Saturday, December 3, 2011

Book of Ezekiel 34-38 Gog Damn It!

Ezekiel 34-38

Well fancy that, we find another 'prediction' of Jesus' coming;
34:23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

34:24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.

In 35, God plans to kill off the Edomites on Mount Sier.  "I can't destroy Babylon, Egypt or the Assyrians but there is this smaller group up in the mountains I can probably take!"  God suddenly seems very small and impotent.

Chapter 36 tells us the good that God is going to do isn't for the benefit of the Israelis but for his great name.  Vanity, thy name is the LORD!
36:22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.

36:23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD



Chapter 38 brings us Gog.  They are the usual threat against Israel and God's gonna cause a lot of shit to go down.  End of Days type stuff.  Literally.  Everyone, even the birds and bees are going to be afraid.  This is done so God can "magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD."  
Yeah, they'll know he's the LORD but everyone will hate him!  Time for some anger management!




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4 comments:

  1. not many comments lately, i wonder how many of us are still plodding away at this.... sigh.... i will finish if it kills me just so i can say i did!

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  2. @Dorothy - you got THAT right! This is more of a grind than I recall, probably because I was young and full of the spirit when I first undertook this.

    Gog: "They are sometimes individuals, sometimes peoples, and sometimes geographic regions." Thanks for the link @Bruce ... More wonderfully vague language that allows us to interpret the text anyway we wish!

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  3. Since an agonizin' reappraisal might be in order as we complete the Old Testament, I thought I'd vetch up this little retrospective:

    When I first read the OT, I was still open to the idea of the supernatural: God or gods, angels, demons, the devil, and lesser, more pagan entities that might conceivably have some impact on events in the real world. That was circa 1976. Several years followed my born-again phase that still included the supernatural, but excluded the Bible as a map of reality. As years went by, and I became familiar with the "prophecies" of Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce and some obscure others, I realized what a colossal sham the prophecy business is. In retrospect, that just reinforces my attitude today. "Tell people something in vague ways that can't be pinned down - package it with enough positives to make it marketable - if you're in the religion or politics business, sprinkle it with enough doom and gloom to allow you to herd the sheep to your pen". Cha-Ching!

    I certainly haven't read anything in the OT that changes that perception.

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  4. Dorothy - Months ago I started using http://tinyURL.com/KJVdaily which allowed me to go straight to a daily reading of the KJV and ensured that I would finish in exactly one year. I still try to read this site and the comments, but now I'm just too far ahead to remember what I wanted to say about the book that you guys are currently on. As to Paul's epistles I have all sorts of comments.

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