Ezekiel 45:9 – “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Quit robbing and cheating my people out of their land. Stop expelling them from their homes, says the Sovereign Lord.”
Today God is giving his instructions for dividing up the land of Israel, including a holy section for himself. He’s talking about boring stuff like taxes and yearly rituals. Verse 9 struck me as another example of God’s character: he continually opposes violence and oppression. When God takes control, righteousness and order are restored.
God is against robbing people, cheating them, or in any other way taking advantage of them. When God gets extremely angry in the Bible, it’s because he sees people being oppressed. Jesus didn’t get angry much, but the one time we know he did it was because the powerful religious people were charging exorbitant prices for sacrifices. (This is like that $14 hot dog you buy at a baseball game, except it was your “access” to God. Not cool.)
Here’s your freedom for today:
God will stand up for those who are cheated and robbed.
Here God is saying, “Do the right thing!” He’s warning those in charge that they better not try to use their power to cheat and rob others. Being taken advantage of takes all kinds of forms, like abuse or manipulation or trickery, but in the end it’s all about power and control. We know from reading Ezekiel that God is definitely in charge and is more powerful than any earthly ruler. He’s proven that. What he says goes. And what he says is that we all need to treat others well. His kingdom runs on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5). When you have power, that’s what it looks like when you are doing things God’s way.