Ezekiel Speaks to Us Again

Nadene Goldfoot

Ezekiel (6th Century BCE) spoke to the exiled Jews living in Babylon who were taken there when Nebuchadnezzar and his army conquered Israel. The Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE. He was one in the first group of exiles and understood their despair . His own wife had died in a plague. He told of the time when Israel would be picked from the nations and be given a warm and feeling heart when it was a humbled battered "vine" and would rise to dwarf the haughty cedars and redwoods. He tells that Israel would rise again and return to its home. In Jerusalem, it would assume a new and eternal name: Hashem is there. "Hkai Shamah" Hashem is the word we use today to replace the word "G-d" as we do not want to use that word in vain.

Ezekiel 37: 8-20

Behold, I am taking the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have gone; I will gather them from all around and I will bring them to their soil; I will make them into one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king will be a king for them all; they will no longer be two nations; and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms, ever again. ... I will save them (take them) from all their dwelling places in which they had sinned, and I will purify them; they will be a nation to Me, and I will be a G-d to them. My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them; they will follow my ordinances and keep My decrees and fulfill them. they will dwell on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, within which your fathers dwelled; they and their children and their children's children will dwell upon it forever; and My servant David will be a leader for them forever. I will seal a convenant of peace with them; it will be an eternal covenant with them...Then the nations will know that I am Hashem Who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be among them forever.

Here is something written so long ago that can be applied to today's historic events. This history is repetitious, but the words apply to us today. No wonder people are getting nervous. The reference to David being king is interesting. David was king of Israel in 1000 BCE to 960 BCE, the youngest son of Jesse. and was Israel's 2nd king. So somebody as great as David in mind and spirit will be the leader. Hopefully that is true today. We may not have a king, but we do have a Prime Minister and a President. Then again, some Jewish groups are believers of reincarnation. The rebirth of Israel today was not possible to so many of the polititians in the world. It's a shocking event. There are those who are doing their best to destroy the tiny state and are frantically doing everything in their power to cause people to turn against the Jews living in Israel.

Right now there are those "CNN special" that deny that David was ever in Jerusalem. There is the bus company in Seattle with anti-Israel propaganda ads pasted on the buses for all to read, those that declare that the Wailing Wall is not part of the Temple because it's located in East Jerusalem, and of course the ever present rockets that fly through the air from Gaza.

Behold, there was a wall outside the Temple, surrounding it. In the man's hand was a measuring rod of 6 cubits, each cubit being a cubit and a handbreath. He measured the thinkness of the wall's structure as one measuring rod; and its height as one rod. Then he went to a gate that faced eastward and went up its steps; he measured the doorpost of the gate as one rod in width and the other doorpost as one rod in width.....And people say the wall isn't Jewish. I guesss they can't read.

Ezekiel scolded the exiles feeling it was their turning from their duties that brought down their own destruction, and with a change of heart and mind Israel would be regained. He said that every generation was responsible for only its own deeds and would not have to bear responsibility for the actions of their ancestors.

There are people in Israel planning on rebuilding the 3rd Temple. My own cousin was a member. They are getting ready. The Ingathering has already happened.

Reference: New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Stone Edition of Tanakh; the Torah/Prophets/Writing.