SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2015
8:04 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Monster Slain PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
29:1-7
Message of the
verses: In yesterday’s SD on Ezekiel
we learned that this first message that Ezekiel is giving in this section of
his book was made on January 7, 587 BC and this was eight months before the
Babylonians would destroy Jerusalem and their temple.
Pharaoh’s Sins (Ezekiel 29:1-7): “1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on
the twelfth of the month, the
word of the LORD came to me saying, 2
"Son of man, set
your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against
all Egypt. 3 "Speak and say,
’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great monster that lies
in the midst of his rivers, That has said, ’My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’ 4 “I
will put hooks in your jaws And make the fish of your rivers cling to your
scales. And I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the
fish of your rivers will cling to your scales. 5 “I will abandon you to the
wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; You will fall on the open
field; you will not be brought together or gathered. I have given you for food to the beasts of the
earth and to the birds of the sky. 6 “Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the
LORD, Because they have been only a staff made of reed to the house of Israel.
7 “When they took hold of you with the hand, You broke and tore all their
hands; And when they leaned on you, You broke and made all their loins
quake."”
We also mentioned that these next four chapters would be
about the judgment of Egypt and that in this first portion Ezekiel would use a metaphor
of a sea monster for Egypt. This is what
we see in this section that Pharaoh Hophra was compared to a sea monster that
actually dwelt in the waters of the Nile River which he claimed was his and
that he made it. Not something you would
want to say to the Great Creator. Now we
know that Egypt worshiped the Nile River all the way back to the time of Moses,
and this is something that would also not make the Lord happy, for He alone is
God and there is no other. Ezekiel
compares Hophra to a large ferocious crocodile who was guarding the river and
also the canals and would attack anyone who dared to challenge his claim on the
river or the land of Egypt. Now as we
look at these first five verses we see that his major sin was pride, another
thing that God would judge him for, for God hates pride. We as humans have nothing to be proud about
for what we have has been given to us by God through His grace, and all people
see the common grace of the Lord, but not all people see the saving grace of
the Lord.
We see this phrase that “I will put hooks in your jaws” here
and also in chapter 38 where Ezekiel was speaking to modern day Russia, but
this time to Egypt. God was going to go
fishing and He would catch this crocodile.
Those who God would drag out with the crocodile would be the people of
Egypt and they would be made food for the beasts of the field, and also the
carrion0eating birds. This would not set
well with this Pharaoh for they liked to build great pyramids to be buried in,
but not the case for Hophra.
We see that his second sin was his disloyalty to the
nation of Israel as seen in verses 6-7.
Even though the Jewish leaders should not have turned to Egypt, but to
the Lord, Egypt let them down and for this they would be judged by the
Lord. This would not be the first time
that they did not keep their promise to Israel.
Look up 2 Kings 18:20-21 and Isaiah 36:6. Egypt also encouraged Judah to break their
covenant with Babylon and for that Judah would be destroyed as they followed
their advice. We have studied this
earlier in the book of Ezekiel, and also in the book of Jeremiah as King
Zedekiah did break their covenant with Babylon.
3/10/2015 8:27 PM
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