Friday after Pekudei

Friday after Pekudei

Weekday Reading

Ezekiel chapter 14 & 15

Eze 14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Yisra’el to me, and sat before me.

Eze 14:2 The word of YHWH came to me, saying,

Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

It is the same for us today.

Ezekiel, continued:

Eze 14:4 Therefore speak to them, and tell them, Thus says Adonai YHWH: Every man of the house of Yisra’el who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I YHWH will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;

Eze 14:5 that I may take the house of Yisra’el in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

Eze 14:6 Therefore tell the house of Yisra’el, Thus says Adonai YHWH: Return you, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

That is, do teshuvah! Repent from your sins – that is, repent from your violations of Torah (I John 3).

Ezekiel, continued:

Eze 14:7 For everyone of the house of Yisra’el, or of the strangers who sojourn in Yisra’el, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I YHWH will answer him by myself:

Eze 14:8 and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am YHWH.

These are people who adopt pagan practices and mix it with worship of Elohim, or claim what they are doing is for Elohim – but Elohim does not permit the practices of other nations to be adopted as if it were worship directed toward Him. In fact, doing so is a direct violation of Torah.

Deu 12:29 When YHWH your Elohim shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; Deu 12:30 take heed to yourself that you not be ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Deu 12:31 You shall not do so to YHWH your Elohim: for every abomination to YHWH, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods. Deu 12:32 Whatever thing I command you, that shall you observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

“Christian” peoples are particularly guilty of this, especially the Catholic Church and most of her daughter Protestant denominations. They have adopted numerous pagan practices and pagan holidays, such as the Feast of Mithras (Saturnalia – now called Christmas) and the Feast of Ishtar (now called Easter) and other pagan days (such as the Feast of samhain, aka Halloween – now called All Saints Day) and then proclaimed these to be Holy Days dedicated to Elohim and His Messiah. But these observances are abominations to Elohim, and have nothing whatsoever to do with His Messiah.

Ezekiel, continued:

Eze 14:9 If the prophet be deceived and speak a word, I, YHWH, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Yisra’el.

Eze 14:10 They shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him who seeks [to him];

Eze 14:11 that the house of Yisra’el may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their Elohim, says Adonai YHWH.

Eze 14:12 The word of YHWH came to me, saying,

Eze 14:13 Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of the bread of it, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal;

Eze 14:14 though these three men, Noach, Daniyel, and Iyov, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says Adonai YHWH.

Eze 14:15 If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals;

Eze 14:16 though these three men were in it, as I live, says Adonai YHWH, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.

Eze 14:17 Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and animal;

Eze 14:18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says Adonai YHWH, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.

Eze 14:19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal;

Eze 14:20 though Noach, Daniyel, and Iyov, were in it, as I live, says Adonai YHWH, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

Eze 14:21 For thus says Adonai YHWH: How much more when I send my four sore judgments on Yerushalayim, the sword, and the famine, and the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!

This is in regard to city, regional, state and national judgements. A righteous person who lives in such a place that is about to receive judgment cannot save it – nor even save the lives of his or her own family. It is far better to “come out of her, my people,” because those living in places that are to receive judgment will be affected by the calamity in their own house and their own family if they stay.

Ezekiel, continued:

Eze 14:22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth to you, and you shall see their way and their doings; and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Yerushalayim, even concerning all that I have brought on it.

Eze 14:23 They shall comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says Adonai YHWH.

This refers, of course, to the Feast of Ingathering, Sukkot, which will follow the advent of the King of Kings.

Ezekiel, continued:

Eze 15:1 The word of YHWH came to me, saying,

Eze 15:2 Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?

Eze 15:3 Shall wood be taken of it to make any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

Eze 15:4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned: is it profitable for any work?

Eze 15:5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work!

Eze 15:6 Therefore thus says Adonai YHWH: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.

Eze 15:7 I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am YHWH, when I set my face against them.

Eze 15:8 I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says Adonai YHWH.

There comes an end to all “second chances.” Elohim will warn his people and warn sinners for only so long, and then time will be up. Those who have not showed “good fruit” until that point have not done so of their own free will, therefore they are good for nothing and will be “goats” who are cast into the fire. The land must be cleansed of their sins and bloodshed, and it will be.