A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

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, the second to the fourth meanings of what ‘Israel’ are mostly in use; the first and fifth very rarely. Still, it may seem confusing, but one should be able to separate them 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.

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.

¹⁸ Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand and hath done all these things, he shall not escape. — he shall not escape; divine vengeance, just and proper punishment for his sins.

¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, surely Mine oath that he hath despised and My covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. — even it will I recompense upon his own head; he shall personally bear the punishment due to such crimes;

— the Targum says, “I will revenge his way upon his head,” this refers to the putting out of his eyes.

²⁰ And I will spread My net upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against Me. — and I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare; see Ezekiel 12:13; where the same expressions are used, and of the same person.

²¹ And all his fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds; and ye shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it. — shall fall by the sword; the enemy shall overtake, and cut in pieces; the few that do escape shall be scattered abroad among strangers, who will show them very little kindness.

²² “‘Thus saith the Lord God: I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent (of a person famous and respected). — the highest branch of the high cedar would be Zedekiah, king of Judah;

— I (through the second eagle) will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one (the feminine gender); and by the “top” and “young twigs” of the highest branch of the cedar, or of the chief tribe in Israel, are meant the royal house and family of David, and the chief of the tribe of Judah; and by the “tender one” is designed the tender gender, the daughters;

— and the Targum says, “I will bring one of the kingdom of the house of David, which is like to a high cedar, and I will raise him up an infant from his children’s children.” But Jeremiah verifies these children were the King’s daughters:

Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites. Jeremiah 41:10

²³ In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs and bear fruit and be a goodly cedar, and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

— in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; in the highest part of the land of Israel, which during that time those at “the height of Israel” could well be in the British Isles (Israel in the isles of the sea, Isaiah 24:15), led by Ephraim. (Ephraim followeth after the east wind, Hosea 12:1)

²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it.’”

— all the trees of the field shall know; as the cedar represents the kingdom of Israel, so the other trees represent all other earthly powers who shall ultimately acknowledge the work of the Lord

— “I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it;” runs parallel with what Isaiah says:

“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

Ezekiel 18

Earlier, we have established that this prophecy that Ezekiel delivered was for many years to come (Ezekiel 12:27), and the message is primarily and principally for the United States of America and secondarily for its European allies. Here the prophecy on the house of Israel continues. . .

¹ The word of the Lord came unto me again, 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.

² “What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? — that is, as the Targum explains it, “the fathers have sinned, and the children are smitten,” or punished, as the ten tribes for the sins of Jeroboam.

³ As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. — as surely as I live, I, the Eternal Lord, declare you will not quote this proverb in Israel anymore.

⁴ Behold, all souls are Mine. As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. — all souls are mine; therefore I can deal with all, being My own creation, as I please, Jeremiah 18:6;

— the soul that sinneth, it shall die; the soul that continues in sin, without repentance towards God, shall be separated from the presence of God, and endure his wrath to all eternity.

⁵ But if a man be just and do that which is lawful and right, — and do that which is lawful and right; or “judgement” and “justice” ~ true judgement and justice.

⁶ and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbor’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,

— neither hath been guilty of adultery; or by marrying one divorced, not having committed fornication; which divorces were common among the people, or marrying such one so divorced.

⁷ and hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath despoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

⁸ he that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgement between man and man,

— hath executed true judgement; whether in office as a judge; or as an arbitrator chosen to decide matters in controversy between one and another, and that does everything just and right between man and man;

⁹ hath walked in My statutes and hath kept My judgements to deal truly; he is just: he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.

— 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 judgment 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 AD 70 in Jerusalem and Judea when God exercised His judgement?

(a) The Sadducees and Boethusians, following the heretic Samaritan way of observing Passover, kept it too early 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 by either the flaming Sword or the consuming Fire. AN AUTOPSY OF JERUSALEM IN THE AD 70 INFERNO

¹⁰ “If he beget a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who doeth the like to any one of these things, — a robber; one implies robbery with violence, perhaps, as that of a housebreaker.

¹¹ and who doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains and defiled his neighbor’s wife,

¹² hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath despoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

¹³ hath given forth upon usury and hath taken increase — shall he then live? He shall not live, a decisive answer to the former question; he hath done all these abominations: he shall surely die. His blood shall be upon him.

¹⁴ “Now, lo, if he beget a son who seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth and doeth not the like, — another case: a son who walks not in the steps of an unrighteous father, but in the ways of God; for example, Josiah, the pious son of guilty Amon; Hezekiah, of Ahaz.

¹⁵ who hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbor’s wife,

¹⁶ neither hath oppressed any, hath not withheld the pledge, neither hath despoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry and hath covered the naked with a garment; — “despoiled by violence:” not unlike the looting of the Old Summer Palace by Anglo-French forces in 1860

¹⁷ who hath taken off his hand from the poor, who hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed My judgements, hath walked in My statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father: he shall surely live.

¹⁸ As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, despoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

¹⁹ “Yet say ye, ‘Why? Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all My statutes and hath done them, he shall surely live.

²⁰ The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

— or as the Targum paraphrases it, “the son shall not be punished for the sins of the father, nor shall the father be punished for the sins of the son.”

— but sometimes, one goes through great sufferings though no fault of his or her own, to develop righteous character, like Job and many others did; these will be rewarded enormously at the end.

²¹ But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all My statutes and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live: he shall not die.

²² All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him. In his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. — that is, if the wicked will turn from all his sins.

²³ “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live?

²⁴ But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

— but if the righteous man turn from his righteousness, and doeth wickedness, should he live? All the righteousness that he hath done shall not be remembered: for his unfaithfulness that he hath committed, and for his sin that he hath sinned, for these he shall die.

²⁵ “Yet ye say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not My way equal? Are not your ways unequal?

— from the Message Bible

“Do I hear you saying, ‘That’s not fair! God’s not fair!’? “Listen, Israel. I’m not fair? You’re the ones who aren’t fair! If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he’ll die for it. He’ll die for his own sin. Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life. Because he faces up to all the wrongs he’s committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won’t die. Ezekiel 18:25-28 MSG

²⁶ When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity and dieth in it, for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

²⁷ Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. — he shall save his soul from famine, pestilence, the sword, or captivity; he shall be preserved, and not be involved in calamities and distress.

²⁸ Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live: he shall not die. — in God’s judgement of AD 70, both the Nazarenes and the Hillel branch of Pharisees survived . . . (more below)

²⁹ Yet saith the house of Israel, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ O house of Israel, are not My ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? — yet the house of Israel complains; the way of the Lord is not equal.

³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. — you complain of the injustice of my ways; so what if I judge you according to your ways? 

³¹ Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why will ye die, O house of Israel? — this chapter emphasizes on numerous times the house of Israel, rather than the house of Judah;

— earlier we have established that Ezekiel’s messages were actually meant for those living far into the future, in our time, the message to the modern house of Israel, the chief of whom is Ephraim, the United States of America.

