Bible Fiber
- Tired of scripture study guides that leave you wanting more substance? Discover a resource that offers comprehensive teaching and deep insights into the prophetic message.
- Have you been avoiding the more challenging books of the Bible because they are hard to understand or apply to your life? Let Bible Fiber build your foundational knowledge about ancient Israel’s history and culture.
Welcome to Bible Fiber, where we are encountering the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry through twelve Minor Prophets, two reformers (Ezra and Nehemiah), and one priest in exile (Ezekiel). Along the way, we take pauses for minicourses on peoples of the Bible and ponder why the prophetic office ended. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
You won't find another podcast so committed to teaching the parts of the Bible that get the least attention and also is constantly calling for prayers for the modern state of Israel during this moment of crisis.
Bible Fiber
Ezekiel 14
Our sponsor of today’s episode is Jim Werner who has kindly dedicated his sponsorship to my family. As many of you know we are a military family and like lots of other military families this month, we found out we have orders to move again which means there has been some tears mixed with silver linings. So thank you Jim! You probably did not even know how timely your dedicated sponsorship message really was!
This week we are studying Ezekiel 14. The chapter begins by introducing Ezekiel’s company. He recorded, “certain elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me” (14:1). Perhaps it was the same delegation of elders that waited in Ezekiel’s home while the divine spirit transported him to Jerusalem (8:1).
Tel Abib, the refugee encampment where Ezekiel lived with the rest of the exiles, likely had an abundance of leaders. According to Nebuchadnezzar’s policy, the first captives the Babylonians deported were Jerusalem’s political, religious, and cultural elite. Although they had no political independence once in Babylon, the captives must have transferred some of their social order from Jerusalem to the refugee encampment as they made paltry attempts at self-governance.