Ezekiel 6

OUTLINE:
I. \\#Eze 1:1-23:49\\ Before the Siege (c.593-587)
    A. \\#Eze 1:1-3:15\\ The First Message
        1. \\#1:1-28\\ God
            a. \\#1-3\\ The Setting
            b. \\#4-28\\ The Glory of the Lord
            c. \\#4\\ The Cloud
            d. \\#5-14\\ The Four Living Creatures
            e. \\#15-21\\ The Four Wheels
            f. \\#22-25\\ The Firmament
            g. \\#26-28\\ The One Above
            h. \\#28\\ Ezekiel’s Reaction
       2. \\#2:1-3:15\\ The Commission of Ezekiel
            a. \\#2:1-2\\ God’s Strengthening
            b. \\#2:3-3:15\\ God’s Calling
                (1) \\#2:3-5\\ Go to God’s People
                (2) \\#2:6-3:3\\ Go with God’s Words
                (3) \\#3:4-11\\ Go with God’s Equipping
                (4) \\#3:12-15\\ Go with God’s Spirit
    B. \\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message
        1. \\#3:16-21\\ Go as God’s Watchman
        2. \\#3:22-3:27\\ Hardships for Ezekiel
            a. \\#3:22-24\\ A Shift in Location
            b. \\#3:24-27\\ Three Commands Given
        3. \\#4:1-5:17\\ Signs of Jerusalem’s Siege
            a. \\#4:1-3\\ A Besieged City
            b. \\#4:4-8\\ A Sinful City
            c. \\#4:9-17\\ A Hungry City
            d. \\#5:1-17\\ A Defeated City
        4. \\#6:1-14\\ Preach to the Mountains and Stomp
            a. \\#6:1-7\\ God’s Judgment
            b. \\#6:8-10\\ God’s Mercy
            c. \\#6:11-14\\ Ezekiel’s Demonstration
        5. \\#7:1-27\\ Preach to the Land and Make A Chain

\\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message, Preach to the Mountains and
Stomp
I. \\#6:1-7\\ God’s Judgment
   A. \\#1\\ "And the word of the Lord came" might suggest that this
       is the beginning of a new message or at least, a new topic in
       the same message.
   B. \\#2\\ "set thy face toward the mountains… and prophecy
       against them" - Ezekiel was to preach not to the people but in
       front of the people while preaching at the mountains.  What
       could have been meant by this?
       1. Most probably, God was expressing the range of the
           destruction that Nebuchadnezzar was about to bring.
           a. In this judgment, the Babylonians were coming not just
               to destroy the capitol or even the major cities, but
               every mountain would be destroyed by them.
           b. In the last chapter, Ezekiel’s message was expressly to
               the city \\#Eze 5;5\\.
           c. In this chapter, Ezekiel’s message was expressly to the
               country side.
       2. Perhaps God also expected as much in the way of results
           from Ezekiel’s preaching to the mountains as He did from
           Ezekiel’s preaching to the people—not much.
       3. Regardless of who Ezekiel preached to, the message was
           intended for all of the people to hear.
    C. \\#3\\ "I will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your
        high places."
        1. The foolish people thought they might get better results
            from their false gods the closer they got to them.
            Believing their gods were in the heavens above them, they
            worshipped on the mountain tops.
        2. God was going to have Nebuchadnezzar’s army travel
            through all the country side and onto every hillside to
            destroy the worship centers of these false gods.
    D. \\#4\\ God would leave their "altars… desolate," their
        idols "broken," their false worshippers would be "slain men
        before your idols."
    E. \\#5\\ This was not a judgment against the idols that have no
        life but against "the children of Israel," whose "carcasses"
        and "bones" would be scattered "around about your altars."
    F. \\#6\\ God’s judgment will destroy their "cites… high
        places… altars… idols… images… works."
    G. \\#7\\ God repeats that "the slain shall fall in the midst of
        you" and that they will "know that I am the Lord."

II. \\#6:8-10\\ God’s Mercy
    A. \\#8\\ "Yet will I leave a remnant… when ye shall be
        scattered through the countries."  God will not destroy all
        the population but the will leave some Jews scattered.
    B. \\#9\\ But God did not consider all that survived to be the
        remnant, but that those also "remember me among the
        nations… and loathe themselves for the evils which they
        have committed…."
    C. \\#10\\ The true remnant are those that "know that I am the
        Lord" and understand that God did not say "in vain that I
        would do this evil unto them."
    D. The remnant seems to be the godly seed which God preserved to
        rebuild Israel.  Hence there would be Jewish survivors who
        were not part of God’s remnant.

III. \\#6:11-14\\ Ezekiel’s Demonstration
    A. \\#11\\ Ezekiel was to "Smite with thine hand, and stamp with
        thy food" while he preached.
        1. Perhaps this was to gain the people’s attention.
        2. It reminds of some Baptist preachers I have heard.
    B. \\#12\\ Yet the message is the same.
        1. \\#12\\ He that is a far off shall die of the pestilence"
        2. "he that is near shall fall by the sword"
        3. "he that… is besieged shall die by the famine"
        4. Although Ezekiel does not say so, I would not be surprised
            if the ratio for the country side death was the same as
            for Jerusalem.
    C. Repeated words:
        1. "images" is used two times.
        2. "altars" is used four times.
        3. "idols" is used six times.
        4. "high places" is used two times.
        5. God was associating the judgment across the country side
            with the false worship that went on there.
    D. \\#14\\ "they shall know that I am the Lord" - God was
        prophesying of these judgments so that when they were
        fulfilled, the understanding people would realize God had
        done it.

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