The oracle against Sidon is the seventh message directed at the nations surrounding Israel during Ezekiel’s time. It also corresponds to the seven declarations against Egypt that will be detailed in the following chapters of the book.
The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it, and say: Thus says the Lord God:
I am against you, O Sidon,
and I will gain glory in your midst.
They shall know that I am the Lord
when I execute judgments in it
and manifest my holiness in it. (Ezekiel 28.20-22)
How does God gain glory and demonstrate His holiness by judging the nations? Here are two thoughts.
(1) The nations believed that humans were merely pawns in the hands of their gods. They saw earthly conquests as reflections of battles between their gods, with one nation’s victory symbolizing the triumph of its god over another.
When prophets accurately foretold God’s actions in advance, they achieved something that priests of idols could not. These prophecies demonstrated God’s omniscience and affirmed His unique status as the one true God.
(2) Another distinction between serving the one true God and serving false gods is that we become like the God or gods we worship.
The behavior of pagan nations reflected their belief that the gods had little concern for humanity. In their view, people existed solely to serve the gods and were considered worthless beyond what they could provide.
Because the gods regarded people as having little value, powerful individuals often imitated them by oppressing those who were weaker.
God demonstrated His care for the vulnerable to His people and expected them to follow His example in their own lives.
He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and he loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:18-19).
One of the reasons why God judged His people was that they imitated the nations instead of revealing God’s nature and character to them.
When they combined the worship of idols with the worship of Yahweh and oppressed the vulnerable, they failed to fulfill their mission and purpose.
God gains glory and demonstrates His holiness when He opposes idolatry and oppression of all nations.
Knowing the Lord
The phrase, “they shall know that I am the Lord” appears approximately 70 times in the book of Ezekiel.
When disaster strikes Sidon and Israel is no longer troubled by that nation, both will come to recognize that “I am the Lord.”
For I will send pestilence into it,
and bloodshed into its streets;
and the dead shall fall in its midst,
by the sword that is against it on every side.
And they shall know that I am the Lord.
The house of Israel shall no longer find a pricking brier or a piercing thorn among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. And they shall know that I am the Lord God (Ezekiel 28:23-24).
The numerous references to knowing God throughout Ezekiel reveal His deep desire to be truly known. Knowing God goes beyond simply knowing “about” Him; it involves experiencing Him personally and intimately.
God desires to be known through our faith and obedience. However, if we resist responding to Him, He may allow us to reach rock bottom to capture our attention.
One man, while reading the 23rd Psalm, paused at the phrase, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Turning to the audience, he remarked, “Sometimes God makes us lie down because when we are lying down, we have no choice but to look up.”
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 