Sermon Tone Analysis

The third Sunday of Advent is centered on the theme of joy.

The God of the Bible is interested in maximizing the joy of his people forever.

When Jesus went to the cross, we are told, he did so for the joy set before him (Heb 12:2).

Even in the midst of pain, sorrow, tragedy, loss—and even judgment—God is at work maximizing his people’s joy.

Last week, our study in Ezekiel took a significant turn with the announcement in Ezekiel 24 that the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem had begun.

God claims that he was therein beginning the deep cleansing of Israel and her capital city and that his cleansing work would not stop until he had satisfied his fury (Ezek 24:13).

When we get to chapter 25, we notice that the prophecy of Ezekiel turns to prophecies against foreign nations here and all the way through chapter 32.

What is the basic message of these prophecies against the nations?

One way to put it is that we find here the demand for an alternative society, the cosmic collapse of the global society, and the promise of a restored society.

The Alternative Society

First, these chapters show us that God’s plan for the fallen world we inhabit is to create anew an alternative society through whom he will work to bring the promise of his kingdom rule to fruition.

This, we must always keep in mind, is what the Bible is primarily about.

It is not primarily about how we human beings can get out of this world and live with him in heaven.

It is about how God can come live with us here in this world he created for his glory.

Because of human sin, that is the bigger problem to be solved.

If God is indeed going to dwell with us in this world, then the world must have an alternative society.

The Overthrow of the Seven Nations

Let’s make a quick observation about chapters 25–32.

There are four nations in view in chapter 25: Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia.

Then, three chapters (26-28) are devoted to prophecies against Tyre.

Sidon is targeted at the end of chapter 28 before Egypt is prophesied against in chapters 29-32.

So, in these eight chapters, there are seven nations that Ezekiel is told to prophesy against.

The number seven is significant.

You know that is the biblical number for completion, but the Bible also speaks of seven nations that inhabited the land of Canaan before Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land (Deut 7:1; Acts 13:19).

Ezekiel is prophesying here about yet another conquest of the nations, and the point of overthrowing the nations is so that God can plant his alternative society in his land.

God’s People Will Be Different

Now the entire book of Ezekiel up to this point has concentrated on prophetic messages of judgment against Israel and the city of Jerusalem.

There would be some degree of relief now that God’s attention turns to Israel’s neighbors.

Indeed, at the end of chapter 28, God speaks of a day when Israel will “dwell securely,” and that day will come when he executes “judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt” (Ezek 28:26).

So, we might say that these prophecies against the nations “function as indirect messages of hope.”[1]

I wonder, though, if there is a more direct message being sent to God’s people, past and present.

Given the argument that a chapter like Ezekiel 23 was meant to highlight Israel’s political sin of seeking security in alliances with other nations, the judgment against the nations would seem to send a message that to make alliances with the kingdoms of men would not only rouse the jealousy of Israel’s God but would also be self-destructive.

The king of Assyria once questioned Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying that to trust in Egypt would be like putting your weight on a broken piece of wood, hoping it would give you balance but instead ending up with an impaled hand (2 Kings 18:19-21).

It’s little consolation to say that God will now destroy that splintered piece of wood that did you harm anyway.

So, what might be the more direct message of these chapters?

Let’s go back a couple of chapters, to Ezekiel 20:32.

There we find God saying this to the people of Israel:

What is in your mind shall never happen—the thought, “Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.”

Here we see God’s determination for his people even in his relentless judgment of them.

God’s plan is not to eliminate his people, even as he pours out his cleansing fury on them.

But his plan is to eliminate every last imitation of the idolatrous nations in his people.

The more direct message to the people of God is that God’s people, in God’s kingdom, will not be merely greater than the nations around them.

They will be altogether different than the nations around them.

Forbidden Alliances

In chapter 25, we read of Ezekiel’s prophecies against the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and the Philistines.

The Ammonites are condemned for expressing malicious joy over the destruction of Israel (v. 3, 6).[2]The

Moabites are condemned for saying, “Behold, the house of Judah is like all the other nations” (v.

