Author: Erin Newton

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.

Lasting Revivals and Normal Idols

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.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 23 Listen: (7:48)
Read: Ephesians 1 Listen: (3:10)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 23:35

35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”

Reflection: A Love Affair with Power

By Erin Newton

We come once again to another uncomfortable passage in Ezekiel. The imagery and allegory of God’s people as prostitutes is the focus for the story. The details of this chapter are difficult and offensive to both ancient and modern readers. It is important that we note once again that this is not the condemnation of women in general, but the use of a female figure as a metaphor for the entire nation, men and women alike.

In a lengthy exposé of the sins of Israel and Judah, Ezekiel talks about the lewdness of these sisters fawning and throwing themselves at powerful men—superpowers Egypt and Assyria. I think we will always struggle to understand why the prophet chose this type of imagery, but what we can see here is the error that was caused by the nations. To substitute trust in God for somebody who claims to have more power is akin to an unfaithful marriage.

What Ezekiel seemed to dance around in chapter 16 is placed on full parade here in chapter 23. The sisters (Israel and Judah) have been like shameless lovers who seek after any possible recipient to their seductions. They are taken and abused and cast aside. And the tragic thing is that even in the worst consequences, they had yet to learn to stop running after these powerful lovers.

What makes power so attractive? Why do we trade the ones we love for the affection of something else? When we look at our spiritual lives placing ourselves in the shoes of these women, who or what is it that we find so much more appealing than God?

At the time of the prophets the nations were struggling back and forth between incursions and battles with all the nations around them. There were promises of peace, promises of a better life—if only they would give up truth and the God that they loved. In return, they embraced the way of life offered by idolatrous nations.

Everywhere we go right now we are bombarded with messages about power—messages that herald someone or something’s power and why we should support it, messages about how to gain our own power and utilize it for our own benefit.

But what does it mean if we strive for power when the Son of God Almighty showed us only what it meant to be humble? Let us not lust for power … or its leaders.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and mind — Psalm 26.2

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

Read more about In Denial about Greed and Power

Our distraction with sexual language and content in scripture can cause us to lose sight of the passages’ intended message.

In Denial about Greed and Power

Read more about Incest, Greed, and Idolatry

When was the last time someone was disfellowshipped from a church for greed? When was the last time Christians boycotted something due to greed?

Incest, Greed, and Idolatry

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 16 Listen: (10:36)

Read: Philippians 3 Listen: (3:21)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 16:15, 47

15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.

47 You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.

Reflection: Atypical Prostitute

By Erin Newton

Ezekiel 16 should come with a content warning. The graphic description of Jerusalem (both men and women) is described in a vulgar display of childbirth, shameless prostitution, and sexual violence. It is one of the most difficult passages to read, especially for sensitive readers who know the reality of such trauma or sympathize with those who do.

The language is jarring and upsetting. The image of the violence against the woman is not an action that is condoned, but the shock value of the image is likely the key to understanding why Ezekiel would talk about God’s people this way.

God’s people were once orphaned and rooted in a family tree of idolaters. It wasn’t Jerusalem’s excellent heritage that bonded her with God. It was God’s own love that chose her, in her loneliness, in her unworthiness, in her rejection by her own family.

She was clothed in honor and dignity. Her fame spread among the nations on account of her beauty—beauty given by God. All that was good of God’s people was because it reflected God himself. They were like radiant faces of those who had seen the Lord on the mountain.

But she was swayed in her devotion. Political alliances were made, spoken of here as sexual relationships with any passersby. She was not even a typical prostitute; she gave all that she had. She received nothing.

From history we know of these alliances with foreign nations. In most cases, they were attempts to find security in foreign power. They were made against the advice of prophets and always ended in disaster.

This harsh image is meant to awaken slumbering souls that had long forgotten the sound of God’s voice and only looked for new lovers. They traded their dignity for false security in someone else’s arms.

Have we grown in spiritual maturity so as not to act in this way? I’m not sure we are so different.

Like the metaphorical woman, Jerusalem, we were left to die, unloved and unwanted, before God clothed us with his love. But many times, we are quick to pledge our devotion to someone other than him, and these lovers only take and take with nothing to give in return. Let us not be swayed by anyone claiming to save us apart from God alone. He has promised to stand with us forever. May we commit our hearts only to him.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

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

Read More:

Lasting Revivals and Normal Idols

The idols of a culture don’t always dress up in flamboyant costumes. They often hide in normality and ubiquity.

