A Net in Time

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Devotional

God’s Chooses to Weaken Egypt

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20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. 22 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. 26 And
I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them
throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

I have to admit, i don’t get what’s going on here. 

We already learned from the previous 19 verses that God was going to execute judgement against Egypt for her treatment of Israel.   So when they talk in this section about breaking Egypt’s good arm and also breaking her broken arm again, I don’t get it.

I understand the end result of what God wants.  He wants Egypt to see that he is the Lord.  That none of their ‘gods’ is God ONLY he is.

I guess the point is, when I stop and think about it some more is this.   God could have just let Babylon come in and fight and eventually defeat Egypt.

What God did though is he weakened Egypt.   He weakened her in such a way that Pharaoh was groaning about it.  

It tells me that God strengthens those he will strengthen and weakens those he will weaken.
God is Lord.
It is very apparent to me in these verses, God is Lord.  

He used a nation that was evil in the sight of God to discipline another nation that had treated his people badly.  In that process he weakened Egypt so that Babylon could wreak devastation upon her.

Egypt: Alas the day

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Today’s Devotional is based off Ezekiel 30:1-19.
 God’s word against Egypt continues.

God tells the people to prepare for 

“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
3     For the day is near,
    the day of the Lord is near;
it will be a day of clouds,
    a time of doom for the nations.
4 A sword shall come upon Egypt,
    and anguish shall be in Cush,
when the slain fall in Egypt,
    and her wealth is carried away,
    and her foundations are torn down.

A time of hardship is coming for the people of Egypt, a time of doom and the sword, for her wealth to the carried away.

It won’t be just Egypt who falls but all who support her as well. 

Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya, and the people of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

6 “Thus says the Lord:
Those who support Egypt shall fall,
    and her proud might shall come down;
from Migdol to Syene
    they shall fall within her by the sword,

All these nations and cities will be devastated.
So that they will know that “I AM THE LORD” (says the Lord God).
Egypt and all her helpers will be broken … so that folks will know this fundamental truth.   God is the Lord, there is none other. 

The Lord will allow Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babyton 

  • to destroy the land
  • draw swords against Egypt
  • Fill the land with the slain

God will

  • dry up the Nile
  • sell the land in to the hands of evildoers
  • bring desolation upon the land and everything in it
  • he will do this using the hands of foreigners.
  • destroy the idols
  • put an end to images in Memphis
  • no more princes of Egypt
 14 I will make Pathros a desolation
    and will set fire to Zoan
    and will execute judgments on Thebes.
15 And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,
    the stronghold of Egypt,
    and cut off the multitude of Thebes.
16 And I will set fire to Egypt;
    Pelusium shall be in great agony;
Thebes shall be breached,
    and Memphis shall face enemies by day.
17 The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,
    and the women shall go into captivity.
18 At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,
    when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt,
and her proud might shall come to an end in her;
    she shall be covered by a cloud,
    and her daughters shall go into captivity.
19 Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt.

 The Lord has spoken.
It will be as he has said.

And so Egypt will know that the God is the Lord.
The Lord God is so specific in his judgements against Egypt.  Spelling out what will happen to her and her allies. 

Egypt, the land that Israel turned to time and again for help.   Who in the Old Testament first treated Israel well and then led to a time of horrid captivity.  The land to which eventually Joseph would feel with his young family when warned by angels to do so.

Egypt with its many gods needed to learn a fundamental truth.   The same truth we all need to learn.

GOD IS THE LORD.   

Not the Nile, not Ra, Not the pharoahs, nothing else.  Nothing that we make out as important.  Not traditions, tv, blogging, family, life, health, work etc.  NOTHING.

ONLY God is the Lord.

Recognize that fundamental truth. 
Learn from the mistakes the Egypt made.

Discipline, Protection, Promise

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Ezekiel 29 is all about a judgement being proclaimed against Egypt.

My son and I are in the midst of reading a book about Egypt, so having this prophecy against Egypt just kinda fits.  🙂    We’ve been brought to awareness how vast Egypt was and how poorly she treated Egypt.  We know this from the bible, but sometimes reading it in a story just brings those facts more to life, gives an awareness not previously seen.


