Ezekiel 20:25-26 (God speaking about the Israelites) "Moresoever, I gave them laws that were not good and rules by which they could not live. When they set aside every first issue of the womb, I defiled them by their very gifts - that I might render them desolate, that they might know that I am the Lord." King James Version. From the book "God: A Biography", pg. 331: "Laws that were NOT good? Rules by which they could NOT live? Is this how he demontrates that 'I am the Lord'? What the Lord alludes to in the phrases 'the first issue of the womb' and 'I defiled them by their very gifts' is child sacrifice." Jerusalem Bible rendering: "I even gave them laws that were not good and observances by which they could never live, and I polluted them with their own offerings, making them sacrifce all their first-born, which was to punish them, so that they would learn that I am Yahweh."
2007-08-30 14:59:45 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
P.S. and it's specifically GOD that gave them "laws by which they could not live", NOT earthy rulers! Read the text, please, and stop trying to pass off God's acts as those of someone else!
2007-09-01 06:14:32 · update #1
He showed us that we can never be good enough to get to Him. Our own alleged righteousness will never match the righteousness of a holy God. He made the way by grace so we wouldn't have to live up to a standard we are not capable of living up to. We still strive to live a life pleasing to Him, but we are limited humans. That is why Jesus came to bridge the gap between us and God.
2007-08-30 15:11:25 · answer #1 · answered by TroothBTold 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Hebrew term means "God gave them over". God allowed sin to run its course as an act of judgement. The recepients of this particular letter (The Book of Romans) was the church of Rome. He wrote to prepare the way for his missionary coming visit to Rome and Spain. He also wrote to present the basic system of salvation to a church that had not received the teachings of an apostle before. He sought to explain the relationship between Jew and Gentile in God's overall plan of redemption. The Jewish Christians were being rejected by the larger Gentile group in the church because the Jewish believers still felt constrained to observe dietary laws and sacred days. He finds all mankind are sinners and in need of salvation....
2007-08-30 22:15:34 · answer #2 · answered by Theresa B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ezekiel is a tough book to interpret and understand, but let me explain this to you, God had pleaded and pleaded with the children of Isreal, but they refused to listen, they worship Gods of wood, gold, hay, stubble, gods made by the hands of men. God is a jealous God, a consuming fire, he will not share his glory with another. there does come a time when God will turn you over, or in better terms pull his protection back from you so that the devil can have his way, remember Job, when God removed his protection Job was in deep trouble. And by the way, that translation you are using doesn't match my kjv. But anyway, In the old testament there is alot of times when God pulled his protection back so judgement would come. Doesnot the Potter have power over the clay. Thank goodness we are not under the old law now as since Jesus Christ came and gave his life on the cross for us we have a mediator who stands at the right hand of the Father on our behalf. If we are saved we are covered by the blood of Jesus. Have you ever been Saved or Born again as some call it. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Master. Remember none is righteous no not one. If you would like to get saved heres a sinners Prayer, Dear Jesus, I believe you are the son of God, I believe you came to earth to die on a cross for me to be a perfect sacrifice for my sins and rose from the grave the third day, I know and confess that I am a sinner in need of your salvation. I ask you to come into my heart now and save me, in Jesus name I Pray, Amen... If you just Prayed that Pray with a sincere heart you are now saved and Jesus lives inside your heart. Find a church, get you a Bible and start reading. Its a wonderfull world being a born again Christian. If you have questions please feel free to send me an email. Good luck to you and God Bless YOU!!
2007-09-07 19:29:36 · answer #3 · answered by victor 7707 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sure I can and you could too if you were not using tunnel vision...Read the verse above and you find the explanation of the verses that have you so troubled....Eze 20:24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.
You see God was saying that since they could not fulfill the Law it was flawed, and that set up the remedy found in Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And again Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. For you see Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
2007-09-07 03:01:20 · answer #4 · answered by cowboy_christian_fellowship 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just as I figured Chump go back and read the whole thing in context.
Boy I hate two verse preachers that don't know what they are talking about.
He gave them an easy life and they returned to idolatry again. These He gave a hard life to. Not His children of Israel.
Follow the rules you will be OK. Get you an idol you are doomed that simple.
Preach what you don't know and you look like a fool every time.
2007-09-05 11:58:23 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sounds to me like a passage where it describes that there were rules that were not followed, and due to that, Others were given power over those who did not follow the laws, and they imposed laws that were impossible to follow, not just "hard" to follow... This was how Jews were punished for not following the laws at this time. This is an example of what "chosen" entails... Held to a higher standard, not "better".
2007-08-30 22:11:35 · answer #6 · answered by XX 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not only did God do it to Israel because Israel forgot God, but God is doing it to America, because America has forgotten God.
Are you so depraved of mind that you do not see everything around you that is evil is being called good. There is another verse in the Bible that says "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of Almighty God." Israel fell into the hands of God and God used their own evil against them because they forgot God that delivered them out of Egypt and began worshiping
Horoscopes, Football Games, Soap Operas, Saturday Night Live, Hollywood, Porno and Movies that call God's name in vain. America pays good money to worship these things.
Who is your Creator? Who do you serve? What do you believe? You have a god - who is he?
The God that I serve is called the Potter and I'm called clay. And the God that I serve has every right to do with me as He wishes, because without Him I would not be.
Pretty harsh way to learn who God is - but this country will learn who God is.........
2007-09-07 21:56:59 · answer #7 · answered by Jeancommunicates 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
May the Lord open your understanding. He allowed them to have worthless decrees and regulations that were not good because they refused His good law. It was God's judgment falling on them. He allowed them to give their children to the gods that demanded their blood. So in being devastated they would wake up and call on God, repent and walk in His ways.
2007-08-30 22:16:07 · answer #8 · answered by pshdsa 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
New American Standard Bible (considered the most literal) - and, even more importantly, with a *little* of the necessary context:
Eze 20:18-28
18. "And I said to their children in the wilderness, `Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, or keep their ordinances, or defile yourselves with their idols.
19. `I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and observe them.
20. `And sanctify My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.'
21. "But the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to observe My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; they profaned My sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness.
22. "But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
23. "Also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the lands,
24. because they had not observed My ordinances, but had rejected My statutes, and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were on the idols of their fathers.
25. "And I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;
26. and I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts, in that they caused all their first-born to pass through the fire so that I might make them desolate, in order that they might know that I am the Lord."'
27. "Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, `Thus says the Lord God, "Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me by acting treacherously against Me.
Note particularly verse 21. Clearly, the problem was not God's ordinances. "And I also gave them statutes that were not good (i.e., laws that taught them wrong) and ordinances by which they could not live (i.e. which would lead to death, if broken). This is the only understanding of these verses that actually makes sense *within the context*. Also note that the Israelites sacrificed their children in fire *against* the will of God, as is clearly described in these verses. Their "gifts" seem to be connected to their (rebellious) sacrifice of their children.
Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/wheel/
2007-09-04 13:51:24 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Rom 7:12 So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
2007-09-07 16:07:04 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