BIBLE: Ezekiel Chapter 15 – Headline “Above and Below”

Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Ezekiel 15

The Following verses relate to “the latter days”.

The Outcast Vine: The inhabitants of Judah.

Ezekiel 15:¹ Then the word of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) came to me (Ezekiel), saying:

Ezekiel 15:²“Son of man (Ezekiel), how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?

The vine does not compare to the trees.

Ezekiel 15:³Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on?

A peg is like a tent peg to hold down the corners of the tent or a peg to hang items on.

Ezekiel 15:⁴Instead, it (the vine) is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work?

The whole of Judea is useless.

Ezekiel 15:⁵Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

Ezekiel 15:⁶“Therefore thus says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm): ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

Fire is symbolic of judgment.

Ezekiel 15:⁷and I will set My face against them. They will go out from one fire, but another fire shall devour them. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them.

^{Ezekiel 14:21 For thus says the Lord God: “How much more it shall be when I send My four severe (fires) judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it?}

The Sword	Famine	Wild Beasts	Pestilence
^{Sword = War, Combat, An actual sword or the Word of God}	^{Famine = A lack of the Bread from heaven. Physical starvation and/or spiritual starvation.} ^{Famine = Fruitlessness, Starvation, Drought, Misery, Dearth. A lack of God’s life giving resources, God’s manna (bread) from heaven.}	^{Wild Beasts = Untamed, Lawless, Unpredictable, Heartless}	^{Pestilence = plague, pandemic}
	^{Ref: Jeremiah 14}^{Sword, Famine, and Pestilence: The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts. “Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads.} ^{Ref: II Chronicles 20:9}^{‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’} ^{Ref: Amos 8:11}^{“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.} ^{Ref: John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.}	^{Ref: 2 Peter 2:12}^{But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,}	^{Ref: Habakkuk 3:5 Before Him went pestilence, And fever followed at His feet.}

Ezekiel 15:⁸Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm) .”

A strange phenomenon occurs in the land we know as Israel. When the Jews are unfaithful God makes the land empty and desolate. When the land is empty, the Jews are out of it. However! When God brings the Jews back into the land, it once again flourishes. Note the desolate landscape.

Tel Aviv was founded on April 11, 1909. On that day, several dozen families gathered on the sand dunes on the beach outside Jaffa to allocate plots of land for a new neighborhood they called Ahuzat Bayit, later known as Tel Aviv. As the families could not decide how to allocate the land, they held a lottery to ensure a fair division. Akiva Arieh Weiss, chairman of the lottery committee and one of the prominent figures in the city’s founding, gathered 66 grey seashells and 66 white seashells. Weiss wrote the names of the participants on the white shells and the plot numbers on the grey shells. He paired a white and grey shell, assigning each family a plot, and thus Tel Aviv’s founding families began building the first modern, Hebrew city. Excerpted from Tel-Aviv Municipality.

^{God intended for the Jews to be His spiritual representation; however, they were no better than other nations or men. Their land becomes desolate (unfruitful, a desert, empty).}

^{It is critical to understand that human history returns in circles, evil history comes around again because demonic spirits never die, they just wait for another opportunity. The same evil spirit that was in Haman to annihilate the Jews appeared in Antiochus IV who wanted to make Jerusalem a graveyard of Jews, Hitler and the Arab Mufti who met in agreement:}

^{The Mufti declared “Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world.” Hitler replied “The Jews are Yours.” Likewise, the coming Antichrist of the seven year tribulation aka Daniel’s 70th week will also have the demonic spirit of Haman, Antiochus IV, the Mufti, and Hitler to eradicate every last living Jew.The “circle of desolation” began when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and took the inhabitants of Jerusalem captive. The Jews did not rule again until the Maccabees. In 164 BC, Jerusalem was recaptured by the Maccabees and the Temple purified. They were able to hold onto their independence until 40 BC when a Parthian force took Jerusalem in 40 BC, deposed Hyrcanus from the high-priesthood, installed Antigonus as king, and held Herod’s older brother, Phasael, hostage. Herod, however, escaped and rallied Roman support. In 70 AD Rome destroyed the second Jewish temple and once again the Jews were taken captive with the land going into desolation for ~2,000 years.}

The Jews were shocked to learn both temples were destroyed on the same day: the 9th of Av!

The land remained desolate for ~2,000 years fulfilling two dynamic prophecies: The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel chapter 37 and Hosea Chapter 6:

^{Hosea 6:2}^{After two days (2,000 years per 2 Peter 3:8) He will revive us (40 BC to 1948 AD when they once again became a nation); (After the upcoming 7 year tribulation) On the third day (during the 1,000 yr millennium) He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.}

Below: Literal meaning of items and their symbolism

Nu	Item	Symbolism	Literally	Meaning	Verses
¹	^Vine	^{Inhabitants of Judea}	^{Grapes, Green Beans, etc}	^{Spiritual, Of the heavens.}
²	^{Worthless Vine}	^{Inhabitants of Judea.}	^{No Fruit}	^{The spiritual has becomes worldly.}
3	^Shepherd	^{Overseer of the Jews}	^{A man who governs a flock of sheep as a caretaker}	^{A Good Leader}
4	^{Worthless Shepherd}	^{Overseer of the Jews}	^{A man who governs a flock of sheep without caring for them.}	^{A Bad Leader}
5	^Trees	^Men	^{All Types of Trees}	^{That which is vertical}
6	^Vegetables	^Worldly	^{Tubers: Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, Leeks, etc}	^{Of the earth}
⁷	^Fire	^Judgment	^{War, Plagues, Wild Beasts, Natural Disasters}	^Destroys
⁸	^Peg	^Jesus	^Secure	^{A pin of wood driven or fitted into something, as to fasten parts together, to hang things on, to make fast a rope or string on, to stop a hole, or to mark some point.}	^{Zechariah 10:4}
⁹	^Cornerstone	^Jesus	^Foundation	^{To make straight}	^{Zechariah 10:4}
¹⁰	^{Battle Bow}	^Jesus	^Warrior	^{Deals with evil}	^{Zechariah 10:4}
¹¹	^Desolate	^Useless	^{A Desert}	^{unfruitful, a desert, empty}