What's Cooking?

Sermon on Ezekiel 11:1-15

First prophecy (vv. 1-4): Cooking Pot as a Safe!
Jaazaniah and Pelatiah were known as the “princes of the people”. They were the top political leaders representing the house of Israel. They were the “policy advisors” who gave wicked counsel to Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, the last two despotic kings of Judah. They were responsible for the city’s wrongdoings (vv. 1-2) and it is in this chapter, which we read about Ezekiel’s prophecy of judgment on these twenty-five men, these wicked counselors.

Not much is known about what their wicked policies were. The only clue left for us is found in v.3. It could be related to a certain public housing policy in Jerusalem. In the ESV, it is read as a statement, “the time is not near to build houses.” Your common NIV translates it as a question instead, “Will it not soon be time to build houses?” The latest online NIV translation goes further and assumes the housings have already been built. It reads, ‘Haven’t our houses been recently rebuilt?”

The ESV translation offers a totally opposite meaning from the two NIV translations. In the ESV, the policy advisors are discouraging the city from building houses for its citizens. Maybe they are trying to direct the housing building funds to strengthen the city walls instead. They were trying to enhance their city defense and improve national security at the expense of public social care. Given that the city has already experienced one earlier siege from the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 597BC, and Ezekiel has already warned of an imminent second siege earlier in ch. 4, this translation sound plausible. The time is not ready to build houses; we need to build our city walls instead. Their policy advisors created a sense of fear in the people to “wag the dog” (to divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance).

On the other hand, the two NIV translations put a positive spin on the verse and encourage this building project instead. They were trying to give the citizens a false sense of security. Look, our city is safe and secure. It has survived one siege, it will surely survive another. Let’s build houses instead. The time is right for us to build houses instead. Those houses destroyed in the first siege, haven’t those houses been recently rebuilt?

Be it fear or a false sense of security, the policy advisors are ultimately advising the people to put their trust in them. Whether to build houses now or later, it does not matter. Our city wall is what we need to protect the citizens living within it. The second part of their wicked counsel reads, “This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat (NIV).” It simply means, “We are the citizens of this city.” This city refers to Jerusalem, the cooking pot. The house of Israel is the meat in it. As long as we remain within these walls, we are safe. This metaphorical (abstract) symbolism – the cooking pot – is the significant sign-act in today’s story.

Second prophecy (vv. 5-12): Cooking Pot as a Pressure Cooker!
Here in vv. 5-12, the cooking pot metaphor is transformed. The meat in the pot, supposedly safe and secure, now becomes a pressure cooker, broiled and cooked by her enemies! What was once considered safe is now a melting pot of death! In putting their trust in the military defense of their city walls, the kings and their “policy advisors” have indirectly and effectively “killed many in this city” (v. 6, NIV). How so? This prophecy came true during the second siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC. The city walls were destroyed; the First Temple of Jerusalem was also destroyed. The entire city was practically burnt to the ground. Men, women and children were all slain by the perpetrators. Like meat in a cooking pot, supposedly provided protection to its people, became a closed-up cage for its enemies to kill all within it. No one was able to escape the atrocity, which was soon to come. This was a result of wicked counselors instilling fear and a false sense of security in the hearts of Israel. Israel in Jerusalem remained in their wicked ways and refused to repent before God.

The citizens suffered political and social injustice by those who promised to watch over them. Their policies led to more deaths in the city because they did not place their trust in YHWH. God is going to judge them, “I will bring the sword upon you... And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you.” (vv. 8-9). God is going to judge these policy advisors for their sins and wickedness.

“You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you shall know that I am the LORD” (v. 10, and repeated in v. 12). What does it mean to know that YHWH is the LORD? Israel is the Chosen Nation. It was YHWH who chose Israel to be the Chosen Nation among the Gentiles. When the house of Israel abandoned the laws of God and walked in the ways of their neighbors, they are no longer set apart from the Gentiles. They become one like the foreigners and no longer able to fulfill the role of being the Chosen Nation. It is not so much that Israel does not know that YHWH is their LORD, but that they have failed to fulfill their responsibility as God’s covenantal partner.

“This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel” (v. 11) – God will cleanse the policy advisors not in Jerusalem, but at its border (v. 11). Why? Because they did not deserve to die on their homeland, the land which is given to them by God. This happened exactly to the leaders who were not in exile in Babylon during the second siege,.

