Ezekiel 24-26241 Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. 3 Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says, “Put the cauldron on the fire. Put it on, and also pour water into it. 4 Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece: the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice bones. 5 Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron. Make it boil well. Yes, let its bones be boiled within it.” 6 “ ‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is in it, and whose rust hasn’t gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece. No lot is fallen on it. 7 “ ‘ “For her blood is in the middle of her. She set it on the bare rock. She didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. 8 That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.” 9 “ ‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. 10 Heap on the wood. Make the fire hot. Boil the meat well. Make the broth thick, and let the bones be burned. 11 Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its bronze may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. 12 She is weary with toil; yet her great rust, rust by fire, doesn’t leave her. 13 “ ‘ “In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. 14 I, Yahweh, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways, and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ” 15 Also Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 16 “Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your headdress on you, and put your sandals on your feet. Don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat mourner’s bread.” 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at evening my wife died. So I did in the morning as I was commanded. 19 The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?” 20 Then I said to them, “Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword. 22 You will do as I have done. You won’t cover your lips or eat mourner’s bread. 23 Your turbans will be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You won’t mourn or weep; but you will pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. 24 Thus Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’ ” ’ ” 25 “You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters, 26 that in that day he who escapes will come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27 In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak, and be no more mute. So you will be a sign to them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.” 251 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them. 3 Tell the children of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! The Lord Yahweh says, “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity: 4 therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession. They will set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you. They will eat your fruit and they will drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” 6 For the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have clapped your hands, stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the contempt of your soul against the land of Israel; 7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries. I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” 8 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because Moab and Seir say, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations;’ 9 therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim, 10 to the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations. 11 I will execute judgments on Moab. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.” 12 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and taken revenge on them;” 13 therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman. They will fall by the sword even to Dedan. 14 I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath. Then they will know my vengeance,” says the Lord Yahweh. 15 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because the Philistines have taken revenge, and have taken vengeance with contempt of soul to destroy with perpetual hostility;” 16 therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. 17 I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I lay my vengeance on them.” ’ ” 261 In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken! She who was the gateway of the peoples has been returned to me. I will be replenished, now that she is laid waste;’ 3 therefore the Lord Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. 5 She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it,’ says the Lord Yahweh. ‘She will become plunder for the nations. 6 Her daughters who are in the field will be slain with the sword. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ 7 “For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, with chariots, with horsemen, and an army with many people. 8 He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will make forts against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you. 9 He will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. 10 By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates, as men enter into a city which is broken open. 11 He will tread down all your streets with the hoofs of his horses. He will kill your people with the sword. The pillars of your strength will go down to the ground. 12 They will make a plunder of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise. They will break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses. They will lay your stones, your timber, and your dust in the middle of the waters. 13 I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps won’t be heard any more. 14 I will make you a bare rock. You will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more; for I Yahweh have spoken it,’ says the Lord Yahweh. 15 “The Lord Yahweh says to Tyre: ‘Won’t the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made within you? 16 Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. 17 They will take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, “How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!” 18 Now the islands will tremble in the day of your fall. Yes, the islands that are in the sea will be dismayed at your departure.’ 19 “For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I bring up the deep on you, and the great waters cover you; 20 then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living. 21 I will make you a terror, and you will no more have any being. Though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
Job 8
Prose - Historical
Poetry - Theological Wrestling with the Problem of Pain
Lament
1st Debate Cycle
2nd Debate Cycle
3rd Debate Cycle
Job's wisdom and Lament
Prose and Poetry - Correction via Revelation
Prose - Confession and Historical
81 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 2 “How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? 3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? 4 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience. 5 If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. 6 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. 7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. 8 “Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. 9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.) 10 Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart? 11 “Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water? 12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed. 13 So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish, 14 Whose confidence will break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web. 15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand. He will cling to it, but it will not endure. 16 He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden. 17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones. 18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others will spring. 20 “Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers. 21 He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. 22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked will be no more.”
John 9:26-41926 They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?” 28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”36 He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
1 John 2:12-17212 I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 15 Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. 17 The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever.
Proud vs. Broken
Proud
Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated.
Broken
Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; they are thrilled that God would use them at all.
Meditate on this
Philippians 4:4 NKJV
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!