³² For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Therefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

~~~

But which sects managed to escape from the Romans during the AD 66 to 70 siege of Jerusalem? History recorded only two sects that escaped this inferno:

(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes 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.

Posted in Ezekiel

Earlier, we have established that this prophecy that Ezekiel’s warning message was not to be fulfilled during his time, but that its timing was a great distance into the future (Ezekiel 12:27), into our time and the message is primarily for the United States of America and secondarily its European allies.

Remember, the Targum, whose origin was in the Aramaic language, could be traced to Ezra speaking to the returning exiles who couldn’t understand Hebrew, but was expounded to them in a language they could understand.

Ezekiel 15

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum renders it. So if Ezra sees it as a prophecy, it is a reference to the future; into the endtime, our time.

² “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? — the house of Israel is often compared to a vine, so why is the vine tree more valuable than any tree; it’s certain that the vine is esteemed only on account of its fruit.

³ Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? Or will men take a peg from it to hang any vessel thereon? — shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? Is there one good piece of timber in the whole vine fit for building a house, or ship, as there is in the oak, elm, or other wild forest trees?

— will the carpenter and joiner, the house or ship builder, employ it to build houses, make beams, rafters, floors, build ships with, make masts of, or any vessel or utensil for the use of man?

⁴ Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the middle of it is burned. Is it meet for any work? — behold, the vine or the wood is cast into the fire for fuel, that is; a vine tree when cut down, or a branch when cut off, else it is good for nothing;

— and that is generally put to use; it is suggested it would be the end of the house of Israel; who, like a wild vine, were fuel for the fire of his wrath;

— the fire devoureth both ends of it; the branch cast into it, and so is quickly consumed. In Isaiah 9:12 “the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind, and they devour Israel with open mouth.”

⁵ Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work. How much less shall it be meet yet for any work when the fire hath devoured it and it is burned? — if the wood is cast into the fire, the wood is useless for any purpose; but what if it have been cast into the fire, and half burned, what of it then?

— from the Message Bible:

“I don’t think so. At best it’s good for fuel. Look at it: A flimsy piece of vine, thrown in the fire and then rescued—the ends burned off and the middle charred. Now is it good for anything?

“Hardly. When it was whole it wasn’t good for anything. Half-burned is no improvement. What’s it good for?” Ezekiel 15:4-5 MSG

⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

— so this was fulfilled to Jerusalem in 70 AD, where “I have given to the fire for fuel;” to be burnt, as other trees of the forest are, and along with them; again in 132-135 AD; and could reoccur during the endtime for the house of Israel.

⁷ And I will set My face against them: they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them. — the house of Israel will be surrounded at all sides, fires everywhere, no place to run to;

— they shall go from one calamity to another; those that escaped the famine and pestilence will fall by the sword; and those that escaped famine, sword and pestilence, would be carried into captivity;

— the Targum says, “I will execute my vengeance on them, because of the words of the law, which were given out of the midst of fire; they have transgressed, and people who are strong as fire shall consume them.”

— or another saying: “Out of the frying pan into the flame.”

⁸ And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God.”

— a clue for time of desolation perhaps. The house of Judah had evidently failed to observe the land’s one-year-in-seven Sabbath which was set at 70 years, so the period of iniquity was for a deficit of 490 years;

— 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;

— so, as to better understand Ezekiel 4, could the iniquity of the house of Israel set at 190 years (Septuagint) while that of the house of Judah set for 40 years all due to the abomination for not keeping the land sabbath?

Ezekiel 16

¹ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the Targum renders it, the word of prophecy from the Lord. So if Ezra sees it as a prophecy, it is a reference to the future; into the endtime, our time.

² “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations — cause Jerusalem to know; men, even shepherds, often are so blind as not to perceive their guilt which is patent to all. “Jerusalem” represents the whole kingdom of Judah.

³ and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity are of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite.

— thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite; Abraham and Sarah, who were, properly speaking, the one the father, the other the mother, both were Chaldeans; and neither Amorites nor Hittites; but because they dwelt among them, are so called; and since before their conversion they were idolaters, as those were;

— besides, the Jews who descended from Judah, and from whom they have their name, very probably sprung from ancestors who might be Amorites and Hittites: since Judah married the daughter of a Canaanite, and such an one seems to be Tamar, he took for his son Er, and by whom he himself had two sons, Pharez and Zarah.

⁴ And as for thy nativity, on the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to soothe thee. Thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. — thy navel was not cut; alluding to what is done to a newborn infant, when the midwife immediately takes care to cut the navel string, by which the child adheres to its mother, and takes in its breath and nourishment in the womb;

— the Targum refers it, “neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee: which also is done, to an infant as soon as born, to cleanse it from the menstruous blood, to make the flesh sleek, and smooth, and amiable; which is done in hot water:

— thou wast not salted at all; which was done, either by sprinkling salt upon it, or using salt and water as a laundry detergent of uncleanness, to prevent putrefaction, to dry up the humours, and harden the flesh, and consolidate the parts;

— or from the MSG (the Message Bible)

“‘On the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, you weren’t bathed and cleaned up, you weren’t rubbed with salt, you weren’t wrapped in a baby blanket. No one cared a fig for you. No one did one thing to care for you tenderly in these ways. You were thrown out into a vacant lot and left there, dirty and unwashed—a newborn nobody wanted.” Ezekiel 16:4-5 MSG

⁵ No eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person on the day that thou wast born. — but thou wast cast out in the open field; alluding to infants exposed by their unnatural parents, or unkind nurses, and left in an open field, or any desert place to perish for want, unless some kind providence appears for them;

— this open field may be the land of Egypt, where Jacob and his posterity were, being driven out of Canaan by a famine; and where, after the death of Joseph, they were exposed to the hardships and cruelties of the Egyptians;

— and this loathing of thee on the day that thou wast born, the Targum paraphrases it, “and he (Pharaoh) decreed a full decree to cast your male children into the river, to destroy you when you were in Egypt.”

⁶ “‘And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, “Live”; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, “Live.” — the Israelites were trodden under foot by the Egyptians, when they made them to serve with rigour, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field;

— the Targum paraphrases it, “for it was manifest before me that you were afflicted in your bondage” as they sighed and cried because of their bondage, the Lord looked upon them with an eye of pity and compassion, and delivered them;

— these could be a reminder of the house of Israel happening again, this time for 190 years (Septuagint) instead of the 210 years in Egypt.

⁷ I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxed great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. — and thine hair is grown; an euphemism, expressive of puberty, which in females was after twelve years of age, and coming of age.

⁸ “‘Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread My skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swore unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest Mine. — God espoused Israel and took her under his protection as a husband doth his wife.

⁹ Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. — these verses describe the purifications and preparations for marriage to one of high rank.

¹⁰ I clothed thee also with embroidered work and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. — and I clothed you with various garments: silk, the desirable things of your enemies;

— Wikipedia (silk): The production of silk originated in China in the Neolithic period, although it would eventually reach other places of the world (Yangshao culture, 4th millennium BC). Silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter part of the 1st millennium BC, though China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk production for another thousand years.

¹¹ I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands and a chain on thy neck. — such as the marriage gifts to Rebekah.

¹² And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. — a jewel on thy forehead; literally, a nose-ring on thy nostril, the custom of the time sanctioning this mode of ornament.

¹³ Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil; and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. — and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom;

— the Targum says, ”and ye became rich, and were greatly strengthened, and prospered, and ruled over all kingdoms.”

¹⁴ And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty; for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.

¹⁵ “‘But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and played the harlot because of thy renown, and poured out thy fornications on every one that passed by: and your beauty was his. — but thou didst trust in thine own beauty; as the early American pilgrims did upon the new land bestowed on them;

— in their outward prosperity and grandeur; in their riches, wealth, and wisdom; and in the extent of their dominions, as Manifest Destiny dictates;

— and in such men as America’s Founding Fathers: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe and Benjamin Franklin; together with numerous other key players of their time, structured the democratic government of the United States and left a legacy that has shaped the world, are apt to put their trust and confidence, and to be elated with, and grow proud and haughty, as a woman because of her beauty.

— and playedst the harlot because of thy renown; now playing the the role of a harlot among the nations round about them, for their wisdom, riches, and power; which was a snare unto them, as a woman’s beauty is to her; and they were admired and courted, and complimented by their neighbours, and so drawn into idolatrous practices, as women into fornication and adultery by their passing admirers;

— idolatry, which is meant here, is frequently signified by playing the harlot, or by fornication and adultery: or “thou playedst the harlot in thy name” alluding to the custom of harlots, notorious infamous ones, who used to set their names over the apartments, to direct men unto them; and so it may indicate how famous and notorious the Israelites were for their idolatries, and how impudent in them;

— Rashi interprets this of the calf of the wilderness, and other idolatries which the tribe of Dan committed there; but it rather respects the idolatries committed from the times of Solomon to the captivity, which were many, and often repeated;

¹⁶ And of thy garments thou didst take, and decked thy high places with divers colors and played the harlot thereupon. The like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. — this declares how the idolaters put their chief delight in those things which please the eyes and outward senses.

¹⁷ Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest for thyself images of men and didst commit whoredom with them, — a beautiful woman, now taking the image of a man, as described by John Gill:

— Gill: some were in the shape of women, others in the shape of men; here only male images are mentioned, because the idolatrous Israelites are represented by an adulterous woman committing adultery, with men; and these were made by themselves, of their jewels of gold and silver; or of their golden and silver vessels, which they had to eat and drink out of; these, they melted down and made idols of them in the form of men;

— just as the molten calf was made of the earrings of the women, Exodus 32:3; to which some refer this passage: and as it was a piece of egregious folly in themselves to part with their jewels and plate for such purposes, and of great ingratitude to God, their benefactor;

— and didst commit whoredom with them: the images: that is, idolatry, which is spiritual adultery.

¹⁸ and tookest thy embroidered garments and covered them; and thou hast set Mine oil and Mine incense before them. — the land being a land of olive oil; or which was to light the lamps in the temple with; or was used in sacrifice to the Lord; and the incense, which was offered on the altar of incense; these were set upon the altars of idols.

¹⁹ My meat also which I gave thee; fine flour and oil and honey, wherewith I fed thee; thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savor; and thus it was, saith the Lord God; — meat, fine flour, oil and honey; much of these luxuries are well intended for the early years of the United States of America.

²⁰ Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this thy whoredoms a small matter, — hast sacrificed the children unto the idols; this is a terrible development of idolatries; that is all the daily distractions away from God of our new generation of western societies.

²¹ that thou hast slain My children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? — to qualify as a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6), they need to pass through the fire by way of purification and dedication; else they would fill the Temple with so much filths.

²² And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare and wast polluted in thy blood. — this what God will do dealings with the house of Jacob; with their ingratitude; forgetting the miserable condition they were in Egypt, and their trials and protection through the surrounding nations.

²³ “‘And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (Woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God), — woe, woe unto thee; this parenthetical exclamation has an awful effect coming like a lightning flash of judgement the show the indignation of the Lord amidst the black clouds of Israel’s guilt;

— these woes might correspond with the three woes of Revelation 8 & 9:

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three other angels, which are yet to sound!” Revelation 8:13

²⁴ that thou hast also built unto thee a brothel house, and hast made thee a high place in every street. — such arched rooms used as brothels in connection with the worship of idols for licentious purposes.

²⁵ Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. — thy beauty to be abhorred; that is, spiritual fornication; she had yielded so much that, like a worn-out prostitute, her tempters became weary of her.

²⁶ Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbors, great of flesh, and hast increased thy whoredoms to provoke Me to anger. — even with the golden calf of the wilderness, the Israelites turned with avidity to the worship of Egypt;

— and during the subsequent ages, and remained ever ready to develop herself, as in the calves of Jeroboam (1Kings 12:28-30), and then claiming Bethel and Dan as centers of worship instead of Jerusalem.

²⁷ Behold, therefore I have stretched out My hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of thy lewd way.

— the daughters of the Philistines: idolaters, but they are more honest than the Israelites; they were constant to their own god, and did not, as the Israelites, lewdly go a whoring with every neighbouring idol they saw.

²⁸ Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them and yet couldest not be satisfied. — playing whore with the Assyrians; and yet couldn’t be satisfied;

— with their idols, and worshipping them, but sought out new gods, and new modes of worship; like a lewd woman, who having prostituted herself to one, adds to another, yet remains insatiable, and seeks out for more lovers.

²⁹ Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea, and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. — thou hast multiplied thy idolatries in Canaan by sending unto Chaldea to borrow from thence the Chaldean rites, to add to the abominations already practiced in Canaan, before the carrying away of Jehoiachin to Chaldea.

³⁰ “‘How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman, — having a weak heart; unstable, like water that melts away. Neither hast strength of judgement to discern the truth and purity of religion, nor hast strength of resolution to hold fast to it.

³¹ in that thou buildest thine eminent place at the head of every way and makest thine high place in every street, and hast not been as a harlot in that thou scornest hire,

— from MSG

“‘What a sick soul! Doing all this stuff—the champion whore! You built your bold brothels at every major intersection, opened up your whorehouses in every neighborhood, but you were different from regular whores in that you wouldn’t accept a fee” Ezekiel 16:30-31 MSG

³² but as a wife that committeth adultery, that taketh strangers instead of her husband! — that takes other men into her bed instead of her husband, not for the sake of gain, but lust;

— and this is the case of modern Ephraim, who are a lying people and an idolatrous generation; who took strange gods to worship instead of the true God, who had been a husband to them.

³³ Gifts are given to all whores, but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. — she give gifts to all whores; the Egyptians, Assyrians and other allies, money, to gain friendship, and procure alliances with them.

³⁴ And it is the contrary in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms; and in that thou givest a reward and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

— whereas none follow thee to commit whoredoms; the house of Jacob, the Israelites followed the examples, customs, and practices of the Gentiles, in worshipping of their idols; but the Gentiles did not follow them, they kept to their own gods;

³⁵ “‘Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord! — the sentence to be pronounced; O harlot, hear the word of the Lord; adjudging to be slain with the sword, to be stoned and burned; the crime for which is to be read in the name of the harlot.

³⁶ Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy filthiness was poured out and thy nakedness uncovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children which thou didst give unto them,

— thy filthiness; literally, thy brass, that is, money, which, with which she hired and bribed her lovers as said, Israel had lavished upon surrounding nations.

³⁷ behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated. I will even gather them round about against thee and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

— to gather all your lovers, with “all them that thou hast hated” and American allies (Germany, Italy, Turkey, S Arabia, UAE, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, S Korea, the Philippines and even Japan) will take their own interests first, team up with enemies of the United States (Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, N Korea, Russia and China) and ALL will turn against America;

— nar, it is not these countries’ doings, but it is God’s judgement that will cause these groupings to be against the United States, and it is again God’s will through his spirits that will trap the United States in a snare (And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my [not China’s nor Russia’s] snare, Ezekiel 17:20; and he will be like a pig caught in a cage squealing away to no avail) to uncover her nakedness;

— then and only then, perhaps, the world will finally uncover all the experiments Professor Ralph Baric and other associates have ventured at Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is God himself that will lay a net to trap the United States; he is the Overseeing GrandMaster; not China, not Russia, these are only pawns on a chessboard.

³⁸ And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. — and God will judge thee as women that break her marriage covenant, defile the marriage bed, and were adulteresses, who by the law of Moses should be punished with death.

³⁹ And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place and shall break down thy high places. They shall strip thee also of thy clothes and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. — they shall strip thee also of thy clothes; thy fairjewels, alluding a lot to prostitutes, their maintainers in the end stripping them of all they had given them;

— thy idol temples, shall break down thy high places; lots of palaces, museums, on display of these treasures, now; but shall leave thee naked and bare;

— lots of stolen arts “take thy fair jewels” the vessels of thy glory; the vessels of the sanctuary of gold and silver of other countries, and their own household furniture, with all their riches (from the Opium War booties, the Old Summer Palace looting, etc) and substance from other countries, will be laid naked and have to be returned.

— a parallel Scripture affirming the same in Obadiah:

“As you have done [unto others], it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head” Obadiah 1:15

⁴⁰ They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones and thrust thee through with their swords. — a company, an assembled army; against you and your idol worship, as God also have an assembly, but it shall be of the “Chaldeans” and others, to destroy you for your idolatry;

For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. Habakkuk 1:6,

— and thrust thee through with their swords; such as attempted to escape out of the city, or fell into the hands of the enemy when it was taken, to be slain with the sword;

— this might be foreshadowing what’s to come in Ezekiel 20 to 21: the Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!

⁴¹ And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgements upon thee in the sight of many women; and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.

— and they shall burn thine houses with fire; as the houses in Jerusalem were by Nebuchadnezzar’s army, even the temple, the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and the houses of great men, even all the houses in the city; shall be burned with fire.

⁴² So will I make My fury toward thee to rest, and My jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. — after his judgement executed, God will be quiet, and will be no more angry: the effects of his anger cease, and he at peace with Israel, and they with him.

⁴³ Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast made Me fret in all these things, behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord God; and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.

— and from the Voice

“Because you failed to remember the days of your youth but instead you infuriated Me with countless perverted love affairs, I will pay you back for every ounce of indecency you instigated. I, the Eternal Lord, proclaim this. Did you not add vulgar acts to your streak of shocking sins?” Ezekiel 16:43 Voice

⁴⁴ “‘Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, “As is the mother, so is her daughter.” — saying, as is the mother, so is her daughter; an ancient and common proverb, used to express a likeness and agreement between persons their nature and disposition, in their behaviour, conduct, and conversation;

— so the Targum says: “as are the works of the mother, so those of the daughter.” That is, once practised by the Amorites and Hittites, they are now continued by the Israelites.

⁴⁵ Thou art thy mother’s daughter, who loatheth her husband and her children, and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite;

— the Targum says, “was not your mother Sarah among the Hittites? [but] she did not do according to their works; and though your father Abraham was among the Amorites, [yet] he walked not in their counsels.”

⁴⁶ And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, who dwell at thy left hand; and thy younger sister, who dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. — the temple looked to the east; Samaria was on its left, and Sodom on its right hand;

— Samaria, she and her daughters; the initial inhabitants maybe be Israelites, but starting with Jeroboam, they adopted idolatories, worshipping their calves at Dan and Bethel. The fanciful Samaritans came later, but they added more idolatories as Sun-worshippers.

— 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. At even (erev) on the Fourteenth, onset to begin their passover, the Samaritans face the west as the SUN is setting. How awesome the sight is, exclaims Fred Coulter, for such a surreal ceremony to take place;

— 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 these are supposedly in God’s sanctuary, but God says He is a jealous God, so 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).”

— Sodom and her daughters; witness the proliferation of LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (questioning), intersex, asexual (agender)); are prevalent in western societies. Thou “madest for thyself images of men,” Ezekiel 16:17). Women been changed into men, and men into women, all images of what they did in Sodom.

— Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that count darkness as light, and light as darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

⁴⁷ Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done according to their abominations, but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

— as if that were a very little thing; these Samaritan Sun-worshipping, were considered as inconsequential; innocuous;

— innocuous, just like the ‘apple’ offered to Eve; “it was pleasant to the eyes” same as the proliferation of LGBTQIA+; no big deal! And they all look upon any criticism with contempt!

— “Not only did you imitate the ways and follow the shocking actions of your sisters, but soon you became even more corrupt than they ever were.” The Voice translation; the Targum says, “if thou hadst walked in their ways, and done according to their abominations, thy sin would have been small.”

⁴⁸ As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. — as I live, saith the Lord God; this is an oath, which the Lord God swore;

— who, because he couldn’t swear by any greater, he swore by himself; and this he did to confirm, that the sins of modern house of Israel were greater than those of Samaria and Sodom; which might not be easily believed, but it is as true as he is the living God.

⁴⁹ Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy; — pride; which was the sin of the devils, and the cause of their ruin; the sin of our first parents, by which they fell, and destroyed themselves, and their posterity;

⁵⁰ and they were haughty and committed abomination before Me. Therefore I took them away as I saw good. — and they were haughty; Sodom and her daughters, the inhabitants of that place, and the cities adjacent; they lifted up themselves above God and man;

⁵¹ Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. — but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they; than Samaria and her daughters, or the ten tribes; or more guilty than Sodom and Samaria;

⁵² Thou also, who hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou. Yea, be thou confounded also and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

— hast judged thy sisters; had approved the judgements upon Samaria and Sodom; as it is always easy for man to approve judgements upon the sins of others; but now this must be brought home to herself for her own greater sins.

⁵³ “‘When I shall bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring back the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them,

— and from the Voice

⁵² Face your humiliation; your sisters will fare better in judgment in light of your wickedness. Compared with your despicable deeds, they are more righteous than you. You should be ashamed of yourself! You have to live with your disgrace; for compared to you, your sisters seem righteous!

⁵³ However, I am going to restore the fortunes of your sisters—Sodom and her daughters, Samaria and her daughters—and I’ll restore your fortunes too. ⁵⁴ You still must live with your disgrace and bear the shame for what you have done, for your two sisters will be comforted in comparison with your wickedness. Ezekiel 16:52-54 Voice

⁵⁴ that thou mayest bear thine own shame and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. — bear thine own shame; by being put on a level with those whom thou has much despised.

⁵⁵ When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

⁵⁶ For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, — you didn’t mention your sister Sodom when you were feeling proud of yourself.

⁵⁷ before thy wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria and all who are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise thee round about.

— but that was before your evil was exposed! Now you are looked down upon by everyone: the daughters of Syria; all of her neighbors, even the daughters of Philistia, they all despise you!

⁵⁸ Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the Lord. — thou hast borne your own abominations, openly and publicly; your iniquities were written as it were upon your foreheads, and to be seen of all; your punishment was due unto yourselves.

⁵⁹ “‘For thus saith the Lord God: I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, who hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. — you will get what you deserve from Me because you have despised My oath and broken our covenant.

⁶⁰ Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. — the covenant to be established shall be an everlasting covenant.

⁶¹ Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger; and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. — then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed; it brings persons to a sense of their sins, and to an ingenuous acknowledgment of them, with shame and blushing;

— I will give them unto thee for daughters; all the heathen nations, not merely Sodom and Samaria, are meant by “thy sisters, elder and younger.”

⁶² And I will establish My covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, — thou “shall know that I am the Lord” expressed numerous times, reaffirming that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their numerous churches know God today!

⁶³ that thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.’”

— from the Message Bible

“‘God, says, I’ll do to you just as you have already done, you who have treated my oath with contempt and broken the covenant. All the same, I’ll remember the covenant I made with you when you were young and I’ll make a new covenant with you that will last forever. You’ll remember your sorry past and be properly contrite when you receive back your sisters, both the older and the younger. I’ll give them to you as daughters, but not as participants in your covenant. I’ll firmly establish my covenant with you and you’ll know that I am God. You’ll remember your past life and face the shame of it, but when I make atonement for you, make everything right after all you’ve done, it will leave you speechless.’” Ezekiel 16:59-63 MSG

In conjunction with this chapter, a great youtube to watch here (Brian Berletic vs Daniel Dumbrill)

“I HAVE SEEN A HORRIBLE THING IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL” HOSEA 6:10

Posted in Ezekiel

We have established that this Ezekiel’s prophecy that he delivered was meant for many years to come; its timing was a great distance into the future (Ezekiel 12:27), into our time and the message is primarily for the United States of America and secondarily its European allies.

The phrase ye or they “shall know that I am the Lord” expressed 4 times in chapter 13 alone (v9,14,21,23) and once in chapter 14 (v8; and 57 times in all in the book of Ezekiel). In other chapters the phase could sometimes be applied to Gentile nations, but for chapter 13 and 14, they apply to both the house of Judah and the house of Israel.

Second, this phase ye or they “shall know that I am the Lord” implies that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their numerous churches know God today!

Ezekiel 13

¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the Targum renders it, the word of prophecy from the Lord. If Ezra sees it as a prophecy, it is a reference to the endtime.

² “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts: ‘Hear ye the word of the Lord! — Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel; who called themselves so; though they are rightly call the false prophets; and are like foxes among the ruins;

— that prophesy; that is, smooth things to the people; promising a speedy return from captivity; or that Jerusalem should not be taken by the Chaldeans, and the inhabitants of it, and of the land, be carried captive.

³ Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! — false prophecies came into their own spirits and was agreeable to their fancies and carnal imaginations, pretending to have the spirit of prophecy.

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” saith the Lord. Jeremiah 23:28

