Book of Ezekiel, Written To Christ's Church

[Zao is life]

The Book of Ezekiel is mainly written to the ten tribe "house of Israel". By that, it means God gave Ezekiel to speak also to Christ's Church. How?

This must first be understood per Bible prophecy:
1. Per 1 Kings 11, God split old Israel into 2 separate kingdoms in the days of Solomon's son Rehoboam of the house of David. Rehoboam of Judah became king over the "house of Judah", only the tribe of Benjamin joined with Judah there at Jerusalem-Judea, in the south. These later then became pointed to as the "house of Judah", or "kingdom of Judah", or just as "Jerusalem", or as just "Judah", or as "Jews".
2. Per 1 Kings 11, God then made Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, king over the ten tribes that dwelt in the north, their capital at Samaria. These later became called "house of Israel", or "kingdom of Israel", or "Israel", or "Samaria", or "Ephraim", or "Joseph".
3. the two separate kingdoms had war against each other.
4. God brought the kings of Assyria upon the northern ten tribe kingdom first, because of their fall into idol worship by king Jeroboam's doing. All the ten northern tribes of Israel were removed captive to Assyria and the lands of the Medes. Only the "house of Judah" remained in the land.
5. Then about 120 later, God brought Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, upon the southern kingdom of the "house of Judah" (Jews), and took them captive to Babylon for 70 years (time of Daniel the prophet).

During Judah's captivity to Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel was there at Babylon. The captive ten tribes were located about 45 miles north of Babylon, and this is where God sent Ezekiel to speak to the "house of Israel".

Ezek 3:1-5
1 Moreover He said unto me, "Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel."
2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that roll.
3 And 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.
4 And He said unto me, "Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them.
5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
KJV

Again, it's important to remember, that at this period in Israel's history, God had already separated old Israel into two separate 'houses', or kingdoms, and both were in captivity here, but not together. The "house of Israel" at this time meant only the ten tribes of Israel.

Ezek 3:17
17 Son 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.
KJV

So how does this relate to Christ's Church? I'm getting there...

Could it mean that after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel in circa 722 B.C, there being now only one kingdom, the house of Israel = the two southern tribes + the small remnant of the ten tribes who escaped to Judah when Assyria invaded Israel?

 

[Davy]

Ezekiel

Chapter 21

1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.

23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.

24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.

25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,

27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

28 And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:

29 Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.

30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.

The above occurred in 1947ad
Now it is judgement day​

31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.

32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.

Repent
Confess your sins
And the Lord may forgive you
Or not​

The truth will set you free

Per God's Word, Jerusalem is sieged something like 28 times, the final time is at the very end of this present world. So no, that prophecy did not happen in 1947-48 when many of the "house of Judah" returned to the middle east and by U.N. charter vote, Israel became a nation again there.

 

[Davy]

the children of, are the house of, or don't you know the family structure, or maybe you don't know that Jacob's name was changed to Israel by the Lord his God. the Lord God looks at and treats as such though the patriarch.

You only show you haven't really studied your Old Testament history.

Starting in 1 Kings 11, God split the old kingdom of Israel into two separate kingdoms, the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi would become the southern "kingdom of Judah", and the rest of the ten tribes dwelling in the north became the "kingdom of Israel". The two kingdoms even warred against each other.

God did that split because of what Solomon did with allowing his many wives of the nations bring in among Israel their false idols.

Per the Jewish historian Josephus (100 A.D.), he said those who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylon captivity called themselves 'Jews', and that title originated from the name Judah, of the southern kingdom. Thus the ten northern tribes of Israel were NOT known as Jews. That title only referred to the southern kingdom of which the tribe of Judah was head.

The expression 'all Israel', or even 'all the house of Israel', is referring to all Israelites of all tribes. But the prophecies after the split are more specific when God is pointing specifically to the two separate houses or kingdoms, as He did in the Book of Ezekiel, and elsewhere in the prophets.

 

[Davy]

@Cassandra Strictly speaking, in Ezekiel it's Israel in view, rather than the church...

Afraid not. God's Israel is Christ's Church. God's Salvation through The Gospel of Jesus Christ was the anchor all along all the way back at the start of the Old Testament and into the New Testament. This is why Apostle Paul showed how God first gave Abraham the Promise by Faith and all those of that same Faith like Abraham have become the "children of Abraham" (Galatians 3). The prophet Stephen in Acts 7 prophesied of Christ being with the "church in the wilderness" when He led the children of Israel out of Egypt. So God's Church has been a continuation of the Old Testament Faith of Abraham on The Gospel all the way to when the New Covenant would be manifested by Christ's Blood shed upon His cross, and sent to the Gentiles, with scattered Israel among them.

 

[Davy]

Could it mean that after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel in circa 722 B.C, there being now only one kingdom, the house of Israel = the two southern tribes + the small remnant of the ten tribes who escaped to Judah when Assyria invaded Israel?

No, emphatically no.

Per 1 Kings 11 we learn that God split old Israel and gave ten tribes to Ephraim, and made him king over the "house of Israel". Prior to that, Ephraim had been appointed governor over the ten northern tribes by Solomon. He and Solomon had a falling out, so Ephraim fled to Egypt. When Solomon's son Rehoboam became king at Jerusalem, Ephraim returned. Then God split the old kingdom from Rehoboam, and gave ten tribes to Ephraim, and made Ephraim king of the "house of Israel". All this is written in 1 Kings 11. At that time when God made Ephraim king of Israel, that changed who was then meant by the kingdom of Israel. It did not apply to the southern "kingdom of Judah".

So if the Bible student is not aware of this history in Scripture after the 1 Kings 11 split, when they see phrases like "kingdom of Israel" or "house of Israel", they will mistake that to mean all 12 tribes. And the fact that after that split they will also see phrases pointing to the southern "kingdom of Judah" only, that should... have brought this matter of God separating old Israel up in their minds to look deeper in His Word about it.

 

[pleaseforgiveme]

Per God's Word, Jerusalem is sieged something like 28 times, the final time is at the very end of this present world.

If you say so

So no, that prophecy did not happen in 1947-48 when many of the "house of Judah" returned to the middle east and by U.N. charter vote, Israel became a nation again there.

There never was a “nation” called “Israel” before 1947ad.

The Jews were shepherds, not nation builders.

Gen 41:46 KJV) And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph who is now the de facto ruler over all of Egypt saves the Israelites who are experiencing a great famine and moves them to Egypt and gives them power over all the agriculture lands. Clearly they were not slaves as some would have believed.

(Gen 42:5 KJV) And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

(Gen 42:25 KJV) Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way:

(Gen 45:20 KJV) Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.

See above, they abandon the land of Canaan and move to Egypt

(Gen 45:21 KJV) And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

(Gen 47:1 KJV) Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father [ISRAEL] and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

(Gen 47:3 KJV) And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.

(Gen 47:4 KJV) They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

(Gen 47:5 KJV) And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father [ISRAEL] and thy brethren are come unto thee:

(Gen 47:6 KJV) The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

(Gen 47:11 KJV) And Joseph placed his father [ISRAEL] and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

NOTE: All the Jews leave Cannon and move to Egypt where the Jews lived prosperous lives, that is unti Moses murders an Egyptian and the Pharaoh sought to punish Moses for the killing but before Moses could be caught Moses and his followers flee Egypt, marking the beginning of the great Exodus.
-

 

[Davy]

If you say so


There never was a “nation” called “Israel” before 1947ad.

The Jews were shepherds, not nation builders.

Ha, ha, ha, nice attempt to re-write God's Word, but that does not work. The nation ISRAEL existed in the middle east prior to its destruction by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.