Ezekiel 27:1–2: “The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, ‘Now, son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre.’”

September 20th, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This chapter of Ezekiel, written in a traditional funeral rhythm (a lament), continues the prediction of the destruction of Tyre, a city renowned for its seafaring and commercial leadership in the ancient world. Ezekiel 28 tells us that it was prideful and said of itself, “I sit in the seat of gods, / In the midst of the seas (Eze. 28:2). Because of this pride, judgment was coming on them. This lament personified the Gentile, pagan city as a beautiful, successful trade ship that was destroyed on the ocean. According to one translator, this chapter has such vivid details that it is “without parallel in the history of Hebrew literature.”

Ezekiel clearly wrote this chapter with a heavy heart. God Himself stated in Ezekiel 18 that He finds no enjoyment in the destruction of sinners: “‘For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the LORD GOD. ‘Therefore turn and live!’” (vs. 32). The judgment of sinners deeply moves the heart of God, and it should move the hearts of His people as well. We see how deeply Jesus felt for the Jews who refused to believe in Him when He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37).

Many years ago, a young pastor who was struggling financially, rented a room from a non-believing farmer. The pastor was on the watch for the right moment to share the truth of Jesus with the farmer. Early one morning the farmer woke him and asked him to come see something. He took the pastor into the chicken coop, and on a nest was a hen, her chicks peeking out from under her wings. “I wanted you to see the devotion of a mother hen,” said the farmer. “Reach out and touch her.” When the pastor did, he found that the hen was dead. “See that wound on her head,” the farmer continued. “A weasel killed her and drained all the blood from her body, but she never once moved for fear the weasel would harm her chicks.” The young pastor saw the moment he’d been waiting for. “Oh, that is just like Jesus. He endured all the suffering on the cross. He could have saved His own life but He didn’t, because if He had moved, we would have been lost!” The words struck the farmer, and soon after, he put his faith in the One who, while on the cross, chose to save us, rather than spare Himself!

“Thank You, LORD, for taking our place on the cross. Help us to live this day for You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”