Day Sixty-One -- "I myself will search for my sheep. . ."

Ezekiel 23:40 to Ezekiel 35:15

In this section of Ezekiel, the prophet speaks a number of oracles against Israel's neighbors including Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia.  He also spends a lot of time speaking against Tyre, one of the major political powers of the time, as well as Egypt and the Pharaoh.  The anti-Egypt feelings are certainly well rooted in Israel's past, but are also interesting in light of the fact that when faced with threats it is to Egypt that Israel seems to turn for help.  This apparent paradox is not too difficult to comprehend, for it is common practice among nations even in our present day.  Allies are not always the same thing as friends, and relationships are often formed for strategic purposes.  Ezekiel, however, is not going to cut Judah or Jerusalem any slack in its alliances.  Nothing less than full allegiance and dependance upon God is acceptable.

Once again our daily reading provides us with something positive, and today it is the pastoral word from the LORD that he will step in where the "shepherds of Israel" have failed to keep the people from being scattered over the whole earth (chapter 34).  The LORD promises to search for his sheep, to rescue them from high places, to bring them out from the nations, bring them into their own land, and pasture them on the mountains of Israel.  "Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD."