"Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, 'They are far away from the LORD; this land was given to us as our possession.' – Ezekiel 11:15

Today's Scripture Reading (June 19, 2023): Ezekiel 11

An old adage argues that "possession is nine-tenths of the law." It is a variation on a Scottish Proverb that claims that "Possession is eleven points in the law, and they say there are but twelve." It is an oversimplification of the legal principle. The argument stresses that outside of solid evidence to the contrary, if you are in possession of something, then it is yours. Maybe an example of this is that the shirt that I am wearing as I write these words is mine unless you have definitive evidence that it is yours. But if I steal your car, then the fact that I am in possession of the vehicle doesn't matter because you have the bill of sale and the registration record for that vehicle. And unless I can come up with a bill of sale or evidence of a transaction for the car, then the vehicle is yours.

As the exile begins in Israel, some seem to believe those who have been exiled are the ones in the wrong. God has removed those taken captive to Babylon because of their sin. Now that they have been removed, God will knit together those remaining in Israel, protecting them and making them into the Kingdom of God. The rotten apples have been removed from the barrel so their evil cannot be shared with the other apples. The people left behind in Israel are convinced that the removal of Ezekiel and his contemporaries is for the protection of Israel. God's judgment is on Ezekiel and the rest who are now forced to live in Babylon. And those left behind are in possession of the Promised Land.

Ezekiel's message is the reverse. To the exiles with him in Babylon, Ezekiel stresses that the prisoners in Babylon are the ones God has saved. They have been removed so that they can become the righteous remnant. And in a generation, God will lead a group of them back into Canaan. The promised remnant that God will lead into the future are not those in possession of Israel; they are those who have been taken into Babylon.

Those left behind might have considered themselves lucky, but they aren't. They are the condemned; they just don't realize it yet. Their only hope is to be selected for exile before the nation is destroyed. Because the truth is that there is a generation coming when no one will be in possession of Israel except for the animals of the field and the birds of the air.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 12