The prophecy is in particular against the Pharaoh but also against the whole of Egypt.

God is very direct with the people, telling them that

“Behold, I am against you,
    Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great dragon that lies
    in the midst of his streams,
that says, ‘My Nile is my own;
    I made it for myself.’

It’s that nasty pride creeping in  you know… that “I did this”, without considering who REALLY made it.

So God will treat them like the fish of the Nile, hooking them up and dragging them out.   He will cast them out into the wilderness where they will be scattered by the beasts of the field, not able to be gathered up again.

5 And I will cast you out into the wilderness,
    you and all the fish of your streams;
you shall fall on the open field,
    and not be brought together or gathered.
To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens
    I give you as food.

WHY?
For the same reason as always.  God wants them to know that HE is the Lord.

Israel leaned on Egypt for help and Egypt mistreated her.  “Because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when
they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders;
and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to
shake.

Therefore the Lord will bring troubles to Egypt, the sword will come against her. Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, 9 and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. 

Egypt will KNOW that God is the LORD.
Their pride in the Nile is their destruction.  They forgot who made the Nile.  God’s anger at them in great for he will make them a wasteland for 40 years and scatter her peoples. behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 And
I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated
countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities
that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries.

 But at the end of those 40 years, the people of Egypt shall again be gathered up.  Egypt will have her fortunes restored and she shall be the lowliest of peoples and never rule over other nations again.  Israel will NEVER be able to rely on her again.   And Israel to shall know that God is the LORD. 
And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.

 I have to admit..I thought that was cool.  Even in the midst of his anger against Egypt God didn’t forget his people.  Part of his chastisement of Egypt is his goal that his own people learn and remember that HE IS GOD.  Only he is the LORD.

The source of the destruction, God’s immediate tool, will be the land of Babylon with king Nebuchadnezzar at it’s head.  This king and his people shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army.

God was very clear.   What Nebuchadnezzar did was work for him.  I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God.  In essence, Egypt and her wealth was his reward for a job well done.

I have to admit, I don’t quite understand this last line.  It sounds like a word of promise, like a word that would point to Christ…. this “horn” that will spring up.   Because of this horn Israel will know that God is the Lord.   
21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Wasn’t this an interesting passage?   I certainly thought so.
God’s focus is on helping people realize who he is.
Egypt is corrected for hurting his people.
God’s tool was rewarded.
And a promise given.  A horn will spring up in Israel.

Just interesting.  🙂  Discipline.  Protection.  Promise. I like it. 

Sidon, be warned

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The Lord God is finished dealing with Tyre, today it’s Sidon’s turn to be warned.
Destruction is headed her way so that they will know that GOD is the Lord God.
“Behold, I am against you, O Sidon,
I have to admit, I find this line interesting.    God is against Sidon BUT his plan is to manifest his glory in their midst.  
 
    and I will manifest my glory in your midst.
 So that they will know that HE is the Lord.
 
And they shall know that I am the Lord
This way when judgement comes there will be no excuse. They will simply know that it is from the Lord God himself.
 
    when I execute judgments in her
    and manifest my holiness in her;
23 for I will send pestilence into her,
    and blood into her streets;
and the slain shall fall in her midst,
    by the sword that is against her on every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
 The end result… For the House of Israel there will be left no thorns in the side, no nation that will treat her with contempt.

24 “And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.
I read those words and I feel amazed. It’s more that I am partly stunned.  These nations did wrong in the eyes of the Lord.   Setting themselves up as the best, the brightest, worshipping themselves, false Gods, money and the like.
But they also did something else.
They picked on Israel.  A bunch of little bully nations picking on the kid.
God wants that stopped.
So he disciplines the nations around Israel for their various faults.
But he also tells his people… see.. all that bullying will stop.    No thorns in your side will be left untouched.
This is what God does for his people.   He minds them, he watches over them, he sees what others do to his people, and though he doesn’t always take immediate action HE WILL.   It’s written down for us here in Ezekiel.
So take comfort the besieged among us believers.  Know that God will act.  He will stand for us.  He won’t let us be bullied for ever.  So stand strong and firm in your faith.  STAND. 

