Ezekiel 19:1-4 – “Sing this funeral song for the princes of Israel:
‘What is your mother?
A lioness among lions!
She lay down among the young lions
and reared her cubs.
She raised one of her cubs
to become a strong young lion.
He learned to hunt and devour prey,
and he became a man-eater.
Then the nations heard about him,
and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him away with hooks
to the land of Egypt.'”
Today’s chapter is a song, and it’s tempting to read until your eyes glaze over and nothing makes sense anymore (that’s around verse 4…). Why am I reading about lions? Why is this being sung at a funeral? Why is this even in the Bible?
When we read the Bible, we sometimes are taught to look for ways to apply it to our lives. And on some of the practical stuff in the New Testament letters, that can be helpful (sometimes). Old Testament prophecy may not be great for that. We have to come back to the strategy of asking, “What does this tell me about the character of God? How does this help me understand God’s plan for the world and his response to his people?” With that in mind, I’ll sum up: the people of Israel (the lionness) were strong. They raised up kings (cubs). Some of them got mixed up with the evil cultures around them and all that Israel was supposed to be got devoured. The nation of Israel had been exiled and enslaved many times already by this point. God wants to do something about that. Removing the evil kings (funeral song) is how he is going to do that.
Here’s your freedom for today:
God will overcome evil to make sure you stay free.
Here we see God’s heart for his people: freedom. He doesn’t want them to be exiled and enslaved by other (evil) nations. He doesn’t want their kings to lead them astray. That strong lionness image? He wants that for his people. Through Jesus, “God’s people” now means anyone who follows Jesus — whether Jew or non-Jew. So we need to apply this not to our individual lives, but to the church. How is the church in America and the global church getting trapped by imitating evil earthly systems? How can we return to the heart of God? Let’s sing a funeral song for the corruption of God’s people so that we can find freedom as a body once again. It’s like removing cancer — it hurts to cut out a part of your body, but it just might make you whole again.