Thursday, September 22, 2016

Ezekiel 15: Fuel For The Fire

God, speaking through Ezekiel, draws a very threatening analogy between the inhabitants of Jerusalem and a worthless vine found in the forest.

A vine, the Lord points out, is not fit to be used as a source of wood or be crafted into anything useful.  It is only passable as firewood.  After it has served its purpose for that, it is completely useless for anything else.

By equating Jerusalem's residents with such a vine, the implication is that they are just fuel for the fire:  "Therefore thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  I will set my face against them; although they escape from the fire, the fire shall still consume them; and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them" (vs. 6 and 7).  While they may have thought they were something special by being spared the first waves of exile and captivity, the truth is that they are just kindling for the coming fires of judgment upon Jerusalem.

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