King of Tyre, lamented, destroyed

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Last time we met, we lamented the Prince of Tyre due to his need to see that he was not God.  It’s a  important lesson to learn. 

Today we lament the King of Tyre. Today’s reading is from Ezekiel 28:11-19

First we are told who the King is, who the king was MEANT to be.   The king was meant to be: 

  • the signet of perfection
  • full of wisdom
  • perfect in beauty
  • covered with a variety of precious jewels
  • an anointed guardian cherub
  • blameless in his ways.
 “You were the signet of perfection,
    full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
    every precious stone was your covering,
sardius, topaz, and diamond,
    beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;
    and crafted in gold were your settings
    and your engravings.
On the day that you were created
    they were prepared.
14 You were an anointed guardian cherub.
    I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God;
    in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
15 You were blameless in your ways
    from the day you were created,

BUT THEN …unrighteousness was found in him. 
So much trade, the abundance of it changed him (or at least that’s what I am implying from text).
Violence was part of that trade.   So violence became a part of the King of Tyre. 
The King sinned.
So God took action: 

  • casting him down from his holy mountain
  • destroying the guardian cherub

The king has corrupted his wisdom for the sake of spendor.   His beauty and riches were too important to him..

So the Lord continued to take action, casting the King down, exposing him before other kings.

This king who had everything and was meant to be so much more than what he was, has now had fire brought into his midst.   A fire that consumed him, so that all who caught a glimpse were dismayed, appalled actually.  The King of Tyre is God and that’s the end of him forever.

 
16 In the abundance of your trade
    you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
    and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub,
    from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
    you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
    I exposed you before kings,
    to feast their eyes on you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities,
    in the unrighteousness of your trade
    you profaned your sanctuaries;
so I brought fire out from your midst;
    it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
    in the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who know you among the peoples
    are appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end    and shall be no more forever.”
It’s so easy you know… to get caught up in the things you have and to forget what you are supposed to be doing.   The King of Tyre had a heady responsibility.  God set him in place to be a shining light, and the King of Tyre (to me it seems) got distracted by the costs of doing business and let himself get caught up in it.   His name in essence became violence.
I’m imaging (hoping actually) that the change was gradual, that he just didn’t see what was happening until he was immersed it in.   BUT a part of my brain niggles that he discovered this way of doing business and leaped right into action.
Either way… the position that God had placed in him, the position he was to have filled became dreadfully sullied, so God needed to remove him.   God showed the world what he had become.
So be careful.  Watch what he do and how you act.  God sees it. 

Who is God? Not the Prince of Tyre

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 You can read Ezekiel 28-1-10 HERE.

The lament against Tyre continues.   This time specifically against the Prince of Tyre.

The Prince of Tyre is judged because 
“Because your heart is proud,
and you have said, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,’
I have to admit, part of me is astounded that a person could think that way.   To think of themselves as a god, yet I am really not surprised.  As the lad and I go through our history books there are many nations whose leaders were actually considered to be gods, or who when individuals gained leadership they said they were a god and could do or command anything they wanted.   So this time it’s the Prince of Tyre who has this false notion.
God reminds him clearly.  He is a MAN.  Not a GOD.

 