— any dream is the chaff; it is of no value; it is as wood, hay and stubble. Only God’s Word is the wheat – in parallel with gold, silver, and precious stones.

⁴ O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. — these false prophets, as the Targum says; they are comparable to foxes, for their craftiness and cunning, and lying in wait to deceive, as these seduced the Lord’s people;

— like the foxes; hungry and ravening, crafty and guileful, and living off their wits.

⁵ Ye have not gone up into the gaps [or breaches], neither made up the hedge [or a “fence” a fortification] for the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. — ye, the princes or to the prophet of the house of Israel, have not gone up into the gaps [or breaches as the Targum says];

— the allusion is to breaches made in the walls of a city when besieged; at which time those within gather together in great numbers to meet the enemy, and prevent his entrance by the breaches;

— these words are either spoken to the princes of Israel, governors or the civil magistrates, or to the prophets, who seeing the sins of the people, like a mighty torrent, opening a breach for the wrath and judgements of God to pour upon them, should have put up prayers, and made intercession to God for them; neither of which they did, and therefore are blamed here.

⁶ They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, “The Lord saith,” but the Lord hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. — in many of the churches in the house of Israel, they have seen vanity, and lying divination;

— the visions of going to heavens, for example, the false prophets pretend to see were nothing but the fruit of their own fancies and imaginations, and had nothing real in them; and what they divined or foretold are all lies, and never will to pass, and never would.

⁷ Have ye not seen a vain vision and have ye not spoken a lying divination, wherein ye say, “The Lord saith it,” albeit I have not spoken? — a lying divination; delivered out a known lie, saying they had it from the Lord, when they had it not; or a prophecy that will deceive, and be without effect, and in the issue prove a falsehood;

— prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy; these false prophets and teachers preach in the name of the Lord, where the Lord has not sent them; they would face judgement!

⁸ “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because ye have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God. — the whole verse speaks the dreadful anger of God against those false prophets; it is unspeakable wrath, and we are left to guess at it by the manner of speech here used;

— expressing a threat, as in Ezekiel 21:3 “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.” 

⁹ And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets who see vanity and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.

— Gill: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, shall have no place in the church of God, nor fellowship with the saints; they shall not join with them in religious worship here;

— Fred R Coulter, Frank W Nelte and John W Ritenbaugh are three liars; will the above verse applies to them, “who see vanity and who divine lies” that being lying and deceitful “they shall not be in the assembly of My people?”

— Matthew Poole‘s Commentary: Mine hand; my power striking them; so that it shall be evident they fall under Divine revenge, as Pelatiah, Ezekiel 11:13, and Hananiah, Jeremiah 28:15,16; and Shemaiah, Jeremiah 29:31; or Ahab, son of Kolaiah (and even Zedekiah), Jeremiah 29:21;

— the phrase ye or they “shall know that I am the Lord” stating unmistakably that those teaching in their numerous churches now don’t know God today;

— and it should appear that their names were never written in the Lamb’s book of life; nor that they ever would be among the number of God’s elect; so the Targum says, “and in the writing of eternal life, which is written for the righteous of the house of Israel, they shall not be written;”

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. Psalm 25:14

¹⁰ “‘Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace,” and there was no peace, and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar, — “Because, even because” the repetition heightens the emphasis;

¹¹ say unto those who daub it with untempered mortar that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower, and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rend it. — great hailstones; hail is unusual in Palestine, but its destructive effects were well known; this is another way of saying building a house upon the sands, loose sands;

— a stormy wind; a whirlwind, to shake the tumbling stones, which without much shaking would ere long drop down; but, to hasten the downfall, soaking showers, storms of hail and violent winds, shall meet; so shall your crazy state, O deceived shepherds, come down to ruin;

— the vast majority which would be no less than 99.99 percent of today’s professing Christianity make this fundamental error. This porous foundation differs greatly from the original Nazarenes where they understood what the Oracles as given to the Jews (Romans 3:1-4) would mean. Unless trained in Judaism, they wouldn’t be able to read the Sacred Text, which only had consonants written. This means our modern version of Christianity is primarily built on sands, loose sands. For a more in-depth study What are the Oracles of God?

¹² Lo, when the wall has fallen, shall it not be said unto you, “Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?” — daubing or untempered mortar or whited plaster; that is, only good for appearance;

— from MSG:

“The fact is that they’ve lied to my people. They’ve said, ‘No problem; everything’s just fine,’ when things are not at all fine. When people build a wall, they’re right behind them slapping on whitewash. Tell those who are slapping on the whitewash, ‘When a torrent of rain comes and the hailstones crash down and the hurricane sweeps in and the wall collapses, what’s the good of the whitewash that you slapped on so liberally, making it look so good?’ Ezekiel 13:11-13 MSG

¹³ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger and great hailstones in My fury to consume it.

— the whole is paraphrased by the Targum says, “and I will bring a mighty king with the force of tempests; and a destroying people as a prevailing rain in my fury shall come; and kings, who were powerful as hailstones, in wrath to consume.”

¹⁴ So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered, and it shall fall and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

— God will even rend it with a stormy wind in his fury; stormy winds sometimes rend rocks asunder;

— so says the Targum, “and I will destroy the city in which ye have prophesied false prophecies; and I will cause it to fall to the ground, and its foundations shall be discovered.”

¹⁵ Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon the wall and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you: “The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it, — God’s wrath upon the wall; will pour out all his indignation, and inflict just punishment upon the city and its inhabitants.

¹⁶ to wit, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her and there is no peace, saith the Lord God.”’ — it says “concerning Jerusalem” but it’s more likely referring to the chief city of the modern house of Israel, New York, where the “the prophets of Israel” who “see visions of peace” where there is no peace.

¹⁷ “Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them

— set thy face against the false prophetesses, (one among the chiefs was the late Ellen G White, 1827-1915, founder of the Seven-day Adventist Church) who prophesied out of her own illusion; dubbed Jezebel of Revelation 2 of the Thyatira Era;

— they have false prophecies from their First Great Disappointment Mar 21, 1843 – Mar 21, 1844; then again their Second Great Disappointment October 22, 1844; from their doctrine of the Investigative Judgement;

¹⁸ and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew pillows to all armholes and make kerchiefs upon the head of those of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of My people, and will ye save the souls alive who come unto you?

— from MSG

“And the women prophets—son of man, take your stand against the women prophets who make up stuff out of their own minds. Oppose them. Say ‘Doom’ to the women who sew magic bracelets and head scarves to suit every taste, devices to trap souls. Say, ‘Will you kill the souls of my people, use living souls to make yourselves rich and popular? You have profaned me among my people just to get ahead yourselves, used me to make yourselves look good—killing souls who should never have died and coddling souls who shouldn’t live. You’ve lied to people who love listening to lies.’ Ezekiel 13:17-19 MSG

¹⁹ And will ye pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls who should not die and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to My people who hear your lies?

— and will ye pollute me among my people; defile the name of the Lord by abusing it to cover their wicked designs and practices; that what they said came from him, though he spoke not by them; and that it was his will they declared, when it was their own, and what came out of their own hearts and heads;

— “Ephraim surrounds me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit;” Hosea 11:12a;

— so the Targum says, “will ye pollute my will among my people” to profane his name among the Gentiles was a great sin, but to pollute it among his own people was greater; attempting to draw them aside from his fear and worship, and that for gain, for small gain too.

²⁰ “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly; and I will tear them from your arms and will let the souls go, even the souls whom ye hunt to make them fly. — I am against your pillows; that is, against your lying ceremonial tricks by which ye cheat the people.

²¹ Your kerchiefs also will I tear and deliver My people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

— from the MSG

“Therefore God says, ‘I am against all the devices and techniques you use to hunt down souls. I’ll rip them out of your hands. I’ll free the souls you’re trying to catch. I’ll rip your magic bracelets and scarves to shreds and deliver my people from your influence so they’ll no longer be victimized by you. That’s how you’ll come to realize that I am God.” Ezekiel 13:20-21 MSG

²² Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life, — Ephraim is a chronic liar; compulsive lying constantly and continuously; chief of whom is Mike Pompeo freely admitting lying within the CIA : “We lied, We cheated, We stole… we had entire training courses”

A parallel scripture fits the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to the t:

Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; Hosea 11:12

— Trump repeated his frequent lying claim that, because of the tariffs he imposed on China, the US “took in hundreds of billions of dollars” that “they paid.” In fact, US importers, not foreign exporters like China, make the tariff payments, and study after study has found that Americans bore the overwhelming majority of the cost of tariffs; it’s easy to find examples of companies that passed along the cost of the tariffs to US consumers; failing which Trump had decreed that Walmart absorbed the cost of tariffs; CNN Mirror

— Trump orders Walmart to ‘eat the tariffs’ and stop blaming his trade war for rising prices: ‘I’ll be watching.’ Independent: “He wrote on Truth Social: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!””

²³ therefore ye shall see no more vanity nor divine divinations; for I will deliver My people out of your hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.’” — ye shall see no more vanity, events shall confute their lies, involving themselves in destruction;

— and ye “shall know that I am the Lord” thus reaffirming that those teaching in their numerous churches with their faithful pretenders don’t know God today! And referring to the shepherd of Israel, the Scripture says they are blind, ignorant and all like dumb dogs:

“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 14

Although Isaiah 8:14 refers to “both houses of Israel” or the “two houses of Israel” it implies the single house of Jacob, the full twelve tribes. But Jacob was given a new name, Israel, in which the twelve tribes are named. So sometimes the single house of Jacob, or call Israel was broken into two, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern 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 (more at the end).

This chapter emphasizes Israel, the 10-tribes house of Israel rather than the house of Judah. Earlier we have established that Ezekiel’s messages were actually meant for those living far into the future, in our time, the message to the modern house of Israel, the chief of whom is Ephraim, the United States of America. So this prophecy continues . . .

¹ Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and sat before me. — these are not the elders of Judah (where they came in chapter 8:1), but the elders of Israel sat before me; if these were “the elders of Israel,” than these elders could paradoxically have returned from Assyria (where they were held captives) and inquired from Ezekiel their own fate, the fate for the northern house of Israel;

— surely the elders were not asking about their current fate, for they were already in captivity some 135 years earlier; they would be interested about their fate for their posterity at the endtime, for example, would they ever return, if so, when, and how back to the Promised land?

² And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord as the Targum renders it. So if Ezra sees it as a prophecy, it is a reference to the future; our endtime; hence, this a prophecy for the elders of Israel, indicating this scene is prophetic in significance for those of the house of Israel at the endtime;

³ “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? — have set up their idols in their heart; resolved idolaters, their heart was totally addicted to their idolatrous worship; so these idols are called “the stumbling block of their iniquity.”

⁴ Therefore speak unto them and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols,

— they multiplied idols, this their sin, God will multiply their sorrows; they first run into darkness of idolatry, God will leave them to the darkness of misery. He will give answer, but in just judgement, with severe reproof, menace and authority;

— more specifically, their main stubling blocks are SUNday worshipping; Mithraism Dec 25th idoltary; Easterism and those rabbit and eggs; and Halloweenism with frightening masks and costumes;

⁵ that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols.’ — because they are all estranged from me through their idols; the house of Israel, to have a form and shell of godliness, but to deny its substance, is the essence of hypocrisy;

⁶ “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. — here, and closeby verses, numerous reference that the warnings are to the modern house of Israel, to turn away their faces from all their abominations.

⁷ For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, who separateth himself from Me and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself.

— such men, be he an Israelite or a Gentile, come to a prophet to inquire of God, God declares that He will answer, not by the prophet through whom the enquiry is made, God the Lord will answer him directly; not by the prophet to whom he comes, but by himself:

— or, “in my word” as the Targum says; yet not by words, but by blows; not in mercy, but in wrath; and in such manner, that it shall appear to come from the Lord, and to be according to truth and justice, it may seem too late . . .

⁸ And I will set My face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. — and God himself will set his face against that man;

— and God will “cut him off” from the midst of his people; by sudden death, notwithstanding all his daring endeavour in coming to seek the will of the Lord from his prophet; inquiring of God, yet guilty of gross idolatry; and only after facing judgement then shall he know who the Lord is;

— the Targum renders it, “my fury” or “wrath” and indeed that is what is meant; when God sets his face against a man, he pours out his wrath, or inflicts punishment on him;

— even if he’s set his mind “to inquire of him (Ezekiel, or another prophet) concerning Me,” (verse 7 above); a sort of vexing the holy spirits, that is, there is a time that’s just too late.

⁹ And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived [enticed] that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel.

— Rashi: have enticed: I opened a doorway for him to do whatever he wishes. And from here we can learn that if one wishes to defile himself, they open a door for him;

— Fred R Coulter, Frank W Nelte and John W Ritenbaugh are all enticed to be deceivers; will the above verse applies to them, whom “the Lord have deceived [enticed] that prophet” that being lying and deceitful and “I will stretch out My hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel?”

¹⁰ And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him,

— they alike being both culpable, each pursuing the desires of their own evil hearts; the one seeking for smooth things to be spoken to him; the other speaking them, in order to gratify him;

— the Targum says, “according to the sin of him that comes to learn and learns not; according to the sin of the false prophet shall it be.”

¹¹ that the house of Israel may go no more astray from Me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.’”

— and this, from MSG

“‘If a prophet is deceived and tells these idolaters the lies they want to hear, I, God, get blamed for those lies. He won’t get by with it. I’ll grab him by the scruff of the neck and get him out of there. They’ll be equally guilty, the prophet and the one who goes to the prophet, so that the house of Israel will never again wander off my paths and make themselves filthy in their rebellions, but will rather be my people, just as I am their God.’” Ezekiel 14:11 MSG

¹² The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, — the Targum renders it, the word of prophecy from the Lord. if it is a prophecy, it is a reference to the future; reaffirming it is into the endtime, our time.

¹³ “Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it.

¹⁴ Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. — though intercession even of the holiest of men, Noah, Daniel and Job, they shall not avert God’s judgements; but that they could only deliver their own souls.

¹⁵ If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts, — the land might be infested with lions, tigers, foxes, wolves, bears and bisons, alligators and other wild beasts.

¹⁶ though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

— they: Noah, Daniel and Job; shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; meaning not adult children, but possibly only little ones, infant sons and daughters; such as had not been guilty, as the land shall be desolate;

— from the Message Bible

“Or, if I make wild animals go through the country so that everyone has to leave and the country becomes wilderness and no one dares enter it anymore because of the wild animals, even if these three men were living there, as sure as I am the living God, neither their sons nor daughters would be rescued, but only those three, and the country would revert to wilderness. Ezekiel 14:15-16 MSG

¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ so that I cut off man and beast from it, — ‘Sword, go through the land,’ this could be a foretaste or an introduction to what would be coming from Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5; where more details would be given;

 — the Targum says, “and I say that they that kill with the sword pass through the land:” so that I cut off man and beast from it; by the sword; the one being destroyed as an enemy, the other for food;

— the argument is cumulative; the first puts the case of the land sinning so as to fall under the judgement of a famine (Eze 14:13); then (Eze 14:15) “noisome beasts” already forewarned in Leviticus 26:22; then “the sword” repeated and also “pestilences.”

¹⁸ though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

— if Noah, Daniel and Job could not deliver the land when deserving only one judgement, “how much more” when all four judgements combined are to visit the land; when for all these sins, the three righteous men could not deliver it.

¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury upon it in blood to cut off from it man and beast, — and pour out my fury upon it in blood; or, “by blood” by corrupting the blood which is done when a man is seized with the pestilence;

— the Targum renders it, “with slaughter” by slaying a great number of persons by that disease as a token of fury and wrath, because of their transgressions. It may be rendered, “because of blood” and so express the cause and reason of the judgement, the shedding of innocent blood.

²⁰ though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. — though Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it; again repeated as in Ezekiel 14:14; and referred to in Ezekiel 14:16; for emphasis.

²¹ “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? — 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. The NOISOME BEAST, the multiplication of wild beasts in consequence of the general destruction of the inhabitants.

²² Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.

— yet, behold, in it shall be left a remnant that shall escape and be brought forth; they would bear testimonies to the world of their sins; of why they were punished for all that they had done.

²³ And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings; and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.”

— and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God; that there are just reasons for it; that he was sufficiently provoked to do it; and that it was necessary it should be done, for his own honour, and the good of others.

~~chap8&14end;19,33&36beg~~

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 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 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 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).

Posted in Ezekiel

As Ezekiel continues his visions of God in Jerusalem; but remember, Ezekiel’s prophetic message wasn’t for the house of Judah but to the house of Israel; hence we must try to read the prophetic meaning behind all those historical setting.

Its timing was a great distance into the future (Ezekiel 12:27), into our time and the message is primarily and principally for the United States of America, and secondarily her Western allies.

The prophecies in these chapters have a bitter/sweet and/or sweet/bitter themes:

And I went unto the angel and said unto him, “Give me the little book.” And he said unto me, “Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.”

And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. Revelation 10:9-10

For detailed studies, 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

Ezekiel 11

— ye or they “shall know that I am the Lord” expressed 2 times in this chapter alone (v10,12), three times in chapter 12 (v15,16,20); and all in the book of Ezekiel, 51 times. In other chapters the phase could apply to some Gentile nations, but for these chapters they apply mainly to the house of Israel;

— this implies the house of Israel today, even with their numerous churches, doesn’t know God! They preached a false vision from the deceit of their own heart;

“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 Moreover the Spirit lifted me up and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord’S house, which looketh eastward; and behold, at the door of the gate five and twenty men, among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

— and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men as we may guess they were the same as in Ezekiel 8:16 “their backs to the Temple of the Lord” and “their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun;”

— now these twenty-five were between the porch and the altar; and performing services and worshipping there; including the priests at the door of the eastern gate, sitting as a court of judicature, and were civil magistrates;

— there is evident of a small difference in the locality, the priests standing between the porch and the altar, whereas the men here stood at the outer side of the temple; these are not those who administer his temple, but further out; that is, rulers and governor; cities chiefs; mayors and their rich and influential princes of a city: the likes of Bill Gates, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch; and numerous TikTok influencers.

— princes of the people; men 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 that give wicked counsel;

— among whom I saw Pelatiah; named here for that dreadful, sudden death (v13), whereby he became a warning to others; perhaps he started this mocking, “This city is the cauldron, and we be the flesh.”

² Then said He unto me: “Son of man, these are the men who devise mischief and give wicked counsel in this city,

— these are men that devise mischief, who formed schemes for the holding out of the siege, and for the security of the city, and of themselves in it, which was all folly and vanity:

— and give wicked counsel in this city; either in ecclesiastical affairs, to forsake the worship of God, and cleave to the idols of the nations; or in civil things;

³ who say, ‘It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the cauldron, and we are the flesh.’ — it is not near; that is, the threatened invasion; this mean the chiefs of the city are advising the people to ignore Ezekiel’s warnings;

— in fact, these infidels are mocking and sneering at Ezekiel, saying: “We will run all risks, we will abide in the city. Though it be the cauldron, and we the flesh, yet we will share its fate: if it perish, we will perish with it.”

— parallel Scripture to add further meaning; this city is the cauldron, and we be the flesh; referring to, and laughing at the prophets, namely Jeremiah, who had said of them, comparing them to a boiling pot, Jeremiah 1:13 “And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I (Jeremiah) said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.”

— ‘It is not near; or it’s as in Ezekiel 12:27, “of the times that are far off,” where their elders dismissed that Ezekiel’s vision were meant for many years yet to come: “of the times that are far off.”

⁴ Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.” — prophesy a judgement upon their kings, princes, rulers, royal officers and military commanders of the nations;

⁵ And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, “Speak! Thus saith the Lord: Thus have ye said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.

— the spirit of the Lord; the Targum interprets it of the spirit of prophecy; and if prophecy then it is for the future; and in this case it is the Lord prophesying against the house of modern Israel.

⁶ Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain. — “multiplied your slain“ capital crimes increasing, blood upon blood, murder upon murder, shedding of innocent blood, gun violence everywhere in the United States today.

⁷ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the cauldron; but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it. — but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it: where they promised themselves safety; ye shall not be permitted to do so, but God will ensure they shall be carried away as captives.

⁸ Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord God.

— “ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain;” these crimes, to God, are serious crimes! Hence numerous repeats of a returning “sword” and reminders: “I will bring a sword” and reminders. “Whatever crimes you inflict on others, these will be inflicted back on you.”

— the Targum says, “ye have been afraid of them (meaning the Chaldeans) that kill with the sword” but not afraid of the Lord.

⁹ And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers and will execute judgements among you. — indeed the Sword appeared in 70 AD; this time by the hands of the Romans, but it was actually God executing His judgement on:

— (a) the Essences (who formulated their own calendar, but God is a jealous Being, and therefore He wiped them off); and;

— (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!

¹⁰ Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. — and ye shall know that I am the Lord” ~ this implies the house of Israel, even their numerous churches; they are just pretenders, they have no knowledge of God today!

¹¹ This city shall not be your cauldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel. — neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst of it; or the Targum renders it “but ye shall be in the midst of it, as flesh that is boiled in the midst of a pot,”

— again, this is repeated, that the Lord is prophesying against the house of modern Israel.

¹² And ye shall know that I am the Lord; for ye have not walked in My statutes, neither executed My judgements, but have done according to the manner of the nations who are round about you.” — and ye shall know that I am the Lord” ~ this implies the house of Israel, even their numerous churches doesn’t know God’s statutes and judgement!

¹³ And it came to pass when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice and said, “Ah, Lord God! Wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

— this Pelatiah was one of the “princes of the people” and probably the ringleader of the scorners mentioned in Ezekiel 11:1-2 as “those that devise mischief and give wicked counsel”

— multitudes would die, especially the wicked; and conditions would be so bad that those few who survived would ask, “Would God make a full end to the remnant of Israel?”

— the answer is “no.” Nebuchadnezzar left a few Jews back in their land, but they had to pay taxes and tributes to their Babylonian governors;

— wilt thou make a full end of the remnant; is Pelatiah’s destruction to be the token of the destruction of all, even the remnant? The people regarded Pelatiah as a mainstay of the city. His name (derived from a Hebrew root, “a remnant,” or else “God delivers”) suggested hope. Is that hope, asks Ezekiel, to be disappointed?

— a parallel incident involved prophet Jeremiah against Hananiah the false prophet; where Jeremiah prophesy against Hananiah to trust in a lie, that he would die, and he died the same year, the seventh month; Jeremiah 28:15-17;

— then in II King 25, an assassination of Gedaliah in 423 BCE occurred: and to commemorate this event it is now one of the four fasts taking place each year on the 3rd of Tishrei:

²² And as for the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.

²³ And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah at Mizpah even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said unto them, “Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”

²⁵ But it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶ And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

¹⁴ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the Targum calls it, “the word of prophecy from the Lord.” It’s a prophecy, thus reference to the future.

¹⁵ “Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Get you far from the Lord; unto us is this land given as a possession.’

— all the house of Israel wholly . . . ‘unto us is this land given as a possession.’ Does this mean that the “whole house of Israel” are coming back to claim the land of Israel that were originally given? If so it would include the whole of Gaza, the West Bank, all of Lebanon, the Golan Heights and northward to the land of Syria; all Jordan and a large chunk of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and even Egypt;

— perhaps this organization, BNEY YOSEF NORTH AMERICA https://bneyyosefna.com would take a lead.

¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Although I have cast them far off among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.’

— it may be rendered, “the sanctuary of a few” especially those that were truly God-fearing. The Targum says, “I have given them synagogues, second to my sanctuary, and they are as few in the provinces where they are carried captive.”

¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: I will even gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ — returning back the Promise Land, perhaps this house of Joseph, https://bneyyosefna.com could take a lead.

¹⁸ And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. — there would be a lot of cleansing to do, their idols and all things detestable since the birth of their nations;

— all these abominations should be wholly rooted out; historically this had its accomplishment under Zerubbabel, Ezra, Haggai, and so there should be another revival;

— but who, if any, would cleanse the detestable filths and abominations of the latter-day house of Israel?

<<< flashing forward as there seems a great gap in time from their detestable filthy and abominable stage above to one where the house of Israel would be ready to accept God’s new spirits, statues and judgments below; from Ezekiel 2 to Ezekiel 37 >>>

¹⁹ And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh,

²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep Mine ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

²¹ But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.”

²² Then the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

²³ And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city. — the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city; this vision demonstrates that God did not abandon this people all at once; he departed by little and little.

²⁴ Afterwards the Spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea to those of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. — from Jerusalem, Ezekiel was brought back to the land of the Chaldea, back with fellow captives by the River Chebar;

— but all this was done in vision; under the influence of the Spirit of God, as if he was carried to Jerusalem, and there saw and heard all he did, and then was brought back again to Chaldea by the River Chebar.

²⁵ Then I spoke unto those of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shown me.

