Day 245: The Lord’s return

More details of the new Temple, and the promise that God will move back in.
The buildings near the Temple
Ezekiel 42:1-14
Measurements of the Temple area
Ezekiel 42:15-20
The Lord returns to the Temple
Ezekiel 43:1-12
The Altar
Ezekiel 43:13-17
Consecration of the altar
Ezekiel 43:18-27
Use of the East Gate
Ezekiel 44:1-3
Rules for admission to the Temple
Ezekiel 44:4-9
The Levites are excluded
Ezekiel 44:10-14
The priests
Ezekiel 44:15-31

More measurements and descriptions of this brand new building, and then, wonder of wonders, the glory of the Lord returns to inhabit it. Ezekiel had seen God’s glory leave the Old Temple, and he witnesses in his vision God’s return to the New.
Ezekiel has to record all this and pass it on to the people. “Let them consider its perfection.” God says (43:10).
God has new commands of holiness for the new Temple. No foreigners, the strictest of hygiene, and strict conduct of life for those ministering in the Temple. In return for this, his very presence has returned, giving Israel a new start.

Day 244: Vision of future Temple

Ezekiel  the architect today, presenting us with a blueprint for a new Temple
Ezekiel’s vision
Ezekiel 40:1-4
The East Gate
Ezekiel 40:5-16
The Other Courtyard
Ezekiel 40:17-19
The North and South Gates
Ezekiel 40:20-27
The Inner Courtyard
Ezekiel 40:28-37
Buildings near the North Gate
Ezekiel 40:38-47
The Temple Porch
Ezekiel 40:48-49
The Most Holy Place
Ezekiel 41:1-4
The rooms
Ezekiel 41:5-12
The total measurements and details of the building
Ezekiel 41:13-26

“He took me there.” (40:1) Ezekiel doesn’t need to say where - it’s the place where his heart and soul is, even though his body is in Babylon. But God gives him a vision of Jerusalem, and accompanied by an angel guide he walks around a magnificent new Temple.
The angel proceeds to measure every dimension of the building, and Ezekiel dutifully notes it all down. One interesting detail is that only a subset of the Levites - the sons of Zadok - will be allowed to serve in the new Temple. Only the best of the best.
The blueprint that Ezekiel gives is details enough for people to attempt a reconstruction. So of course they have.

Day 243: The destruction of Gog

Today the promises get even better - God will heal the rift between Judah and Israel.
The sign of the two sticks
Ezekiel 37:15-19
Judah and Israel to be one nation
Ezekiel 37:20-28
The malice of Gog
Ezekiel 38:1-13
God’s punishment of Gog
Ezekiel 38:14-23
The defeat and burial of Gog
Ezekiel 39:1-20
Israel’s restoration
Ezekiel 39:21-29

In a parable that reminds me of a magic trick, God promises to make one stick out of two, to restore Judah and Israel to the state they were in in David’s time - one nation.
Chapters 38 and 39 detail God’s judgement against Gog. I’m not quite sure who or what Gog is, but it seems to represent (one of) the nations opposed to Israel. So, God is promising a blessing to his people by bringing judgement to their enemies.
Although chapter 39 is full of strange specifics, such has the length of time it will take to bury all of Gog’s soldiers (7 months, apparently) it still doesn’t read to me like a literal happening, but a metaphorical one. So verse 20 talks of “eating your fill of horses and riders” - obviously metaphorical.
Israel's recent fortunes, then, will be reversed. Instead of being the victims, they will be victors.In this way, these two chapters fit with what goes before - the theme of blessing for Israel is the same.

Day 242: New life

Over the next few days, we have Ezekiel at his visionary finest
The Lord’s flock
Ezekiel 34:20-31
Prophecy against Edom
Ezekiel 35:1-15
God’s blessing on Israel
Ezekiel 36:1-15
Israel’s former sins
Ezekiel 36:16-23
Israel’s new life
Ezekiel 36:24-32
A witness to neighbouring nations
Ezekiel 36:33-38
The valley of dry bones
Ezekiel 37:1-14

We hear about God’s promise that “my servant David” (34:24) will lead and cafre for his sheep. Christians’ ears prick up at once - “Great Daviddd’s greater Son” for us, can only be Jesus.
There are prophecies of restoration and new faithfulness for Israel. A new heart, a heart of flesh not stone (36:36) will make it possible for the people to obey God for a change.
The valley of the dry bones pictures this for us. In an echo of Creation, the Spirit breathes into dead bones and gives them life. When hope looks dead and gone, the Spirit of God can bring resurrection.

