Mon.’s Devo - The Eagles

Read: Ezekiel 16:42-17:24; Hebrews 8:1-13; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 27:7-9 Ezekiel continued his message to Jerusalem. She would be be fully repaid for all her sins before God’s fury would subside. God gave them a parable, making Samaria Jerusalem’s older sister and Sodom her younger sister. Samaria symbolized the ten tribes to the north that worshiped the two golden calves Jeroboam had set up when the nation split after Solomon’s reign. Sodom stood for the people of Ammon and Edom who were descendants of Lot thus of Abraham. Both Samaria and Sodom were places where their relatives lived. Jerusalem’s sins had surpassed both of them. Judah was held to a greater standard of responsibility because they had the Temple, the priests and the symbolic presence of God (the ark) and they turned away and worshipped detestable idols who required lewd and detestable acts in their worship. They required human sacrifices especially that of children. They had broken their covenant with God and made covenants with these other gods who had no power except the power they gave them. God gave Ezekiel a riddle to give to the people. This prophecy was given between the sixth month of Zedekiah's sixth year of reign and the fifth month of the seventh year after the carrying away of Jehoiachin,. This was five years before the destruction of Jerusalem. He compared kings to eagles. The great eagle was Babylon’s supreme god, Nisroch who was pictured as a great eagle. Nebuchadnezzar would be his representation on earth. This great eagle came to Lebanon which was another name for Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord. Lebanon was known for its cedars. This eagle, Nebuchadnezzar took King Jehoiachin, the highest branch and exiled him and all the leaders of Jerusalem to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar took a seed from Judah’s own ground, Zedekiah, to be the king over the people who were left in Jerusalem. Zedekiah was ungrateful to Babylon even though they allowed Judah to have a measure of prosperity and power over their own land. The arrogant pride of Zedekiah caused him to break his treaty with Babylon and hire the Egyptians, the other eagle to help them fight the Babylonians. God would cut off its fruit and let its leaves wither and die. It would be pulled up easily without a strong arm or a large army and transplanted. In other words, it would not take a large army to defeat Judah and exile them to Babylon. The remainder who stayed in Judah would die in the same good soil where they had grown so well. Ezekiel gave the riddle to the people, then he explained its meaning just in case they didn’t understand. None of this had happened yet so he was telling them exactly the way things were about to unfold. He added what will happen in the end. God would take a branch from the top of a tall cedar and plant it on the top of Israel’s highest mountain. It would become a majestic cedar, sending its branches and producing seed. He was speaking of the Messiah who would one day come and bring new life to his people and all the people of the world that chose to find shelter in his shade. Hebrews summed up the priesthood of earth and heaven. The priesthood on earth was a type and picture of the priesthood in heaven. God had shown this heavenly priesthood to Moses and he made a pattern of it when he built the Tabernacle. Jesus now acts as the High Priest in the Temple in heaven. His priesthood is far superior to the priesthood on earth. Jesus mediated for us a far better covenant with God that has better promises. The laws of the new covenant are written on our hearts so that we can all know the Lord. God thank you for your new covenant with us. Thank you, Jesus for being our faithful High Priest who mediated for us a better covenant. May we live on the words written in our hearts and serve you without hesitation or distraction.