Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices. – Ezekiel 16:2

Today's Scripture Reading (June 24, 2023): Ezekiel 16

I am a Canadian. I may write a bit about American politics, but I am just an observer of the events in the area controlled by our Southern neighbors. Often the events in the United States affect us as Canadians more than the political events in our own country. Maybe our fifteenth Prime Minister, and the father of our current Prime Minister, sums up this relationship best. Pierre Elliott Trudeau argued that "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." If you are a mouse sleeping next to an elephant, every sniffle of the elephant is newsworthy to the mouse.

So, Canadians pay close attention to the beast living in the south. We are interested in elections in the United States and always ask how this political movement will affect our situation back home in Canada. And, of course, we have many Americans who live here in Canada. My earliest ancestors landed in New Amsterdam, on what is now the southern tip of Manhattan Island, in the 1650s. My family has been living in Canada since the late 1700s. But even my roots extend back to the place where now the United States stands, although the United States was just a fledgling nation when my ancestors left for the Canadian frontier.

It always amazes me that God tells Ezekiel to confront Jerusalem when Ezekiel wasn't even in Jerusalem but was instead in Babylon. But the reason for the instruction is that God doesn't use Jerusalem as a term for a city; Jerusalem, in this case, stands for Israel, wherever you might find her. Confront Jerusalem, the city, but confront those living in the countryside as well. Confront Jerusalem living on the coast and in the other cities of Canaan. And confront Jerusalem living in exile in Babylon. Wherever you find her, confront her because her detestable practices have caused the nation's failure. Anywhere Jerusalem can be found, she lives in the depths of her wickedness.

But there is also a level of truth that argues that the failure of Jerusalem meant destruction even for the nations that surrounded her. While Israel wasn't even close to the prestige the country had held in the days of David, the nation's failure would also bring disaster to the other nations. The nation's loss would change the area forever because Jerusalem had done detestable things.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 17