Ezekiel chapter 33 is sort of a “turning point” in the Book. Chapters 1-32 mostly deal with “judgment,” with only sight intervals of “grace.” But chapters 33 through 48 (generally) seem to concentrate more on “hope,” a much brighter future for Israel and her people.

Verses 1-9 return to the theme of Ezekiel being a “watchman” to the Jews. The word means a “look-out,” sort of a “guard” even, and once a “spy!” Warning against sin! Appealing to their collective conscience! Foretelling the coming (sure) judgment!

Then verse 11 is precious as well, “classic” in fact. “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.” Thrilling! (This line contradicts some who believe “God has as much pleasure in sending a man to hell as He does in saving a soul from sin.” Or at least derives as much Glory from the one as the other! I disagree!)

Then I love verse 22 personally. “Now the HAND OF THE LORD was upon me in the evening,” that particular clause. Oh, to have God’s Hand upon us, in power and grace and utility! Remember the prayer of Jabez? “And he called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, AND THAT THINE HAND MIGHT BE WITH ME, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil.” Wow! And Nehemiah? “Then I told them of THE HAND OF MY GOD which was good UPON ME.” (Quoting parts of both 1st Chronicles 4:10 and Nehemiah 2:18.)

But the chapter’s last 4 verses today impress me the most. God seems to be encouraging his man, Ezekiel. But in a unique way!

“Also, thou SON OF MAN (God’s favorite name for Ezekiel), the children of thy people (the Jews) still are talking against (beside, about) 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 (but not obey) what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear (listen) thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew (just a ‘show’) much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness (unjust gain, love of money). And, lo, thou (Ezekiel) art unto them as a very lovely song (!!!) of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument (mere entertainment): for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this (predicted heavy judgment) cometh to pass, LO, IT WILL COME, then shall they KNOW that a PROPHET hath been among them.” Verses 30-33

The last clause: “Then shall they know that a PROPHET hath been among them.” A genuine preacher, a sincere servant, a pure man of God! Very encouraging to Ezekiel, I’m sure.

Going to Church, as “entertainment!” Looking for “lovely songs” and “pleasant voices” and “accomplished musicians,” and even more so … compromising clergymen!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

The word “pit” is used six times in Ezekiel chapter 32. A thirty-two verse “funeral dirge” pronounced by God on the wicked nation of Egypt.

But first, verses 1-6 are astounding on their own. God compares Egypt to a “young lion” (fierce and dangerous, frightening the whole countryside) and to a giant “whale” (sea monster, dragon) in the seas! Yes, Egypt had been THAT powerful! But then God says He is going to kill both the lion and the whale! Listen: “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. Then will I leave thee (the whale) 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. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.” Verses 3 through 6, graphically written!

But it is the second half of the chapter that most garnered my attention. I think it could be entitled “Egypt in Hell” for short! Verse 18 is typical, with God still talking to Ezekiel: “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 (lowest) parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit (a euphemism for hell).”

Now then, a big question. Is there “consciousness” in Hell? (There certainly was for the “rich man” who died and went there in Luke chapter 16, “in Hell he lifted up his eyes and said ….”)

Read verse 21 of Ezekiel 32: “The strong among the mighty (already in the pit)  SHALL SPEAK to him (Egypt) out of the midst of hell (Hebrew, sheol) with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.” More “talking” in the pit, in Hell! Yes, there is consciousness!

(I read last night that the “elite” of the Egyptians, their leaders and intelligentsia and academics, were all circumcised! And felt themselves “better” than the uncircumcised! Now … they will spend eternity in “hell,” surrounded by that “trash!” How very humiliating to their mindset!)

Now, look at verse 22 … the “Assyrians” are there!

Verse 24 … so are the “Elamites,” forerunners of the Persians, “Iran” today! Note this clause from verse 25: “They have borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.” The utter SHAME of being in hell, perpetually! Contrast that with the supreme Glory to be enjoyed by those who possess eternal life, a gift from God via the blood of Jesus Christ!

Verse 26 … “Meshech” and “Tubal,” to be studied further in chapters 38 and 39. Thought to be in Asia Minor, perhaps around present day Turkey. Jew haters, for sure, these people.

Verse 29 … the “Edomites,” descendants of Esau. “There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which 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.” Their bodies in a  grave somewhere, or having rotted on the ground! Their souls, their spirits in hell itself!

Verse 30 … the “princes of the north,” Russia? Also the “Zidonians,” ancient Phoenicians.

