Just a nice parable

Ezekiel 20:49 - Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! They are saying of me, 'Isn't he just telling parables?' "

I wonder who it was that was spreading such gossip about Ezekiel. Did the elders believe this too? Perhaps some did. I wonder how may people actually got to hear Ezekiel prophesy firsthand. How many even cared to? It's difficult to imagine what spreading this news in those days would have been like. Remember, there were no radios, TVs, movies, telephones (cell or otherwise), and no Internet. It was almost entirely word of mouth, plus some writings. I wonder if his writings got passed around much.

A lament is a lament is a lament

Ezekiel 19:14 - This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.

Was there a problem with people using laments for other purposes? Why else would you specifically state what a writing (poetry, in this case) is to be used for? Sometimes things can be used for purposes other than the creator's intended one. A book can be used as a doorstop. But what else would you use a lament for? It's very nature is sad. How could it be used successfully any other way?

How to go into exile

Ezekiel 12:3-7 - "Therefore, son of man, pack your belongings for exile and in the daytime, as they watch, set out and go from where you are to another place. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house. During the daytime, while they watch, bring out your belongings packed for exile. Then in the evening, while they are watching, go out like those who go into exile. While they watch, dig through the wall and take your belongings out through it. Put them on your shoulder as they are watching and carry them out at dusk. Cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have made you a sign to the house of Israel."

So I did as I was commanded. During the day I brought out my things packed for exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands. I took my belongings out at dusk, carrying them on my shoulders while they watched.

Having never gone into exile myself, I wonder what you pack before doing so and how you behave in order to appear to others that you are going into exile, even though you are doing so voluntarily and solo. I mean, unless they asked him, how did anyone know Ezekiel was pretending to go into exile?

I also wonder how much use a city wall really is that can be dug through with your bare hands. I wonder if anyone made Ezekiel fix the hole later.

Between heaven and earth

Ezekiel 8:1-3 - In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign LORD came upon me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance to the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood.

I wonder what the elders thought when they saw Ezekiel levitate. Or did he maybe (seem to) disappear from their vantage point? It's hard to say with descriptions like this partly because they're so hard to describe to someone who hasn't experienced the same thing.

What does it really mean to be taken somewhere else in "visions of God"? Was his body moved there too? Or are visions by definition only spiritual?

At the beginning of chapter 11, this story (vision) seems to continue. But now Ezekiel is taken to the temple apparently body and all -- yet he is still only seeing a vision based on the last verse of the chapter: "Then the vision I had seen went up from me...."

Where was Ezekiel at that point? By the temple? In his house? No, it doesn't matter. It's just something I wonder about.

Hair everywhere

Ezekiel 5:1-4 - "Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the whole house of Israel."

I wonder how many people stopped what they were doing to watch Ezekiel shave, burn, chop, scatter, and tuck away his hair.

I wonder how many got the message.

Side to side

Ezekiel 4:4-6 - "Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.

"After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year."

This is well over a year, folks! 390 + 40 = 430 and 430 - 365 = 65 About 14 months!

I wonder if Ezekiel spent the whole day (apart from providing for his physical needs) lying there on his side. If he did, I wonder who provided his food. Did his relatives help him out? His friends? Or were they too embarrassed to be seen with this lunatic -- much less to be helping him out? Was Ezekiel independently wealthy? Did he have 14 months of food in store?

Did he have any shelter from the elements?

I don't wonder if anyone made fun of him.

Difficult languages

Ezekiel 3:5-6 - You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel - not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand.

I wonder which language(s) God considered difficult to learn and understand compared to the Hebrew that Ezekiel spoke.

Glowing metal

Ezekiel 1:4-5 - The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures.

I wonder where Ezekiel had previously seen glowing metal. Most likely in the shop of a blacksmith -- or whatever such a craftsman of that type was known as. You don't normally try to make a comparison between something you are currently witnessing and something you've never seen before. So this is why I think it's fair to assume Ezekiel actually had seen glowing metal before.

Throwing away the scroll

Jeremiah 51:60-63 - Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon—all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. Then say, 'O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it will be desolate forever.' When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates...."

I wonder how many copies of the prophecy against Babylon were made. There must have been at least two. There was the one that Seraiah was to throw into the Euphrates -- presumably lost forever. And there was the one that has been passed down through the ages here in the book of Jeremiah. Or did the one that was thrown into the river survive? Did it ever actually get thrown away?