The Bible

 

Ezekiel 7

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1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2 And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto the land of Israel: An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

3 Now is the end upon thee; and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will bring upon thee all thine abominations.

4 And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity; but I will bring thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

5 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An evil, an only evil! behold, it is come.

6 The end is come, the end is come; it awaketh against thee: behold, it cometh.

7 The doom is come unto thee, inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near, -- tumult, and not the joyous cry from the mountains.

8 Now will I soon pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger against thee; and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will bring upon thee all thine abominations.

9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will render unto thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that it is I, Jehovah, that smite.

10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the doom is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride is full blown.

11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: nothing of them [shall remain], nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth, nor of the magnificence in the midst of them.

12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for fierce anger is upon all the multitude thereof.

13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, even though he were yet alive amongst the living: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof; it shall not be revoked; and none shall through his iniquity assure his life.

14 They have blown the trumpet and made all ready, but none goeth to the battle; for my fierce anger is upon all the multitude thereof.

15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die by the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

16 And they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one for his iniquity.

17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall melt into water.

18 And they shall gird on sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.

19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an impurity: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's wrath; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their belly; for it hath been the stumbling-block of their iniquity.

20 And he set in majesty his beautiful ornament; but they made therein the images of their abominations [and] of their detestable things: therefore have I made it an impurity unto them.

21 And I will give it into the hands of strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it.

22 And I will turn my face from them; and they shall profane my secret [place]; and the violent shall enter into it, and profane it.

23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

24 Therefore will I bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses; and I will make the pride of the strong to cease; and their sanctuaries shall be profaned.

25 Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, but there shall be none.

26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; and they shall seek a vision from a prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.

27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with dismay, and the hands of the people of the land shall tremble: I will do unto them according to their way, and with their judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

   

Commentary

 

Field

  
The Sower, by Vincent van Gogh

A "field" in the Bible usually represents the Lord's church, and more specifically the desire for good within the church. It's where good things start, take root, and grow. When you have a desire to be a good person and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?", "What should I do?", "What can I do?". You look for ideas, concepts, direction. Once you figure out something you want to do or a change you want to make in yourself, you seek specific knowledge. If you want to volunteer at a food pantry, say, you'd need to know whom to call, when they need help, where to go, what to bring. Armed with that knowhow, you're ready to get to work. That process could be compared to food production. You start with a field -- which is that desire to be good. Then you plant seeds -- those ideas and concepts. Those seeds sprout into plants -- the specific facts and knowledge needed for the task (easily seen in the food pantry example, but also true with deeper tasks like "being more tolerant of my co-workers" or "taking more time for prayer," or "consciously being a more loving spouse"). Finally, those plants produce food -- the actual good thing that you go and do. The Writings also say that in a number of cases a "field" represents the doctrine, or teachings, of the church. This sounds markedly different. The desire for good is emotional, a drive, a wanting; doctrine is a set of ideas. But for a church to be true, its doctrine must be centered on a desire for good, and must lead people toward doing what is good. So sound doctrine is actually closely bound up with the desire for good.