UNROLL
The mountains of Israel at dusk: ridge after ridge of terraced hills fading into blue, and on the nearest summit a small stone shrine under a great oak with one thin thread of smoke.

Signs of the siege

Ezekiel 6

What hilltops in your life compete for your heart?

14 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–3Visions of gloryBy the Kebar, about 593 BC: the throne, the scroll, the watchman
  2. 4–7Signs of the siegeA brick, a ration, a razor: the end has comeChapter 6
  3. 8–11The glory departsAbout 592 BC: the temple’s abominations, the mark, the glory goes east
  4. 12–15False hopesExile acted out, false prophets, a useless vine
  5. 16–19Parables and lamentsAn unfaithful bride, two eagles, the one who sins
  6. 20–24The sword drawnRebellion retold; the siege begins, about 588 BC
  7. 25–32The nations judgedAmmon to Egypt: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  8. 33–36A new heartThe city falls; the Good Shepherd; cleansed and made new
  9. 37–39Dry bones liveOne people raised up, and Gog of Magog defeated
  10. 40–48The LORD is thereAbout 573 BC: the new temple, the river, the land

Judgment against Idolatry

God
Morning over the hill country of Judah and Israel: long folded ridges with ravines and valleys between, terraced olive slopes, and small groves with standing stones on two far summits.

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.

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God

You are to say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

God

Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols. I will lay the corpses of the Israelites before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.

God
Afternoon on a bare hilltop: a stone altar thrown down and split, a clay incense stand in pieces, a carved stone figure of a god face-down and cracked in the grass, a felled wooden pole across the stones.

Wherever you live, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works blotted out. The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

Question

Quick question

Listen for the line that closes 6:7, and closes so much of this book.

What does the LORD say Israel will know when this happens?

A Remnant to Be Blessed

God
God

Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.

God
Evening on a canal bank in Babylonia: an old Judean exile seen from behind sits alone on the mud bank, his head bowed into his hands, the flat land and palms going dark.

Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.

God

And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.

God

This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and famine and plague. He who is far off will die by the plague, he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains will die by famine. So I will vent My fury upon them.

God
God

Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every green tree and leafy oak—the places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

God
The hill country gone wild at gray evening: broken, slipped terraces, unpruned olive trees choked with thorn, and an empty hill town of fallen roofs on a far ridge, no smoke.

I will stretch out My hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

0:12

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

LORD, it grieves You when my heart turns from You. Let me remember You and hate what drew me away, and let me know that You are the LORD. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Ezekiel 6

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A verse to carry with you

Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols.

Ezekiel 6:9

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