Ezekiel Part 37

Okay, we're gonna pray, and then we're gonna get into Ezekiel here.

I'm hoping to get to chapter 32, which is kind of aggressive by my standards.

But I've been kind of dilly -dallying a little too long here in this section, so I wanna see if we

can move forward.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, as we open your word, we ask you, Holy Spirit, to help us to rightly understand what is revealed there so that we may properly believe,

confess, and do.

We ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, so we are in the section on the lament for Egypt, and you'll note we've been noting that God

here is offering up prophetic words of judgment against different nations.

And so remember, who's in charge of the nations?

That's Christ.

Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

He's presently reigning now.

There is no government that he has not established.

And you'll note that as we read through this, that God is going to choose a very

sus agent for his judgment.

That's going to be Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.

And so you'll note that sometimes what God ends up doing is judging other nations through other nations,

but the nations they're judging them with are nations who then will in turn be judged for their

wickedness.

So it's fascinating how this all plays out.

So Ezekiel 30, verse one, the word of Yahweh, he came to me, son of man, prophesize, say, thus says

the Lord Yahweh.

Wail, alas, for the day, for the day is near, for the day of the Lord is near.

It will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.

And you'll note here that when God acts in judgment or he gives prophecies in judgment, he

sometimes will reference a near judgment that will be fulfilled shortly after he speaks these

words, and then mixed up in that judgment will also be stuff that's kind of far off.

The day of the Lord is talking about the day of Christ's return and glory to judge the living and the dead, and that doesn't take away

from the fact that we're gonna also hear prophetic words spoken that have already been fulfilled

long, long, long time ago, shortly after this word was given.

A sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Cush.

When the slain fall in Egypt and her wealth is carried away and her four foundations are torn

down, Cush, and Put, and Lod, and all of Arabia, and Libya, and all the

people of the land that is in league shall fall with them by the sword, thus says Yahweh.

Those who support Egypt shall fall, and her proud might shall come down.

From Migdal -des -Sain, they shall fall within her by the sword, declares the Lord Yahweh.

And they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries, and their cities shall be in the midst of

cities that are laid waste.

Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I have set fire to Egypt, and all her

helpers are broken.

Now, a little bit of a note here.

Cities laid waste.

That's quite the visual picture, if you would.

And I would note it's been a long time since that has happened in the United States.

We haven't seen cities laid waste in the truest sense since the Civil War.

However, we have seen cities laid waste in World War I, World War II, and other wars

that the United States has participated in.

Always horrifying to see that when armies collide,

cities are laid waste, and what's left is just rubble.

It's fascinating.

Same thing happened all the way back in the ancient world, and so these desolated cities, the cities

that are laid waste, again, this is all God's judgment.

On that day, messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify

the unsuspecting people of Cush.

Those are gonna be the people in Ethiopia.

And anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom, for behold, it comes.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh.

I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of

Babylon.

You're gonna use that guy?

Yep, he's gonna use that guy.

He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations, shall be brought in

to destroy the land, and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and

fill the land with the slain.

And I will dry up the Nile, and I will sell the land into the

hand of evildoers, and I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in

it by the hand of foreigners.

I am Yahweh, I have spoken.

And you're sitting there going,.

Why would a holy God do such a thing?

So you'll note here that God isn't tempting anyone to sin.

That's not what's going on here.

But we've seen this pattern before if you go back into the book of Judges.

The people of Israel did what was evil on the side of the Lord, and they worshiped Baal and all the starry hosts and all this kind of stuff.

So God sold them into the hand of the Philistines.

God sold them into the hand of the Midianites.

God's, and so you'll note that evil is something, evil people

oftentimes become the means by which God brings judgment.

You wanna do evil?

It's fine.

You can do evil, you can do that all you want.

And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna send even more evil people who are even more wicked than you, and I'm gonna put

them over you.

You wanna go this route?

You don't want a good, gracious, loving, merciful, kind God?

