Bible Food Daily Reading on Day 59

Hello, our reading for today is going to begin in Lamentations chapter two; where Jeremiah is lamenting over the city. It must be a very sad moment when you have been warning people for over 20 years, spoke to 3 different kings, and no one listened to your warnings. You are left to see your city ruined, your nation seized, and your family and people taken into captivity. One can only be distraught.

Lamentations 2

¹How hath the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!


People of the earth can say the same thing today about God and they do. How can God cover the earth with a cloud of His anger and allow all this wickedness in the earth? The answer is as easy today as it was then; because the people did not and do not listen to the Lord.


⁹Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD. 


 Judah's kings and princes are among the Gentiles, they have no government of their own, and their prophets do not have a vision from the Lord. If the Lord does not give a vision to Israel, then no one on the earth gets a vision. Therefore, no person today can say the Lord spoke to and said to do this! Everything the Lord wants is in the bible; He left off talking to man in real time. Today we get it as a thought or in a dream, but God is not going to appear and say go do this; you just get the thought to go do this or that. And with that you must be sure it is not from an evil spirit.


¹⁵All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? 


 People that know who the children of Israel are do this when they see them present day and the certainly did this when Babylon bummed the city. The Lord has done what He had devised; He has fulfilled His word that He commanded in the days of old, before Israel went into the promise land the first time. He has thrown down, and has not pitied the children of Israel at all.


Lamentations chapter 3


²²It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. ²³They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. ²⁴The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.


After all the negativity we receive from the Lord, we have to remember that if we make it another day we are blessed. This means we were not consumed and His compassions never fail. Every new day is of great faithfulness, therefore we hope in the Lord because He is all we have.

Lamentations 4

¹How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. How is it that a people comparable to gold have become dimmed. The children of Israel's punishment for their iniquity is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, because they were consumed in a moment, and no enemies hands were on them.


The children of Israel are now taken into slavery by the heathen (heathen means nations - not a sinning person) and that is where they will be for a long while. In the mean time, the author tells the children of Edom to rejoice and be glad for a moment but their time is coming when they will be drunk and made naked and their sins exposed.

Lamentations 5

¹Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. ²Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. ³We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.


Jeremiah wants the Lord to remember the children of Israel and keep them in mind although they are in captivity. Their inheritance, land, and all things are turned to strangers, and they have become orphans, fatherless, and mothers have become widows.


¹⁰Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. ¹¹They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.


Israel's fathers have sinned and they were born into it and continue to keep it going. Because of this, Israel's servants have ruled over them and no one is delivering them out of this. Deuteronomy 28 said no man will buy them out of this situation they are in. Horrible things have happened to Israel. Their skin was black like it was out of an oven and their women were ravished and raped and no one cared.


It is so bad it felt like the Lord cast them away forever, but we have already read where He will not do that as long as the sun, moon, and stars are out there. It just felt like that to Jeremiah as he is lamenting. When we are going through very difficult moments, it feels like the Lord has left us out to dry and die.


We are moving on to Ezekiel's book now

Ezekiel 1

Ezekiel is a prophet among the people taken to Babylon and in the 5th day of the 4th month of the 30th year of his life, which was the 5th year of Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of the Lord came to him. Ezekiel was a Levite priest and the Lord showed up to him in a whirlwind. In the middle of fire came something that looked like four living creatures and they all had the appearance of a man. Their form looked liken a mans form (verse 1-5).


Except they had four faces and they had wings. We know these are not men any longer. They may stand upright like men; but they are not men. Instead of feet like a man; they had feet like a cow. So they have legs like men, but instead of regular feet, they have feet like a calf that sparkled like the color of burnished brass. They had arms and hands; but they were under their wings and their wings were all connected to each other. When they walked they did not need to turn their body to turn around, since they had four faces, they just went the direction they needed to go.


These are how the four faces looked; one face was the face of a man, the next a face of a lion, the next was the face of an ox, and the last was the face of an eagle (v6-10).



Imagine seeing one of these approaching you in less than two seconds. You'll stumble over and nearly pass out because I nearly did at the sight of the picture.


They looked like creatures of light as they appeared like burning coal of fire or lamps and when they moved it looked like a flash of lightening. It sounds like, to me, they are like chariots that you can only see the wheels of and that is how they move around. Their wings spread so high it was dreadful in sight and their wings had eyes all over them, all four of them. This is a gruesome description. What is this?


²⁶And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
²⁷And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
²⁸As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.