~~~

This vision of Shekinah departing (verse 23 above) demonstrates that God did not abandon this people suddenly at once; he departed little by little. First, he left the temple. Second, he stopped a little at the gate of the city.

Third, he departed entirely from the city and went to the Mount of Olives, which lay on the east side of the city. Having tarried there for some time to see if they would repent and turn to him.

Fourth, he departed from earth to heaven. Now, the vision being concluded, Ezekiel is taken away by the Spirit back to Chaldea, and there announces to fellow captive Israelites what God had shown him in the preceding visions, and the good that he had spoken concerning them; but they did not seemed to believe him, which the prophet reprimands severely.

Ezekiel 12

Ezekiel 12 explains why a few Israelites are going to be left to survive, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations. And that the vision that Ezekiel seeth is for many days to come, “and he prophesieth of the times that are far off” Ezekiel 12:27

The prophecies in these chapters have a bitter/sweet and/or sweet/bitter theme.

¹ The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, — the Targum calls it, “the word of prophecy from the Lord.” So Ezra expounds it as a prophecy and a reference to our time.

² “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see and see not; they have ears to hear and hear not, for they are a rebellious house.

— this is true even for those dwelling in the Sanctuary, in the house of God; they have ears but couldn’t hear, eyes to see but couldn’t see; they don’t even know what the Oracles of God are; not to say about a willingness and the spirits to keep them;

— a slaughtering is to begin at “My sanctuary” and of course, even in God’s Churches; the message and warning from Ezekiel were primarily aimed at the house of Israel, sometimes call the house of Ephraim; and his churches, even the Churches of God that bear his name!  Ezekiel 9:4-6

³ Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee supplies for departure, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

— prepare thee stuff for removing; the same expression are translated in Jeremiah 46:19, “Furnish thyself to go into captivity.” The action seems to be that of one who must abandon his home and comfort.

⁴ Then shalt thou bring forth thy goods by day in their sight, as supplies for removing; and thou shalt go forth at evening in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

— and you shall bring forth your baggage by day in their sight, as provisions and supplies for going into exile; and you shall go forth yourself at evening in their sight, as those who usually go forth into exile;

⁵ Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out through it. — dig, as Zedekiah was to escape like one digging through a wall, furtively to effect an escape (Ezekiel 12:12).

⁶ In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders and carry it forth in the dark [עֲלָטָה H5939 thick darkness]. Thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground; for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.”

— in the dark [עֲלָטָה H5939 thick darkness]; so the soon exiles-to-be should make their exit stealthily and restrain from looking around, be hurriedly should be their fight;

— perhaps the Message Bible might be easier to understand for the few verse around here:

God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, you’re living with a bunch of rebellious people. They have eyes but don’t see a thing, they have ears but don’t hear a thing. They’re rebels all. So, son of man, pack up your exile duffel bags. Leave in broad daylight with everyone watching and go off, as if into exile. Maybe then they’ll understand what’s going on, rebels though they are. You’ll take up your baggage while they watch, a bundle of the bare necessities of someone going into exile, and toward evening leave, just like a person going off into exile. As they watch, dig through the wall of the house and carry your bundle through it. In full sight of the people, put the bundle on your shoulder and walk out into the night. Cover your face so you won’t have to look at what you’ll never see again. I’m using you as a sign for the family of Israel.” Ezekiel 12:1-6 MSG

⁷ And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my goods by day, as supplies for captivity, and in the evening I dug through the wall with mine hand. I brought them forth in the dark [darkness], and I bore them upon my shoulder in their sight.

— and in the evening (the early part of the night: 6 to midnight) Ezekiel digged through the city wall with his hands; not with an iron instrument; and being in haste, and also that it might be done without noise;

⁸ And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, — in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying; that is, in the morning after he had done all the above commanded him; explaining the meaning of them, and showing to whom they belonged.

⁹ “Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, ‘What doest thou?’ — again, this “house of Israel” is repeated, that the Lord is prophesying against the modern house of Israel; chiefly the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

¹⁰ Say thou unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel that are among them.’ — thus saith the Lord God: this to add weight and authority to God’s word;

— this burden or warning of a coming calamity most probably concern the future captivity of the house of Judah for 40 years and for the modern house of Israel for the final 190 years (see study on Ezekiel chapter 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline).

¹¹ Say, ‘I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it be done unto them. They shall remove and go into captivity.’ — your sign; which represents you, and shows what will befall you;

— like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them; as he had carried out his stuff, and had removed himself from one place to another, so they should be carried away out of their own land into a foreign country; they shall be removed and go into captivity; into another ‘Babylonian’ captivity, (see study on Ezekiel chapter 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline).

¹² And the prince who is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the dark [darkness], and shall go forth; they shall dig through the wall to carry out through it. He shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

— shall cover his face; this he would naturally do to avoid recognition; but the words were doubtless meant also as an intimation of being caught in a snare;

— the Targum says, “he shall cover his face because he hath sinned:” rendering it as if he, referring to Zedekiah, shall not see with his eyes, and he shall not see the land again.

¹³ My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there. — and he shall be taken in my snare; as a bird is taken in the snare of the fowler; or a wild beast by the hunter;

— in Jeremiah 52:11, Jeremiah makes it plain by recording that Zedekiah’s eyes were put out in Riblah, before he was carried to Babylon, where he would die there;

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. — God will scatter them toward every wind; the people of Judah were not carried captive to Babylon only, but many of them were scattered wherever they could find refuge;

— they shall be scattered among the nations; and, finally, the remnant left in the land by Nebuchadnezzar, after the murder of his governor Gedaliah, escaped into Egypt.

¹⁵ And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations and disperse them in the countries.

— ye or they “shall know that I am the Lord” expressed 3 times in this chapter alone (v15, 16, 20) and in all, 51 times in the book of Ezekiel. In other chapters the phase could apply to some Gentile nations, but for chapter 12, it applies mainly to both the house of Judah and the house of Israel;

— this implies that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their numerous churches know God today!!! Strange, isn’t it?!

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.” — “that they may declare all their abominations among the nations;” this explains why a few are left to survive;

— if they have hidden in some secret hideouts, they won’t be able to “declare all their abominations among the nations” whither they come; who, observing their calamities, and distresses, could deserve and a need to know, and hear those who are well-versed to explain their sins, abominations and judgement to the nations.

¹⁷ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸ “Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with sorrow; — those remnants who survive would explain to the nations that they have been guilty of great enormities;

— so that their punishment was a visible and standing declaration and warning to the nations of their abominable sins; which they, of the house of Israel, had been guilty of; and not to repeat them in their own nations;

¹⁹ and say unto the people of the land, ‘Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with sorrow, and drink their water with dismay, that her land may be desolate of all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

— unto the people; the common sort of people; these are distinguished from rulers, of the land of Chaldea, in which the Jews were captives;

— her land will be desolated: men, cities, towns, houses, vineyards, fields, fruits and cattle are all in ruin. Those who could see, they see only sorrow and dismay.

²⁰ And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.’” — again, this implies that neither those teaching in the synagogues nor those in their numerous churches today know who their Lord is!

²¹ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

²² “Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth’? — this is another way for the hardhearted (also stiffnecked) in the “land of Israel” to dismiss Ezekiel’s warning, “every visions faileth!”

²³ Tell them therefore, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.’ But say unto them, ‘The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

— but say unto them, the days are at hand, and the effect of every vision; the time is hastening on and will quickly come when every prophecy shall be fulfilled.

²⁴ For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. — the emphasis here is of the modern house of Israel: chiefly the United States, the United Kingdom and France; for all the other tribes, see Who are the posterity of biblical Jacob?

²⁵ For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more put off. For in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word and will perform it, saith the Lord God.’” — and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; the word of prophecy delivered out in his nature by the true prophets never fails, but is always accomplished; 

²⁶ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²⁷ “Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.’ — see, this warning vision that Ezekiel saw concerning Israel’s ruin and the prophecy which he delivered, the house of Israel say, were not for their time to be fulfilled; dismissing that that they were only meant for many years yet to come: “of the times that are far off” Ezekiel 12:27

²⁸ Therefore say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: There shall none of My words be put off any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.’”

