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Ezekiel 29 (ESV)
17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God.
21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
REFLECTION:
“In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month” was the twenty-seventh year of King Jehoiachin’s exile in Babylon, about 571 BC. At this time, the City of Jerusalem had been destroyed for nearly sixteen years. “Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare” refers to Babylon’s siege of Tyre for 13 years from 586-573 BC. Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers wear helmets and carry siege equipment for a long time, so their heads are bald and shoulders are rubbed bare. God allowed Babylon to continue to invade Egypt and obtain compensation, because God would continue to use the Babylonian Empire as His tool to judge the nations. About three years later, Nebuchadnezzar will invade Egypt in 568 BC and attack Pharaoh Ahmose II, fulfilling the word of God. After Ezekiel’s prophecy was fulfilled, no one dared to question the prophet anymore, so he could speak boldly. God always has His own timetable. It is God who allows the people to laugh at the prophet, and it is God who is able to prove that the prophet’s prophecy is not in vain. The task that the prophet receives is: “you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear” (2:7). Therefore, we don’t need to be discouraged because everyone doesn’t listen to the gospel, nor do we need to be excited because the audience is enthusiastic, but “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2).
PRAYER:
Pray for God to give you more wisdom and dexterity, so that you can preach the gospel of God clearly among your friends and relatives; pray for more humility and obedience, so that your enthusiasm for preaching the gospel is not affected by the actual result, because you understand that you are only a vessel used by God, and it is God who does the works, and God has His own time to accomplish everything.
HYMN:
I Speak Jesus – youtu.be/H4eFVo4p5Uk