Day 241: The fiery furnace

More on Nebuchadnezzar’s attempt to impose official worship by force.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
Daniel 3:8-18
The fiery furnace
3:19-25
Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God
Daniel 3:26-30
His proclamation
Daniel 4:1-3
The watchman
Ezekiel 33:1-9
Individual responsibility
Ezekiel 33:10-20
Message to faithless shepherds
Ezekiel 34:1-10
The Good Shepherd
Ezekiel 34:11-16
The flock judged
Ezekiel 34:17-19

Isrtaelites have never been very good at worshipping what they’re told to, even when it’s God doing the telling, and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are no exception. They’re shopped by possibly jealous fellow courtiers and hauled before the King who is furious and orders their execution.
But God protects them from Nebuchadnezzar’s chosen method of death (roasting), sending an angel to walk with them in the flames, to which they and their clothes seem completely immune. Nebuchadnezzar is impressed - so much so that he decides to include God in his pantheon of acceptable objects of worship. He is quick to give honour to God, and we have already had hints of his openness to God, all of which bodes well for the exiles. How extraordinary it is to contemplate a foreign emperor coming under God’s influence! The Israelites really are breaking out of their tribal understanding of God.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel, commissioned by God to act as a watchman, speaks out against Israel’s leaders. They have been disastrous shepherds, and the flock is scattered and decimated as a result. Israel’s best leaders are Daniel and his friends in exile, working for the good of the Babylonian empire. What irony! But God promises to act as a Good Shepherd, he will seek out his scattered sheep and bring them to safety.

Day 240: The 7th deportation: 582BC

Now this is what I always think of as what a book of prophecy contains - fulminations against countries I’ve never heard of. Surprising how little has been as hard to understand as this.
Prophecy against Ammon
Ezekiel 25:1-7
Prophecy against Moab
Ezekiel 25:8-11
Prophecy against Edom
Ezekiel 25:12-14
Prophecy against Phlistia
Ezekiel 25:15-17
Prophecy against Sidon
Ezekiel 28: 20-23
Blessing for Israel
Ezekiel 28: 24-26
The fall of Egypt
Ezekiel 32:1-16
The world of the dead
Ezekiel 32:17-32
745 more captives taken
Jeremiah 32:17-32
Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image
Daniel 3:1-7


I didn’t know there were so many deportations! Jerusalem must have been virtually empty by now. Ezekiel prophesies against nations that gloated in Israel’s misfortune, or who took the opportunity to plunder - promising punishment for their wicked deeds.
One day, he says, it will  be different - Israel won’t have malicious neighbours any more. Well, that day hasn’t come yet - the Arab nations around Israel still bear malice.
Turning his attention to Egypt, Ezekiel foretells destruction for her as Jeremiah did. He is commanded to lament for her, which perhaps signifies that God wants his people to be different from the other nations that gloated in Israel’s fall - they should mourn, and be careful the same fate doesn’t happen to them again.
Finally, we find out some more about Nebuchadnezzar, who has a pretty high opinion of himself. I always assumed that the golden statue was of himself, but I notice that the Bible doesn’t explicitly say so.

Day 239: The Jews in Egypt

So what becomes of those foolish Jews who ran into the arms of Egypt, looking to escape Nebuchadnezzar’s fury?
The coming of Nebuchadnezzar
Jeremiah 46:13
The Lord’s message to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 46:14-18
Egypt’s overthrow
Jeremiah 46:19-26
God’s promise to the Jews
Jeremiah 46:27-28
Their idolatry in Egypt
Jeremiah 44:1-14
Their refusal to reform
Jeremiah 44:15-19
Jeremiah’s denouncement
Jeremiah 44:20-30
Ezekiel hears of Jerusalem’s. fall
Ezekiel 33:21-33