A welcoming committee, receiving more and more of the “wicked” into hell! Now, including Egypt and her people. Verse 31: “Pharaoh (a title, not a proper name) shall see them (in the pit, in hell), and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.” The verb “comforted” puzzled me. But 41 times in the King James Version it is translated “repented!” (Just too late!)  It also carries the idea of “sorrow.”

Wow!

What a Text!

Folks, all nations simply consist of their citizens, “people.”

People headed for Hell, to live in shame (and pain) forever. Isaiah 66:24 teaches us that hell’s occupants will be considered an “abhorrence” to the peoples of God’s Eternal City! “Shamed” indeed! “And they (the true worshippers of God) shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched (Jesus’ very words describing Hell); and they shall be an abhorring (contemptible, repulsive) unto all flesh.”

Wow again!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

This ends Ezekiel’s denunciation of Egypt, occupying 4 whole chapters (7 sermons) long! It also ends his voluminous section of “Sermons against the Nations of the World.” Mostly ungodly Gentiles, chapters 25-32 inclusively. (The Edomites were “related” to Jacob, thus had Semitic blood.)

One more point: today’s chapter actually consists of two different sermons, easily demarcated. Verses 1-16 followed by verses 17-32, clearly 2 messages given at 2 different times.

Ezekiel, truthfully … what a Book, what a Prophet!

 

Ezekiel chapter 31 is both a History Lesson and a superb Metaphor, both created then interpreted by our Almighty God.

Egypt (the chapter’s focus) is again being warned about coming judgment.

Here’s the reasoning of the chapter in a few words: “If God destroyed the mighty Assyrian Empire … can He not do the same to the less powerful Egyptian Empire?” (This is the history lesson I mentioned.)

Babylon destroyed Assyria around 612 BC, most historians agree.

Ezekiel is writing in 587 BC, my “Chronological Bible” says.

In our chapter today God draws from several allusions to Assyria’s Fall, trying to caution Egypt concerning her soon-to-come demise. (The disintegration of these gentile nations, all of them, is based on the prevailing sin of HATING the people of God, harming Israel! Laying hands on God’s Anointed, the “Apple of His Eye!”)

And the metaphor I suggested in the first line of today’s article?

That of a great “tree,” a CEDAR from Lebanon (here a picture of Assyria) that was chopped down by the advancing Babylonian army.

Now to the chapter itself …

Here’s Assyria in all her glory: “Behold, the Assyrian was a CEDAR in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. 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. 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. 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. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.” What picturesque writing, verses 3-7.

But God “cut down” mighty Assyria: “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou (Assyria) 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; I HAVE THEREFORE DELIVERED HIM into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen (Nebuchadnezzar); he shall surely deal with him: I HAVE DRIVEN HIM OUT for his wickedness. And strangers, the terrible of the nations (the Babylonian army), 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.” Verses 10-12, pure history! Deserted, betrayed, judged of God!

Then God applies this (history) lesson to Egypt: “To whom art thou (Pharaoh) thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet SHALT THOU BE BROUGHT DOWN with the trees of Eden (the very best, most excellent) unto the nether (lower) parts of the earth: thou shalt lie (on the ground, unburied) in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.” Verse 18, chapter’s end.

Who are you, Egypt, compared to such greater (now fallen) powers?

Assyria … compared to (associated with) “Eden?” Likely because it is thought that the literal Garden of Eden existed somewhere in the land of Mesopotamia, in the territory which once belonged to Assyria.

And Egypt’s dead, laying among the uncircumcised, “unburied, rotting!” What a shock that would be to the Egyptian mindset, to her pompous leaders … who constructed such massive “pyramids” as burying places! No interment whatsoever!

Wow, these Old Testament Prophets preached judgment against sin!

Maybe we had best heed their message.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I made a little booklet once, calling it a compilation of “Pauline-isms!” Quaint sayings, unusual phrases or clauses, from the mouth of the greatest statesman Christianity has ever had, since Jesus anyway.

I am tempted to try the same approach to Ezekiel! What might they be called, “Ezekiel-isms?” He certainly had a way with words, or else was a good stenographer, recording God’s Speeches, Sermons word-for-word.

If I ever pursue that endeavor, Ezekiel chapter 30, will have several “entries.” And that’s the way I’ve decided to study it today, all 26 verses.

Even the first verse is interesting! “The word of the LORD came AGAIN unto me, saying ….” The use of that adverb, “again,” is thrilling! For God Almighty to speak “once” is an underserved blessing! To be such a seasoned “hearer” of His Words that one merely says “again” is beyond description! (Especially when you consider that King Saul of Israel begged and begged God for a single word, to no avail! In his last days he did, God remaining completely silent!)