God admits that he’s a smart enough fellow, with a wisdom beyond Daniel, keeper of secrets, and full of understanding.    He recognizes this about the Prince. 
3 you are indeed wiser than Daniel;
no secret is hidden from you;
4 by your wisdom and your understanding
Through his wisdom he has been able to make himself wealthy…and so has become proud of himself, proud in his heart of all his accomplishments 
and your heart has become proud in your wealth—
The Lord can’t have this you know.  He can’t have a proud man thinking of himself as a god.
 6 therefore thus says the Lord God:
Because you make your heart
like the heart of a god,
This man will be humbled.  Consequences are sure.   The means by which this chastisement will occur is through attack.  Foreigners will fall upon his nation.   
7 therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you,
the most ruthless of the nations;
and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom
and defile your splendor.
8 They shall thrust you down into the pit,
and you shall die the death of the slain
in the heart of the seas.
So God asks this 
9Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’
in the presence of those who kill you,
though you are but a man, and no god,
in the hands of those who slay you?
The Prince will be brought down.   His proud heart is his downfall.
10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
by the hand of foreigners;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.”
I have to admit, right now I am wondering…what do I take out of this?   I know that I fight against pride in my life (who doesn’t right?)   You do something well and it’s easy to be proud of that.   It’s not always easy to keep a level head.   This Prince of Egypt lacked that level head, the leavening to keep his place.   I don’t know if it was his upbringing (for instance in the eyes of my mother-in-law my son is a perfect kid) or if was the culture of the day or the mindset of the people that didn’t help this fellow realize that important truth…. he wasn’t GOD.
He wasn’t
I am not.
You are not.
God is.
Do we truly recognize that?
How often do we show it?
When things go well how often do we point out that it was God’s doing?
When things aren’t going so well, how often we point out God’s mercies to us during that time?
It’s so easy to not point these things out isn’t it?   To not really see God as God in all types of situations in life
Let us see God more clearly eh?
And ourselves…. let us keep ourselves to the humble position of servant, of inheriting children, and not that of being God….cause we most certainly are not that!  🙂 
 

The Merchants Hissed…Tyre Lamented

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Now it is time for Tyre to be lamented.  When I read the words of this lamentation what I hear is Tyre being very full of herself.

       ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
    [4] Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
        your builders made perfect your beauty.
   ….
    [7] Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt
        was your sail,
        serving as your banner;
    blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah
        was your awning.
    [8] The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad
        were your rowers;
    your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you;
        they were your pilots.
    [9] The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you,
        caulking your seams;
    all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you
        to barter for your wares.

All these beauty and perfection that comes with loads of peoples from other nations in service to her.  Elishad, Arvad, Sidon, Persia and Lud and so many other places.   All these places working for her and giving her beauty.   Such was Tyre.   Even Judah and Israel traded with her.

So much of Tyre was caught up in the peoples that came to her and her beauty.   The seas were hers.  But all this is to be destroyed.

    [27] Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,
        your mariners and your pilots,
    your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
        and all your men of war who are in you,
    with all your crew
        that is in your midst,
    sink into the heart of the seas
        on the day of your fall.
 …..
    [31] they make themselves bald for you
        and put sackcloth on their waist,
    and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
        with bitter mourning.
    [32] In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you
        and lament over you:
    ‘Who is like Tyre,
        like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?
    [33] When your wares came from the seas,
        you satisfied many peoples;
    with your abundant wealth and merchandise
        you enriched the kings of the earth.
    [34] Now you are wrecked by the seas,
        in the depths of the waters;
    your merchandise and all your crew in your midst
        have sunk with you.
    [35] All the inhabitants of the coastlands
        are appalled at you,
    and the hair of their kings bristles with horror;
        their faces are convulsed.
    [36] The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;
        you have come to a dreadful end
        and shall be no more forever.’”

Tyre is mourned. Her ships are lost, her merchandise destroyed, her power over the seas… gone. 
She was part of the lives of so many.
It is time of mourning for all who dealt with her.

Sadness and lamentations.

But we are not told why this happened to Tyre?   Was it her pride and greatness that caused her destruction?   She was of use to so many peoples and nations.  And now she is gone and “shall be no more forever.”.

Makes me feel sad.

Why were they destroyed?
The implication is they trusted in their ability to be excellent merchants and travellers of the seas.
That they put their trust in their own beauty, and abilities to trade with so many different people groups above that of anything.   They gave no thought to matters of faith or of the Lord.

Tyre is a warning to us.   We need to see beyond our daily life here.  We need to see to matters of faith as well.
 
Faith matters.   It matters more than our smarts, more than our beauty, more than our ability to turn a clever buck, more than our ability to provide goods and services that others want to have.   Faith matters and we forget that at our peril.