Day 248 (Ezekiel 28-30) - Year 8

0:00Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Yesterday, we started reading Ezekiel's Prophecy for Israel's Enemy Nations, and we ended with a lament for Tyra, the wealthy city-state north of Israel. One thing that shows up repeatedly in today's reading is the pride of the nations and how God opposes that pride. And if that pride directly corresponds to gifts and skills he has given them. For instance, God affirms that Tyra is legitimately beautiful and its leaders are certainly wise, but they've corrupted those good gifts through the pride in their beauty in wisdom and wealth. Then we read about Egypt, who is proud of its power and position. People who take credit for their own strengths or who fixate on them too much steal the credit that belongs to the giver of those gifts. Can you encounter people who are like this? Isn't it kind of repulsive? I think that might be one reason why the self-esteem movement has backfired on us.

1:02Telling everyone how awesome they are might solve one problem, but it creates another. It fosters entitlement and arrogance, and before we know it, we've built a world of inseparable humans. Sometimes swinging the pendulum to the other end doesn't create the balance we're hoping for. Today, we opened in chapter 28 with prophecies directed at the leadership of Tyra. It's unclear if these two sections are referring to the same person or not. The word used in verse 2 is sometimes translated as leader and sometimes as prince, so we don't know. Whatever role this person serves in Tyra is obviously a significant one. And because of that, he actually claims to be a God. According to verse 6, this is the tipping point for Yahweh. Yahweh promises that the very things Tyra and its leader put confidence in will be attacked and destroyed. Those who raise themselves up against God will be put to shame. Starting in verse 11, God addresses the king of Tyra. And again, that might be the same person he just addressed in verses 1 through 10. It's not clear. There are a few interesting things happening in this section that I want to point out,

2:04but it's all stuff I hold with an open hand because it's not clear whether this is hyperbolic language or metaphor or fact slash prophecy. So let's go over the possibilities of what's happening in this section. Option A. Some people believe the language used to describe the king here isn't intended to be read as fact. That it's referring to the king, but with drummed up language, saying things like, you were the signet of perfection and you were on the holy mountain of God and you were in Eden, the garden of God. They think it's just hyperbolic and metaphor. Option B. Others believe Ezekiel is not just addressing the king of Tyra, but he's also comparing him to an actual cherub appointed to guard the Garden of Eden way back in Genesis 324. They believe this section not only tells us what's going on with the king of Tyra, but that it also informs us about something that happened with the cherub as well. Option C takes option B and adds a little twist to it. This option is the belief that this dual prophecy not only points to the king of Tyra, but to Satan specifically.

3:04That Satan was the appointed cherub and he possibly even possessed the king of Tyra and lived out the same storyline all over again, trying to exalt himself to the position of God. As an experiment, you might try reading through 2811 through 19 twice, once with a lens for option A and once with a lens for option B slash C. And of course, you can find commentaries and articles that point to all three options, but since option A kind of speaks for itself, we'll include a link to two short articles with more info on options B slash C in today's show notes in case you want to read more. The reality is we probably won't know the truth this side of eternity and it's okay for us to land in different spots because this is not a foundational or fundamental doctrine. The chapter closes with a prophecy against Sidon, another neighboring city to the north. They're on the hit list too because they've treated Israel with contempt. God promises again to bring Israel back to their land to possess it and to bring judgment on all their neighbors who hate them. Chapter 29 brings us to Egypt, where God compares their Pharaoh slash king to a water dragon.

4:09This might be a reference to Leviathan, which we read about in Job 41 and Psalm 104 and Isaiah 27 among other places. And since Pharaoh, the water dragon is kind of like the king of the Nile, he begins to act like he's the one who made it as if he's Yahweh. Uh oh, pride alert. So God says he'll fish Pharaoh out and that all the other fish, which probably symbolize the people of Egypt, will get caught up on his scales on the way out, then they'll get thrown into the desert. And we all know what happens to water dragons in the desert. God is punishing Egypt because of all the ways they've appeared to help Israel, but just ended up torturing them instead. After Egypt's long punishment via King Nebi, God promises to restore Egypt. This fits with what we've already read in Isaiah 1925. God is consistent with his prophecies, even though they come from a variety of prophets and over the course of many centuries. At the end of chapter 29, Ezekiel circles back around what we talked about yesterday, the prophecy of Tyra's destruction.

5:10Babylon besieged Tyra for 13 years and did a lot of damage, but Babylon didn't get any spoils to take home. So God says, don't worry, even though you didn't get payment from Tyra like you expected, you're still going to get paid. It's just going to come from Egypt. You're doing my work and I'm going to provide for you. Then chapter 30 laments Egypt. It says God will destroy not only Egypt, but all the countries that support it too. God says he will break Pharaoh's arms, but he will strengthen King Nebi's arms. God is the one who gives and takes away strength. My God shot today, showed up at least six times in our reading. It was God's hatred of human pride. It's important to note that God doesn't hate our pride because he's envious of what we've got. After all, he gave it to us. God opposes pride because it's built on a lie. We are not gods. He is. And though we may be powerful, we aren't powerful on our own. Our strength is from him. And though we may be wise, we aren't wise on our own.

6:11He is the source of all wisdom. And though we may be beautiful, we aren't beautiful on our own. He invented DNA. He is the rightful object of praise for all our beauty, wisdom, position, might, height, you name it. And this doesn't just apply to the praise we receive from others. It applies just as often, if not more often, to the thoughts we think in our heads as well. Here's what I mean by that. I can think thoughts of gratitude, but where does that gratitude land? As Christ followers, our gratitude shouldn't just be generalized as though the things we're grateful for have no source. Gratitude is much more fulfilling and accurate when it rolls up to the creator and giver of those things. God should be the final target our gratitude and praise aims for. So the next time you see Chris Pratt don't gawk at his biceps. We just learned that God is the giver of strength, so congratulate him on the DNA God gave him. God's kids get to feel a more potent type of gratitude than those who don't know him.

7:14Because our gratitude has an eternal landing spot, not just an indefinite one or a temporary one. Being praised to God helps eradicate the pride he hates so much, and it fixes our eyes on our father, the giver of all good gifts, and he's where the joy is. We're heading into one of the most popular times of year for people to jump in with TBR. On October 1st, we start the New Testament, which means it's the perfect time to invite your people to read the Bible with us. It's an easy on-ramp for your people who may be intimidated by a year-long reading plan. So invite everyone you know, friends, family, enemies. Invite them all to join us for the New Testament on October 1st. We've even got some invite images you can use to help us get the word out. Check it out at thebiberycap.com forward slash invite or click the link in the show notes.