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Thou burning sun with golden beam, Thou silver moon with softer gleam! O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! — St. Francis of Assisi (All Creatures of Our God and King) Repentance is a key concept throughout scripture.  Biblical repentance can be understood as a two-part movement.  You need to turn away from [...]

[Christ's] righteousness is greater than the sins of all men, his life stronger than death, his salvation more invincible than hell. — Martin Luther (The Freedom of a Christian) Tammuz is only mentioned here in the Old Testament.  All Ezekiel tells us is that women were sitting around weeping for him. In order to find [...]

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things. — Henry David Thoreau (Walden) Jerusalem’s civic leaders were doing desperate things. They had usurped the authority of the priesthood and set up stalls of worship to a multitude of false gods.  The city officials knew that they were in danger.  Citizens had already [...]

God the Creator is ontologically not part of the world, nor is the world part of God. — Diogenes Allen (Philosophy for Understanding Theology) The betrayed Lover has taken action.  He has dragged his prophet to Jerusalem and will now show Ezekiel just how far the betrayal has gone.  In four scenes, God will reveal [...]

Your cheatin’ heart will make you weep, You’ll cry and cry and try to sleep. But sleep won’t come the whole night through, Your cheatin’ heart will tell on you. — Hank Williams (“Your Cheatin’ Heart” © 1952 by Fred Rose Music, Inc.) Imagine a couple that have been married for 30 years. The husband [...]

The world by its wisdom knows all the structures of reality, but it cannot penetrate to the ultimate mystery; it does not know God. — Reinhold Niebuhr (Justice and Mercy) Terror is coming! reads the beginning of Ezekiel 7:25. The root of that Hebrew word translated terror or “anguish” (NRSV) is the same that gives [...]

And the people bowed and prayed To the neon God they made. — Paul Simon (“The Sound of Silence” from Simon & Garfunkel, Sounds of Silence) As Ezekiel continues to relay God’s messages in chapter seven, he repeats some parts for emphasis, and adds new threats. Some of the expressions are so confusing that no [...]

Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works; evil works do not make a wicked man, but a wicked man does evil works. — Martin Luther (The Freedom of a Christian) The first thing to notice at the start of chapter seven is the fragmentary nature of Ezekiel’s [...]