— but the word which I have spoken shall be fulfilled, saith the Lord God: not one jot of it shall pass away till all be accomplished; sooner may heaven and earth pass away than that shall; it is forever settled in heaven, and shall be fulfilled on earth; he that has said it is of one mind, and none can turn him; and is able to do whatsoever he pleases;

— or some edifying parallel Scriptures below:

The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, “Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” Isaiah 14:24

“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

~~~~~

Let’s have a deeper study into Ezekiel 12:27. God must had told Ezekiel that the visions were for them as well as for a time far into the future, and Ezekiel, in turn, repeated God’s message to the house of Israel, which seems unrecorded.

Being hardhearted, the house of Israel, or their elders, turned around, brushing off those warnings by saying the visions were only meant for those living in the far future, which is recorded as in verse 27; hence they could continue to practice their abominable things which they were doing:

“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off’  Ezekiel 12:27

But more calamities were to fall for the house of Judah a few years later when Nebuchadnezzar took more captives; and a few hundred years later, in 70 AD and 132 AD, this time by the Romans; hence God’s warning messages were meant for the house of Judah in those not too afar days; and timeless, as well as a warning “of the times that are far off.”

That is, it was a warning meant for them, timeless, and endtime, and this prophecy is primarily and principally for the full house of Jacob, especially the United States of America; and, secondarily, its European allies.

Posted in Ezekiel

As Ezekiel continues his visions of God in Jerusalem, the focus of his prophecy is for the children of Israel at the endtime. In these two chapters, the children of Israel refers to both the northern house of Israel and the southern house of Judah.

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

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

Ezekiel 9

¹ He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, “Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.”

— he, the Divine, cried also in mine ears with a loud voice; that is, the Shekinah, whom the prophet saw in the temple, and who directed him from place to place, now wanted to show him all the abominations committed there;

— saying, cause them that have the charge over the city to draw near; or “those appointed over the city,” as the Targum says; that is, the city of Jerusalem; by whom are meant the ministering angels, who had the charge of executing God’s judgements upon the city;

— even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand; weapons of war, as bows and arrows, sword and spear, each of these had a weapon proper for that kind of destruction which he was to effect; and so, some to slay with sword, other with the pestilence, another with famine.

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

— but if this “six men” are meant to be prophecy, then who are they? In modern times, could they be Chechens, Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Libyans and Afghans? Or perhaps some other combinations?

— or, as Ezekiel 38:22 renders it, I will strike thee with six plagues; those mentioned, namely, pestilence, blood, overflowing rain, hailstones, fire, brimstone;

— in the Talmud, it was expressed as “Anger, Wrath, Fury, Destroyer, Breaker, Annihilator.”

³ And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; — Ezekiel was explicitly commanded to write down his visions, Ezekiel 43:11; so he was the man who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;

— and the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub; that is, the glorious God; or the Shekinah, removed from thence, as a token of his being about to depart from the temple, and with its protection removed, the temple would be destroyed in a short time.

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

⁴ and the Lord said unto him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry because of all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.” — and the Lord said unto Ezekiel;

— and you shall mark a sign: you shall mark a sign on the foreheads of the righteous men in order to show the destroyers those men whom they should not strike;

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

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

⁵ And to the others He said in mine hearing, “Go ye after him through the city and smite. Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. — He said into mine hearing; that is, God spoke into Ezekiel’s ears;

— the remnant fell by the sword of the Chaldeans, but God found out some way to secure them; as in the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans;

— the Christians were secured in a city on the mountains, called Pella, east of the Jordan; and certain Jews, including some Pharisees of the House of Hillel; they escaped to Yavne along the coast of the Mediterranean sea.

⁶ Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” Then they began with the elder men who were before the house.

— and begin at my sanctuary; the temple, the house of God, and the priests and Levites that dwelt there; and in today’s climate, the synagogues, the churches; the chapels, the assemblies or some other terms;

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

⁷ And He said unto them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go ye forth.” And they went forth and slew in the city. — and fill the courts with the slain; the court of the priests, and the court of the Israelites, and the court of the women, and all the chambers where the priests and Levites were;

⁸ And it came to pass, while they were slaying them and I was left, that I fell upon my face and cried, and said, “Ah Lord God! Wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel in Thy pouring out of Thy fury upon Jerusalem?”

— when Ezekiel was delivering his message to both houses of Israel and Judah, they were already in captivity. He was among the captives at the river Chebar, so Ezekiel’s messages were actually meant for those living far into the future, in our time, to the modern house of Israel, the chief of whom is Ephraim, the United States of America — in thy pouring out of thy fury by famine, pestilence and sword.

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

— for they say God hath forsaken the land, and he seeth not. Ezekiel 9:10. So also shall my eye not look with pity, and I will not spare; I will give their way upon their head. Ezekiel 9:11. 

¹⁰ And as for Me also, Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their ways upon their heads.” — a parallel Scripture, “As you have done [unto others], it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head” Obadiah 1:15

¹¹ And behold, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as Thou hast commanded me.” — the man clad in linen returns, announcing the execution of God’s commands.

~~~~

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

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

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

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

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

Below are its synonyms:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ezekiel 10

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

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

² And He spoke unto the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city.” And he went in in my sight.

— and He spake unto the man clothed with linen; that is, the God of Israel gave orders to the man clothed in linen, who appears in another character, and represents the Chaldean or Roman army; these “coals of fire” were an emblem of the wrath of God against Jerusalem.

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

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

⁵ And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaketh. — and the sound of the cherubim’s wings was heard even to the outer court; or outward court; the swift ministry of the apostles, signified by the “cherubim’s wings” went into all the earth, and throughout the Gentiles;

— the sound of the Kingdom, and redemption by Christ; the sound of this in the swift ministry of the apostles, signified by the “cherubim’s wings” going out into all the earth, especially to the Gentile world.

⁶ And it came to pass that when He had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims,” then he went in and stood beside the wheels. — the cherubims stood as servants waiting; then the chariot of fire being taken from between the wheels.

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

— but Ezekiel is a prophetic book, so the most important Question remains for us to ponder during the endtime: who would spread this fire in the house of Israel? A loose army from the Global South? (Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:5)

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

⁹ And when I looked, behold, the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a beryl stone. — a beryl stone is of sea-green colour; the Targum renders it in general, “a precious stone.”

¹⁰ And as for their appearance, all four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. — and as for their appearances, all four had one likeness, see pic above.

¹¹ When they went, they went upon their four sides. They turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went. — the wheels were not guided by some external impetus, but by the cherubim themselves.

¹² And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about — even the wheels that the four had. — and the wheels were full of eyes; that is, the rings or circles of the wheels, as in Ezekiel 1:18; even the four wheels were “full of eyes.”

¹³ As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, “O wheel.” — the word “galgal הַגַּלְגַּ֖ל whirl” could be better rendered “chariot” instead of “wheel;” “chariot” or whirl representing very well the collection of wheels.

¹⁴ And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

As for the likeness of their faces, all four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side, and all four had the face of an ox on the left side; all four also had the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 1:10

— compare to chapter 1 of the description of the cherub, the first face was the face of an OX; the ox, being placed toward the west, now this is a face of a CHERUB, indicating, perhaps, that now in chapter 10, the face of an ox and a cherub has a change of significance. If so, what are they? Why the change of the face from that of an OX to that of a CHERUB?

— but the OX is also the symbol of the United States; and though the UK has the Unicorn as its symbol, it has less significance (more below). For more in a deeper analysis, see The Ox without the Unicorn; and The Unicorn Is Scotland’s National Animal;

(Note, on the west side were Benjamin (Norway), Manasseh (United Kingdom and the Commonwealth) and Ephraim (the United States); they all have enormous natural resources, but none of the others)

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

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

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

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

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

— again, the departure of Shekinah from the Holy of Holies with the cherubims lifting up their wings and went along withe wheels toward the east gate.

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

²¹ Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. — and everyone four wings: the Septuagint reads eight wings; the Syriac version six.

