Chapter 7
This chapter is titled "The Day of the Wrath of the Lord" in ESV. This vs:
3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. [Eze 7:3 ESV] The first four verses are kind of a final pronouncement. Note that once God reaches this point, there is no more mercy, no sparing of anyone or anything. Age, sex, race, none of that makes any difference. All suffer - even the good among them, if there still were any - when Babylon lays siege to the walls.
2022 - Vss 1-4 seem to be definitely about Ezekiel's time. I see nothing really near/far about it.
2023 - Except...The use of "son of man" as a title for Ezekiel. This phrase occurs 93 times in 93 verses in the ESV in the book of Ezekiel. This is also a very common title for Jesus. Why? How are these two alike? Perhaps in that the wrath of God on Jerusalem first, in Ezekiel's time, and on the world second, at the second coming of Christ, is associated with these two. Ezekiel AND Jeremiah saw the final fall of Jerusalem, and perhaps some minor prophets did also - I think of Daniel as a third. So there must be more to the sharing of this title between Ezekiel and Jesus than just this catastrophic event, but surely it is a very important one. In Ezekiel, God says he won't ever do this again. Revelation is the destruction of earth by fire, because God said he'd never do it again with water. The time of tribulation will be the worst thing ever seen, and the worst thing that will ever be seen. All that works...but Ezekiel wasn't the ONLY prophet alive during this time. Look at this verse: 2 "And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. [Eze 7:2 ESV]. Very very similar to the events of Revelation. The end has come.
Then this one:
7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. [Eze 7:7 ESV]
2022 - This verse seems to make it quite clear that we are talking about events in Ezekiel's lifetime.
2024 - Three of the four in this verse:
15 The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. He who is in the field dies by the sword, and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour. [Eze 7:15 ESV]
This is about judgement. God has warned over and over, to no avail. He is a just God, and eventually, to preserve His justice, He must judge, and sentence, and execute. Without these, He would not be the God He is. Ezekiel seems much more harsh in his writing, in the word pictures he paints. He tells the naked truth of what is going to happen. Surely, he leaves no excuse. Also, perhaps the language, the clarity of the message, the urgency increases as that "Day of Wrath" gets nearer and nearer. This verse:
19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity. [Eze 7:19 ESV]
Interesting that it says silver and gold - by extension greed I think - was the stumbling block. Doesn't say it was the cause, doesn't say the punishment is because of their greed. Their punishment is because of the idols, because they have turned against God and now worship created things. They worship lesser gods. But greed was the place they stumbled, the place they compromised, and from there, all else followed. Or...it might mean that. The MSB note covers all of 17-22, but says in part that their wealth provided nothing. He does not mention that it was their stumbling block.
2023 - So...lust for wealth was the stumbling block. Compare with this verse: 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [1Co 1:23 ESV]. In this sense, the stumbling block is what diverts you from the path. Israel was diverted by wealth, and with that as their goal instead of obedience, anything that might increase wealth was worthwhile - idols of all kinds. Anything that was NOT about wealth, anything that said wealth is not the goal, not the way, not important even because it only has value in this transient place and is worthless in the world to come, they rejected. When wrath came to Jerusalem, the gold and silver were dead weight. They wouldn't buy bread - there was no bread - and you cannot eat metal. It was truly made worthless. Here is a good argument that the destruction of the Babylon of Revelation is about the worldwide economic system of that time. Perhaps it is about rampant capitalism - about self-sufficiency based on wealth rather than on God. About getting wealthy by "cheating" absolutely everyone instead of by loving everyone. It brought down Zion, it can bring down the whole world. "Fall of Babylon".
Then this verse:
24 I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned. [Eze 7:24 ESV] Though Neb was doing as God commanded, never doubt that they were a terrible nation also. Here they are called the "worst of the nations". God sends the worst to punish those who thought of themselves as the best.
Possible FB post.
This last part of the last verse in the chapter:
27 ...According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD." [Eze 7:27 ESV] How about "As they have aborted their children, I will abort them. In bloody pieces I will pull them from their safe places.
Possible FB post.
2022 - This is just a dire pronouncement, each verse building the imminence and the completeness of the disaster that is coming. This is a truly fearful and depressing chapter. Have to remember that Ezekiel is already in captivity, but at this time, Jerusalem still stands.