Daily Devotions
Ezekiel
"Then they shall know that I am the LORD"
Text: Ezekiel 6:14
ACKNOWLEDGING THE LORD
Israel had denied the LORD strenuously. Instead, it followed idolatrous ways vigorously. The event of war with the Babylonians would show Israel that the LORD was the only true God and not any of the idols they had avidly worshipped.
“Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when their slain are among their idols all around their altars,
on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree,
and under every thick oak,
wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols.
So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate,
yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah,
in all their dwelling places.
Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”
Ezekiel 6:13-14
1. “Then you shall know that I am the LORD”
a) This was stated many times.
b) This was stated twice in these two verses.
c) Israel would come to acknowledge who the LORD truly is.
d) But this knowledge would be gained at a very high price!
2. The price Israel would pay.
a) Many would be slain among the idols and altars.
i) Israel had sought protection from these deities.
ii) But the idols were man-made things and had no power at all.
b) Costly sweet incense was offered to all the deities:
i) On every high hill.
ii) On all the mountaintops.
iii) Under every green tree.
iv) And under every thick oak.
3. The mighty hand of the LORD.
a) It would be stretched out against the idolaters.
b) The land would become desolate.
c) The land would become a wilderness.
i) “Diblah” is not clearly identified geographically.
ii) Some scholars have suggested that this was a desert area in Syria.
d) The meaning is clear though.
The rich land of Judah would become a wasteland or a desert!