Ezekiel: God who travels Chapter 18

Opposes the proud but sends grace to the humble

Do you really rejoice if one of your brothers or friend, or closest ally suffers difficulties because of some unfortunate events happening to them, then you bring up yourself to take down others who suffer?

Ezekiel 27 is a perfect lesson we can all learn when the city of Tyre was prophecied to become a pile of heaps and that it shall be reduced to become an ancient ruin. Tyre was compared to a beautiful ship which ends up as a shipwreck. 

To understand why God dedicated this entire chapter 27 just for Tyre is to connect the city of Tyre to the time of King Solomon who built the temple of Jerusalem from the finest cedar woods they brought from distant seas of Tarshish to Jerusalem. Aside from being expert mariners on their time, Tyre's ancient craftsman workers help built the temple of Jerusalem. 

Instead of helping their neighbour Jerusalem recover from their Babylon conqueror, they gave them mock and made them ridiculed. They probably rejected their allies where there is no more a friend in need. Israel for them became such a stranger because they no longer get the usual rich company. The city of Tyre rejoices or may it be takes advantage of the fall of Jerusalem temple. 

God takes note of Tyre and became tired of it. 

So God swears, it will never recover from shipwreck and it will be forever forgotten brought low as a permanent part of ancient ruins. 

What makes God reduce Tyre this way is really about adding more brokenness to God's heart adding more to the destruction of His Temple Jerusalem. That God may have not seen any heart of men from Tyre who laments and attempts to pray or ask forgiveness on behalf of their ally Israel taken into Babylon captivity. 

The men in Tyre may not understand that God is like a father who disciplines this child nation Israel and anyone who makes fun of or makes Israel a mockery will be punished twice as much as God's children were to be punished. 

Hence, we read this and take this to heart. If someone is being disciplined, we do not laothe to them or get ourselves proud for their punishments. Instead, we offer them or lend them a hand for them to recover.

AC

Next