states that it will eventually be known that it was He who brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree (v24). In light of this, notice a parallel Scripture in Isaiah:

“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward” (Isaiah 37:31).

Jeremiah presented this young Hebrew princess—Tea Tephi—to the Zarah line ruling in the British Isles! Her marriage and children would continue the scepter and the dynasty promised David—and heal the breach.

Ezekiel 17

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum renders it.

² “Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel, — again, this “house of Israel” is emphasized; that in this chapter, the prophecy concerns chiefly the transferring of the “tender young twig” into the United Kingdom.

³ and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers which had diverse colors, came unto Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar.

— a great eagle; which is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, as it is explained, Ezekiel 17:12; who is compared to an eagle for his power and authority, that being the king of birds, and for his swiftness and voracity in conquering and subduing kingdoms; see Jeremiah 48:40.

⁴ He cropped off the top of its young twigs and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. — young twigs mentioned, and tender ones, which are meant the princess of the land.

⁵ He took also of the seed of the land and planted it in a fruitful field. He placed it by great waters and set it as a willow tree. — the seed of the land; Zedekiah, brother of Jehoiachin, and all their children.

⁶ And it [the seed] grew and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him and the roots thereof were under him. So it became a vine, and brought forth branches and shot forth sprigs.

— this indicates that children were born unto them that were in captivity, but that they grew and flourished toward him; Nebuchadnezzar, to whom the Jews were tributary.

⁷ “‘There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers; and behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her planting. — there was also another great eagle, with great wings and many feathers:

— most (John Gill, Adam Clarke, etc; though JH Allen is indecisive or ambiguous) identify this second eagle as the Pharaoh of Egypt, but it seems more like whoever took Jeremiah and the king’s daughters to the British Isles fit this character of a great eagle with great wings;

— it remains a mystery but whoever took Jeremiah and the king’s daughters in its ship or ships, would most probably be the second eagle that flew over the great seas to transplant the tender twigs there.

⁸ It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.’ — following the trail of Tea Tephi, this would led Jeremiah and the king’s daughters to Ireland . . .

⁹ Say thou, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull up the roots thereof and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? It shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.

— Shall it prosper? Could the tender twig not pull up the roots thereof; like the first eagle, Nebuchadnezzar, being provoked by the rebellion of the king of Judah and his people?

— a translation of the riddle of the tender twig from the Voice

Now I, the Eternal Lord, ask, will that vine continue to flourish? Won’t the [second] eagle pull it out of the lush, fertile soil by its roots, strip it of its fruit, and leave it to wither? It won’t take much strength or many people to pull it up by the roots. Ezekiel 17:9-10 Voice

¹⁰ Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither when the east wind toucheth it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew.’” — the mystery remains whether it shall prosper? it shall not; their own strength, even with the help of the king of Egypt, perhaps will not be able to protect them from the rage of the king of Babylon.

¹¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the Lord again, assures Ezekiel;

¹² “Say now to the rebellious house: ‘Know ye not what these things mean?’ Tell them: ‘Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;

— and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes (but princess were left off here) thereof, and led them with him to Babylon; the king of Judea, and the princes of it; Jeconiah and his nobles, who had been carried captive into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar; for Ezekiel was among these captives;

¹³ and hath taken of the king’s seed and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath from him. He hath also taken the mighty of the land, — and hath taken of the king’s seed, one of the royal family, signified by the seed of the land.

¹⁴ that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand. — that the king’s seed will take roots and grow, continuing a bloodline, which is a kingdom.

¹⁵ But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? Shall he escape that doeth such things? Or shall he break the covenant and be delivered?

— but he rebelled against him; Zedekiah and his court rebelled against the king of Babylon, broke the covenant he entered into, and violated his oath.

¹⁶ As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

— surely in the place where the king dwelleth in Babylon, where Nebuchadnezzar dwelt, that made Zedekiah king of Judah; which is mentioned, to point out the ingratitude of Zedekiah toward the king of Babylon, but instead, send envoys to Egypt, asking for horses and an army to help him (verse 15 above).

¹⁷ Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war, by casting up siege mounds and building forts to cut off many persons.

— by casting up mounts, and building forts; that is, when Nebuchadnezzar should besiege Jerusalem, and raise mounts, and build fortifications, in order to take the city, and destroy its inhabitants; as he did, Jeremiah 52:4.