Friday, June 28, 2024

Ezekiel 14: the Lord is not to be used by idolaters

 The Lord is against the idolaters and He is against being used by the idolaters. In Ezekiel 14 we read:

6-8 “Therefore, say to the house of Israel: ‘God, the Master, says, Repent! Turn your backs on your no-god idols. Turn your backs on all your outrageous obscenities. To every last person from the house of Israel, including any of the resident aliens who live in Israel — all who turn their backs on me and embrace idols, who install the wickedness that will ruin them at the center of their lives and then have the gall to go to the prophet to ask me questions — I, God, will step in and give the answer myself. I’ll oppose those people to their faces, make an example of them — a warning lesson—and get rid of them so you will realize that I am God.

An idolater wants money, women, fame, etc. He should know that he is acting against the Lord, but even though, he has the gall to go to a prophet (in nowadays, to go to a priest) and ask for God intervention in his favour. The Lord says that He will oppose such idolater and get rid of him. Perhaps, the prophet will say to such man how the Lord opposes him.

9-11 “‘If a prophet is deceived and tells these idolaters the lies they want to hear, I, God, get blamed for those lies. He won’t get by with it. I’ll grab him by the scruff of the neck and get him out of there. They’ll be equally guilty, the prophet and the one who goes to the prophet, so that the house of Israel will never again wander off my paths and make themselves filthy in their rebellions, but will rather be my people, just as I am their God. Decree of God, the Master.’”

However, it may happens that the prophet won't oppose the idolater, by contrary, the prophet may "bless" such idolater. In this case, the Lord will assign guilty to both: the idolater and the prophet.

The Lord is to be worshiped and His will to be obeyed; not the opposite.

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