Are the people harking back to their sojourn in Egypt, like the wanderers in the desert did? They grumbled at Moses, saying that they wished they were back on Egypt, conveniently forgetting that they were slaves,and only wanting the security of good meals and a roof over their head. Jeremiah tells them in no uncertain terms that Egypt cannot resist Babylon, but they will not listen. More than this, they are obstinate, and even proud in their idolatry. “We’ve been worshipping the Queen of Heaven for ages!” they say, “It was only when we stopped doing so that famine came in Jerusalem.” So confused are they that they think that this other goddess was protecting them while they were in Jerusalem. The experts say that the Queen of Heaven was the moon, worshipped by the Assyrians. Also called Ashtoreth or Astarte, she was the female counterpart of Baal, the sun god.
Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel know that it is hopeless - as long as the people put their trust in anything other than God, they will never be secure.

Day 238: No help in Egypt

So might there be peace? Might Gedaliah prove a better ruler than many or most of Judah’s kings?
Gedaliah killed
Jeremiah 40:13-16, 41:1-9, 2 Kings 25:25
Ishmael’s escape
Jeremiah 41:10-15
The exodus to Egypt
2 Kings 25:26, Jeremiah 41:16-18
Jeremiah’s assistance requested
Jeremiah 42:1-6
Safety in Judah
Jeremiah 42:7-12
Destruction in Egypt
Jeremiah 42:13-22
Jeremiah taken to Egypt
Jeremiah 43:1-7
Conquest of Egypt foretold
Jeremiah 43:8-13

Sadly no one got to find out how good a ruler Gedaliah could be, because he was assassinated by an angry ex-officer in Zedekiah’s army. Smarting over defeat, he is blind to the goodness of Gedaliah. Manyt of his compatriots aren’t - they weep far more for Gedaliah then it is recorded they did for Zedekiah. Ismael butchers them - he is past caring.
In the chaos and confusion, many people decide that Egypt is the safest place to run to. Ironic - all those years after they ran from Egypt into the Promised Land, now they are running back.
They do stop to ask Jeremiah’s advice, though, and he warns them not to go to Egypt. Do the listen? Do they heck! Off they go to Egypt, taking Jeremiah with them by force. Jeremiah warns them that Nebuchadnezzar is coming - they cannot escape God’s warhammer.

Day 237: Unexpected kindness

More weeping from Jeremiah, and mercy at last for the poor man.
Jeremiah’s plea
Lamentations 3:37-66
Jerusalem after the fall
Lamentations 4:1-22
A prayer for mercy
Lamentations 5:1-22
Gedaliah becomes governor
2 Kings 25:22-24
Kindness shown to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 39:11-13
Jeremiah stays with Gedaliah
Jeremiah 39:14, 40:1-5
The captivity 586-516BC
Gedaliah’s care for the poor
Jeremiah 40:6-12

Jeremiah’s lament continues. Then we turn back to what happened in the days after the fall of Jerusalem and read some extraordinary words from Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian commander: “The LORD your God decreed this disaster for this place. And now the LORD has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the LORD and did not obey him.” How come this heathen understands God’s will better than the inhabitants of Jerusalem?? Has he been listening to Jeremiah?
Jeremiah chooses to live with Gedaliah, the appointed governor of Jerusalem, and a fair minded individual, judging by his actions and his words to the Israelites. Under his leadership, Jews who had fled to other countries during the siege of Jerusalem are bold enough to come back and help with the harvest. Plenty is gathered in, and the poor left in Jerusalem feed well for the first time in years.

Day 236: Jeremiah laments Jerusalem’s fate

The weeping prophet comes into his own. Jeremiah had a bitter mission, to prophesy doom to people who thought he was a traitor, and to be left alive to weep over the success of his prophecy.
Jerusalem’s miserable state
Lamentations 1:1-22
The Lord’s terrible punishment
Lamentations 2:1-10
Jeremiah’s deep sorrow
Lamentations 2:11-22
His suffering
Lamentations 3:1-20
His hope
Lamentations 3:21-30
The Lord’s mercy
Lamentations 3:31-36

Jeremiah surveys the wreckage and destruction. The broken city is silent and bereft of comfort. He weeps, she weeps, the people are dead or gone, and hope is absent. Jeremiah feels desperate: “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD’s wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light.” (3:1-2) Even prayer is pointless (8) - God isn’t listening.
But suddenly, Jeremiah remembers hope. Suddenly the tone changes and he confidently declares: Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” (3:32) After all, it was God who gave Jeremiah this mission, he also told him that the exile would only last 70 years, and that beyond it, God still had plans for his people.

