Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Our traipse through the Bible looking at the word 'desert' has brought us to Ezekiel. Ezekiel was taken to Babylon with the first group of exiles, deported with King Jehoiachin. His visions first came about halfway through the reign of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah. Ezekiel's visions are clearly of things beyond the capability of human language to convey, his prophecies highly allegorical. But God's purpose in revealing these things to him is clearly stated over and over again: '...so they would know that I am the LORD.'
Over half the references to 'desert' in the book are in chapter 20, so we'll look at that today and catch the rest next week.
Chapter 20 gives us a fixed date...the 7th year (Of Jehoachin's exile/ Zedekiah's reign...Zedekiah reigned a total of 11 years before the final sack of Jerusalem and deportation), 5th month, 10th day, and 'some of the elders of Israel' came to Ezekiel to see what the LORD would say to them. As best I can tell, the response the LORD gave through Ezekiel is in verses 2 - 44; there's a shift at verse 45 that makes me think that, at that point, he was relating a different word in a different setting, but it's hard to tell. In any case, all the 'desert' references are clearly contained in the LORD's reply to the elders as the last mention of 'desert' in the chapter is in verse 36. It is, no suprise, a summation of God's past invovlement with Israel. The desert references (with immediate context) are:
"But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations they lived among and in in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites by bringing them out of Egypt. Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them to the desert." (Ez. 20:9-10)
"Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the desert. They did not follow my decrees but neglected my laws -- although the man who obeys them will live by them -- and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the desert." (Ez. 20:13)
"Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I had given them -- a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands -- because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols. Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destoy them or put an end to them in the desert. I said to their children in the desert, "Do not follow the ways of your fathers or keep their laws or defile yourselves ith their idols." (Ex. 20:15-18)
"But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws -- although the man who obeys them will live by them -- and they desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the desert. But I witheld my hand, and for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries, because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and descrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their fathers' idols." (Ez. 20:21-24)
"I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered -- with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you. As I judged your fathers in the desert of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign LORD." (Ez. 20:34-36)
As is typical of Ezekiel, this is not a literal list of what happened but a summation of attitudes; those of the people who were brought out of Egypt, then their children and also their many-generations removed descendants. There is a clear pattern of repeated language, showing a clear pattern of repeated behavior and response. Israel refused to obey God, but instead gave their attention and devotion to idols; God prounced judgment but never wiped them out, saving a remnant always for the sake of his own name. Notice the change of verb tense for the last passage...from past to future. Judgment was not over; there was more yet to come. The Israelites had to learn NOT to put their trust in idols.
There were a pair of verses that didn't mention desert but struck me anyway as I looked through this chapter: "You say, 'We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.' But what you have in mind will never happen. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will rule over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath." (v. 32-33).
God would not allow his people to assimilate into the cultures around them; to live as though they were people without a covenant. Oh, they tried...over and over again. And brought judgment and disaster upon themselves, with a remnant surviving with the unction to serve God and God alone.
I will say this...after the return from the Babylonian exile, we do not see that the Israelites ever again fell into worshiping pagan idols.
But...what of us today? Who say, 'We want to be like the peoples of the world, who serve their own desires and appetites.' ? Will God allow the people who were bought at such a dear price to fall into such idoltatry? Look closely...that covers pretty much anything that would fall under the classifications of physical appetites, phyiscial comfort and possessions, and/ or positions of influence....not that those things, in and of themselves, are evil; but if they become the identity and objective of life in a believer as they are in the life of one who cares nothing for God, then there is a problem. We are not our own, but bought at a price; we are not to conform to the pattern of the world around us but we are to be made new and different.
God's people have always been called out to be different, to serve him first and foremost; to be identified as his. They won't truly prosper any other way.
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