Okay, you can have the other, right?

And so that's how this works out.

So thus says Lord Yahweh, I will destroy the idols.

I will put an end to the images in Memphis.

Not talking about Tennessee, by the way.

What?

Darn it, right?

There shall, the only pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee is the one owned by Bass Pro

Shop.

And it's even bigger than the actual pyramid.

It's huge, it's ginormous.

But I would note, Bass Pro Shop did not originally make that pyramid.

They did purchase it, though, so yeah.

So it was originally like a museum and an attraction called Mud Island.

Anyway.

What an attractive name.

What a great name, Mud Island, yeah.

All right, I will destroy the idols.

I will put an end to the images in Memphis.

There shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt.

So I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

I will make Patheros a desolation.

I will set fire to Zoan.

I will execute judgment in Thebes, and I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium

and the stronghold of Egypt and cut off the multitude of Thebes.

I will set fire to Egypt.

Pelusium shall be in great agony.

Thebes shall be breached, and Memphis shall face enemies by day and

musicians by night.

I don't know, you know, Elvis Presley.

The young men of On and Pi Besseth shall fall by the sword, and the women shall

go into captivity.

And at Tehofenes, Tehofenes, the day shall be dark when I break

there the yoke bars of Egypt, and her proud might shall come to an end in her,

and she shall be covered by a cloud, and her daughters shall go into captivity.

Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt.

Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

So you'll note here, when God gives a prophecy of judgment, and these are details that were all fulfilled

shortly after this prophecy was given, the word of the Lord would have preceded some of this stuff,

and God says, and when this all happens, then they will know that I am Yahweh because he knew the future.

He knew what was gonna take place.

He was the one who sent these judgments upon Egypt for the purpose of them

knowing that I am Yahweh.

That was kind of the whole point.

I recently saw a video put out by Stephen Kozar of the Messed Up Church, and

there was a prophecy given, I have to put that in air quotes, sorry, there was a prophecy

given by Chris Vallaton of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and it just so

happens that that prophecy was given 27 months ago from today.

And in that prophecy, Chris Vallaton said that

Hillsong, which was at that point, 27 months ago, going through the throes

of scandal after scandal, rocking them with Carl Lentz having to leave for his sexual indiscretions,

and then eventually getting rid of Brian Houston.

We were right in the middle of all of that stuff.

Brian Houston had just been kicked out.

Carl Lentz is now gone.

And 27 months ago, Chris Vallaton prophesied that Hillsong

would be even stronger 27 months from then than it ever was, and that this

was the word of the Lord, and it was gonna happen, and it hasn't happened.

You'll note that Ezekiel here says, then they will know that I am Yahweh, and all those things took

place exactly as Ezekiel said, and then they will know that I am Yahweh.

I would note that none of the things that Chris Vallaton said would happen in 27 months took place, because tomorrow

is July 1st.

Isn't that weird?

Why would God give a prophecy that then wasn't fulfilled?

How on earth would people know that he is Yahweh?

They can't.

I think the one thing that we can absolutely take to the bank is that Chris Vallaton's a false prophet.

How divisive of me.

I'm just a hypercritic, alas.

We continue.

In the 11th year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of

Yahweh came to me.

Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and behold, it has been bound

up to heal it by binding it with a bandage so that it may become strong to wield the sword.

Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh, behold, I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I will

break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword

fall from his hand.

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries, and I will

strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, and I will break the arms of

Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded.

I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall, and then they shall know that I am

Yahweh, and who conquered Egypt?

Oh yeah, it was that Nebuchadnezzar fellow, right?

They shall know that I am Yahweh when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt,

and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.

Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

In the 11th year, in the third month, the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me.

Son of man, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his multitude, whom

are you like in your greatness?

Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches and

forest shade, and of towering height, its top among the

clouds.

The waters nourished it, the deep made it grow tall, making its river flow

around the place of its planting, sending forth its streams to all the trees of the field.

