Congregation Bible Study (30 min.): Rr ch. 16 paras. 1-8 and video.
"Put a mark on the forehead"
MAIN IDEA: In what sense were faithful Jews marked for survival and what does that mark mean in our day?
ANALYSIS OF THE VIDEO AND ANSWERS TO THE PARAGRAPHS
Jehovah loves justice. He would never eliminate the righteous with the wicked; that would be neither fair nor loving. For example, before executing his sentence against unfaithful Jerusalem, Jehovah lovingly assured the prophet Ezekiel that he would protect his faithful servants. In a vision, Ezekiel saw someone marking who would survive God's judgment. Who receives the mark? Who puts the mark? And when are those people who survive marked?
Chapter 16 discusses this impressive vision. The title is "Put a mark on the forehead" and it is based on Ezekiel 9: 4. Jehovah told him: "Go around the city, go around Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who sigh and mourn over all the detestable things that are being done in the city."
This chapter answers the two important questions. The first: in Ezekiel's vision of the man with the inkwell. How is Jehovah's mercy highlighted? and the second: What do you need to do now, to be marked in order to survive in the future? How good is our God, Jehovah!
He assures us that he will save his faithful servants when he executes sentence against this evil system. In the meantime, this chapter will motivate you to indulge yourself in this life-saving, good preaching work and thus helping as many as possible so that they may be among those marked to survive.
1-3. a) Why is it likely that Ezekiel froze?
It is probable that Ezekiel was frozen by the vision that he had, which said the detestable things that the apostate Jews were doing in the temple of Jerusalem.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
He froze because he could see a vision of some of the things that apostate Jews were doing in the temple in Jerusalem. Their attitude was detestable, they were rebels who did not mind polluting the center of pure Worship and they also polluted the land of Judah, this land was filled with violence.
Ezequiel is frozen by the terrible vision he has just seen. Jerusalem and the temple of God will be destroyed. The very house of Jehovah will be destroyed and for a reason that causes deep regret, and that is that it was completely polluted. Normal that Ezequiel will freeze.
1-3. And what do you discover about what the destruction of Jerusalem would be like?
The prophet Ezekiel discovers that the righteous are not going to be eliminated along with the wicked, which is a relief for Jehovah's servants to know that the faithful will survive.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
In Ezekiel's vision he also talks about how Jerusalem will be destroyed. Ezekiel tells us that 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. The prophet discovers that the righteous are not going to be eliminated along with the wicked.
Ezekiel, after having this, the first thing he thought was of the Jews who were being faithful and enduring seeing this terrible contamination. Then he knows the answer and feels relief, since only the infidels will be destroyed, they are the ones who will receive divine punishment while the faithful servants will survive this destruction.
1-3. b) What questions will we answer next?
There are three questions which we will answer: 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?
OPTIONAL ANSWER
We will surely ask ourselves several questions about this vision of Ezekiel. For now we will only ask 3 questions, which will be: 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?
Throughout this chapter we will see the answer to three very interesting 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?
After that vision Ezequiel saw six men who came from the side of the upper door that faces north, each one with his weapon to smash in his hand. With them was a man dressed in linen with a secretary's inkwell around his waist. And they went in and stood by the copper altar. Jehovah told them: "Go around the city, go around Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who sigh and mourn over all the detestable things that are being done in the city." “Go through the city behind him killing people. Exterminate everyone, the old, the young, the virgins, the children and the women. But don't approach anyone who has the mark.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
In the vision it happens that Ezekiel saw seven men who "came from the side of the upper door that faces north." 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." Jehovah commanded him to go through the city and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who sigh and lament over all the unpleasant things that are being done in the city.
In Ezekiel's eerie vision seven men appear entering through a door to the north near the symbol of jealousy or the women crying for Tammuz. They went to the inner court not to make sacrifices, Jehovah no longer accepted it. Six of them tells the biblical story with his smash weapon in hand and a seventh with a secretary's inkwell.
5, 6. What conclusion can we reach about the people who received the mark? (See the drawing at the beginning).
Just as 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. In the same way it can happen with the faithful, by bearing the mark they could save themselves from the destruction of Jerusalem.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
We can make a comparison as in Egypt, only the faithful Israelites who believed in Jehovah put their mark with blood on the doorframe of their house as a sign so that their firstborn would not die. It may have a similar function, but this time the man with the inkwell would put the mark on the forehead, whoever has the mark can be saved from the destruction of Jerusalem. And those who would have the mark would be, the people who were sighing and lamenting about the detestable things that were happening in the city.
The man who carried the inkwell marked the people who felt great pain and anguish for the contamination they were seeing and were marked to distinguish them as we see in the drawing. Good people who publicly declared their disgust for all these practices and who would be part of the group of faithful Jews who would be saved in Ezekiel's vision.
7, 8. What mission did the armed men have to fulfill? And how did it all end?
The six armed men were tasked with killing everyone except those with the mark on their foreheads. Jehovah told them that only those who were sighing and lamenting over the detestable things that were happening in the city, only they would receive the mark. Everyone else who did not have the mark would have to be exterminated by the six men.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
As we have seen, the man with the inkwell has a function which is to put the mark on the forehead. And the six armed men had a mission, which was to exterminate all those who would not have the mark. The six men would have to start from the heart of Jerusalem. Which was the temple, which they had contaminated by offering incense to false gods.
These armed men have the mission indicated in Ezekiel 9: 6, there it says: "they must exterminate everyone, except those who have the mark." And just as the verse says, they had to start with the sanctuary, the first being the 70 elders who were in front of the temple that was no longer holy.
And how did it all end?
Well, as we saw, for now we finish with Ezequiel who was still listening very attentively to the vision, he hears that the man with the inkwell says to Jehovah: “I have done exactly what you commanded me”. Which means that the man with the inkwell would have already marked all those who were sighing and lamenting about the detestable things that were happening in the city.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Ezekiel 9:11 says that the man dressed in linen says that "I have done exactly what you commanded me." We will have to wait until next week to see what happened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and if any faithful people survived.
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