the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Ezekiel 22:1-7; ; Ezekiel 22:23-31
Jerusalem is here called "the bloody city". All classes were guilty: the princes, like wolves, had shed blood, transgressed the Law in every way and destroyed souls (vv. 6, 27); the priests had violated the Law (v. 26); the lying prophets had taken the precious things and devoured souls (vv. 25, 28); the people, finally, had committed robbery and had vexed the poor and needy (v. 29). In vain had the LORD looked for someone that should "make up the hedge", and who, like Moses, should stand "in the breach" before Him for the land (v. 30; Psalms 106:23)!
This two-fold function corresponds with the Christian’s commission, "Watch and pray!" Watch – to guard against the penetration of evil and of the world into the Church and into our hearts; pray – to intercede for the testimony of the Lord.
The importance that God attaches to the separation of His own is once again emphasized in ch. 23. In the picture of the crimes of Aholah (Samaria or the ten tribes) and Aholibah (Jerusalem and Judah), God speaks to us of Israel’s guilty relationships with the neighbouring countries: Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, and of His use of these nations to chastise His people. When a Christian forges links with the world, it is often from the hand of the world that he receives punishment.
