Ezekiel 31: A Warning to Pharaoh:
31:2-9: These verses are a description of Pharaoh, set forth as a tall tree in Lebanon...Some scholars believe that Assyria is a copying error, and that this word should be “cedar”, as the two words are very similar in Hebrew…
31:10-14: Pharaoh’s sin was pride (he was exalted), and the ruler of the nations is Nebuchadnezzar…
Ezekiel 32: Lamentation for Pharaoh and Egypt; The Nations Go Down to Hades:
32:1-32: The lamentation primarily for Pharaoh comes first; the lament primarily for Egypt in her descent into the pit closes this chapter…
Ezekiel 33: Ezekiel Made the Watchman; The Capture of Jerusalem; Hearing, but Not Heeding:
33:1-9: Ultimately the trumpet is the preaching of the Gospel and the watchman is the preacher or some form of a messenger of YHWH...Those who know the truth and do not warn others will be judged more harshly than those who die in their lawlessness because they have not heard…
33:10-20: “For the goodness and the loving-kindness of YHWH, and His boundless riches, holds righteous and sinless man who, as Ezekiel tells, repent of sins; and reckons sinful, unrighteous, and impious the man who fall away from piety and righteousness to unrighteousness and ungodliness...Wherefore also Our Lord Yeshua (Christ Our God) said, ‘In whatsoever things I shall take you, in these I shall judge you”(compare John 12:47-48)...
John 12:47-48: Notes: Christ does not JUDGE with favoritism or partiality. He has spoken the WORDS of life, words of love, forgiveness, repentance, virtue, and mercy...His words will be an unbending standard by which all people are judged on THE LAST DAY...
33:21-31: Ezekiel’s mouth was opened when Jerusalem was taken captive, while the kingly line of Judah went silent until the coming of Christ, (see Genesis 49:9-12)...St. Zacharias, the priest who was made mute because of his unbelief, was given back to his voice when his son John the Baptist was born, (Luke 1:5-20, and 57-79)...also see previous notes on Ezekiel 3:22-27 and Ezekiel 19:1-14…
Genesis 49:9-12: Notes and Scripture work: This is a prophecy that relates to Christ in numerous ways, two of which are as follows: He would rise from the dead (who shall rouse Him), and He would be the Lawgiver...For every law of YAHWEH the Father given to man, including the Mosaic Law, is given in and through Him…
Luke 1:5-20; and 57-59: Notes and Scripture Work:
1.5-25: This Passage is read on September 23, the Feast of the Conception of John the Baptist…
1:59: Circumcision was a sign of Israel’s covenant with YAHWEH and the means by which a male became a member of YHWH’s community (Genesis 17:10-14, and Leviticus 12:3)...In Christ, circumcision is fulfilled in baptism, (reference Colossians 2:11, and the article, Holy Baptism, at Romans 6)...
Ezekiel 34: Prophecy against Israel’s Shepherds: The True Shepherd:
34:1-31: Immediately after regaining his voice, the prophet condemns the false shepherds and prophecies the coming Good Shepherd, Christ, and the establishment of His sheep, the Church... (reference John 10; Luke 15:4-7; and 19:17)...
34:11-16: Here is an image of Christ shepherding His sheep…
34:17-22: Also see Matthew 23:32-33, where Christ echoes His own words given here to the prophet…
34:23: My servant David clearly images Christ the Good Shepherd…
“I have always been a good shepherd, but in Christ I’m a stronger and more confident shepherd...I chose to have no sheep left behind if I can help it...Let’s sing His victory hymn for He is One Who can do it all and everything is possible through Him, today is the day you make Yeshua Your salvation be His and His only…”
-JPCE Spiritual Talk
Ezekiel 35: Prophecy against Mount Seir:
35:1-15: Mount Seir is Edom where Esau, brother of Jacob, settled (Genesis 36:8)... Also see Deuteronomy 2:1-6…
Ezekiel 36: YHWH’s Blessing on Israel: The Cleansing of Israel:
36:1-7: The Judgement continues against Edom, which today is Southern Jordan…
36:8-15: This prophecy is ultimately fulfilled in the Church, which is New Israel…
36:16-38: The earthly Israel is also representative of fallen humanity, which has desecrated YHWH’s Holy Name...But the Lord will gather both Jew and Gentile from among the nations, and with them establish His Church…
36:24-28: This Passage is read in the week of Pentecost…
Ezekiel 37: Vision of Dry Bones: One Nation under One King:
37:1-14: This Passage is the Great Doxology read at Matins on Great and Holy Saturday… The Fathers teach that it prophesies the Final Resurrection… “Great is the lovingkindness of the Lord, that the prophet is taken as a witness of the future resurrection, that we, too might see it with his eyes...We notice here how the operations of the Spirit of life are again resumed; we know after what manner the dead are raised from opening tombs...And finally, he who has believed that the dead shall rise again in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the LAST TRUMP (for the trumpet shall sound)...shall be caught up among the first in the clouds to meet Christ in the air; he who has not believed shall be left, and subject himself to the sentence by his own unbelief” (AmbM)...
37:15-28: “Ezekiel put together the sticks, the two in one: in the two beams of the Cross, their staves have ceased...The two sticks, as if they were wings, bore the people: lo! His two staves were broken, even as his wings...The bosom and wings of the Cross, he opened in mercy: it’s pinions bowed and bore the nations, to go to Eden...It is akin to the “Tree of Life”, and unto the son of it’s stock: it leads its beloved that on its bough, they may feed on it’s fruits” (EphS)...