So it towered high above all the trees of the field.

Its boughs grew large, its branches long, from abundant water in

its shoots.

All the birds of the heavens made their nest in its boughs.

Under its branches, all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young, and under its shadow lived all the

great nations.

Isn't that exactly how God also, with Daniel, envisioned the reign of Nebuchadnezzar as a big

tree like this, right?

And when Nebuchadnezzar got high and mighty and really prideful, what did God do with him?

Handed him over to a mine of madness and became like an animal, right?

Chopped down that tree.

It's fascinating.

So God's using the same imagery now in Ezekiel as he used in the book of Daniel.

All the birds of the heaven made their nest in its boughs.

Under its branches, all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young, and under its shadow lived all the great nations.

It was beautiful in its greatness and the length of its branches, for its roots went down to

abundant waters.

The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor the fir trees equal

its boughs, neither were the plain trees like its branches.

No tree in the garden of God was its equal in beauty.

I made it beautiful, and the mass of its branches and all the trees of Eden

envied it that were in the garden of God.

Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh, because it towered high and set its top among

the clouds and its heart was proud of its height, I will give it

into the hand of a mighty one of the nations and he will surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves.

I have cast it down.

Isn't that interesting?

On the one hand, God's gonna use Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar to judge Egypt and to judge Judah and to do all these

things but at the same time, who, well, is

Babylon a good, righteous, holy, God -fearing nation?

No, and so you'll note that God is the one who gave this great strength and

glory to Babylon and what did Babylon do?

They got high on the good things that God gave them and it went to their heads.

And so God says, well, guess what?

I'm gonna take that pride of yours and I'm gonna tear you down.

I always remind people, okay, the one who plants, the one who waters, they are nothing, right?

Paul says, why, if you receive these things, do you act like you haven't received them, okay?

Babylon received these things from God and then Babylon thought it was just the bee's knees, which then put it in

pride, which then God then turns around and judges and judges by

basically tearing them down and taking their pride from them.

I will give it to the hand of a mighty one of the nations.

He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves.

I have cast it out.

Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it.

On the mountains and in all the valleys, its branches have fallen and its boughs have been broken and all the ravines of the

land and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it.

On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens and on its branches all the beasts of the field.

All this is in order that no trees by the water may grow to towering height or set their

tops among the clouds and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height, for they

are all given over to death.

To the world below, among the children of man, with those who go down to the

pit.

And here is kind of the first inklings of something that we're gonna see

really fleshed out in kind of horrifying detail in chapter 32.

This idea that when humans die prior to the death,

burial, resurrection, and Christ, if they are unbelieving, this

is still the case today, they go down into a pit.

Name of that pit.

Does anyone know the name of that pit?

Sheol.

Sheol, okay.

And in chapter 32, it's gonna come screaming through in

like horrific detail.

I mean, Dante's Inferno has got nothing on Ezekiel 32.

I'm just saying, okay.

So thus says the Lord Yahweh, on the day the cedar went down to Sheol, I

caused mourning.

I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and

many waters were stopped.

I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field

fainted because of it.

I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who

go down to the pit, and all the trees of Eden, the choice and the best of Lebanon,

all that drink water were comforted in the world below.

They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword.

Yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the

nations.

Whom are you thus like in glory, in greatness among the trees of Eden?

You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below.

You shall lie among the uncircumcised with those who are slain by the

sword.

This is Pharaoh, and all of his multitude declares the Lord Yahweh.

Okay, are you saying that there is a place that the

evil, wicked people go when they die?

Uh -huh, that's what the text is saying.

So you're gonna note, when we talk then about the intermediate

state, we have to talk about it in terms of when

you are in human history.

So after Adam and Eve sinned, every single

human being, believer or unbeliever, all went down to

Sheol.

So hear me out on this.

Every single one of them went down to Sheol.

And prior to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, Sheol was divided up into

two compartments.