Day 235: The fifth and sixth deportations

Israel’s population is shipped out. It’s 800 years since they took over the Promised Land, and all but the poorest are torn away from it by force.
Fifth deportation: the poor left behind
2 Kings 25:11-12, 2 Chronicles 36:20-23, Jeremiah 39:9-10, 52:15-16
God, the judge of all
Psalm 94
The Temple looted
2 Kings 25:13-17, 2 Chronicles 36:18, Jeremiah 52:17-23
Priests deported
2 Kings 25:18, Jeremiah 52:24
Prayer for the nation’s deliverance
Psalm 74, 79
Important men killed
2 Kings 25:19-21, Jeremiah 52:25-27

“The land enjoyed its sabbath rest.” says the Chronicler, the only one able to find a positive spoin to put on events. (36:21) He ascribes events to God’s control, and asserts the faith that even this disaster can be part of God’s ultimate purposes. Psalm 94 says the same - this is the Lord’s discipline (12)
The laments begin. Psalm 74 weeps and rages, Psalm 79 pleads and moans. How could you let this happen, God? Where are you? Don’t you care? These are cries common to people in distress even today. Those who have paid God little attention when life was easy, are full of bitter fury when it is hard.
Finally, it is interesting that Kings and Chronicles end here. These two strands of the Bible have told the history of Israel from its earliest times, but go no further. Do they think Israel’s history is over?

Day 234: The fall of Jerusalem

Finally the terrible day has come. This day seared itself into Israel’s consciousness as powerfully as the first Passover.

Zedekiah seeks advice
Jeremiah 38:14-27
Message to Ebed-Melech
Jeremiah 39:15-18
The fall of Jerusalem
Jeremiah 38:28
The famine
2 Kings 25:3, Jeremiah 52:6
Fall of Judah 587BC
The Babylonian princes
Jeremiah 39:2-3
Zedekiah’s fight and capture
2 Kings 25:4-5, Jeremiah 39:4-5, 52:7-8
The slaughter
2 Chronicles 36:17
Zedekiah’s sons slain
Jeremiah 52:9-10, 39:6
His blindness
Ezekiel 12:13-14, 2 Kings 25:6-7, Jeremiah 39:7, 52:11
Temple and walls destroyed
2 Kings 25:8-10, 2 Chronicles 36:19, Jeremiah 39:8, 52:12-14


Zedekiah is afraid. He asks Jeremiah for advice, but is too sacred to take it. Fear makes him a fool. He is forced to watch while his family are killed, and this is the last thing his eyes see, for then he is blinded and led in chains to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar gives specific orders that Jeremiah is to be spared - early evidence of God’s influence, perhaps?
Now the ultimate degradation takes place. Everything of value is stripped out of the Temple, and that fine old building, Solomon’s creation, which carried the hopes of Israel for so long, is burnt to the ground. This took place on August 17th 587BC. Here I am, reading about it almost exactly 2598 years later.

Day 233: the Promised Messiah

Here’s something new. Prophecies of future hope have so far only been about restoring Israel. Today is the first mention of the Messiah. (Unless you count Isaiah’s servant songs which I think we read too soon.)
Jeremiah buys a field
Jeremiah 32:6-15
Jeremiah’s prayer
Jeremiah 32:16-25
The Lord’s answer
Jeremiah 32:26-35
The Lord’s promise
Jeremiah 32:36-44
The restoration of the Jews
Jeremiah 33:1-13
The promised Messiah
Jeremiah 33:14-26
A message for Zedekiah
Jeremiah 34:1-7
Jeremiah in the well
Jeremiah 38:1-13

Jeremiah promises that the newly restored people will also have a desire to worship God rightly - promising an end to the cycle of sin and repentance that has been going on, basically, ever since Moses led them out of Egypt. Chapter 33 contains God’s best promises yet that he has not abandoned his people.
But many people can’t see past the thought that Jeremiah  is preaching treason, and they decide that prison isn’t good enough for him, and drop him down a well. One friend of his, Ebed-Melech, persuades the king to rescue him and returned to confinement on the courtyard.
Zedekiah shows no leadership whatever - anything his courtiers ask him to do, he agrees with. He’s lost the will to live, but can’t hear Jeremiah’s message of hope

Day 232: Further prophecies

Cosmic prophecies today, and a king who can't take advice.

