Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them … - Ezekiel 6:2

Today's Scripture Reading (July 30, 2026): Ezekiel 6

In 1842, Edgar Allan Poe published his short story "The Mask of the Red Death" (now better known by the slightly different title "The Masque of the Red Death"). The story follows the adventures of Prince Prospero as he tries to avoid a plague known as the "Red Death." Prospero plans to hide with his nobles inside the walls of his Abbey. While death reigns in the countryside, the prince and his nobles hide safely behind the walls of the Abbey. According to Poe's story, one night Prospero decides to hold a masquerade party. But as the party progresses, a visitor appears in the room disguised as a victim of the Red Death. Prospero confronts the stranger, but there is no substance to him. However, as a direct result of the contact that Prospero has with this apparition, Prospero dies, and in short order so do all of the nobles who had gathered in the Abbey. The moral of the story is that, in reality, there is no way to avoid a plague, and it is the height of foolishness to believe you can.

No one really knows what the Red Death represents, but some interesting suggestions have been made. Maybe one of the most interesting ideas is that the Red Death was Poe's representation of the disease consumption, or what we now know as tuberculosis. The argument is that Poe had extensive experience with the disease. Poe's mother, step-mother, and brother had all died of tuberculosis, and at the time of the writing of the Red Death, Poe's wife was suffering from the disease. It is thought that Poe himself was in denial about the disease's finality, but that, deep down, he might have known the truth, which Poe understood and revealed in his writing about the Red Death.

Ezekiel is commanded to set himself against the mountains of Israel. It was in these mountains that Israel found their security. It was there that they had sacrificed to the false gods. It was there that they had built their cities, making them hard to attack. The mountains were the walls behind which Judah had tried to hide, secure in the thought that the mountains would protect them. Judah was in denial of what seemed to be so apparent to everyone else who was watching, that the nation was about to fall, and the mountains couldn't save them any more than the walls of the Abbey could save Prospero and his friends. Judah had placed their faith in the mountains, and in the end, it would be the mountains that revealed the stupidity of the nation's plan.   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 7