ISRAEL, THEN AND NOW

Today's Reading: Ezekiel 21-22

Key Verse: Ezekiel 22:29-30

The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

What did the people of Jerusalem do wrong? According to these two chapters, nearly everything! The leaders and many of the people consistently broke God's laws for moral and social conduct, for religious practices and economic systems. Ezekiel, the prophet, had already been taken by King Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon in the second wave of captives.

As Ezekiel writes in chapter 21, the King of Babylon was at the crossroads of decision as to what he should do regarding the latest rebellion of King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. Zedekiah was in the process of making an alliance with Babylon's arch enemy, Egypt. Ezekiel would've been willing to stand "in the gap" for Israel, but he was unable to return to Jerusalem. All he could do was obey God, and "sigh…with a breaking heart" (21:6), and speak his prophetic word from a distance.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, we pray for grace to do our best to "stand in the gap" for those whose lives are broken due to poverty or because of their deliberate sin against You. We pray this in the Name of Jesus, who wept over the needs of the people and took action to bring hope. Amen!

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