Today's Scripture Reading (May 12, 2020): Ezekiel 17
We live in a
world that is vastly interconnected in a way that we could not even imagine a
couple of generations. Just a few centuries ago, settlers coming to the New
World brought with them diseases that were easily survived by the Europeans, but
that threatened the very existence of native populations because they had never
known these diseases before. Today, all of that has changed. A virus, born on
the streets of Wuhan, China, in a matter of months, threatened the lives of
people living on the other side of the world. The truth of our reality is that
there is quickly becoming no corner of our planet that is left untouched by the
rest of the earth; there is no place that is a safe place to hide from our diseases
and viruses. Our world has become too small for that kind of reality.
But it has
not always been that way. There was a time when news, let alone a virus, moved
at a snail's pace. By the time an exciting new fashion reached North America,
another one had taken its place in Paris. News of uprising took months to get
from place to place. And if the area was too far away, often the news simply
never arrived. What amazes me is that Ezekiel, living in Babylon with no access
to a 24-hour news channel or social media, tells a story about two great eagles,
and the story contains a plot about real-time events about what were happening at
home in Judah. As the people in exile looked for God to come and deliver them back
to their homes in Judah, Ezekiel tells a story with fantastic accuracy about
the events taking place back in Jerusalem, and what those events were going to
mean to those who lived in captivity.
Zedekiah was
looking to break Babylon's hold on the nation. He planned to break the treaty with
Babylon, not because he believed that God would save him, but because he thought
that Egypt would save him. As Ezekiel catches wind of what is happening at home,
he cautions those in exile that this is not news of their rescue. In fact, this
was very bad news. It was Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who had put Zedekiah on the
throne, and Nebuchadnezzar would remove him from the throne if Zedekiah carried
through with his plan.
Salvation
was not on its way, and Ezekiel makes this clear to the exiles. Zedekiah, with
the help of the Egyptians, was not coming to deliver the people from their
captivity. The King of Judah's plan only meant that he would soon join them in a
strange land that he did not know, not as a conqueror, but rather, the king
would soon join them in the ranks of the conquered.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 18
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