- Jul 15, 2014
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Some notes of things that went through my mine upon today's reading. 
1) The connecting theme here between this part of Ezekiel and the corresponding Psalms seems to be the Lord's indictment of flat wickedness, namely a love of violence, immoral sexual affairs between blood relatives and people who are married to someone else rather than each other, and extortion of the poor and oppression of the stranger who sojourns among the Israelites. Expressed here in Ezekiel 22:
6 The princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother lightly. In your midst they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they have vexed the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised My holy things and have profaned My Sabbaths. 9 In you are men who carry slanders to shed blood. And in you they eat at the mountain shrines. In your midst they commit lewdness. 10 In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. 11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you they have taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken usury and increase, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by extortion, and you have forgotten Me, says the Lord God.
These wicked works are reiterated in Psalms 5 ->
For You are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness,
nor will evil dwell with You.
5 Those who boast will not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6 You will destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors
the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
I suppose it is hard to believe that many among God's very chosen people in Old Testament history were ever capable of this manner of evil, but apparently it was so, many a time, in fact. But we still trust in that, even in His righteous anger towards these things, the Lord eventually makes it right. Whether by utter destruction or eventual restoration (and obviously rehabilitation), it is difficult for me to say as to whether I have seen only one or the other, or somehow both, in regards to the people of Israel and Judah themselves throughout the OT. Perhaps the Lord redeems all of them in the end despite the greatness of their wicked acts, as I pray that he does for all of us who have ever lived eventually, in the very end, even if a kind of painful destruction must come first, as strongly indicated here in Ezekiel 20 when He has Ezekiel speak against Negev for instance ->
47 And say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it. 48 All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it. It shall not be quenched.
2) But here is the passage that stood out to me from today's reading, in Psalms 5
->
11 But may all those who seek refuge in You rejoice;
may they ever shout for joy,
because You defend them;
may those who love Your name be joyful in You.
12 For You, Lord, will bless the righteous;
You surround him with favor like a shield.
3) And, here is the MEV summary for 1 Timothy 1:
The first epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy was written, most likely, in Macedonia during the early AD 60s. The epistle was the first of the three Pastoral Epistles - First and Second Timothy, and Titus. It is addressed to Timothy, a young minister in Ephesus. This first epistle is a very practical letter dealing with church order, doctrine, and discipline. Paul's primary instruction to Timothy is that right doctrine naturally leads to right living, and false doctrine leads to false, unholy living. In other words, doctrine and conduct cannot be separated. The personal information regarding Paul's and Timothy's father/son relationship is enlightening for any discipleship/mentoring relationship.
1) The connecting theme here between this part of Ezekiel and the corresponding Psalms seems to be the Lord's indictment of flat wickedness, namely a love of violence, immoral sexual affairs between blood relatives and people who are married to someone else rather than each other, and extortion of the poor and oppression of the stranger who sojourns among the Israelites. Expressed here in Ezekiel 22:
6 The princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother lightly. In your midst they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they have vexed the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised My holy things and have profaned My Sabbaths. 9 In you are men who carry slanders to shed blood. And in you they eat at the mountain shrines. In your midst they commit lewdness. 10 In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. 11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you they have taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken usury and increase, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by extortion, and you have forgotten Me, says the Lord God.
These wicked works are reiterated in Psalms 5 ->
For You are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness,
nor will evil dwell with You.
5 Those who boast will not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6 You will destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors
the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
I suppose it is hard to believe that many among God's very chosen people in Old Testament history were ever capable of this manner of evil, but apparently it was so, many a time, in fact. But we still trust in that, even in His righteous anger towards these things, the Lord eventually makes it right. Whether by utter destruction or eventual restoration (and obviously rehabilitation), it is difficult for me to say as to whether I have seen only one or the other, or somehow both, in regards to the people of Israel and Judah themselves throughout the OT. Perhaps the Lord redeems all of them in the end despite the greatness of their wicked acts, as I pray that he does for all of us who have ever lived eventually, in the very end, even if a kind of painful destruction must come first, as strongly indicated here in Ezekiel 20 when He has Ezekiel speak against Negev for instance ->
47 And say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it. 48 All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it. It shall not be quenched.
2) But here is the passage that stood out to me from today's reading, in Psalms 5
->11 But may all those who seek refuge in You rejoice;
may they ever shout for joy,
because You defend them;
may those who love Your name be joyful in You.
12 For You, Lord, will bless the righteous;
You surround him with favor like a shield.
3) And, here is the MEV summary for 1 Timothy 1:
The first epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy was written, most likely, in Macedonia during the early AD 60s. The epistle was the first of the three Pastoral Epistles - First and Second Timothy, and Titus. It is addressed to Timothy, a young minister in Ephesus. This first epistle is a very practical letter dealing with church order, doctrine, and discipline. Paul's primary instruction to Timothy is that right doctrine naturally leads to right living, and false doctrine leads to false, unholy living. In other words, doctrine and conduct cannot be separated. The personal information regarding Paul's and Timothy's father/son relationship is enlightening for any discipleship/mentoring relationship.
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I have always been partial to this particular section of the Bible as well.