Tyre’s funeral song
Ezekiel 27:26-36
The fall of the king of Tyre
Ezekiel 28:1-12, 19
Prophecy against Pharaoh
Ezekiel 30:20-26
Further prophecy against Egypt
Ezekiel 31:1-18
Jeremiah’s advice sought
Jeremiah 37:3-4
Egyptian intervention
Jeremiah 37:5
Egyptian army to return home
Jeremiah 37:6-10
Jeremiah arrested, then released
Jeremiah 37:11-21

Ezekiel’s poetry suddenly morphs into a heavenly plane, and instead of the king of Tyre, he seems to be talking about Lucifer, once chief angel, now the eternal enemy of God. Or else he’s describing Tyre’s fall in the most cosmic terms he can imagine.
He also prophesies against Egypt. Like Assyria, which is no more., Egypt’s power is going to be brought low. Egypt might have been as glorious as one of the trees in the garden of Eden, but it makes no difference. She will be humbled.
Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, King Zedekiah asks Jeremiah for advice. This coincides with Egypt’s army appearing at Judah’s southern borders, and causing the Babylonians to withdraw. Doubtless, Zedekiah hoped that Pharaoh had scared the Babylonians off for good, despite the prophets’ many warnings not to rely on Egypt. But Jeremiah puts it starkly: Babylon will be back, and is arrested for his pains.

Day 231: The overthrow of Tyre

I’m still waiting for the dreadful moment - for Jerusalem’s fall. The longer it’s put off, the more prophecies of judgement I read, the darker the storm clouds gather and the sense of dreadful, anticipation builds and builds.

Dishonourable treatment punished
Jeremiah 34:12-22
Prophecy against Egypt
Ezekiel 29:1-7
The desolation of Egypt
Ezekiel 29:8-16
Tyre’s rejoicing
Ezekiel 26:1-2
Tyre’s enemy
Ezekiel 26:3-6
Tyre’s attacker
Ezekiel 26:7-8
Tyre’s destruction
Ezekiel 9-14
A terrifying example
Ezekiel 26:15-21
Tyre’s funeral song
Ezekiel 27:1-25


I read in the people’s treatment of their slaves a parallel to our modern economic behaviour. Following the god of the market makes us enslave people, because it drives down costs, and we do it even if it is not right.
Ezekiel prophesies against Egypt and Tyre, describing how the merciless Babylonians will destroy the once great Egyptian pride. He describes the beauty and majesty of Tyre in loving detail, but you know that it is hollow, and that God’s blunt instrument is waiting to smash it all down.

Day 230: The fourth deportation: 588BC

Having been on holiday, and away from the news, it’s been a shock to come home and hear of the riots. Today’s reading with its talk of evil that cannot be cleansed seems tailor made for the situation in the news.
God’s judgement on Oholibah
Ezekiel 23:22-25
God’s judgement on Oholah and Oholibah
Ezekiel 23:46-49
The boiling cauldron
Ezekiel 24:1-14, 19-27
City’s capture approaches
Jeremiah 52:3-5, 2 Kings 25:1-2
Ezekiel’s wife dies
Ezekiel 24:15-18
832 captives taken
Jeremiah 52:29
Jeremiah’s first imprisonment
Jeremiah 32:1-5
Deceitful treatment of slaves
Jeremiah 34:8-11

This is the year before Jerusalem’s fall. The end has nearly come.
Ezekiel continues relentlessly with his condemnation of Judah and Samaria as prostitutes. There is rage and disgust in his voice. With the parable of the boiling cauldron, he reveals an awful truth - their wickedness cannot be cleansed,the iniquity cannot be burned away. Try as they might, Israel can never be righteous. Then Ezekiel suffers a terrible blow - his wife dies, and he is forbidden to mourn. In the same way, Judah will lose their dearest treasure - the Temple - and they will not mourn.
The besieging army capture another 832 people. Jerusalem is down to counting every last individual!