8), evidently a denial of Israel’s election and special status among the nations.[3]God

condemns the Edomites because they “acted revengefully against the house of Judah” (v.

12).

The same is said of the Philistines in verse 15.

For each of these nations, God promises to destroy them as punishment for their actions.

And it sounds like he is coming to Israel’s aid, destroying their enemies who have opposed God’s people and who rejoice in their downfall.

But when we look at the historical situation at the time, that is a difficult conclusion to come to.

The Bible and extra-biblical records tell us that Israel’s last king, Zedekiah, was working with these nations to stop Babylonian aggression.

In other words, these nations were not exactly Israel’s enemies.

They had a common enemy with Israel, and they were trying to find a way to work together with Israel to overthrow that enemy.

The problem, though, is that God made plain, in Jeremiah 27, that he was giving the land to Babylon.

So, Israel’s alliance with these nations in order to resist Babylon was essentially an alliance with these nations to rebel against God.

God said:

I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. . . .

[I]f any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the LORD, until I have consumed it by his hand (Jer 27:6, 8).

Why, then, does the prophet condemn these nations for animosity toward Israel, when in fact these nations were forming alliances with Israel?

It’s because they were making an alliance with Israel in rebellion against God.

Although they seem to be Israel’s allies, they are in fact an obstacle to Israel being the alternative society that God had chosen them to be.

How can Israel be different from every other nation when they make alliances with the nations and end up resisting God himself?

The Collapsed Society

With that question lingering in our minds, we move on to the next three chapters in Ezekiel, which mostly contain an extended prophecy against Tyre.

Why so much attention to Tyre?

It is because here God warns his people of the collapse of society and the cosmic implications of that collapse.

The City-State of Tyre

The city of Tyre was founded during the third millennium BC.

It originally consisted of an urban center on the mainland and an island fortress a short distance off the coast.[4]Ezekiel

26:5 references these two elements.

Tyre’s geography explains its power as a formidable city-state in the ancient world.

Situated to the north of Palestine, it, along with Egypt to the south, was what stood between Babylon and its takeover of that territory.

Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Tyre in 586 BC in a campaign that would last some 13 years.

In chapter 26, Ezekiel declares that, like the other nations his people sought to make an alliance with, God was against the city-state of Tyre (v.

3).

Verse 7 predicts the Babylonian siege.

Verse 15 speaks of the global repercussions for the fall of such a great political power.

And verse 19 has God speaking of his judgment on the city in terms that are ironic and meaningful.

For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, then I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit… (Ezek 27:19-20).

Remember, Tyre was a great power because of its island location, its place in the midst of the sea.

But God says he will “bring up the deep over [them], and the great waters [will] cover [them].”

In the ancient world, the great seas signified the mysterious, uncontrollable forces of the universe.

In our enlightened day, we may not think much of such powers, but that’s only an indication of how much we live in denial; because for all of our scientific knowledge and technological advances, all it takes is a natural disaster or a previously unknown virus to prove that we aren’t as much in control of the cosmos as we think we are.

A Lamentation for Tyre

Tyre then stands not only for the great national superpowers of any given era, but for the great human achievements of society.

In chapter 27, God tells Ezekiel to “raise a lamentation over Tyre.”

Here was an ancient city that claimed to be “perfect in beauty” (v.

3).

Throughout this chapter, Ezekiel makes use of “an extended metaphor,” namely, “of Tyre as a skillfully built and splendidly defended ship that engages in far-flung trade.”[5]

As we skim through the chapter, we are encouraged to reflect on the great power of Tyre and the prosperity it brought not only to itself (vv.

3-11) but also to its many trade partners (vv.

12-25).

So, it’s no surprise that when Tyre falls, it is a shock to the entire global order.

Verses 26-36 describe the reverberations, the shock, the horror.

Take a look, for example, at verses 32b-36:

Who is like Tyre,

like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?

When your wares came from the seas,

you satisfied many peoples;

with your abundant wealth and merchandise