Trust in the Lord, and do good... Take delight in the Lord... Commit your way to the Lord... Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him... Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. (Psalm 37: 3-8)

For each of these instructions the psalmist offers a specific pay-off. The instructions make sense to me; I have chosen to exclude the rewards. From other psalms I might quote specific sins and their particular punishments.

I wonder about Ezekiel. It seems to me that before the Babylonian Captivity the descendents of Abraham worshiped a God, certainly of many parts, but characterized mostly by love and creativity. Their God seemed to especially enjoy gardens and picnics. This was a God who clearly loved David - despite all of David's exuberant faults. Theirs was a God who bountifully blessed Jacob, a conflicted and often deceitful man.

Before Ezekiel it seems to me that the God worshipped on Zion was a source of love, creation, protection, and resolution in a world that was seen as confusing and dangerous because of human choice and natural condition and not because of divine vengeance. Before the Exile when God intervened it was, arguably, as a source of sustenance and clarity rather than punishment.

The disaster of the Exile demanded an explanation. Ezekial found an explanation in God's need to punish and, thereby, to purify. It was a powerful explanation. In terms of human logic it was compelling. I am sure of Ezekiel's faithfulness. I am unsure of his insight.

Six centuries after Ezekiel another prophet arose. It was another time of trouble. Disaster was soon to descend on the chosen people of God. The prophet proclaimed a God of love, foregiveness, creativity, wholeness, and nearly unimaginable grace.

But the new prophecy has never quite overcome that of Ezekial. I hope and trust in the explanation of Jesus, not of Ezekial.

Above is Ezekial by Carol Barenberg.