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

~~~

More on the Ox and the Unicorn:

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

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

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

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

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

— also; his ox. whose strength is as mighty as that of an ox, to conquer many kings; and his horns are the horns of a re’em. The ox is powerful, but its horns are not beautiful; [on the other hand,] a re’em has beautiful horns, but it is not powerful. [Moses thus] blessed Joshua with the power of an ox and the beauty of a re’em ‘s horns. — [Sifrei 33:17]

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

For a more detailed analysis, see The Ox without the Unicorn; and The Unicorn Is Scotland’s National Animal.

Posted in Ezekiel

As Ezekiel continues his visions from God, his visions are actually prophecies and judgement against the children of Israel at the endtime.

“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off’ Ezekiel 12:27

Ezekiel 7

¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, — the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra; expresses it as “The word of prophecy from the Lord.” If it is a prophecy from Ezra’s perspective, it was meant for the future, into the end time, our time.

Remember, laying side by side along with the Masoretic Text, the Targum is another source of the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning from Babylon and Persia, these returnees could only understand in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to them then and to us today from the Hebrew Text quoted.

² “Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel: “An end! The end is come upon the four corners of the land. — the Targum says, “the punishment of the end, or the punishment determined to come upon the four winds of the earth;” this Targum version recognizes that the house of Israel, the modern-day Israelites, would be from all over the face of the earth, spread over the four winds!

— in Ezekiel 6:3 the message was to the “mountains of Israel,”referring to the United States, UK and France. . . . “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” — 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.

— to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene;

— and now “are all over the face of the earth, spread over the four winds” as the Targum says; which would include Australia, New Zealand, Canada (and perhaps South Africa?) and numerous small colonized islands around the world.

— and in this context, “the land of Israel” and “over the face of the earth” would most probably include the modern state of Israel in Palestine;

— for identity of the Lost Ten Tribes, see Who are the posterity of biblical Jacob?

³ Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send Mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.

— and I will judge thee according to thy ways; a parallel Scripture here: “Because thou hast despoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall despoil thee” Habakkuk 2:8

⁴ And Mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity; but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. — the punishments would be so great that “ye shall know who the Lord is,” to whom vengeance belongs; who takes notice of all their sinful actions, and punishes for them;

— the Targum says, “and the punishment of thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee.” Of course he is referring to the house of Israel in this instance.

⁵ “Thus saith the Lord God: An evil, an only evil, behold, is come! — the Targum says, “evil after evil, lo, it cometh.” That is, one evil after another; when one evil is gone, another comes.

⁶ An end is come, the end is come! It watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. — the repeating of “is come” are for emphasis as these words show the eagerness and concern of the prophet’s mind; the speed and haste destruction was making, or is to come; and the great hardheartedness and stupidity of the people, which requires constant repetitions.

⁷ The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land; the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. — again, the repeating of “is come” for multiple assurance that it is prophetic coming in the near future;

— the Targum says, “and there is no fleeing or escaping to the tops of the mountains.”

⁸ Now will I shortly pour out My fury upon thee, and accomplish Mine anger upon thee; and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. — very similar to verve 3 above; “and I will judge thee according to thy ways” parallel Scripture as above; and below:

“Because thou hast despoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall despoil thee” Habakkuk 2:8; or “Because you have plundered many nations, all the nations that survive will plunder you because of the bloodshed and the violence you have inflicted on cities and all their inhabitants.”

⁹ And Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.

— the Lord that smiteth; in other places it only said, “ye shall know that I am the LORD,” without saying in what respect; here this is specified “the Lord that smiteth” – they shall know that God is the One who carried out judgement as these calamities are from him.

¹⁰ “Behold the day, behold, it is come! The morning is gone forth, the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. — the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded; both these phrases could be understood of Sennacherib; he was the rod, with which the Lord smote his people, as the Assyrian monarch is called the rod of his anger, Isaiah 10:5,

— the Assyrian monarch was a very proud prince, and had budded and blossomed, and so was king Nebuchadnezzar, whom God had prepared as “the rod” for the chastisement as three times God describes Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant” (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10).

— the Targum says, “a ruler hath budded, a wicked one hath appeared.”

¹¹ Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness; none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs; neither shall there be wailing for them. — neither shall there be wailing for them; the destruction would be so thorough, that there would be but few left to mourn;

— and those that were left would be struck with such a stupor and amazement at the calamity, that they would not be capable of mourning; or with such a dread of the enemy, that there would be no place for lamentation over their dead friends and relations.

¹² The time is come, the day draweth near. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

— for wrath and judgement is upon the whole house of modern Israelites, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, buyer and seller; “all the multitude” all those that are in good circumstances, and all those that are in bad ones; so that they were all upon the same level, all in the same case and condition.

¹³ For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive; for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

— for the seller shall not return to that which is sold; in the year of jubilee, because he shall be in captivity: according to the law in Leviticus 25:13, when a man had sold his possession, he returned to it again in the year of jubilee;

— but in captivity, that could be 190 years for the house of Israel, and 40 years for the house of Judah, though there would be jubilees, yet those that had sold their estates, being captives in another land, could not be returned to them;

— the length of the house of Judah’s captivity of in Babylon was directly related from the length of time they neglected to observe the land Sabbath according to II Chronicles 36:19-21:

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: ‘by the mouth or spoken by Jeremiah’ this is a reference to the seventy years of captivity as spelt out in Jeremiah 25:11.

¹⁴ “They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle, for My wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. — they have blown the trumpet, as an alarm of war, and see what will be the effect of it, but they shall be dispirited, people are so enfeebled and none come forth for a fight;

— this parallels another verse: “The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9.

¹⁵ The sword is on the outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He that is in the field shall die with the sword, and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

— the sword will come from outside their borders; war is throughout the country and pestilence and famine within the borders; together they shall destroy the whole. He who endeavours to flee from the one shall fall by another, except a small remnant.

¹⁶ But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. — so Israel, once dwelling in its peaceful valleys, shall flee from their foe to the mountains, were justly to be made the scene of its flight and shame. The significance of the dove (Isaiah 59:11) represents the mournful repentance of Israel hereafter (Zechariah 12:10-12);

— a few shall escape the pestilence, famine, and sword and flee to the mountains, where they will live a very miserable and uncomfortable life; barren and desert places, where they shall find no subsistence, nor have any agreeable company and conversation, but live in solitude and distress.

— like doves, though usually frequenting the valleys, mount up to the mountains when fearing the bird-catcher (Psalm 11:1); they gather together in the mountains and hide themselves in the holes of the rocks, on the sides of the valleys, from birds of prey.

¹⁷ All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. — all hands shall be feeble; no strength in them, like jelly, to lay hold on weapons of war to defend themselves, or fight the enemy;

¹⁸ They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. — no heart nor courage in them, to go forth and meet their enemy; and even afraid to lift up their voice in mourning, lest they should be heard, being pursued, and be taken.

¹⁹ They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels, because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity.

— gold and silver as being of no use to preserve them from the sword, famine and pestilence, but instead an hindrance in their flight from the enemy;

— this could also be interpreted as their idols of gold and silver, which shall be as items of contempt, to be cast away. Greed and the love for riches are their iniquity, covetousness, and idolatry, at which they stumbled, and fell into sin, and so into punishment for them.

²⁰ “As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein; therefore have I set it far from them.

— the beauty of his ornament should be set in the majesty of his Temple, but man has made it an abominations and an detestable thing for themselves; hence God has distanced himself from them.

²¹ And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil, and they shall pollute it. — and, they, the new “Babylonians,” shall pollute it; by entering into their land and spoiling it, by pillaging and burning all they possess.

²² My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute My secret place; for the robbers shall enter into it and defile it. — because of their sins, God allows the Chaldeans, the Greeks and the Romans, not only to destroy Jerusalem; but to enter God’s temple, even the holy of hollies: to deface it, plunder it, and burn it to the ground.

²³ “Make a chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. — or “judgement of bloods,” capital crimes, such as are deserving of death, particularly murder, or shedding of innocent blood, gun violence especially in the United States today.

²⁴ Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses. I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled. — many refugees now coming across the Southern Border: Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Latinos and Mexicans are now in American cities;

— would some of them or their children turn into extremists like the Chechens did an attack in Boston with further plan to travel to Times Square in New York to unleash more mayhem and bombs?

²⁵ Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

— a parallel Scripture in Ezekiel 20 to add more depth:

“And say to the forest of the South: ‘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'” Ezekiel 20:47

²⁶ Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor. Then shall they seek a vision of the prophet, but the law shall perish from the priest and counsel from the ancients. — mischief upon mischief; loss upon loss, one sorrow on the neck of another; vision shall perish from the prophet, the law from the priest, and counselors from the ancients;

— being rejected and be threatened, the prophets wouldn’t be able to continue giving wise counsel; for the law shall perish from them. Other “wise men” and celebrated statesmen could devise foolish schemes; and in trying to avert disasters, they hasten their own ruin;

— and God will thus declare some uncomfortable truths of Israel’s false prophets:

“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!

²⁷ The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do unto them according to their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

— all those of the Royal houses of Europe, and their princes, all their chief rulers, shall mourn with desolation but they wouldn’t be comforted;

— the Targum says: “In their judgements will I judge them:” the same measure they have meted out to others shall be measured unto them. All these judgements are to make them know the only Lord God of this universe is fair, just and equitable.

Ezekiel 8

In this chapter Ezekiel was carried in vision to Jerusalem and begins a new scene of prophecy extending to the twelfth chapter in one vision. This, according to Archbishop Usher, was the sixth year of Ezekiel’s captivity.

¹ And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.

— that the hand of the Lord fell upon me; which the Targum interprets is the spirit of prophecy, which came with power upon him: it indicates the spirit of God was upon him, revealing to him the things that would soon take place;

— the “elders of Judah” could be the elders that were carried captives along with Jehoiachin; but more probably these were those that came from Jerusalem inquiring about the fate of the holy city;

— notice the “elders of Israel” also came, but they appeared later in Ezekiel 14; they, too, are inquiring about their fate;

² Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of His loins even downward, fire, and from His loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber. — there are many variations interchanging between fire and man among all the English versions of the Scriptures; is it the appearance of fire or is it the holiness of the Divine?

— the Septuagint renders it, “behold the likeness of a man”; reading איש, “a man”, for אש, “fire.”

— the Targum renders both the one and the other part of the description thus, “and I saw. . . a likeness the look of fire, the look of glory, which the eye cannot see, nor is it possible to look upon it; and beneath the look of fire, and the look of glory, which the eye cannot behold, nor is it possible to contemplate it; and above, as the look of brightness;”

Hence there are many variations interchanging between fire and man among all the English versions of the Bible. Here is one great example, the Message Bible:

In the sixth year, in the sixth month and the fifth day, while I was sitting at home meeting with the leaders of Judah, it happened that the hand of my Master, God, gripped me. When I looked, I was astonished. What I saw looked like a man—from the waist down like fire and from the waist up like highly burnished bronze. He reached out what looked like a hand and grabbed me by the hair.

The Spirit swept me high in the air and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the Temple’s inside court where the image of the sex goddess that makes God so angry had been set up. Right before me was the Glory of the God of Israel, exactly like the vision I had seen out on the plain. Ezekiel 8:1-3 MSG

³ And He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

— and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem; so it was represented to Ezekiel in a true vision, which was of God, that he was carried from Chaldea to Jerusalem; not that he really was, for he was still in Chaldea when that vision was over.

⁴ And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. — is this the Shekinah? Yes, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there; in the temple, between the cherubim, where the glory of the divine Majesty dwelt;

— the Shekinah is a visible manifestation of God on earth, whose presence is portrayed through a natural occurrence of clouds and fire. Shekinah Glory means “He caused to dwell,” referring to the divine presence of God. So this was the same Shekinah that accompanied the children of Israel in the wilderness during the Exodus.

⁵ Then said He unto me, “Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north.” So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and beheld northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

— Isaiah 14:13 indicates God’s throne is toward the north: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the side of the north,” and God is jealous of the numerous idols the house of Israel were ironically practicing in “Jerusalem” and “in His Sanctuary.”

⁶ He said furthermore unto me, “Son of man, seest thou what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should depart far off from My sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.”

— God was setting the stage to reveal greater abominations that the house of Israel had committeth in His Sanctuary? That’s why he withdrew from his sanctuary? 

— this “house of Israel” would most likely be the southern house of Judah (verse 17 below) where his sanctuary is placed (Jerusalem); but then again, He could be referring to the broader sanctuary, where He meant the house of Israel as a whole; (more at the end)

⁷ And He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

8 Then said He unto me, “Son of man, dig now in the wall”; and when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door. — it was probable that they imitated the Egyptians in this kind of idolatry; for the Egyptians used to worship several kinds of beasts and reptiles;

— according to some accounts, a multitude of chambers were built, which had elegant paintings of all the beasts sacred in Egypt; it is not unlikely they imagined they evaded the law against setting up any image or idolatry to worship, by having them only portrayed or painted on the wall;

⁹ And He said unto me, “Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.” — and behold the wicked abominations they do here; the idolatries there committed, wicked in themselves, and abominable to God.

¹⁰ So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things and abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about. — every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts;

— these description of the idolatrous rites practiced clearly indicates their Egyptian origin; thus even after some 700 to 800 years since Exodus, they were still enslaved in their pagan minds and thoughts.

¹¹ And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. — seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel;

— the whole Sanhedrin, or the great court of judicature in Jerusalem, which were originally appointed in Moses’ time to be judges and officers over the people, and govern, judge and direct them according the tenets established in Exodus 18:21–22 and Deuteronomy 17:9–12;

— and today, the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem has been reestablished and is functioning.

¹² Then said He unto me, “Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his images? For they say, ‘The Lord seeth us not. The Lord hath forsaken the earth.’” — every man in the chambers of his imagery? the Septuagint renders it, “in his hidden” or “secret chamber”;

— that is, in those chambers which belonged to the priests and Levites, on the walls they had their secret rites or mysteries performed, in imitation of the heathens; who had mysteries of their religion privately observed; to which none were admitted; as those of Osiris among the Egyptians; of Ceres with the Grecians; and of Bona Dea among the Romans.

¹³ He said also unto me, “Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.” — more revelations; for modern days, all on records and he says, “I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel,” Hosea 6:10.

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’S house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. — Tammuz, an idol of Chaldeans, is nowhere else mentioned in Scripture, but is identified only here.

¹⁵ Then said He unto me, “Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.” — these latter wickedness may be accounted greater, because they were acted in a more sacred place.

¹⁶ 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.

— the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, led by the high priest, making up the “twenty five men” were not only worshipping the sun: they were doing so in the very temple of God, with their backs turned against the presence of God!

— the worship of heavenly bodies was against God’s will which Moses had warned the people (Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:3, whose penalty is to be stoned to death, Deuteronomy 17:5 ’till they die). These 25 men corrupted themselves by worshipping the sun; and so the Targum renders it, “and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping facing the east the sun; their backs toward the temple of the Lord” — they turned their backs to the most holy place; which is the utmost contempt for God:

Moses’ warnings in Deuteronomy 17

³ And [if you] hath gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, ⁴ and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it and inquired diligently, and behold, it be true and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, ⁵ then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman who has committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die. Deuteronomy 17:3-5

— also, Days of the Week Names: “Sunday” is the Sun’s day and “Monday” is the Moon’s day. “Tuesday” is Tiw’s day; Tiw is an Anglo-Saxon god of war. “Wednesday” comes from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon king of the gods; in Saxon the name is Wodnesdaeg. “Thursday” is Thursdaeg, Thor’s day; Thor is a Norse god of thunder, lightning and storms. “Friday” is Frigedaeg, Frigga’s day; Frigg is a Norse goddess of home, marriage and fertility. “Saturday” is Saeterndaeg, Saturn’s day; Saturn is an ancient Roman god of fun and feasting;

— Months of the Year Names: January (derived from the Latin Januarius) is to honor their Roman gods Janus; and March, named for Mars, is the Roman mighty god of war; February is derived from the Februa festival or its eponymous februa (“purifications, expiatory offerings”); April relates to what the Romans called the month Aprilis; from a word meaning “to open” and further back from Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of love. May – named for Maia, is the Roman goddess of spring and growth;

— June is a name attributed to Juno, the female mighty wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. She is also called the “Queen of Heaven” and “Queen of Mighty Ones.” July is to honor Julius Caesar; the Roman Senate named it “Julius” in honor of Roman emperor Julius Caesar. August honor Julius Caesar’s successor, the emperor Augustus; and the months September, October, November, and December are archaic adjectives derived from the ordinal numbers 7 to 10;

— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honoring the SUN by observing SUNday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the SUN toward the east; whose penalty is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

— also, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, most Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a SUNday; always on a SUNday. 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! A death penalty – ’till they die!

And below is a parallel from the book of Revelation 14:

⁶ And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people,

⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His Judgment is come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters.”

⁸ And there followed another angel, saying, “Babylon is fallen! Fallen is that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

⁹ And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand,

¹⁰ the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out unmixed into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

¹¹ And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Revelation 14:6-11

¹⁷ Then He said unto me, “Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence and have returned to provoke Me to anger; and lo, they put the branch to their nose. — blood, murders and various form of killings and gun violence in our societies today;

— this “house of Judah” would be the second “house of Israel” in verse 6 above (more at the end).

¹⁸ Therefore will I also deal in fury. Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.” — yet will God not hear them; as they turned their backs on him, God will turn a deaf ear to them, and not regard their cries;

— the Targum says, “they shall pray before me, with a great voice, and I will not receive their prayer.”

~~ chap8&14end;19,33&36beg ~~

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 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 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 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).

Posted in Ezekiel

Chapter 5 is a prophecy using Jerusalem as an example of the judgments which God were about to execute on its inhabitants with famine, pestilence, sword and dispersion; and what were the reasons of God’s judgements on that great city; and the nature, its rise and its fall.

The revealing of its timing is when God said to Ezekiel: “Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off’ (Ezekiel 12:27). Or as the RSV has it: “The vision that he sees is for many days hence, and he prophesies of times far off.”

And this warning is to “all the house of Israel” (verse 4); that is, to all the thirteen tribes or the full house of Jacob.

Ezekiel 5

¹ “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor and cause it to pass over thine head and upon thy beard. Then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair. — the Septuagint reads this in conjunction with the former, thus, “take thee a knife” or a “sword, sharper than a barber’s razor” – in another translation: “a sword sharper than a barber’s razor.”

— and cause it to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; the “head” was a symbol of the city of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; the “beard” of the cities, towns and villages about it; and the “hair” of both, of the common people; the cutting off the hair was a common mark of mourning (see Job 1:20; Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 7:29); and the shaving of them indicates their disgrace and destruction.

² Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife, and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

The first third “fire” would also include pestilence and famine: “Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.” Lamentations 5:10; see also Ezekiel 5:12 below.

The Septuagint: ²A fourth part thou shalt burn in the fire in the midst of the city, at the fulfillment of the days of the siege: and thou shalt take a fourth part, and burn it up in the midst of it: and a fourth part thou shalt cut with a sword round about it: and a fourth part thou shalt scatter to the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

— the rubble of the World Trade Centre in New York smoulders following a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Russia and China immediately expressed solidarity and willingness to work with the US to defeat terrorism.

³ Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. — and bind them in thy skirts; signifying both a very small number, a small remnant and their preservation. These were to be carried captive to Babylon; lived there and be preserved.

⁴ Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. — and this warning of captivity or in great restraint, is to “all the house of Israel;” that is, the northern house of Israel, for 190 years; and the southern house of Judah, for 40 years;

— the message in this chapter is to ALL the house of Israel; that is to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, AND to the two tribes of Judah;

— a parallel message in the Book of Revelation is also going into the WHOLE World:

⁶ And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people,

⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His Judgment is come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6-7

— and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. Anciently, this was fulfilled in Gedaliah and the Jews that were with him, over whom the king of Babylon had made him governor, who were slain by Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah: Jeremiah 41;

⁵ “Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. — it is the city of Jerusalem that is set in the midst of the nations; that it might be a witness as a true religion, with a true God, and a true form of worship, and set an example to them.

⁶ And she hath changed My judgements into wickedness more than the nations, and My statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for they have refused My judgements and My statutes. They have not walked in them.

— she, Israel, hath changed my judgements into wickedness more than the nations; the word “changed” signifies to “rebel against” or to “transgress” and that, she, that is, Jerusalem or Israel, has “rebelled” against my judgements and “transgressed” them in a wicked manner, even to a greater degree than the nations of the world;

— witness LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (questioning), intersex, asexual (agender)); woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that count darkness as light, and light as darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20;

— and my statutes more than the countries that are around her. “Judgements” are God’s verdict, and “statutes” are the same as laws and ordinances of worship, being just and righteous, and firm and unalterable; witness God’s inferno judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah; and again, Jerusalem, in 70 AD;

— for they have refused my judgements and my statutes; they refused to comply with them, and to yield an obedience to them, and that with loathing, disdain and contempt as the word s signifies; everyone seems to ignore the significance of the inferno on Sodom and Gomorrah; and of Jerusalem from 66 to 70 AD;

⁷ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept My judgements, neither have done according to the judgements of the nations that are round about you, — these are more abominable than the heathens; one example is that LGBTQIA is more perverse in Israelitish nations;

— a parallel Scripture in Hosea: “I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10

⁸ therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgements in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. — God’s judgement in the sight of the nations; as notorious as thy sins, so shall thy punishment be. The nations shall see my hand in it, and my own justice;

— these are serious stuff; for example, the world will see if Fort Detrick and/or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the Source of Covid-19? And before the sight of the nations?

— the history of Fort Detrick; how they received the Unit 731 biolab transplant and how they nurtured those secrets from then on? Also, perhaps, the full extent of “We lied, we cheated, we stole… we had entire training courses” exposed for the world to see?

— without going into details, others could be (1) chemical weapons in various countries across the world, one example: orange agents during Vietnam war; (2) moon landing hoax; (3) 9/11 World Trade Centers killers; (4) Covid-19 origin; (5) the minds and hands behind Nord Stream I and II attacks;

