Sitting in exile forces one to ask a different kind of question:
Why are we here?
What did we do to deserve this?
Has God forsaken and abandoned us?
This kind of brutal reality check ushers in the need for a different kind of prophetic voice. The voices of the prophets in the exile begin to take on a different tone than the prophets of the past. It’s too late for warnings; the time for preventative repentance is long gone. There’s no need for the pronouncement of woes; that would be like rubbing salt in an open wound. What God’s people need now is the ability to hang on.
If the Jewish people are ever going to come back to the path that God has called them to in the story, they are going to need to be able to overcome their current circumstances. They are going to need to push through and be empowered to choose the right in the midst of the wrong. They are going to need strength. Strength is the perfect job for a guy named Ezekiel; his very name means “God strengthens.” God is going to use this new voice to strengthen His people and their resolve.
Ezekiel is also going to introduce us to a new form of prophecy called apocalyptic literature. This form of prophetic writing uses images and symbols to convey hope to their present day. We have done so much damage to our understanding of prophecy (and eschatology [the study of the “end times”]) because of a rampant misunderstanding of how apocalyptic literature functions in the ancient Eastern world; the description is so central to the study that we do in our classes that I am going to repeat it again: Apocalyptic literature utilizes symbols and images to convey hope to their present day. We will deal with this more and more as we continue to move forward through our series.
Ezekiel is not trying to prophecy about future events and how they will go down. He is most certainly not laying forth a blueprint for the socio-political directions of future empires. Ezekiel is trying to talk to the Jewish people about their CURRENT world and their CURRENT situation. And he’s going to use symbols and images to communicate his message.
Ezekiel 4 is an excellent example of this. Ezekiel is no author, by the way; Ezekiel is a thespian. He takes his apocalyptic imagery and uses it to perform what I heard one teacher call “guerrilla theatre.” Ezekiel is going to run into a busy part of town, enact a prophetic message from the LORD, then jet out of there on a dead sprint and leave the “audience” to discuss the prophetic word with their mouths gaping. In Ezekiel 4, we hear the story of Ezekiel being told by God to build a model of Jerusalem and show the siege that will be laid against it. Ezekiel will be invited to lie on one side and then another, symbolizing the time that will be spent in exile. He will be commanded to cook his food over human excrement and then — after bargaining with the LORD — will be allowed to cook it over animal feces instead.
Fun calling.
But Ezekiel is trying to communicate hope to God’s people. Now, one might immediately begin questioning how this horrible job could possibly communicate hope, but Ezekiel’s ministry spans a great time of Israelite history. Ezekiel starts his ministry as Jerusalem is being overthrown; he is there for the exile and then there to offer words from God after the dust settles.
One of the things that Ezekiel offers is at least some semblance of explanation. Just as I might take time to explain to my children WHY they are in time out, Ezekiel takes time to explain to God’s kids why they are being punished. I believe that is one way punishment differs from discipline: Punishment is just about retribution, but discipline is about learning. Discipline makes us stronger; Ezekiel offers strength.
Ezekiel also offers assurance — all throughout his prophecy, starting in chapter 1 — that God has not abandoned His people. He has, according to Ezekiel, went with them into Babylon. He has not left them, but the presence of God that departed from the Temple is now dwelling with them in exile. He also promises the people that the same Presence will return with them and dwell in the Temple again. That isn’t a prediction of future events nearly as much as it is a message of hope to their current situation.
Ezekiel gives strength through encouragement and tells people to continue to press forward and carry on. There are lessons to learn from our mistakes. There are promises to hold onto and things that we have to believe are bigger and better than our current circumstances. There are reasons to press on into tomorrow and believe that we can be a part of putting the world back together. Ezekiel uses the mind of an innovator, the creativity of the artist, the imagination of a story-teller to communicate hope to the people of God. We must be creative. We must be industrious. We must be determined and stubborn for God’s ways. The very thing that made us a stiff-necked people in the desert is the very thing that’s going to get us through this tough time.
But we must endure. We must overcome. We must be strong.
Hi Marty: I've enjoyed your writings here, and I also enjoy watching the sermon podcasts from RLMOTP. I have a question for you:
ReplyDeleteYou say, “Ezekiel is not trying to prophecy about future events and how they will go down. He is most certainly not laying forth a blueprint for the socio-political directions of future empires.”
I have a blogging friend that just completed a several part series on the prophecies of Ezekiel, specifically Ezekiel 26 and the ‘message for Tyre’—doing exactly as you warn against here and trying to tie in Ezekiel’s writing of the downfall of Tyre and whether or not this ‘prophecy’ came true.
However, when you read of Ezekiel’s warnings against a specific city (Tyre), and he speaks of a specific king that will come against that city (Nebuchadnezzar), and even what the specific king will do to that specific city, how can you put aside the natural (western) inclination to NOT assume the writing is indeed specifically about a future event?
My friend attempts to debunk a good portion of these prophecies through historical writing and archaeological findings. But is he way off the mark here of Ezekiel’s intent? And, if so, what was the intent for this prophecy for the people of Israel, AND how is this relevant for us today?
Thanks! ~ Kent
Hey Kent!
DeleteI think you point out a few things that I may have stated too strongly at the expense of some other points. Thanks for your great question. I would respond by saying that I think Ezekiel is prophesying about the fall of Tyre being imminent based on what he knows to be true about current events AND what he knows to be true of past Text.
Another example of this would be Elijah telling Ahab it's not going to rain. Elijah bases his prophecy off of the promise of God in Deuteronomy. He looks at the current events, he knows his Text, and he speaks prophetically. The Jews would even teach that God is "bound" by His own Text to keep His word. Could Ezekiel be doing the same thing here as Elijah? Very possibly.
At any rate, I think my main point is that Ezekiel isn't peering into his crystal ball to predict the play-by-play commentary of the future. He is speaking to a current audience about current situations and the consequences of those current situations. I dont think it would be wrong at all to see what happened to Tyre. That is the world of Ezekiel.
What really grinds my gears is when we use that same chapter (about Tyre) to talk about how Satan fell from heaven. That chapter has nothing to do with Satan and heaven; it's about the kingdom of Tyre! And it explicitly says so. So, I would much rather study ancient Tyre and the fulfillment of prophecy than I would talk about Satan. I dont think your friend is far off at all in how he studies that. He's studying the Text in context. I'm always for that.
I'm not sure if I made my position more clear or less... so I hope that helps :)