Ezekiel 28:20-24 – Dealing with our briers and thorns

The message of judgment from God through Ezekiel 28:20-24 was directed at Sidon. It was a seaport along the Mediterranean coast in modern Lebanon, about 36 kilometres south of Tyre. Like Tyre, Sidon was both an influential as well as a wealthy Phoenician city.  Sadly, she was one of those who oppressed the people of Israel.  

Sidon had a long history of involvement with the life of the covenant people of God. Joshua 19:28 indicates that among other places, Sidon was apportioned to the tribe of Asher. Unfortunately, the tribe of Asher did not eradicate them leaving a trail of problems that descendants of Asher had to encounter.

In David’s preparation to build a temple for God, 1 Chronicles 22:4 tells us he obtained a large quantity of cedar wood from Tyre and Sidon. It was also here that the infamous Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, hailed from. Hence, it would not be a surprise to find elements of Baal worship in this city.

It was also in the Sidonian city of Zarephath that 1 Kings 17 tells us that a widow took care of Elijah. It was here that Elijah was used by God to provide flour and oil to help that widow through a time of famine. Here God, through Elijah, also raised that widow’s son from the dead.

However, besides Ezekiel, other prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Amos, and Zechariah had also prophesied Sidon’s demise. Because Sidon had oppressed the covenant people, God in Ezekiel 28:20-24, sent them a message of judgment. The purpose of the judgment was to glorify God and enlighten the people. Through it, they would know that the Lord He is God. And that He would manifest his holiness among them through the judgment.

In the judgment, pestilence would be sent upon Sidon. And there would be much bloodshed on her streets. And the wounded would fall by the sword everywhere. In bringing the judgment, verse 24 said that God was removing “a prickling brier or a painful thorn.” God would save His people from having to encounter their malicious oppressors. In doing so, God would be acknowledged as the only true Lord.  

Sidon represents the depth of sins and idolatry that was “the prickling brier and painful thorn” to the people of God then. Are there “prickling briers and painful thorns” in our walk with God? Learn to identify them and then bring them to the Lord in prayer. “O, what peace we often forfeit, O, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”