⁹ And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and the like of which I will not do any more, because of all thine abominations. — “because of all thine abominations;” God shows the reason why He deals with the full house of Israel in greater severity than with the surrounding heathen nations;

— not comparable to any other nation, not even to Sodom and Gomorrah, when they were destroyed by fire from heaven; not in Egypt, when he inflicted his plagues on Pharaoh and his people. More than the Nazi concentration camp? More than the Armenian genocide in 1916? More than the Japanese Unit 731 germ experiment in Harbin? It is going to be very ugly!

¹⁰ Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgements in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

— therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee; which was long ago threatened by the Lord, and prophesied of by Moses, Leviticus 26:27; and was fulfilled at several times in the people of Israel, as at the siege of Samaria, II Kings 6:28; at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Lamentations 4:10;

— and at the siege of the same city by Titus Vespasian, as Josephus relates; for though these instances only show that mothers ate their children, yet no doubt the fathers took part with them; and if mothers, who are naturally more tender, could do this, it is much more reasonable to suppose that fathers did the same;

— the whole remnant of thee will I scatter: this was verified when they were fetched away who were left at the departure of the besiegers, and when the very small remnant fled into Egypt with Jeremiah; but this will be repeated in the future.

¹¹ “Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, surely because thou hast defiled My sanctuary with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall Mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

— as I live, the most solemn of oaths, pledging the self-existence of God: the calamities of the Babylonian were surpassed by the Roman siege, and these again were but a foreshadowing of still more terrible destruction at the last days.

¹² A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

— a third part of them shall die with the pestilence and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; signified by the third part of the hair, smitten with a knife; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds; the greatest part of which were carried into captivity.

¹³ Thus shall Mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal when I have accomplished My fury upon them.

— and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in My zeal; that is, they shall find by experience that what the Lord had spoken by His prophets, and had threatened to bring upon them, was said in earnest, and arose from a jealousy for His own glory; this will be a clear case, and out of question.

¹⁴ “Moreover I will make thee a waste and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. — moreover God will make thee a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.

¹⁵ So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgements upon thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken it. — I the Lord have spoken it; which means, “I the Lord have decreed it.”

¹⁶ When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you, and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread,

¹⁷ so will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring the sword upon thee. I, the Lord, have spoken it.” — evil beasts, literally lions, wolves and wild boars, alligators, bears and bisons, cobra and scorpions;

— God the Almighty have spoken it: who is able to perform it, and He did decreed it, both at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC and by Titus in AD 70; and surely a series of bigger ones in the future.

Ezekiel 6

The phase, ye or they “shall know that I am the Lord” has been expressed 3 times in this chapter alone (v7, 13, 14) and in all, 57 times in the book of Ezekiel. On some occasion, the phase could apply to some Gentile nations, but for this chapter, it applies sorely to the house of Israel, emphasizing that their shepherd, or prophets, despite invoking His name, preaching as if they know so much, actually just didn’t know their God.

“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, — the message in this chapter is more to the house of Israel as the next verse indicates, and less to the house of Judah;

— a parallel message in the Book of Revelation is also going into the world:

⁶ And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people,

⁷ saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His Judgment is come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6-7

² “Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them — Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel; or cities of Israel, their future inhabitants; not the ancient ten tribes, for they had been carried captive long before this time, even in the times of Hezekiah;

— but a prophecy far into the future (Ezekiel 12:27 “Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off’), unless it can be thought that this prophecy was designed to show the reason of their Assyrian captivity, which wasn’t;

— for identity for each of the Lost Ten Tribes, see Who are the posterity of biblical Jacob?

³ and say: ‘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: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. — this message to the “mountains of Israel;” these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France. . . .

— and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys; the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian: Denmark, 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;

— behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you; the Targum paraphrases it, “them that kill with the sword;” meaning your enemies will destroy your high places;

⁴ And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. — your temples and altars, built on high places, and devoted to idolatrous worship, threatening them with utter destruction.

⁵ And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. — and God will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols, which is repeated for emphasis.

⁶ In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

— in all your homes and cities shall be destroyed; which indicates that the desolation should be widespread, wherever they had cities, towns and villages and places to dwell in;

— the idolatry being universal as is said in Jeremiah 2:28; but where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. Of course, this chapter has application for modern Israel;

⁷ And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

— flash forward to a parallel Scripture; and speaking of the house of Jacob today: “I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD” Ezekiel 35:4. This implies the house of Israel, even their numerous churches, doesn’t know God today! They preached a false vision from the deceit of their own heart, Jeremiah 14:14!

⁸ “‘Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations when ye shall be scattered through the countries. — situations would be getting more and more seriously downcast and disheartened; and ultimately Ezekiel asks: “Ah, Lord God! Wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” Ezekiel 11:13.

⁹ And they that escape from among you shall remember Me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from Me, and with their eyes which go a whoring after their idols. And they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

— they that escape of you shall remember God (or, as the Targum says, learn the fear of me); and those that escape the sword, the pestilence, and the famine, these shall be led into captivity, shall plainly see that it is God who has done this, and shall humble themselves on account of their abominations, leave their idolatry, and worship God alone;

— and this the house of Judah have experienced from the Babylonian captivity many times, again and again, down to the present day; but the house of Israel will be dealt with in the last days, perhaps the last 190 years according to Ezekiel 4 (Septuagint version).

¹⁰ And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. — the emphasis of the words is, “When the slain shall fall in the midst of you, then at last ye shall know that I am the Lord.” Again, this implies in numerous times that the house of Israel doesn’t know God today!

— only when God do some evil on the house of Israel would they wake up and know the Lord. And a parallel Scripture here: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” Amos 3:2

¹¹ “‘Thus saith the Lord God: Smite with thine hand and stamp with thy foot, and say: “Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel!” For they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

— smite with thine hand and stamp with thy foot; all expression of anguish and sorrow: the word “alas” or “woe” as in the Targum is an interjection of mourning and lamentation;

— for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; which are repeated from Ezekiel 5:12; and the persons on whom they should be separately executed are mentioned in Ezekiel 6:12. Again the term “the house of Israel” is used above.

¹² He that is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine; thus will I accomplish My fury upon them.

— central theme of falling by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence are repeated for emphasis. And sometimes in different order indicates they are all mixed and mingled together until “I accomplish My fury upon them.”

¹³ Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they offered sweet savor to all their idols.

— modern day idolatries are alive and well; in all corners, caves and hideout of the house of Israel, people will be caught in a snare; anything that they love in our heart and life: Wealth, Prosperity, Career Success, Image, Safety & Security.

¹⁴ So will I stretch out My hand upon them and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations; and they shall know that I am the Lord.’”

— again, the ending of this chapter “and they shall know that I am the Lord” implies that the house of Israel doesn’t know God today;

— by now we have established that 70 AD was one of God’s judgement on Judah and Jerusalem, but it’s a microcosm for the wider Israelites at the endtime. So what were God’s judgement in 70 AD? And which sects managed to escape fire and death? History recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of 70 AD:

(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, east 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 359 AD concerning the rules of the calendar.

All other sects died and “disappeared” in the 70 AD inferno: (a) All Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians; (b) Essenes, together with (c) the House of Shammai Pharisees and (d) the Zealots. They all “disappeared” by receiving their sword and fire. Were these sects facing their judgement as warned by Ezekiel?

If the 70 AD inferno was only a microcosm, how could those who deviate from the God ordained Calendar, who have similar deceptive beliefs as the original Essenes, escape Ezekiel’s and John’s warning during the Last Days? Wouldn’t there be another Sodom and Gomorrah? And wouldn’t they also share its fate? It’s an unpleasant ending, but that’s what the Scriptures indicate.

When Jerusalem went through a fire inferno in 70 AD and all Sadducees disappeared from history. “Disappeared from history” seems like a whitewashed phrase. They were in fact burnt off like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Amos 3:6.

Such prophecy of evil and death were proven true, that the Sadducees were sharing the same fate with king Zedekiah, described as ‘the wicked ones … whose reign over Israel will be brought down … his wives, his children, and his infant will go into captivity’ Jeremiah 39:4-7 

Like the Samaritans, the Sadducees rejected not only the Oral Torah and the Rabbinic understanding of the Torah, but instead accepted the Samaritan interpretation of their Passover and Pentecost celebration. By doing so, they rejected the Prophets (like Ezekiel) and their Writings. God included His holy city of Jerusalem in this judgement in 70 AD as a microcosm for us to be forewarned, so take heed.

Posted in Ezekiel

After the Lord had pointed out to prophet Ezekiel the difficulties of the call laid upon him, He prepared him for the performance of his office, by inspiring him with the divine word which he is to announce to a rebellious house:

“And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee and thou dost dwell among scorpions. Be not afraid of their words nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house” Ezekiel 2:6.

Chapter 3 starts with further account of Ezekiel’s calling and mission; of his preparation and work; of the people to whom he was sent; of what happened to him; of the nature of his office, and what followed upon the renewal of his calling.

And remember, Ezekiel’s prophetic message wasn’t for the house of Judah but to the house of Israel; hence we must try to read the prophetic meaning behind all those historical setting. Its timing was a great distance into the future (Ezekiel 12:27), into our time and the message is primarily and principally for the United States of America; and, secondarily, her Western 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 JH Allen (1847-1930).

For a study for each of the Lost Ten Tribes: Who are the posterity of biblical Jacob?

For a detailed study 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

Ezekiel 3

¹ Moreover He said unto me, “Son of man, eat what thou findest: eat this scroll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel.” — eat this roll; not literally, but figuratively, as John is bid to eat the little book, digest it; let it be thy nourishment; and let it be thy meat and drink to do the will of thy Father who is in heaven;

— Revelation 10:9; that is, read it, meditate upon the things contained therein; and digest them, that he might be able to impart them, and make them known to others: it is explained further in the Targum: “receive what is written in this roll,” and “go, and prophesy to the house of Israel.”

² So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.

³ And He said unto me, “Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this scroll that I give thee.” Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

— it was joyous for Ezekiel to receive such a Divine message, and be let into the secrets of Divine counsel. It’s liked the Parable of the King inviting one special friend for the Eight Day to end the Feast; for just one special guest;

— Gill: And he said unto me, son of man, cause thy belly to eat…. or “devour” and consume; that is, concoct and digest; do not cast it out of thy mouth, as soon as thou hast tasted of it; but let it go down into the stomach, and there digest it; and from thence into the belly, that so, upon the whole, virtue may be received, and nourishment come by it:

— and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee; eat to satiety;

— so the Targum says, “son of man, thou shalt satiate thy soul, and fill thy belly, if thou receivest what is written in this roll, which I give thee:”

Remember, the Targum, whose origin was in the Aramaic language, could be traced to Ezra speaking to the returning exiles who couldn’t understand Hebrew, but was expounded to them in a language they could understand.

⁴ And He said unto me, “Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them. — and he said unto me, son of man, go; that is, after he had eaten the roll; for then was he qualified to prophesy: not to the house of Judah but to the house of Israel;

— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 36:1, “the mountain of Israel” this prophecy is inferring the desolations of the United States, UK and France; “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys (v4)” 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;

⁵ For thou art not sent to a people of strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel — but to the house of Israel; who were a people of the same speech and language with the prophet (Protestants of Western Europe: principally the United States, UK and France);

— all spoke and understood the Hebrew language; nor were the things he delivered such as they were altogether strangers to being the same, for substance, which Moses, and the other prophets, had ever taught.

⁶ not to many people of strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. — surely, I had NOT sent thee to “a people of strange speech and of a hard language,” they would have hearkened unto thee; which shows an aggravation of the obstinacy and disobedience of the people of Israel;

— that had the Gentiles been favoured with the same means of instruction they would have been obedient. That is, Gentiles, people with a strange speech and of a hard language, “they would have hearkened unto thee” would have repented and would have done better!

⁷ But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. — again, the message is to the house of Israel;

— they were not willing; they were stiffnecked; they have no desire, no inclination, to hear and hearken; but the reverse: as stiffnecked as in Exodus 32:9; and indeed the reason why they did not hearken to him was not because they rejected Ezekiel and his words, but because they rejected the Lord and his reproofs (admonitions).

⁸ Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. — Ezekiel would have to behave with an undaunted spirit against them, and with great intrepidity, amidst all opposition made against him.

⁹ As an adamant, harder than flint, have I made thy forehead. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.” — adamant as the diamond, as it is translated (Jeremiah 17:1, the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond)

— the house of Israel were as hard as flint, but as the diamond cuts flint, so Ezekiel’s words would be made by Divine power to cut through all resistance.

¹⁰ Moreover He said unto me, “Son of man, all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. — God shows what is meant by the eating of the book, that is, to internalize them in heart and mind.

¹¹ And go, get thee to those of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them and tell them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God,’ whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.”

— “Go, get thee unto thy people,” note that God did not say here, “unto my people,” but “unto thy people,”

— the apostasy of Israel was so complete that God no longer recognized them as his people, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea, “I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more” (Hosea 9:15); and God will cast them away, “and they shall be wanderers among the nations” (v17).

¹² Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.” — a voice of great rushing; this was the same noise made by the wings of the living creatures that formed the chariot of God. See Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10.

¹³ I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels opposite them, and a noise of a great rushing. — again, a voice of great rushing; this was from the chariot of God.

¹⁴ So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. — Ezekiel could feel the hand of the Lord was strong upon him;

— then the spirit took me up; it could be the wind, or an angel, often expressed as the spirit of God; who lifted up Ezekiel from the ground, from the place where he was, among the captives by the river Chebar; and was carried to another company of captives, who were at another place by the same river, as appears by comparing Ezekiel 1:1 with Ezekiel 3:15.

¹⁵ Then I came to those of the captivity at Telabib, who dwelt by the River of Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. — seven days at Telabib, a change of place and company, but still by the same “river of Chebar,”

— at the sad condition his people were in; and above all at the dreadful things he had to deliver to them; he was in “silent” through grief and trouble, a great time for reflection.

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word out of My mouth, and give them warning from Me. — Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, thus if he warned the wicked, he would not be chargeable with their ruin;

— a watchman of a town or city, or of the whole country, and in an ecclesiastical sense. So the Targum renders it “a teacher” whose business it was to instruct the people in divine issues, to warn them of their evil ways, and of the danger they exposed them to; such as from their prophets of old;

¹⁸ When I say unto the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die,’ and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. — if shepherd are not giving warning, they shalt surely die;

— that is, if he turn not from his wickedness, and thou givest him not warning, he shalt die in his iniquity, which he should not have committed; but his blood will God require at their hand; God will visit their soul for the loss of his;

¹⁹ Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

— such warning is so serious that it is repeated in Ezekiel 33:1-6:

¹ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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 ³ if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people, 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. 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. 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’ Ezekiel 33:1-6

²⁰ Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

— better translated as “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and God place an obstacle before him, he will die; but since you have not warned him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but you will be responsible for his blood.”

²¹ Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.”

— << there seems to be some missing events to fill the gap. Ezekiel must have delivered his message, least he would die as a watcher, but he didn’t, signifying he must have delivered the warning. On his return, he was made dumb by God who asked him to stay at home until the fulfillment of his warning: the destruction of Jerusalem: Ezekiel 24:26-27. This is historical but the real message is for the endtime and is to the house of Israel >>

²² And the hand of the Lord was there upon me; and He said unto me, “Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.” — considerable time must had passsed for this new event to come to pass.

²³ Then I arose and went forth into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the River of Chebar; and I fell on my face.

²⁴ Then the Spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me and said unto me, “Go, shut thyself within thine house. — instead of sending him to a public assembly, God orders him to confine himself to his own lodgings: “Go, shut thyself within thy house.”

²⁵ But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them. — put bands upon thee; signifying the bonds and chains of their future captivity who were yet at Jerusalem; shall bind thee with them;

— this indicates the severity with which their conquerors would treat them, they would bind their bonds fast, close, and this will be pain and grief to those bound.

²⁶ And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb and shalt not be to them a reprover, for they are a rebellious house. — reprover, that is, someone who finds fault or imputes blame, that thou shall be dumb which is to be understood not just literally, as if he was really struck dumb;

— and that such silence should be charged upon him by the Lord, that he, Ezekiel, should be as if his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth, as if he was a dumb man: and so the Septuagint version renders it, “I will bind thy tongue, and thou shalt be dumb.”

²⁷ But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God.’ He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear; for they are a rebellious house. — God will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth; but he, Ezekiel, will give them the message to deliver when the time is ripe;

— they, the house of Israel, are so rebellious, it is useless to give them further warning. But then again, God set the time, when to be silent and when to speak when the time is right.

Ezekiel 4

¹ “Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem; — Ezekiel received God’s command to depict Jerusalem as a tile or a clay tablet; take a tile and lay it before thee;

— God often foreshadowed impending judgements by significant emblems, which usually strike more powerfully than words; and to take one of those earthen vessels and break it in the sight of the elders of the Jews, (Ezekiel 19) that they might thereby be sensibly taught the greatness of God’s power, and their own frailty;

² and lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mound against it. Set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. — lay siege against it; it seemed at this time that Jerusalem would soon become the subject of another siege;

— but if Jerusalem had already fallen then this mentioning of siege could be a futurist event, perhaps in the year 70 AD; and, lastly, the event of this siege could be a microcosm for the endtime, for a wider audience, for the house of Israel in the next verse, and its timing was a great distance into the future (Ezekiel 12:27).

³ Moreover take thou unto thee an iron plate and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. — here we’re reminded that the main message is “to the house of Israel,” not the house of Judah;

⁴ “Also lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the [hundred and fifty] days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. — the focus is the iniquity of the “house of Israel;”

— the Septuagint has another phase: “according to the number of the hundred and fifty days,” which is absent (most probably deleted) in the Masoretic text.

⁵ For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. — nobody attempt or able to analyze what this 390 years for the house of Israel mean, except:

— Rashi: three hundred and ninety days: We learned in Seder Olam (ch. 26): This teaches us that Israel sinned for three hundred and ninety years from the time they entered the Land until the ten tribes were exiled therefrom.

— well, if Rashi’s premise is true, that the 390 years were since the house of Israel entered the Promised Land from the other side of the Jordan to the time of their exile, then using the same principle, Judah’s 40 years of iniquity would have started the same time but ended around the time Joshua ended his reign when he died an an age of 110, or shortly after? It just doesn’t add up and doesn’t make sense!

— and by the way, the Septuagint version of this verse says it is 190 years instead of 390 years in verse five; so is this easier to understand? Maybe! Perhaps and perhaps only, the downfall of the house of Israel would start first and last for 150 years before the house of Judah joins them for the last 40 years for the final total 190 years as spelt out in the Septuagint? What do you think?

⁶ And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. — this follows the same a-day-for-a-year principle from Numbers 14:14, “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year shall ye bear your iniquities;” 

— Rashi: the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: This teaches us that the house of Judah sinned, from the time that the ten tribes were exiled until Jerusalem was destroyed, forty years; — but these figures and reasoning don’t sound right; why start only after the northern 10 tribes had gone into captivity; and the time gap was about 135 to 150 years, not 40?

— reading from verse 4 to verse 6 in the Septuagint, it seems the 190 days are made up of 150 days for Israel and consequently another 40 days for both Israel and Judah:

⁴ And thou shalt lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the hundred and fifty days which thou shalt lie upon it: and thou shalt bear their iniquities. ⁵ For I have appointed thee their iniquities for a number of days, for a hundred and ninety days: so thou shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Israel. ⁶ And thou shalt accomplish this, and shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Juda forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year. Septuagint version

⁷ Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem; and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. — while Ezekiel was lying either on the left side or the right, his face was to be directed to the siege of Jerusalem, indicating this is prophetic “thou shalt prophesy” pointing to the year 70 AD; but more probably, the endtime;

⁸ And behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another until thou hast ended the days of thy siege. — confined and not allowed to move left or right, indicating of some bad time, another captivity;

⁹ “Take thou also unto thee wheat and barley and beans, and lentils and millet and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side; three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

— Gill: Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches…. the first of these was commonly used to make bread of; in case of want and poverty, barley was used; but, for the rest, they were for cattle, and never used for the food of men but in a time of great scarcity; wherefore this was designed to denote the famine that should attend the siege of Jerusalem.

— Gill: no mention is made of the forty days, perhaps they are understood, a part being put for the whole; or they were included in the three hundred and ninety days. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read only a hundred and ninety days.

¹⁰ And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day. From time to time shalt thou eat it. — this is a prophecy of another famine, same as the great scarcity during the siege of Jerusalem from 66 to 70 AD;

¹¹ Thou shalt drink also water by measure, a sixth part of a hin. From time to time shalt thou drink. — again, this is the difficulties of getting food and drink during famines at the endtime;

¹² And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man in their sight.” — the captives to languish in hunger and distress, though not compelled to make bricks from straw but asked to bake their food with shits! Yak! Is this a better deal than the time during their Egyptian captivity?

— the Israelites in Egypt were never asked to bake their food with dungs, let alone man’s dung; this indicates the severity of their coming famines;

¹³ And the Lord said, “Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations, whither I will drive them.” — the above “thus shall” indicates it is a designated futuristic time from God;

— this new captivity would be “among the nations” that is, quite unlike the Egyptian captivity, where only Egypt was involved;

— and Ezekiel’s perspectives as the house of Israel shall spend 190 years in captivity, so the mystery of 390/190/150/40 years remains in the future. Any other possibilities? None that I know off.

¹⁴ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.” — then said I, ah, Lord God!… the interjection “ah” is expressive of sighing and groaning;

— Gill: neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth; corrupt or, putrefied, or whatsoever was unclean by law, as swine’s flesh, or any other. The argument is that since he had never eaten of anything forbidden by the law of God, he could by no means think of eating that which was abhorrent to nature; as bread baked with men’s dung was.

¹⁵ Then He said unto me, “Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.” — cow’s dung, obviously an improvement over man’s excretion, which Ezekiel seemed to have bargained for, like Abraham did in bargaining with God in his days.

¹⁶ Moreover He said unto me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight and with care, and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment,

¹⁷ that they may lack bread and water, and be stunned one with another, and be consumed away for their iniquity. — in summary, the Lord will take away their provision, that they may die from famines, punished for all their sins;

— and disappointed of all that their false prophets promised them; and under strangest disappointments, be filled with horrors, at the woeful miseries of one another, and falling dead in each other’s helpless sight, consumed “for their iniquity.”

