Monday 20 February 2017

Psalm: Psalm 110

Background

The book of Ezekiel was written in the midst of the exile inBabylon. The people of God have been taken from their land, fromthe holy city and the temple. It is in this chaos and confusionthat the Lord speaks to Ezekiel and calls him as prophet to thenation in exile (Ezekiel 2:3). In today's passage there is agroup of elders sitting at the feet of the prophet, something thatseems to be a regular occurrence in the book (eg Ezekiel 8:1; 20:1). We have no idea what theseelders want because the word of God breaks into the narrativebefore they have a chance to speak (verse 3).

God first speaks directly to Ezekiel, calling him by the title"mortal" (or in other translations "son of man") and stating thecondition of the elders' hearts. The charge is that these men haveset up idols in their hearts and put up wicked stumbling blocksbefore their faces (verses 3, 4). Idolatry is a common themethroughout Ezekiel and other Old Testament books and is one of thereasons why the Israelites find themselves in exile.

When we think of idols we can remember examples in Scripturelike the golden calf (Exodus32), the statues of Baal (Judges6:28) or Asherah poles (Deuteronomy 16:21). Here though it is notphysical idols that are the issue, but those that have been set upin the hearts of the people. The idolatry which led to the exilehas now become a part of these people - they have become idolatersby nature and not just in action. This is the charge laid againstthem and the warnings of judgement for those who do not repentfollow from this.

To Ponder

• What objects, items or people do you think are the modern-dayidols?

• Do we risk setting up idols in our hearts? How do we avoidthis?