One is described in hellish terms of torment and fire.

The second compartment is described as Abraham's bosom and is

described as also like paradise, a paradisiac place.

Now, how do we know that this is the case?

Well, we start to see the beginnings, the inklings of it here in this text.

But isn't there a, isn't there a?

Parable.

It's not a parable.

Oh, it's not?

It's not.

But isn't there a story that Jesus tells to this effect?

Oh, right, it's not a parable, right.

It's not a parable.

Right, right.

Lazarus.

So I'm gonna look for Lazarus.

And of course, I have to expand my search to include the Gospels.

Hang on a second here.

It's in the Gospel of Luke.

So here we go.

All right, Luke 16.

Okay, let's take a look at this.

Luke 16.

And I'm gonna scroll down here.

Here we go.

Jesus says, and here's the thing, this isn't a parable.

When Jesus gives a parable, he usually says things like, the kingdom of God may be compared to

X, Y, or Z.

Fill in the blank, right?

This one doesn't have any parabolic indicators.

Jesus, just out of the blue, tells this account.

Listen then how this works.

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasted

sumptuously every day.

So he's got really nice clothes.

In fact, I'm sure GQ Magazine did an interview with him because of how stylish he was,

right?

He drove a really nice car.

He had a Rolex.

And of course, all the girls fawned over him.

And this guy's style, he's making it, right?

At his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus.

Now, what's the rich man's name again?

What's his name?

Rich.

That's a good guess.

So you're gonna note, the guy doesn't have a name.

The rich man doesn't have a name.

He's just described as the rich man.

I would note, this is great biblical theology that Christ is giving us here.

Of course, we wouldn't expect anything less than Jesus, who is God in human flesh.

Because it says in scripture that if your name is not written in the Lamb's book of life,

Christ says, depart from me, I never knew you.

Everyone who ends up in hell eternally.

Ends up in hell eternally.

He ends up there nameless.

God doesn't know who, what's your, I'm sorry, your name's not here.

I have no clue who you are, right?

So note, the rich man, who's gonna have a terrible fate, we just know he's a rich man, but we don't know his name.

But on the other hand, we know this is the name of Lazarus.

At his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus.

And Lazarus was not experiencing his best life now, okay?

He was not experiencing divine health.

He was not experiencing divine wealth or anything of the sort, okay?

He's laid at the gate of this rich man, and he's covered with sores.

He's hungry and desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table, which is the dog's

portion, right?

Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

That's just nasty, right?

And so what happened to Lazarus?

He died, and he was carried by the angels to Abraham's side,

or kolpas here would be bosom.

This is that other compartment in Sheol.

So prior to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, where do believers go?

Sheol, but they go to the side known as Abraham's bosom, or Abraham's side.

The rich man also died, and he was buried.

And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes,

and he saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his side.

Now, a little bit of a note here.

There are some, historically, who have argued that hell, somehow, if God were just,

he would use hell for the purpose of basically

fixing what's broken in the sinner.

It would be a place where they would get better.

Okay?

I would note, this rich man hasn't learned a single thing.

He's being punished rightly, because the rich man, he lifted up his eyes, and then he called out,

Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and

cool my tongue.

Oh yeah, that poor guy who, you know, I should be able to boss him around and treat him

like a slave, right?

And so note, he doesn't even acknowledge what's really going on here, because he's clueless.

Hell is not a place where we go to learn and to remedy what's wrong in us.

And this guy is not being remedied at all, in that sense.

So he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, send Lazarus, you know, like the slave that he is,

to dip the end of his finger in water and then to cool my tongue.

Make him come and serve me, for I'm in anguish in this flame.

Horrifying words, right?

But Abraham said, child, remember that you, in your lifetime,

received your good things.

And Lazarus, in like manner, bad things.

But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

Okay, you'll note, things have flipped.

In this life, Lazarus was in anguish, and the other guy was, you know, comforted.

