Congregation Bible Study (30 min.): Rr ch. 16 paras. 1-8 and video.
1-3. a) Why is it likely that Ezekiel froze? And what do you discover about what the destruction of Jerusalem would be like? b) What questions will we answer next?
Ezequiel has been frozen! He has just seen in a vision the detestable things that apostate Jews are doing in the temple in Jerusalem. * Those rebels polluted the very center of pure worship in Israel. But the thing does not end there. The land of Judah is also polluted; It has been filled with violence, and it does not seem that the situation is going to improve. Jehovah is extremely offended by what his chosen people are doing; That is why he tells Ezekiel: "I will act in fury" (Ezek. 8:17, 18).
Jerusalem and its once holy temple are the target of Jehovah's fury today, and they will soon be destroyed. How it hurts Ezekiel to find out about this! It is normal for the prophet now to ask himself: “What about the faithful Jews left in the city? Will they survive? And, if so, how? Ezekiel immediately gets the answer: as soon as he hears the severe sentence against Jerusalem, he hears a loud voice that gathers those who are going to carry out the divine sentence or punishment (Ezek. 9: 1). As the vision continues, the prophet discovers that the righteous are not going to be eliminated along with the wicked. What a relief to know that the faithful will survive!
As the end of this evil system draws near, we too may wonder who will survive the future great destruction. Now we will answer three questions: 1) What continued to happen in the vision ?; 2) How was the vision fulfilled in Ezekiel's time? and 3) What does this prophetic vision mean to us?
"Gather those who will punish the city"
4. What happened next in the vision?
What happens now in the vision? (Read Ezekiel 9: 1-11). Ezekiel saw seven men who “came from the side of the upper door that faces north,” perhaps from where the symbol of jealousy was or the women who wept for the god Tammuz (Ezek. 8: 3, 14). The seven men entered the inner courtyard of the temple and stood by the copper sacrificial altar. But they weren't there to make sacrifices. By this time, Jehovah was no longer accepting sacrifices in the temple. Six of those men went "with their smashing weapon in hand." And the seventh was quite different: he was dressed in linen and did not carry a weapon, but "a secretary's inkwell" or, according to the note, a "case with writing tools."
5, 6. What conclusion can we reach about the people who received the mark? (See the drawing at the beginning).
What was the man who carried the inkwell to do? Jehovah gave him a very important mission: "Go around the city, go around Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who sigh and mourn all the detestable things that are being done in the city." At that time, Ezekiel may have remembered the faithful Israelites who lived in Egypt. They marked the doorframe of their house with blood as a sign so that their firstborn would not die (Ex. 12: 7, 22, 23). In Ezekiel's vision, would the mark of the man with the inkwell have a similar function? Would those who bear that mark be saved from the destruction of Jerusalem?
To find out, let's think about the purpose of the brand. He had to put himself in the forehead of those who were sighing and lamenting over the detestable things that were happening in the city. What conclusion can this lead us to? On the one hand, those who were marked were deeply distressed by the idolatry practiced in the temple, but also by the violence, sexual immorality, and corruption that reigned in Jerusalem (Ezek. 22: 9-12). Besides that, it is likely that they did not hide what they thought. They were good people and, by their words and actions, they showed that they were holding on to pure worship and that they were against what was being done in the country. That is why Jehovah would have mercy on them and save them.
7, 8. What mission did the armed men have to fulfill? And how did it all end?
And what mission did the six armed men have to fulfill? Ezekiel listens to the instructions that Jehovah gives them: they must follow the man who carried the inkwell and kill everyone except those with the mark on their foreheads. "Begin with the sanctuary," Jehovah commands them (Ezek. 9: 6). The six men would have to start at the heart of Jerusalem, the temple, which was no longer considered holy by Jehovah. The first to be executed were “the elders who were in front of the temple”: the seventy elders of Israel who were in the temple offering incense to false gods (Ezek. 8:11, 12; 9: 6).
How did it all end? Ezekiel, still very attentive to the vision, hears the man with the inkwell say to Jehovah: “I have done exactly what you commanded me” (Ezek. 9:11). But what happened in the end to the inhabitants of Jerusalem? Did any faithful person survive?
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