Visions of the Kingdom: Week 7

Ezekiel 6:1-14: The Desecration of the Idols

• 6:3 "mountains of Israel" - filled with phallic pillars and images of Ishtar (Easter).
• 6:5 "scatter your bones" - Josiah had already destroyed the high places and desecrated the altars with the bodies of the priests. 2 Kings 23:20 Now that the people had returned to their folly, Nebuchadnezzar will desecrate the high places with the bodies of the worshippers.
• 6:6 "obliterated" - "made to cease". This drastic measure would finally end the cult of Ishtar in Israel. The Chaldeans correctly saw that this cult was behind the exasperating treaty breaking of Israel, and destroyed it as thoroughly as the military defenses.

  "idols" - literally "roller". Same root as "dung" in 4:12 and "log". It is a Hebrew portmanteau of "detestable" and "piece of s%$t". This epithet is a favorite with Ezekiel, and he uses it 38 times vs 9 times in the rest of the Old Testament. Tell us how you feel about these idols, Ezekiel.

• 6:9 "grieved" - literally "broken in pieces". This is profound. God is broken hearted over their rejection of Him for "detestable pieces of s%$t".
• 6:10 "did not declare in vain" - God warned them this would happen 1000 years ago in Leviticus 26. But, while the treatment is severe, the cancer will finally be destroyed.
• 6:13 "fragrant incense" - replaced by the stench of rotting corposes.