What is a Prophet? The Prophets acted as Messengers from God to the people. They were not necessarily seers, those who could see a future, but they could pronounce consequences of actions. The prophets were often not listened to; they encountered resistance if not outright hostility. Ezekiel would endure this and he is warned of this by God. Israel was told by their prophets to change their ways and to trust more in God, and to do what is right and just for people. They resisted, sought alliances with other countries and eventually the Babylonians conquered them and sent the elite into exile and destroyed Jerusalem. As I mentioned in the homily, the idea at the time was that when a nation was defeated in war it also meant that the nation's god was also defeated. Israel going into defeat faced an existential crisis. If they were the chosen people of God and God was defeated, who were they? Thus God speaks to Ezekiel, tells him to go and tell Israel God remains alive and wit
Comments
Post a Comment