Prophet of Doom. (+33:21-22)
vv 18-19. So I proclaimed this to the people the next morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did everything I had been told to do. Then the people asked, “What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?”
The Jews-in-Exile cherished the idea that one day – probably soon – they would return to a free and unspoilt Jerusalem. God would never allow it to be captured because it was God’s own city and dwelling place. It was too precious to be destroyed – surely. To get God’s message across about this, at God’s instruction, Ezekiel embarks on his most devastating drama.
What, or who, was most precious to Ezekiel? Who had stuck by him through all the hard times of slavery, and dumbness, and inexplicable drama? Who experienced the loneliness of the prophet’s life as well as the hard graft of slavery? His wife – his nearest and dearest treasure (v 16). And now God tells Ezekiel that he is even taking her away. And worse – there is to be no mourning, no expressions of grief, no burial ritual.
What is the message that Ezekiel is to announce? ‘ “Son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold—their joy and glory, their heart’s desire, their dearest treasure—I will also take away their sons and daughters. ‘ Wait for it, you people with misguided hope, Jerusalem with its Temple, is going to be destroyed. And there must be no mourning about the loss of the city, it is not the end of the history of God’s people, it is the beginning of something new. We finally discover Ezekiel, with his voice back, announcing the destruction of Jerusalem. ‘ On January 8, during the twelfth year of our captivity, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen!” The previous evening the Lord had taken hold of me and given me back my voice. So I was able to speak when this man arrived the next morning. ‘ (chapter 33:21)
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