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against the mountains

Ezekiel 6:1-7 (JDV)

Ezekiel 6:1 The word of Yahveh happened to me, and this is what he said:
Ezekiel 6:2 “Son of Adam, face the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.
Ezekiel 6:3 You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahveh! This is what the Lord Yahveh says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Notice, I am about to bring a sword over you, and I will destroy your high places.
Ezekiel 6:4 Your altars will be desolated and your shrines smashed. I will throw down your murdered ones in front of your idols.
Ezekiel 6:5 I will lay the corpses of the Israelites in front of their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
Ezekiel 6:6 Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your shrines cut down, and what you have made wiped out.
Ezekiel 6:7 The murdered ones will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahveh.

against the mountains

As a hiker, I am used to describing my success by listing the mountains I have summited. To name a mountain region you have hiked is to quantify your success. The majestic mountain ranges are a source of pride, and remembering your experiences on them a source of pleasure.

Ezekiel’s people saw the mountains as a source of pride as well. But they were proud of their mountains because they had turned them into idols, setting up high places to worship the false gods of the nations all around them.

The LORD would not stand for that. He told Ezekiel to face those majestic mountains and prophesy against them. He was to predict murder and mayhem, destuction and desolation. No longer would these mountains be places of pride and hypocrisy. They would become places of punishment and shame instead.

What are the things in your life that you are proud of, but distract you from worshiping God? You should have no other gods before Him.

LORD, rid us of the majestic mountains that keep us from acknowledging your glory.