Sitting above the four living creatures was the Almighty God, and when Ezekiel finally saw this, he had had enough and fell on his face when he heard the voice of the Lord that spoke. We have not found out who the living creatures were; but if you remember what set on each side of the tree of life in the garden and what surrounds the mercy seat, you'll know what they are. But the next chapter will tell us.

Ezekiel 2 ¹And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.

The Lord had Ezekiel stand up on his feet and prepared to send him to the children of Israel, a rebellious people that even rebelled against God.
The Lord sent him to them, whether they listen or not, they will know that God sent them a prophet. These rebellious people are tough, so God had to warn and prepare Ezekiel not to be afraid of them and their hard looks; just speak "my words" to them. The Lord had to tell Ezekiel not to be rebellious like them and the Lord sent a roll of a book and spread it open before Ezekiel, a lot was written, lamentations, mournings, and woes.

Ezekiel 3

¹Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
³And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
⁴And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.


Ezekiel was commanded to eat the scroll; the way men eat books is by reading them; this is how the Lord prepares you to go minister His word to others, you have to read it or eat it first. That is why I called this "bible food" because like Ezekiel we have to eat these words of God up for eternal salvation.


The Lord prepared him then sent him. He did not want to go, especially in having to deal with the children of Israel; but He did it by the spirit of the Lord that carried him.


¹⁵Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
¹⁶And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, When Ezekiel got to the children of Israel in their captivity, he was so astonished he did not say a word; but sat there for seven days just observing these people. They must have been wild and crazy and he did not even know where to begin. You know how you are suppose to go talk to someone about the bible and when you see them they doing so wickedly you don't even know where to begin. So Ezekiel just shut his trap.


¹⁷Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.


But God had to approach him again and remind Ezekiel that He made him a watchman (a preacher), so he is obligated to give them warning from God. This is what the preacher is suppose to do, warn the people of what God wants. If you warn the wicked and they don't repent, at least you have delivered your soul, but if a preacher does not warn you that God will kill you for breaking His dietary laws and you get killed, the preacher will be held responsible as well. This makes that preacher job not to desirable huh?
The same protocol for the righteous person; warn them to stay righteous.


In Ezekiel chapter 4; the Lord sends Ezekiel on a difficult assignment. First the Lord tells him to bear the iniquity of both the house of Israel and Judah for 390 days and 40 days respectively then to go and show them how defiled they are and will be in the captivity of the Gentiles where Ezekiel was ordered to eat bread with the meat being that of a man's waste. Ezekiel protested saying he has never eating anything defiled or unclean, so the Lord reduces it to the dung of a cow. When you eat foods not on the dietary list of God; you are practically eating the wast from a human it's so defiled.


The Lord will give bread and water by measure to the children of Israel in their captivity. What is by measure? Probably something like a welfare system where you get a certain amount you can eat; and when it is finished you have to wait till the next offering.

Ezekiel 5

The Lord is sending Ezekiel on the metaphoric missions; in this one he was to take a knife and cut his hair off and divide it. A third of his hair he should burn with fire, a third he is suppose to smite with the knife, and the last third he is to let scatter in the wind and the Lord will chase after them with a sword; so violence will always follow them.


¹¹Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
¹²A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
¹³Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.


Israel manage to do worse in captivity than they did in the land and the Lord put more evil on them.

Ezekiel 6

¹And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
Ezekiel is told to prophesy against the governments of Israel for their idol worship still they are doing in their captivity. You figure that they will stop their evil ways because they got in trouble because of that behavior; but not the children of Israel.


⁷And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
⁸Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.


The Lord plans for a lot of evil to be done to this people to destroy them and then He will leave a remnant that will remember the Lord.


Ezekiel chapter 7


The children of Israel are being fully admonished by the Lord of the great and terrible evil to come on them. There is no way out of it because the Lord has spoken it. This is a "brace yourself" chapter because there will be no peace for Israel.

Ezekiel 8

²Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.


Ezekiel is sitting with some elders of Judah in his house and the hand of God fell on him; and the Lord took him and lifted him up between the earth and the heaven and showed him the visions of God to Jerusalem or the children of Israel. He saw the seat of the image of jealousy, and all things that provokes one to jealousy. Remember God is a jealous God; so obviously the people are doing things to provoke God to jealousy and anger. Let's find out what.
The Lord shows him things the children of Israel are doing and it just keeps getting worse and worse.


¹⁰So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
¹¹And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.


Elders in the church in a room worshiping idols of animals and unclean animals at that; 70 of them doing this foolishness. They do not think the Lord sees them; they believe the Lord has forsaken the earth. ¹³He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.


