Today’s Scripture Reading (May 4, 2020): Ezekiel 9
I love to
act. I find it refreshing to try and get inside a character, one that is maybe
not like me and try to make that character mine. I have played several roles
from a Restaurant owner to a bad Santa Clause, and from John the Baptist to Scrooge.
None of them are me, but, for a time, I get to lay aside my voice and my reactions
and put on theirs.
But plays
also have a purpose beyond just entertaining us. Playwrights have always told
our stories, but they usually also want to tell us something about us, something
that we might be missing in our lives. They desire to encourage action that
goes beyond the characters of the play and settles into the person that we see
in the mirror. These authors want us to understand the characters they have lovingly
placed within their story, but also want us to see how we are similar to the
characters that they have created. So “Romeo and Juliet” is not just about two
young star-crossed lovers. The play carries within its narrative a serious
message about the dangers we play with when we are unwilling to settle our
differences and end our feuds. The story that William Shakespeare tells is one
that is much needed in our day of political division. Charles Dickens’ “A
Christmas Carol” is not just a story about a greedy man who meets with four
ghosts in the dead of night, but reminds us of the importance of generosity. It
relates a story to us that encourages us to understand that even our simple daily
acts can carry long-lasting consequences. If we watch the play and miss the
moral, then we devalue the efforts of the playwright or author who wrote the
story intended for us.
So, God puts
on a play for Ezekiel. In the opening scene of this divine tale, six men walk
into the city from the Upper Gate. The gate was also known as the Upper
Benjamin Gate or the New Gate. The gate was built by King Jotham during his
reign almost a century and a half earlier, and it stood on the north end of Jerusalem.
Each of the men Ezekiel sees is armed with a battle-ax, and they make their way
straight toward Temple. There, they come and stand beside the bronze altar, the
place where the sacrifices of the people were burned, standing just in front of
the Temple Proper in the Inner or Upper Court.
It is only
Ezekiel who sees this play being acted out in front of him, but there is no
doubt that these men came to cause damage to the Temple, and possibly even to
the whole city. And with them was a man with a writing kit, ready to write down
everything that was going to take place. Ezekiel regards all of the men as
angels and is attentive to everything that was about to take place.
Is God going
to send his angels to destroy the Temple and the city? No, it is a divine play,
but one with a deeper meaning. God wants Ezekiel to understand that what comes
next is going to happen with his permission. The Babylonians were going to
approach the city, following the fertile crescent, from the north. And there at
Jerusalem, they would destroy what the inhabitants of the land had built. When the
Assyrians came from the north and laid siege to the city, Isaiah told King Hezekiah
that God would stand with him and that the Assyrians would not succeed in what they
were they were planning to do. God gives no such assurance to Ezekiel, or to
King Zedekiah. This time the city would fall. It is a message that causes
Ezekiel to grieve over what might have been if the people had only listened to
their God.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 10
No comments:
Post a Comment