God told Ezekiel He would strike His fist at the violent crimes of the people. When He had finished with them their courage would be gone and they would be too weak to lift their hands. The people would know God had done the things that would happen to them. The Lord told Ezekiel that the people left in Jerusalem needed to be purified like silver in a furnace. Then the Lord told Ezekiel how all the people were guilty. The leaders were like roaring lions tearing everyone apart. The priests ignored God's law. They didn't teach the difference between the sacred and ordinary. They even treated the Sabbath like any other day, so the Lord was not honored by His own people. Israel's officials were like wolves, tearing everyone apart. They made their living by killing people. The prophets told lies and made the people believe God had spoken to them. The people themselves did horrible things to anyone they could. God could not find anyone to talk Him out of destroying the city.
The Lord told Ezekiel a story about two sisters who lived in Egypt, and became prostitutes. One was named Oholah, or Samaria, and the younger one was Oholibah, or Jerusalem. They became His wives and bore His children. Even though she was married, Samaria kept chasing lovers from Assyria. She offered herself to every handsome soldier, officer or official and had sex with them. She even worshiped their idols. She did these things in Egypt and never stopped. She was always looking for someone to have sex with. So God gave her to the lovers she wanted so badly and they captured her children and killed her. Everyone talked about what happened to her. But her sister was worse than she was. Jerusalem chased after good-looking soldiers and officers. She saw carvings on walls of men which reminded her of Babylonian soldiers. As soon as she saw them she wanted to have sex with them. So she invited them to come see her. So many men came from Babylonia that she got tired of them. She didn't care who knew she was a prostitute, so God turned His back on her just like her sister. She didn't stop there, she renewed her interest in Egyptian lovers who were renown for their sexual attributes. She longed for the days when her lovers enjoyed having sex with her. God would hand Jerusalem over to Babylon and Assyria and let them punish her so that she never wanted to think of those days again. They would take away everything Jerusalem had worked so hard for. God gave Samaria a large deep cup of his anger to drink, Jerusalem would share it and would drink every drop and become drunk. The cup was filled with horror and ruin. The Lord told Ezekiel that it was time for him to tell the sisters that they were guilty of disobeying God's law and that they would be punished.
Nine years after king Jehoiachin and the rest had been taken captive, the Lord told Ezekiel to write down the date, because on that day Babylon began attacking Jerusalem. Jerusalem was doomed and no one cared what happened to it. Then the Lord told Ezekiel that He was going to suddenly take the life of the person he loved most, his wife, and not to complain or cry. God told him to mourn, but don't look like it. Then one day Ezekiel was talking to the people as usual and by evening his wife was dead. The next day people asked him why he wasn't mourning for his wife. He told them that they were about to lose everything they held dear, but they wouldn't mourn either. Ezekiel told them he was a warning and that they would do everything he did and they would know the Lord God made it happen. Someone would escape from Jerusalem and find Ezekiel and bring him news. Then his mouth would be opened and he would be able to talk again.
Tomorrow read Ezekiel 25-28:10
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