And now the great flip has taken place, because Lazarus, since he's with Abraham, he dies in faith.

The rich man trusted in his riches.

Besides all of this, Abraham says, between us and you is a great chasm that has been

fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you

may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.

So here we learn a little bit more about Sheol.

Prior to death, Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, the two compartments are not

only there, but going from one to the other, forbidden.

It is set up in such a way that it can't actually happen.

So this guy says, well, then I beg you, Father, to send Lazarus to my father's house,

for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Now watch the answer.

Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.

Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ.

If you're not gonna hear the Bible, if you're not gonna listen to the word of God, is there any hope that you're going to be

saved at all?

None.

The word of God is the means by which God regenerates people, brings them to repentance and gives them

faith, okay?

So if they will not, if they have Moses and the prophets and let them hear them, and he said,

no, Father Abraham, but if somebody goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

Bill Johnson, I covered this recently in a sermon of his, claims that Christians have a mandate to perform

miracles and they need to perform miracles so that the world will know that Christianity is true and they'll want to

become Christians.

Abraham says otherwise.

Abraham said, if they will not hear Moses and the prophets,

neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Were the high priests and those who are responsible for Christ's crucifixion,

did they repent after the tomb was empty?

No, they did not.

They did not at all.

So miracles do not create faith.

The word of God does.

But we can see here then that prior to Christ's death, burial,

resurrection, and ascension, everybody goes to Sheol and that's divided into two parts.

Now that Christ has died, was buried, rose from the grave,

and ascended into heaven, where do Christians go?

Jesus is up.

They go to heaven, okay?

So this is an important thing.

Since Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, things have changed, okay?

And let's kind of talk, kind of bear this out if we would.

I'm gonna look for a word, captives, okay?

And I'm not gonna look in the Gospels, I'm gonna look in the Epistles.

Okay, so listen to what this says in Ephesians chapter four.

And let me put it in context so no one's gonna accuse me of proof texting here.

Ephesians 4 .4, there is one body, one spirit.

Just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call.

One Lord, one faith, four baptisms.

No, it says one, okay.

I point this out because what do the Charismatics and Pentecostals say?

How many baptisms are there?

At least two, water baptism and a baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,

who is over all and through all.

But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he

gave gifts to men.

So with Christ's ascension, what happens to Abraham's bosom?

It's evacuated.

The Christians are no longer, the believers of the Old Testament are no longer in Sheol.

They are in heaven.

Christ led them from Sheol to heaven with his ascension.

This is what the text says.

Now you had a question, James.

Yes, it does, yes it does.

It rules, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all rules out dispensationalism

and here's the reason why.

Because according to dispensationalism, how many different ways of salvation are there?

There are as many different ways of salvation as there are dispensations.

So in the Old Testament, people were saved by their works.

In the New Testament, they're saved by faith.

But Paul would beg to differ because Abraham, was he saved by works or was he saved by faith?

Faith, okay?

So it rules out dispensationalism as well.

Now, I would note, in the church's hymnody,

so in the Lutheran service book, there is a service called the service of Matins,

okay?

And in the service of Matins, there is a really old hymn.

Let me find it real quick.

And the name of the hymn is called the Tadeum.

And the Tadeum goes way, way, way back.

In fact, I would note, I think the Tadeum is probably one of the oldest existing hymns

of all of Christianity.

And it's fascinating.

So let's see if I can get this right.

We praise you, O God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord.

All the earth now worships you, the Father everlasting.

To you all the angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein.

To you cherubim and seraphim continually do cry.

Right, you familiar with this tune at all?

Okay, but when we get into where it changes to

a different key, listen to the next part.

When you took upon yourself to deliver man, you humbled yourself to be born of a virgin.

When you had overcome the sharpness of death, you opened the kingdom of heaven to all

believers.

And so in the church's hymnity, and this hymn goes way back.