God himself pronounced the charges against Israel and her leaders. “For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.” (v. 12). Israel has sinned against God and walked not in God’s ways but in the ways of her neighbors. Israel has strayed from her calling as the Chosen Nation. Israel has disobeyed God and turned away from Him. Judgment is imminent for those within the city, and also upon these wicked counselors.

Third prophecy (vv. 14-15): A Crucial Question
Even before the siege, prophet Jeremiah has already been heavily criticizing King Jehoiakim for his public policies. Jehoiakim was both a vassal king of the Egyptians and the Babylonians. His policies were largely controlled by the two foreign kings, and never for the benefit of his own people. Jehoiakim was also remembered for burning one of the manuscripts of Jeremiah’s prophecies (Jer. 36:1-32) .

Jeremiah was commanded by God to speak against Jehoiakim for his wickedness. Here, Ezekiel was also commanded by God to speak against the wicked counselors. Ezekiel was never prepared “to leave politics to the politicians.” His prophetic ministry was more than just the “care of souls”, the spiritual needs of the individual. Ezekiel engages with politics and social concerns and prophesizes against the immoral political leaders of its day. Ezekiel was called “Son of Man” several times in this prophetic book. It simply means “mortal” for Ezekiel is only human. At the same time, he is also God’s servant and God’s prophet. Ezekiel is God’s mouth-piece to Israel.

Here is a quote which speaks about the power of the prophet’s words: “If then there is the God of the Bible, the conversation that is history is a conversation between God and his personal creatures. Prophets are those who speak God’s word into the created conversation. Prophets’ words are therefore not just powerful; they maintain the world of history.” Robert Jenson

The power of utterance is without a doubt, a powerful element in the prophetic voice of Ezekiel. God’s word makes history happen. God’s word brought the world into being.

Just when Ezekiel was prophesying, Pelatiah, one of the princes of the people mentioned earlier, died suddenly. The text is not clear if he had died as a result of Ezekiel’s prophecy against him, like a curse? Or was it coincidental? No one knows for sure. But upon seeing the sudden death of Pelatiah, Ezekiel fell down on his face and cried out with a loud voice and asked a crucial question, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” (v. 13) Simple English: Are you going to kill off all of Israel? No more descendants? Will there be a remnant of Israel after your judgment and punishment? Are you giving up completely on YOUR Chosen Nation? Is there hope for Israel?

The Remnants of Israel
The answer is found in vv. 16-25. Ezekiel’s prophecy is against the people back in Jerusalem, who think that they are safe and secure in the city of Jerusalem. They thought that those who are not in the pot, the exiles in Babylon, are the ones who are casted out by God. They wanted to discredit and disassociate with the exiles in Babylon. These exiles are not under God’s protection. They do not have the Temple. They do not possess the land of Jerusalem (v. 15). They will not be saved. But, they have thought wrong. [pause] The exiles are the ones whom God is saving. They are the remnants of Israel . They may currently be in exile, even though they do not have land, or the Temple, but yet, God is with them. God is their sanctuary. God is going to give the land of Israel to them again. More importantly, God is going to give them an undivided heart and a new spirit in them, to re-establish their covenantal relationship with God.

Ezek. 11:16-17, 19-20
16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’
17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’
19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

This covenant was first made with the entire house of Israel. They worship God in the Temple in Jerusalem. But now, God has left the holy building. God is a sanctuary for the people in exile. Wherever God is, there his sanctuary is.

Application and Conclusion
Our recent church retreat’s theme was “从心开始” (Begin from the Heart). This is true for us and also true for the remnants of Israel during Ezekiel’s times. We cannot begin our relationship with God without a renewal of our heart. But the main application for today is more than that. It allows us to also consider in whom and in what do we place our trust? Jehoiakim ignored the warnings of prophet Jeremiah. The house of Israel ignored the warnings of Ezekiel. The “policy advisors” placed their trust in their own wisdom and in their military defense. They gave the citizens within the city a false sense of security with their walls, which resulted in more deaths during the second siege instead! Sometimes, we also put our trust in very human objects. We seek ways of resolving issues on our own when we should be asking God for forgiveness and repenting from our sinful ways. We think we do not need God, when in fact; we need him more than we can imagine. When we are walking in the sin, we are afraid of God, we fear his sword, and we fear his judgment. But it is times like this, when we need God to be hard on us. Just like Jerusalem, what is evil and sinful must be totally destroyed. What remains will be used by God for His glory. Let not our hearts become a cooking pot of destruction and death in our lives.

Let us pray.