Ezekiel 21:18-27 – Seeking and knowing God’s direction

In Ezekiel 21:18-23 Ezekiel was instructed to sketch a road with a fork junction. This was the road that the king Babylon would travel. The prophet was to erect a signpost at the junction of the fork to provide directions to two destinations.  One road would lead to Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and the other to Jerusalem.

In days when maps and Global Positioning System (GPS) were not available, divination was the method the Babylonians used to determine what direction to take. The king of Babylon would jiggle his arrows and consult his idols to decide where he and his army would go. The divination would include looking at the liver of an animal that was sacrificed to determine the direction. What yielded from his divination pointed to Jerusalem. There verse 23 says the Babylonian army was directed to “set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall.”   

Alth0ugh to the folks at Jerusalem, the divination of Nebuchadnezzar was a mistake. For they had made a solemn pledge of allegiance to the Babylonians. However, Judah’s broken pledge of allegiance was their undoing. So, Nebuchadnezzar would come and seize the citizens of Jerusalem. The recent wrong Judah had committed also reminded God of their series of rebelliousness and though the result of the divination seemed to be false because of their pledge, yet God brought about the judgment.    

Verse 25-27 were prophecy directed at Zedekiah whom Nebuchadnezzar had made his vassal. He had chosen to rebel against the latter. He had bitten the hand that fed him. His time had come. His crown would be removed, and the punishment executed. Everything exalted would be brought low by the Lord. Conversely, the low would be exalted. In verse 27 we see a prophetic indication of the coming of the Messiah King. David’s earthly dynasty would come to an end till Jesus the Messiah, the rightful King would come to install His reign.

The lessons: In dealing with us, God will even use our enemy to bring us to our senses. We must be people of integrity. God holds us to our words. We must fulfill the pledge we make, even if it is not made to Him. True hope rests in Jesus the Messiah who came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. Let us seek first His Kingdom, His reign in our lives. Make this our priceless pursuit in life.