This “quote” too, an announcement about Egypt’s coming day of great judgment! “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, WOE WORTH THE DAY!” Verse 2, for the notebook, “WOE WORTH THE DAY!” In Hebrew, literally, “Woe TO the day.” And what a terrible day it must have been, was! (Egypt to this day is still a “has-been” Country!)

And God as a weather Man! “For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, A CLOUDY DAY; it shall be the time of the heathen.” Verse 3, “A CLOUDY DAY,” the very smoke and dust of battle playing a big part in it, I believe.

God is not only going to demolish (sinful, Jew hating) Egypt, but also her allies … “Thus saith the LORD; They also THAT UPHOLD EGYPT shall fall.” Whereas conversely, those who BLESS Israel will BE BLESSED of the dear Lord! (Genesis 12:1-3, among many other places.)

And God even names the aggressor He plans to bring against Egypt, before the battle begins! “Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of NEBUCHADREZZAR king of Babylon. He and his people with him, THE TERRIBLE (ONE) OF THE NATIONS, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.” Verses 10-11, did you catch that nickname? “THE TERRIBLE OF THE NATIONS!”

Geography again: “And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.” Verse 13, with “No” being the city of Thebes, sort of the capital of Upper Egypt. By the way, the “ruins” of “Pathros” (the overall area of “Upper Egypt”) are still a major tourist attraction in Egypt, God’s Word having been fulfilled to the letter!

And Memphis (Egypt) is promised: “Noph shall have DISTRESSES daily.” Verse 16, “enemies, troubles, afflictions, straits,” and all “daily!” While God’s people can enjoy “peace which passeth all understanding!” (Philippians 4:7)

Last today, Verses 21-24, God in the medical business, orthopedics to be exact! “Son of man (God’s term of endearment for Ezekiel), I have BROKEN THE ARM of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller (bandage) to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and WILL BREAK HIS ARMS (plural now), the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. And I WILL STRENGTHEN THE ARMS of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I WILL BREAK PHARAOH’S ARMS, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.”

Wow!

“Ezekiel-isms” for sure!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

The moral of the Lesson today … GOD JUDGES SIN, wherever it is found. In lowly individuals … or in mighty Nations! “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Deuteronomy 32:23, making me thankful that there is “forgiveness” in Jesus, through His shed Blood.

 

 

I particularly enjoy the Lessons that give me the leisure of discussing a few verses, rather than many! Although I delight in the “chapter surveys” as well. And since Ezekiel preaches a total of seven sermons against Egypt, we’re going to slow down a bit and notice the second of that series.

Ezekiel 29:17-21 … ¹⁷ And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ¹⁸ Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled (made raw): yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: ¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. ²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD. ²¹ In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Lots of Truth in just a few words!

Notice this first. The date of the message … “the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month …”

Now here’s the date of his last message, the previous 16 verses of our chapter: “In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me …”

Over 16 years later!

Our Text today versus the Material we studied yesterday!

Why does the Holy Spirit “link” so closely two sermons that were preached that far apart? The only answer I can give is this: their subject material! The downfall of Egypt! Which certainly means at least this, God gave that Nation plenty of warning before judgment came!

Wow!

Next we see that Nebuchadnezzar, whose army attacked and decimated Egypt, is merely a “servant” of the Lord! He (if you remember) had already sacked and pretty much destroyed Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon) … yet he did not “receive” enough pay (loot) for His service to the Lord!

So … God throws Egypt in for “boot!”

God speaking: “Son of man (Ezekiel), Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he (Nebuchadnezzar) no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus (Tyre in Phoenicia), for the service that he had served against it. ¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon (God giving nations); and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. ²⁰ I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour (reward) wherewith he served against it, because they (the Babylonian army) wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.” Verses 18-20

God DOES have his Hand in world politics!

“Paying” nations for services rendered!

In Isaiah 45:1 God calls another gentile King, Cyrus of Persia, His “anointed!”

Wow again!

But Ezekiel can’t close this sermon (or God can’t, really) without enclosing a word of GRACE for Israel, though she is sinning prolifically at the moment! (Repentance is in her future.)

Verse 21, chapter’s end: “In that day (yet future, maybe all the way to Armageddon) will I (the Lord) cause the horn (power) of the house of Israel to bud forth (sprout, grow), and I will give thee (Ezekiel) the opening of the mouth in the midst of them (finally listening to the Prophet); and they shall know that I am the LORD (be saved).

What a wonderful God we serve!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Now you see why I couldn’t omit this little sermon!

Please permit me one more … Wow!