Ezekiel's Request

Hello Friendly People,
       Ezekiel is asked to lay on his side for the sins of Israel for over  a year and then again for the sins of Judah on his other side for a month or so. He would be tied up during the process...... What marvels me is there is NO complaint, until he is asked to defile himself. God asks him to prepare a particular bread cake and roast it for all to see, the fuel being human dung. This is particularly sinful to him as he had not let, since youth, anything unclean enter his mouth. 
    
    Ezekiel replies to God, "Surely, You wouldn't ask me to defile myself by using human excrement? Can I use cow dung instead?" 


    God allowed Ezekiel's feelings and convictions to be honored. God could have said "It's okay, I will overlook it this time."  Instead,  He honored the sacrifice of obedience this servant, and friend, had made for Him.



Ezekiel 4
V1 "Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 
V2 "Then lay siege to it; Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. 
V3 "Then take an iron pan and place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.  
V4 "Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel
upon yourself. You are to bear their sins for the number of days you lie on your side.
V5 "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. [Are you thinking bed sores?]
V6 "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.
V7 "Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophecy against her.
V8 "I will tie you up with ropes so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.
V9"Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt, put them in a storage vat and use them to make bread for yourself.
You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side.
V10 "Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times.
V11 "Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times.
V12 "Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel."
V13 The Lord said, "In this way the people the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them."
V14 Then I said, "Not so Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.
V15"Very well," He said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."


This, I know is some weighty scripture especially in light of the  moral state of our country, but my intent is to bring attention to the characteristic of honor in this amazing prophet,  Ezekiel.  




                                Never give up Never give in!