Ezekiel 26: Prophecy Part I
Monday, October 7, 2019
Yesterday we took a look at Ezekiel 25; today and tomorrow we spend time with Chapter 26 as we examine our own views on prophecy . . .
Several hundred years before Alexander the Great destroyed the city of Tyre, Ezekiel writes a nearly perfect description of the siege. And perhaps the princes of the coastlands trembled for a while at the wrath they witnessed . . . just as we do when we see a prophecy fulfilled. But humans quickly forget the consequences of actions taken and promises kept in their own lives. While it is not good to dwell upon failure and misery, neither is it good to repeat the mistakes in our own history; yet this is how we so often live: learning little while recycling our pain, scoffing at prophecies brought to us by our own holy ones.
I had a dream last night that was unusual in that first, I remembered it, and second, I was with people in my present life whom I mistrust deeply. However, in this dream I was open and frank, honest and unafraid. I awoke before I knew the outcome. Had they changed? Had I changed? Was I correct in trusting them? Was my trust in them repaid by more violence or by genuine friendship? I spent a bit of time wondering if this dream might be a window into the future and, more importantly, I wondered if this were perhaps a portent of things to come, of bridges mended, friendships renewed and extended, trust restored. Was this a prophecy? What do I do if it is?
I sometimes wish I might be as innocent as people in ancient times who put so much faith in dreams and their portent. I think that our scientific method and our modernism may have jaded us by requiring that we seek hard evidence for beliefs. Faith, of course, springs from the heart rather than the microscope and yet . . .
I have read somewhere that Einstein grew in his belief in a higher power and in the presence of God in creation as his knowledge of math grew. His famous E = mc2 brought him not only a belief that the power of tiny atoms might be unleashed . . . but that there was a purpose and a plan behind that power.
Prophecy . . . what to believe . . . what to discount . . . how to act . . . false and true prophets . . . magicians and tricks . . . deception . . . fidelity . . . interlopers . . . constant friends. Concepts converge and unravel as we examine them closely. Who do we believe . . . and how do we believe?
A re-post from September 16, 2012.
To see other Tissot images of prophets, click on the image r visit: https://www.artbible.info/art/large/223.html
The Noontimes 