The Lord says keep watching; it is just going to get worse and worse what these people are doing.


¹⁴Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

Tammuz was the mother of Nimrod who was suppose to have had Nimrod as a virgin birth as Mary. So the Canaanites originally had the pictures of the baby and the mother Jesus. This was a god that the women were weeping for (In Babylonia, the month Tammuz was established in honor of the eponymous god Tammuz, who originated as a Sumerian shepherd-god, Dumuzid or Dumuzi.). The god Tammuz was known as a Sumerian god of fertility and of new life [ImT, 28] earlier than 3000 B.C. [Lang.TI, 2-3].


This is like an easter thing. We can be sure of this in the coming verses.


¹⁶And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
¹⁸Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.


Then the Lord showed Ezekiel what goes on in His temple at His churches; and he saw about 25 men with their backs towards the temple of God and their faces towards the east and they worshiped the sun towards the east. When the sun rises, what geographical location does it rise in? The east, so they were worshiping the sun as it rises. That is what people call sun-rise service. Solomon told us to pray towards the temple, not towards the east. So we have elders doing sun worship in the temple and they believe the Lord does not see them.

Ezekiel 9

The Lord is upset and when that happens, usually someone will be destroyed. So the Lord caused them that are in charge of the city to come to Him with their weapons in hand and six men came. One of the men has a pen in his hand.

⁵And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
⁶Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.


The Lord called the man with the pen to come by and told him to go through Jerusalem and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and are troubled by all the evil being done in their midst; the Lord is going to spare them. Those without the mark, kill them without mercy; and begin at the Lord's sanctuary. In other words start at the churches then work your way around the city.


¹¹And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.
This wasn't a man; it just looked like a man to Ezekiel; but it was an angel; and the angels are going to do as they were commanded.

Ezekiel 10 ¹Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

²And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.


This is still the same event continued from the previous two chapters. We learn officially that the four living creatures in chapter one are cherubs, which are angels. Angels can appear dressed in white with two little wings on their back as it has been depicted to us for years but their real form is like the one described in chapter one.


¹⁴And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
¹⁵And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.


Eagles stay nice and high, watching over a city, that is why you can never sneak and get away with anything. Someone is always watching and reporting.


²⁰This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
²¹Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
²²And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.


Ezekiel was sure about them being cherubs, they sat under God and move Him about where He wanted to go. So when one spits in Satan's eye a solid question would be, which eye? Since Satan is a cherub angel, he has eyes all over his wings. The have power to appear as anything, a man, a lion, a cow, a bird, you just do not know when an angel has come upon you.

Ezekiel 11

⁴Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
⁵And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.


Ezekiel is sent to prophesy against the 25 elders who were worshiping the sun towards the east. The Lord let them know that He knows exactly what comes between their mind; pure foolishness. While Ezekiel was prophesying against them a man named Pelatiah died and it scared Ezekiel that God was going to destroy all of Israel. What a patriotic fellow.


¹⁶Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.


Again the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel in say that his brothers, the house of Israel, it has been said to them that they should be far from the Lord and to "us is this land given in possession." These are the nations in Psalm 83 speaking that threw Israel out and took over their land. However, the Lord replies that although He has scattered them, He will be a little sanctuary for them in the countries they are in, until He brings them back to their land.
And after they come back, they will still have to keep the laws, statues, and judgments of the Lord.


²⁴Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
²⁵Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.


Then the spirit of the Lord brought Ezekiel in a vision into Chaldea of them in the captivity. Just in case you were confused about what happened and why Ezekiel was talking about Jerusalem when he was said to be in Babylon in the captivity; it is because the Lord took him back in a vision to Jerusalem.


Ezekiel did not speak to the children of Israel for seven days because he was astonished; then the Lord had him go meet Him in the plains and showed him why he was being sent to children of Israel in captivity. After God showed Ezekiel all that He has seen of the children of Israel, just as we have read thus far, we can now make better sense of our mission as disciples of Christ. To teach and warn people of God and to tell of the coming Kingdom of the Most High.

Ezekiel 12 ¹The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

We have read Isaiah say the same thing, even Jeremiah, that they can see but cannot discern what they are reading or seeing. We are not to be like them.

¹⁵And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
¹⁶But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.


The children of Israel's captivity, those who survive the sword and the famine, will be a testimony that the Lord is real and will confirm all of His words. They all will be done in measure.


This will conclude our days reading; I pray the Lord God gives us wisdom and understanding from the reading of His words in the name of Jesus Christ.


Peace & Grace