Thursday, October 20, 2022

Cautionary Tales for Modern Israel (Ezekiel 3, 9, 13-14, 33-34)

Ezekiel was a contemporary of Jeremiah and Lehi in Jerusalem before the attack of Babylon.  There is not much recorded about him personally, but he was from a priestly family, may have been a generation younger than Jeremiah, and was taken captive into Babylon where he continued to prophesy.  In the first chapters of his book, he sees God in vision and is called to deliver the word of God to Israel.  This post is a cautionary tale to Priesthood leaders and Church members of any dispensation – this is a “don’t let this happen to you” kind of lesson.

 

 The Watchmen

READ Ezekiel 3:17-19

What kind of responsibility does Ezekiel have to his family, friends, and people?

If they do not repent, they will die – he must do his best to warn them, to save their lives.

If they are wicked but he has not warned them, their “blood” is on his hands.

If they are wicked and do not repent when he has warned them, they are on their own and responsible for their own destruction; but at least he’s done all he can to help them.

 

READ Ezekiel 9:2 and 4-5

Who are the six “men” that Ezekiel sees?

Angels with authority from God to seal souls up to life or reap them down in death (both spiritual and physical “deaths”).

What is the mark that is set upon the heads of those who cry against the abominations of Israel?

It is a sealing mark to save them from the destroying angels (see D&C 77:8-9,11).

Is this real and how does it inform Ezekiel’s mission from the Lord?

It is a real vision – Ezekiel is seeing what is happening and is about to happen on the other side of the veil, in and around Jerusalem.

It should add an urgency to the proceedings – people are being sealed if they accept the words he has received from God and repent, but if not, they will be destroyed.

 

 

The Shepherds of Israel

READ Ezekiel 13:2-3 and 10 and 14 and 1 Nephi 17:22

Revisiting the same theme of priestcraft that Jeremiah saw, what does it mean that the Priests built a wall with untampered mortar?

They built a structure with inherent weakness – it will fall if tested.

A wall is supposed to protect those within from enemies or weather – this wall is a false protection.

Their wall was to seduce the people into saying that they didn’t have to change – that they were safe and would have peace; implied is that they were righteous.

What does it mean that their “foundation shall be discovered”?

When the Lord has done His work of exposing and destroying the prophets of Israel, their foundation – which is not based on a connection to God – will also be exposed.

Why are they called “Prophets” if they aren’t connected to heaven?

They want to appear to be connected to heaven so as to be able to control the people by saying “thus sayeth the Lord” to legitimize their own will.

They call themselves Prophets.

 

READ Ezekiel 34:1-6 and 18-19

What is a “shepherd” and how does the role differ from a “hireling”?

The shepherd “owns” the sheep and is responsible for protecting and providing for the sheep.

A hireling is an employee who is tasked with the same things, but for money – it is a transaction-based relationship; the hireling may leave when the pay no longer is worth the task, but a shepherd should “lay down their life” for the sheep because they own the sheep.

Who are the “shepherds of Israel”?

The leaders of the Church – from the top (general or church-wide leaders) to the bottom (local leaders).

What are the shepherds doing or not doing?

They feed themselves at the expense of feeding the flock – they are literally fleecing the flock.

They do not feed the flock or protect it or heal the sick among it.

They rule the flock with force and cruelty.

They allow the flock to be scattered and lost (to leave the fold and become lost in a place where there is no safety or salvation).

What does it mean to “tread down the pasture” and “foul the water”? (v18-19)

The leaders don’t allow the sheep to feed from the good grass or drink the living water; in other words, they have changed the ordinances, broken the covenants, and taught their own philosophies about God, so that the people are lost in unbelief (incorrect understanding of God) and CANNOT EXERCISE FAITH IN CHRIST UNTO SALVATION.

This makes the people even more dependent on the “shepherds” because they are having a difficult time connecting directly with God because of the “incorrect traditions of the fathers”.

