Read: Ezekiel 16:43-17:24; Hebrews 8:1-13; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 27:7-9
God told Ezekiel to tell the people that they were like their mother who was a Hittite and their father who was an Amorite. And they were like their older sister Samaria and their younger sister Sodom. They joined in the worship of all these nation’s idolatry. But, Judah was even more sinful than all of them. They were full of pride and lived in excessive ease and did nothing to help the poor and the needy. Judah was so sinful they made Sodom and Samaria look righteous.
They had despised the covenant they made with God, but the day was coming when they would remember it and be filled with shame and remorse.
In Chapter 17 God gave Ezekiel a parable of a great eagle who came to Lebanon and took the top most branch and carried it along with the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil beside abundant waters. There it became a vine that sprouted and grew and prospered.
Another great eagle came forth and the vine reached out to this eagle, so it would be nourished by this eagle and become a fruitful vine and flourish also. The Lord said it would be pulled up by its rood and cut off so that it wouldn’t produce fruit.
The first eagle was the king of Babylon who came and took Jehoiachin with him to Babylon along with the best people of the land. There they would flourish and thrive. The second eagle was Egypt, who Zedekiah reached out to to help them against the king of Babylon. Zedekiah broke his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar and made a new covenant with the Pharaoh of Egypt. This was a very bad decision. The people wouldn’t thrive or be nourished there. They would die and wither away.
Then God gave his plan of redemption. He would plant the Messiah himself on his mountain and it would bear much fruit. It would bring to life those who were hopeless and bring down those who were proud.
Hebrews explains that the priests of the Old Testament were pictures of Jesus our High Priest and what he would do for us. Moses was told to make the tabernacle just like the one he was shown in heaven. Everything in the tabernacle was to be run like God’s tabernacle in heaven was run. But, the ministry of Christ is much more excellent ministry than that of the old covenant. The old covenant was given to Moses and written on tablets of stone, but the new covenant is written on our hearts and in our minds. All can know the Lord.
Lord, thank you for being our High Priest. May we know your as we walk in your covenant and hear your voice.
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