Readings:
Ezekiel 1-2
2 Corinthians 7

Ezekiel 1-2

Ezekiel was a prophet in Babylon during the period of exile there that overlaps with Baruch and the latter part of Jeremiah’s ministry. He was a Temple priest and so concerns are usually linked with proper observance of the law and right worship of God.

Some of his major themes in his book of prophecy are the rebuilt temple with the restored worship of God, and a new covenant. He also preaches the need for a personal renewal and interior conversion of heart, making him a favorite prophet among early Christians due to how closely this message aligns with that of Christ Jesus.

Ezekiel is standing by the river in Babylon when he receives his calling and first vision. The description of things he is seeing can be hard for us to comprehend because of the unearthly things he’s writing. A wheel with eyes? A creature with four faces? One with six wings? These are so unlike anything we know of in our universe so we have a hard time even imagining what he’s seeing, much less understanding it.

We see two different beings described here; the first is the one with four faces and a seemingly human/animal hybrid body. The second is the wheels with eyes. Christian tradition identifies the living creatures as the same referred to in chapter 10 and there they are called cherubim. The wheels are though to be from another order in what is called the choirs of angels, and that’s the order of thrones.

So both of the things described by Ezekiel are types of angels and they’re underneath the throne of God. The whole point being that God isn’t limited to his temple in Jerusalem or the geographical region around the temple, he can go wherever he chooses. This is out of the ordinary for ancient near eastern religions where most of their gods were thought to reside in a single place and couldn’t leave. Not very godlike in our understanding of what a god is.

God commissions Ezekiel to be his mouthpiece in Babylon among the exiled peoples. And here we see the scroll appear that we’ll be reading more about in the coming chapters.

2 Corinthians 7

Paul shares with the Corinthians that he was worn out in Macedonia from all the trials he’d gone through, but the arrival of Titus with news from Corinth had buoyed his spirits. Titus shared the well wishes of the Corinthians and that was like a gift from God for Paul, and fuel to continue. He again refers to the “severe letter” that was hand delivered by Titus, but this time it’s in rejoicing that his fatherly discipline was accepted with a spirit of repentance by the Corinthians and this too has brought him joy.

Paul wasn’t feeling good about his reproach of the church he founded and had such high expectations for, but he’s glad that he sent the letter because of the course correction taken on by the church due to his admonishing. Like I said before, no good father likes disciplining children, but it is regrettably necessary and part of the job.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Ezekiel 3-5
2 Corinthians 8