Ezekiel 38:1-39:29: 38:Gog Will invade Israel: Gog Is Judged: 39: The Defeat of Gog: The Burial for Gog: An Assembly of Triumph:
38:1-39:29: The names of these nations aren’t meant to lead us to specific historical circumstances or places, whether past, present, or future; rather, they should be viewed as representing all the enemies of YHWH(GOD) , which have been persecuting His Church since the beginning...Indeed, St. Gregory the Great remarks that, where that which comes from the SOUTH is taken to be a symbol for the warmth of the Holy Spirit, that which comes from the NORTH is taken to mean the devil, Satan, or Lucifer all the same evil...Because the former loosens with heat and the latter constrains the cold...The Church takes the Biblical term the last days to mean the time since Pentecost, the Church age, though there will be a final battle at the end of the age, after which Satan will be cast into the abyss forever (Revelation 20:7-10)...
Revelation 20:8-10: Notes and Scripture Work: The lengthy millennial period of Satan’s binding the saint’s heavenly reign is concluded by the release of Satan and the final battle of history (Probably the same as that of Revelation 16:12-16; and Revelation 19:14-21)...Gog and Magog are nations hostile to YHWH’s (God’s) people, gathered for one final assault directed against the beloved city, Jerusalem as the Church...As Elijah called down fire...out of heaven on his persecutors (4Kg 1:10-12), so here God sends a consuming fire, (reference Gn 19:24; 3Kg 18:38; Ezk 38:22; and Ezk 39:6)...The devil joins the beast and the false prophet in the lake of fire, the second death of eternal damnation, and is no longer a threat to the world…
-The world stage is hot right now and it seems this final battle could be in the making very soon…
-Just like the Lord said Israel will become the focal point in the End Times, well it’s happening just read the Scriptures and some small searches; seek and you shall find…
-Lastly our study has unraveled some similarities between the Judgements on Ancient Israel that are happening to the US, and have been since 09-11-2001…
Ezekiel 40:1-19: Ezekiel’s Vision: New City, New Temple: The East Gate of the Temple:
40:1-3: Saint Gregory the Great sees Christ in both the high mountain and the man...The city is the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church (Hebrews 12:22)...The builders cord symbolizes the truth taught by the apostles...The measuring rod signifies Holy Scripture...Christ stood at the gate “because in His humanity He appeared visible, and in His divinity He remained unseen” (GrgGt)...reference both Revelation 11, and Revelation 21:9-27…
40:5-7: St. Gregory the Great see’s the wall a type of the Incarnation in the womb of the virgin, reference( Isaiah 26:1); indeed, Church hymns to the Theotokos call her “a wall unshaken…”Six cubits represent the active life, because God complete His work on the sixth day...A handbreadth, which is from the seventh, but falls short, signifies the contemplative life…
40:6-9: St. Gregory the Great interprets the meaning of the gates in four ways: as signifying Christ, (John 10:1-2), the preachers of truth, (Revelation 21:21), the Scriptures, and the faith...The seventh stairs signify the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit (see Isaiah 11:2-3)...The chambers are the hearts of those whose soul is joined through love with Unseen Bridegroom...The length, he writes, signifies longing for God, and the breadth is love for neighbor...Five cubits signifies the five outer senses...Eight cubits signifies spiritual protection and the final day of resurrection...Two cubits illustrates a life that is led daily through charity to love God and neighbor alike…
40:10-12: Three...chambers on each side signifies that the hearts of both OT and NT faithful are kindled with love of the Trinity (GrgGT)...The ten cubits points to the perfection of the Law as seen in the Ten Commandments, while the thirteen cubits, illustrates the increased knowledge of the Trinity revealed in Christ…
40:15: Fifty (seven squared plus one) signifies eternal rest, “because our every perfection will be in the contemplation of the One in the vision of whom there will be for us no lack of salvation and joy...Hence the Jubilee, the fifteen year, was also given for rest” (GrgGt; see also Leviticus 25)...
40:16: Hidden windows, like icons, provide glimpses of heavenly glory, which enlighten the soul through contemplation; while palm trees signify the rewards of victory (John 12:13; Revelation 7:9)...
Ezekiel 40:20-28: North and South Gate:
40:20-28: St. Gregory sees the north gate as being for the Gentile, beginners, and repentant sinners; while the south gates for believing Jews who had the Law, as well as the fervent in spirit who, kindled by the heat of the Holy Spirit, grow up in virtues as in the noonday light…”
40:27: St. Gregory sees the outer gates as imaging the OT Prophets, and the inner gates as imaging the Holy Apostles…
40:31-33: The east gate signifies Christ’s entrance into the world through the womb of the Theotokos (see Ezk 44:1-4)...Eight steps “signify the mysteries of that life which the perfect understand in their secret hearts; those who already know how mentally to transcend all temporal things; who wholly despise the present life which turns through a cycle of seven days; who feed on inward contemplation…” (GrgGt)...
40:39-48: Here is the vision that concerns the heavenly altar, imaged in the Divine Liturgy, where the saints offer their whole being to YHWH (God) in praise and worship… see (Hebrews 13:10-19)...The court is the foursquare fullness of the Church, which operates in faith, hope, charity and always good works In Christ’s Holy Name...
NOTE: Currently working on Ezekiel Chapters 41-48, Notes and Scripture Work...