Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 30 Listen: (4:07)
Read: 1 Timothy 2 Listen: (1:38)

Scripture Focus:  Ezekiel 30:21-22

21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. It has not been bound up to be healed or put in a splint so that it may become strong enough to hold a sword. 22 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the good arm as well as the broken one, and make the sword fall from his hand.

Reflection: Dis-armed Power

By Erin Newton

If you have ever dealt with an arm in a cast, you realize how vital upper-body mobility is for the majority of people around the world. (Some have lost the ability or never had the ability to move their arms and find ways to overcome such obstacles. It is an amazing feat.) But it is no wonder that the use of the word “arm” to denote power is a common expression both today and in the ancient world.

A broken arm for a warrior meant defeat and, most likely, death. Strength was always pictured as residing within the arms. Think of all the ways a warrior would need to use one’s arms—to shoot a bow, to swing a sword, to steer a horse, to put on armor, to hold a shield, to maneuver a slingshot, to drive a tent peg. Strong arms meant power.

But here Egypt’s arms are dislocated, broken. Not only injured and immobilized, but without bandage and healing. God’s judgment of this nation’s power is depicted as completely dis-arming.

God’s hand moves in judgment using the tool of one idolatrous nation against the other. And this is often the case. God can orchestrate the movement of one person, group of people, or nation to work out his plan for his people.

Numerous times had Egypt been the power looming over God’s people in the Old Testament. From Joseph’s flight to Egypt and the subsequent oppression in Exodus to the revolving struggle for power over the land, the influence of this nation on Israel and Judah was clear. Sometimes that influence looked like overt oppression. Other times that power resulted in an influence on their faith.

The Israelites were condemned by the prophets for engaging in idolatry—the proof of which has been found in the discoveries throughout the land. Archaeological discoveries of ancient Israel reveal images of deities that share common characteristics with Egyptian culture. Female figurines that likely resemble Asherah (a generic name associated in the Bible with the Canaanite goddess alongside Baal) sometimes included a hairstyle depicting Hathor, an Egyptian goddess.

When your arms are hanging limply to your side, you have no power. But you also cannot sculpt a god for yourself. The removal of power is not only a demotion in authority or influence. Sometimes God dislocates our strength to keep us from making gods and from offering such false salvation to others.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

Your way, O God, is holy; who is as great as our God? — Psalm 77.13

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about Lasting Revivals and Normal Idols

It’s easy to be judgmental of ancient idols…But these gods were normal…practical SOP that promised financial ROI.

Listen to Breaking the Rhyme Scheme

Christ will break this rhyme scheme. The rhythms of oppression will be rewritten. The drumbeat of violence will be silenced. The time signature of terrors will give way to rest.