I think the earliest instance that we have of this is in the fourth century, but even the version that we

have from the fourth century, scholars would argue that it predates even the fourth century.

So here you've got this phrase, you open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

So Christ leads a host of captives in his train upon his ascension.

So where do unbelievers go today to await the day of judgment?

Sheol.

To the bad bit, okay?

To the bad part.

And when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, Sheol will give up its dead,

and everybody will stand before Christ for the final judgment.

And then where do the unbelievers go?

Lake of fire, okay?

Hell itself.

And whereas Christians and those saints of the Old Testament, they then live eternally in a new

earth, God having resurrected them from the dead.

So it's good to kind of at this point to kind of get all of these little bits kind of worked out

because in our text in Ezekiel, we are now looking at passages that are

talking about Sheol.

And what is going down?

People going down, down, down to the place where those uncircumcised, to those who

were slain by the sword.

Where are they?

They are in Sheol.

In the 12th year, in the 12th month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me.

Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, you consider yourself a lion of the

nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas.

Now, a little bit of a note here, okay?

Dragon in the seas.

Does anyone know a name for a dragon in the seas?

A serpent one?

A Leviathan, right?

So you'll note that sometimes Satan is described in scripture as Leviathan or

the dragon in the seas, okay?

But you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, the foul, and

foul their rivers.

Thus, the Lord Yahweh, I will throw out my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will

haul you up in my dragnet.

And I will cast you to the ground, and on the open field I will fling you.

Who's God talking about?

Is he talking about Satan or is he talking about Pharaoh?

Yes.

Right?

Isn't it interesting how the imagery just kind of blends together?

And there's two things in mind, but it has one image.

I will cast you to the ground.

I will open, on the open field I will fling you.

I will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you.

I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

I will strew your flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with your carcass.

I will drench the land, even to the mountains, with your flowing blood, and the ravines will be

full of you.

It's a gross picture.

This is just macabre, right?

When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark.

I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give its light.

Here we go again.

How many times in Scripture does it describe the day of the Lord with the stars no longer being there, the sun

not shining or being covered like blood and the moon no longer giving its light?

Same idea here, all these pictures of God's judgment.

And then all the bright lights of heaven and I will make dark over you and I will put darkness on your land, declares

the Lord Yahweh.

I will trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction among the nations into the

countries that you have not known.

I will make many peoples appalled at you and the hair of their kings shall

bristle with horror because of you when I brandish my sword before them.

They shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life on the day of

your downfall.

For thus says Lord Yahweh, the sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.

I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of the mighty ones, all of them most ruthless of nations.

And then all of a sudden the vision changes from the day of judgment back to the day when God is gonna cause Nebuchadnezzar to

do these things.

But you'll note there's no transition.

They just kind of bleed from one vision into the other.

And wait, are we talking about the day of judgment?

Are we talking about when God judges Egypt with Nebuchadnezzar?

Yes, right?

It's the most unsatisfactory answer ever.

And it drives exegetes crazy because they want everything to be tidy.

But prophecies, Old Testament prophecies are not tidy.

They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt and all of its multitude shall perish.

I will destroy all of its beasts from beside many waters.

No foot of man shall trouble them anymore, nor shall the hooves of beasts trouble them.

Then I will make their waters clear and cause their rivers to run like oil, declares the Lord Yahweh.

When I make the land of Egypt desolate and when the land is desolate of all that fills it, when I strike down all

who dwell in it, and then they will know that I am Yahweh.

This is a lamentation that shall be chanted.

The daughters of the nations shall chant it over Egypt and over all of her multitude, shall they

chant it, declares the Lord Yahweh.

Now, I would note, starting here then in verse 17,

is there's more detail of Sheol coming here is the best way I can put it.

From 17 to 31, it's just gonna get really gross.

But I've run out of time, so you have to come back next week.

So, stay tuned.

You know, in next week's installment of Ezekiel, you too can learn about

Sheol.

All right, see you guys then, Lord willing.