The Sins Behind Sexual Sins

When we are willing to kiss any ring, shake any hand, or endorse any person…we are prostituting ourselves in lust whether or not there is sex involved.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 9 Listen: (2:05)
Read: Romans 12 Listen: (2:58)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 9.3-4

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 4 and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

Reflection: Mark of the Lord

By Erin Newton

Speculating about the end of the world has become something of a common practice for many Christians. There is the impulse to look at the news about wars and catastrophic weather and want to find a way to comfort ourselves by mapping out the future. It’s not so easily done and I’m afraid we’ll always have more questions than answers. Ezekiel shows us, however, that judgment comes for those aligned with evil.

The previous chapters detailed the level of idolatry in Ezekiel’s day. The list of gods and images worshiped spans the full spectrum of ancient Near Eastern religions. It was not that the people just stumbled; it was that they welcomed every possible way of loving anything but God.

And because of this, God is angry and responds with judgment. This chapter is difficult and painful to read. It speaks of the thorough judgment of God upon all people—no gender or age discriminated against. While we can mentally understand, even if it is emotionally difficult to accept, that God’s judgment on false worship is justified, it is never given without a sense of hope and mercy.

Placing a mark on one’s forehead is a familiar action, but usually with Revelation in mind. In Ezekiel 9, the mark was only given to those who were repentant. It was a mark that not only identified the people as righteous but also belonging to God.

As with a runaway cow, if it weren’t for tagging or branding, no one would know where it needed to be returned. The mark on that beast reveals where it belongs.

Those who are faithful (Ezek 9.4) and those who are wicked (Rev 13.16-17) exhibit the mark of the one who lays claim to their heart. One mark means life and the other mark means death—everyone is marked in one way or another.

Our tendency to throw around the term “mark of the beast” as an identifier of any modern concept (barcodes, government issued identification numbers, cell phone technology . . . you name it), shows that we don’t read the Scriptures carefully.

In many ways we want to control the future by hacking some timeline but we always come up with questions rather than certainties. Let us focus not on what the mark is, but whose mark we have. Are we showing the world faces marked for God or for false gods?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

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

Read more about Wary but not Paranoid
Most of those pointing fingers at Antichrists are pointing at people they already hate or dislike. More than anything else, this indicates they are probably wrong.

Wary but not Paranoid

Read more about Breaking the Rhyme Scheme
Christians do not believe in cyclical, neverending, repetition. We know that an end is coming and a new beginning. However, history does rhyme.

Breaking the Rhyme Scheme

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezekiel 3 Listen: (4:41)

Read: Romans 6 Listen: (3:28)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 3:3, 14

3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

14 The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me.

Reflection: Bitter & Sweet Word of God

By Erin Newton

The word of God is sweet. Sometimes, in certain circumstances, it can cause a bitter aftertaste. But how?

In chapter 3, Ezekiel is called to ingest (quite literally) the word of God. “Eat this scroll.” Whether he sat there chewing bits of parchment or leather scroll, or if the request is part of the grand imagery employed throughout the prophet’s book—it is not clear nor entirely consequential. The important issue is that Ezekiel is putting the word of God within himself. It becomes part of him. In return, the words of God would flow naturally from Ezekiel’s mouth. It is a positive aspect to what we hear in Matthew 12.34, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

The sweet words, however, leave him feeling bitter.

Ezekiel did not hesitate to “eat” the words of God. It was sweet. It was delightful. The promises and word of God are good and should be enjoyed with the same sweetness of honey. But Ezekiel’s pleasant words were to be spent on a people who would hear the words and reject it. Israel had turned against God to the point that his goodness, his sweet word, was spat out. Nevertheless, Ezekiel was called to speak.

A bitter and sour stomach churns at the grim reality of Ezekiel’s audience. Rejection turns sweetness to bitterness. God tells the prophet to enjoy the word, embody the word, but accept the reality that rejection was inevitable. We hear the same call from Jesus in Luke 6:22, “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”

The word of God was offered to Ezekiel’s peers, but they tasted nothing. The word was rejected as if it was not good. And that reality was distressing, angering, and bitter to Ezekiel’s soul.

Not much has changed in two millennia. We read the Bible, sing hymns, and hear of how God has worked in the lives of others. It raises our spirits and instills joy in our hearts. It is sweetness to our soul! But then we look outward and see a world that wants nothing of it.

How do we deal with that harsh reality? The prophet’s reaction is helpful. Like Ezekiel we sit in grief, acknowledging the reality. But we never stop speaking the sweet words of truth.  

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Behold, God is my helper; it is the Lord who sustains my life. — Psalm 54.4

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

Read more about Supporting Our Work
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Supporting our Work

Read more about Sticks and Stones and Scorpions
Are we speaking God’s words? We must eat God’s words to speak them…A diet of other “words” may be the reason our words harm.

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/sticks-and-stones-and-scorpions