Why does God say “there is no shepherd”?

He means that they are shepherds in name only – really they are hirelings or worse than that – they are robbers.

A true shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep. 

 

READ Ezekiel 34:7-10

What does it mean “I am against the shepherds”?

God has been betrayed by those who were supposed to be His servants – those who were supposed to be protecting His assets (and enabling His work and His glory).

If you commit to be a servant of the Lord and betray Him, it would have been better if you had not KNOWN Him (or pretended to know Him).

He will destroy the wicked shepherds – root and branch.

 

READ Ezekiel 34:11-16

Who will the Lord install as the new shepherd to His people?

He will be the shepherd Himself.

How can God take the place of priests and leaders in the day to day lives of the people?

His ministry continues – the Atonement was only His “preparation”.

He and His angels can minister just as tactically to the needs of His sheep as can men.

At the end of the day, all the priesthood leaders were supposed to be doing anyway was to prepare the people, individually, to come unto Christ and be saved, then they stand out of the way… as no one will need to ask his neighbor “know the Lord?” for all shall know Him from the least to the greatest.  He can do this work with or without mortal priests; this infers that much of the value of using mortal servants to do His work is actually in the further development of those servants. 

 

In Israel, the priesthood leadership was all killed when the Babylonians invaded.  The few who were taken captive had to rely directly on the Lord, like the handcart pioneers, they “came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives, for (they) became acquainted with Him in (their) extremities.” (William Palmer)

 

 

Dependence on a Prophet

READ Ezekiel 14:1-6

These men are coming to the prophet for him to inquire of the Lord; why would God treat them with distain?

They are idol worshippers – they don’t have faith in Christ unto salvation, as we have discussed in previous blog posts.

God would like us to go to Him directly – there is no need for an intermediary, regardless of how spiritually gifted.

What does it mean that the Lord instructs the prophet that He will answer the men “according to the multitude of their idols”?

He will tell them what they want to hear.

If you come to the Lord with a preconceived notion (you’ve set up stakes – you have placed something or someone or an idea between yourself and the Lord), he will not break you of that notion.

You must go to the Lord in an attitude of meekness, humility, and teachability – asking and being willing to learn and do whatever He teaches you to do.

 

READ TPJS 266:2

“President Joseph Smith read the 14th chapter of Ezekiel—said the Lord had declared by the Prophet, that the people should each one stand for himself, and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church—that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls —applied it to the present state of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall—that they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds, in consequence of neglecting the duties devolving upon themselves, envious towards the innocent, while they afflict the virtuous with their shafts of envy.”

Why would the people be darkened in their minds from depending on the Prophet?

To these Saints, they had made Joseph Smith into an idol. 

They were more concerned about getting from Joseph what they wanted, than being willing to receive what revelations and truth the Lord wanted to give them.

Examples include Martin Harris and the manuscript, Sidney Rigdon and the New Testament church, getting organizational “revelations” instead of doctrinal ones, focusing on building up the Church instead of finding the Remnant of Lehi amongst the Native Americans, and establishing Zion in the mountains.

What duties devolving upon themselves might they have been neglecting because of their over-dependence on the Prophet?

It was like Moses’ people – through their actions, they told Joseph Smith: “you go up on the Mount and commune with God for us”.

They should be sanctifying themselves so that they could experience the same things Joseph experienced (see TPJS 265).

 

READ Ezekiel 33:30-33

What is Ezekiel to the people who will come to listen to him?

Thrilling, goosebump invoking ENTERTAINMENT.

Why do they like what he says but do not do what he says?

Their hearts are not broken or contrite.

They don’t REALLY believe that he is a prophet – after all, their Prophet leaders are telling them that all is well in Zion.

What he’s telling them to do will result in their having to cleanse the inner vessel and submit their hearts and whole souls to God – losing control of their lives and submitting to God’s will – something that is unpleasant to them. 

 

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