~~~~

Below is the Septuagint (and Arabic versions too; John Gill says so) and putting all together, a possible explanation to the mystery of the 390/190/150/40 years:

⁴ And thou shalt lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the hundred and fifty days which thou shalt lie upon it: and thou shalt bear their iniquities. — start with the ten tribes house of Israel and last for 150 years

⁵ For I have appointed thee their iniquities for a number of days, for a hundred and ninety days: so thou shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Israel. — start with the 10 tribes but end with the full house of Israel; all 12 tribes: end of the 190 years

⁶ And thou shalt accomplish this, and shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Juda forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year. Ezekiel 4:4-6 Septuagint. — after the start of the 10 tribes house of Israel and last for 150 years, the 3 tribes house of Judah join in for another 40 years;

⁷ So thou shalt set thy face to the siege of Jerusalem, and shalt strengthen thine arm, and shalt prophesy against it. ⁸ And, behold, I have prepared bonds for thee, and thou mayest not turn from thy one side to the other, until the days of thy siege shall be accomplished. — under bonds and couldn’t move from side to side indicate confined in captivity, as was in Egypt;

⁹ Take thou also to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and bread-corn; and thou shalt cast them into one earthen vessel, and shalt make them into loaves for thyself; and thou shalt eat them a hundred and ninety days, according to the number of the days which thou sleepest on thy side. Ezekiel 4:9 Septuagint.

From the start with 10 tribes northern house of Israel and end with the full house of Israel: 190 years; why the difference? Perhaps Judah had undergo numerous pogroms and cleansings whereas Ephraim has none since the day when they went captivity and into apparent oblivion.

We’re now in the Hebrew year 5785 and we’ll need another 215 years to usher the Divine Plan from the year 6000 onward into the 7th Millennium as most believe. Of course, this is on the assumption that God’s calendar had been accurately kept since the day Adam was created as the Jewish custodians claim.

If we add 215 years to this Gregorian calendar year 2025 we’ll come to 2240 when the 7th Millennium would start. Working backward 190 years will bring us to the Gregorian year 2050. So could the year 2050 be the start of the house of Israel’s “iniquity?” — “thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them;” in captivity to start the 190 years?

No, perhaps not: the 190 years may end with the appearance of “My servant David,” in the “valley full of dry bones” (Ezekiel 37) scenario where the full house of Israel would dwell securely rather than in captivity. Some indications are that this period is a hundred year period involving “Gog and all his multitude” to the beginning of the Millennium (Ezekiel 40); but more probably, this period could be only seven years.

If the latter figure of seven years is accepted, the start of the 190 years would be pushed back another seven years, which would be the Gregorian year 2043, that is, the year 2050 less 7 years; which seems having a higher possibility than the figures (of 390/40 years) offered by the Masoretic Text.

Hence the year 2043 could commence the house of Israel’s ‘captivity!’

On reflection, the children of Israel were in Egypt for about 210 years, so cheers; this captivity of 190 years is 20 years shorter. These analyses may run away with imaginations, but the incorporation of prophecies always has elements of uncertainties and so these predictions could be prone to errors.

Okay, one Question that comes to mind is, “Why the iniquity for the house of Israel is much longer than for the house of Judah?” Perhaps the answer could be broken into two parts: (1) the house of Judah, the Jews, have undergone pogroms numerous times over the last two and a half millennium whereas the house of Israel have remained largely unscathed since their only captivity was by the Assyrians;

And a related second reason: (2) the house of Judah has already been restored to the Land of Promise; whereas the house of Israel are still largely intact and dwelling “among the nations” (Lamentations 1:1, Ezekiel 12:15). It would take decades for conditions to build up for the whole house of Israel to want to return back to their homeland to team up with the house of Judah for the fulfilment of the prophecy of the joining of the two sticks in Ezekiel 37.

And finally, these analyses are not written in stone and so any thoughts to the contrary are most welcome. Are there any other possibilities or factors that have been left out but could or should be considered? Thanks for reading.

~~~

More on the Big Picture: Sequence of Keystone Prophecies till the End

On others related: (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

Posted in Ezekiel

Ezekiel was among the captives in Chaldea when his visions occurred; whereas Jeremiah began to prophesy long before that captivity, hence this book of Ezekiel was placed after Jeremiah. The name of this prophet, Ezekiel, signifies, as it is commonly interpreted, “the strength of God” or “strengthened by God.”

And since Ezekiel was regarded as a major prophets, the events recorded have significant meanings, that although those events were historical, they have implications for our time; the end time.

And Ezekiel’s main message wasn’t for the house of Judah but to the house of Israel, whose captivity occurred some 135 years before Judah’s captivity. Hence we must try to read the prophetic meaning behind all those historical setting.

Yet 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 taught themselves that they have already replaced the Israelites and God’s graceful promises of eternity are now theirs!

The secret is out when God revealed its timing to Ezekiel:

“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off’ (Ezekiel 12:27). Or as the RSV has it: “The vision that he sees is for many days hence, and he prophesies of times far off.”

That’s right, God had inspired the house of Israel to say that its timing was a great distance into the future, into our time and the message is primarily and principally for Ephraim, the head of the northern tribes, 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 JH Allen (1847-1930).

For a study for each of the Lost Ten Tribes: Who are the posterity of biblical Jacob?

Further, you may like to know who Ephraim and Manasseh are:

For detailed studies, 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

Ezekiel 1

¹ Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River of Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, paraphrases the words thus, “and it was in the thirtieth year after Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the law, in the house of the sanctuary, in the court under the porch, in the middle of the night, after the moon was down, in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah” (from John Gill’s exposition);

— Ezekiel was among the captives by the river Chebar in Chaldea; some thought it was the river Euphrates, others a distributary. Ezekiel was among the captives and this was around the year 587/586 BC, resulting in the exile of the inhabitants of Jerusalem to Babylon. The northern Kingdom Israel was taken as captives earlier around 721 BC (ie about 135 years earlier), hence the significance is that Ezekiel’s visions are prophetic;

— “and I saw visions of God.” And so at the end: “And I saw, and behold, a storm wind, etc.” — a similar case like John in Revelation when he was in visions;

— in his introduction to Ezekiel, John Gill wrote that there were already synagogues in Babylon; he states: “the account R. Benjamin Tudelensis is that there is a synagogue of the Prophet Ezekiel by the river Euphrates; and over against the synagogue sixty towers; and between every tower a synagogue. In the court of the synagogue is a library;” ~ this means there were numerous synagogues while the Jews were in Babylon.

² On the fifth day of the month (which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity),

³ the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him. — Ezekiel was a priest; in the Jerusalem Targum, the Prophet Ezekiel is called the son of Jeremiah the prophet (Gill).

⁴ And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself; and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. — “A whirlwind came out of the north;” Nebuchadnezzar, whose land, Babylonia, lay north of Judea. Chaldea was denominated by Jeremiah prophecy;

— from the north, see also Jeremiah 1:14-15; Jeremiah 4:6; Jeremiah 6:1; it was from that direction that the Assyrian and the Chaldæan conquerors were accustomed to descend upon the Holy Land.

⁵ Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. — out of the midst of that same whirlwind from the north (v4) came “the likeness of four living creatures.”

⁶ And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. — as in Ezekiel 10:21, each cherub has four wings, or two elsewhere (Exodus 25:20; in the Temple overshadowing the mercy-seat, or in the garden of Eden keeping the way of the tree of life, always indicate the immediate presence of God). But in Isaiah 6:2, each seraphim has six wings;

— in the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language of understanding the Scriptures could be traced to Ezra; multiplies the faces in a strange monstrous manner, paraphrasing the words thus, “each had four faces, and there were four faces to everyone “of them”, and every creature had sixteen faces; the number of the faces of the four creatures was sixty and four.”

— Rabbi Rashi (1040-1105 France): and each one had four faces: “Each one” means that the human countenance had four faces, as did that of the lion, the eagle, and the ox, totaling sixteen [faces] to one living being. It was thus for each living being, and four wings for each of the faces, totaling sixty-four wings for each living being. This is [why] Jonathan paraphrased: two hundred fifty-six wings.

⁷ And their feet were straight feet, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.

⁸ And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and all four had their faces and their wings.

⁹ Their wings were joined one to another. They turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, all four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side, and all four had the face of an ox on the left side; all four also had the face of an eagle.

North: DAN (Eagle); East: JUDAH (Lion); South: REUBEN (Man): West: EPHRAIM (Ox)

¹¹ Thus were their faces. And their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

¹² And they went every one straight forward; whither the spirit was to go, they went, and they turned not when they went.

¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire and like the appearance of lamps; it went up and down among the living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴ And the living creatures ran and returned, like the appearance of a flash of lightning. — not only was the appearance of the cherubim thus glittering, but also their speed as they “ran and returned” was liked that of lightning.

¹⁵ Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold, a wheel was upon the earth by each of the living creatures with his four faces.

¹⁶ The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness; and their appearance and their work was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

¹⁷ When they went, they went upon their four sides; and they turned not when they went.

¹⁸ As for their rims, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rims were full of eyes round about the four.

¹⁹ And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

²⁰ Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went; thither was their spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up opposite them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²¹ When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up opposite them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²² And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creatures was as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

²³ And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other; every one had two which covered on this side, and every one had two which covered on that side of their bodies.

²⁴ And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech as the noise of a host. When they stood, they let down their wings;

— “as the voice of the Almighty;” like distant thunder, with hailstones and coals of fire, sometimes lightning flashes; for this is termed the voice of God, Psalms 18:13; Exodus 9:23; Exodus 9:28-29; Exodus 20:18.

²⁵ and there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads when they stood and had let down their wings.

²⁶ And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, with the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness in appearance of a man above upon it.

²⁷ And I saw as the color of amber, with the appearance of fire round about within it. From the appearance of His loins even upward and from the appearance of His loins even downward, I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

²⁸ As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of One who spoke.

— this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God: of the divine Shekinah; His omnipotence and omniscience; the same BEING that dwelled in the Temple in Jerusalem, now manifested Himself to Prophet Ezekiel showing him events that are set to come, far into their future.

Ezekiel 2

¹ And He said unto me, “Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.” — the Most High said unto Ezekiel; “Son of man” emphasizes Ezekiel’s insignificance or mere humanity; it’s applied to Daniel only once (Daniel 8:17), while to Ezekiel it is used over ninety times; both were prophets during captivity in Babylon.

² And the spirit entered into me when He spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet, so that I heard Him who spoke unto me. — this is the spirit of God that entered Ezekiel and spoke to him.

³ And He said unto me, “Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation (H1471 goy) that hath rebelled against Me. They and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day;

— “I send thee to the children of Israel;” this targeted nation (H1471 goy) couldn’t be Judah, which were already in captivity, and not the Israel of old, the northern kingdom either, since it was already exiled by the Assyrians some 135 years earlier;

— connecting Scripture:

“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off’ Ezekiel 12:27. So the message has to be meant for the endtime, to the endtime house of Israel, “a rebellious nation (goy single; that is, collectively, a nation) that hath rebelled against Me.”

⁴ for they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God.’ — “for they are impudent children and stiffhearted: hard-hearted; elsewhere stiffnecked: impudent—literally, “hard-faced” (Ezekiel 3:7,9);

— And the Lord said unto Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people,” Exodus 32:9; showing no respect; obstinate, stubborn, with hearts that were like an adamant stone, and harder than the nether millstone; impenitent, obdurate, and inflexible.

⁵ And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

— John Gill: “yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them; so that they were left without excuse, which was the purpose of the prophet being sent unto them; although there was little or no hope of reclaiming them; but, however, by such a step taken, they could not say that they had no prophet sent to reprove them for their sins, and warn them of their danger; had they, they would have listened to him, and so have escaped the evils that would come upon them.”

⁶ “And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee and thou dost dwell among scorpions. Be not afraid of their words nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

— be not afraid of their words; as before; with which they are like briers, thorns and scorpions, being very grievous, defamatory and mischievous: as if “thou dwellest in the midst of a people whose works are like to scorpions.”

⁷ And thou shalt speak My words unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious. — “And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them,” Ezekiel 2:5

⁸ But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee.”

— “Open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee” ~ this means Ezekiel was to hear it and internalize the message, then the people to whom such messages of God may come should also hear it read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it, and be warned of this message.

⁹ And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me; and lo, a scroll of a book was therein. — behold a hand was sent unto me; a hand stretched out toward me.

¹⁰ And He spread it before me; and it was written within and without, and there were written therein lamentations and mourning and woe.

— “it was written within and without;” that is and it was written on the front and back, contrary to the state of rolls in general, which are written on the inside only, but this was also written on the outside, perhaps indicating a message of unusual urgency;

— in Chabad Bible, “lamentations” are interpreted as retribution of the righteous in this world; “mourning” are gift of reward to the righteous, over which they will sing in the world to come; and “woe” are of the punishments of the wicked in the world to come. Gill, quoted the Targum says, “if the house of Israel transgress the law, the people shall rule over them; but, if they keep the law, lamentation, and mourning, and sorrow, shall cease from them.”

~~~~

For more about 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

Posted in Ezekiel