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no cheating

Ezekiel 17:16-21 (JDV)

Ezekiel 17:16 ” ‘As I live – this is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh – he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he thinks lightly of and whose covenant he broke.
Ezekiel 17:17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and the vast mob will not help him in battle when ramps are built and siege walls constructed to cut many throats.
Ezekiel 17:18 He thinks lightly of the oath by breaking the covenant. Notice, he did all these things even though he gave his hand in the pledge. He will not escape!
Ezekiel 17:19 ” ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord Yahveh says: As I live, I will bring down on his head my oath that he thinks lightly of and my covenant that he broke.
Ezekiel 17:20 I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment on him there for the treachery he committed against me.
Ezekiel 17:21 All the best among his troops will fall by the sword, and those who survive will be scattered to every direction of the wind. Then you will know that I, Yahveh, have spoken.

no cheating

The king of Judah had made a terrible decision. He had made a covenant with Babylon but then decided to switch allegiance to Egypt. This infuriated God because the Babylonian exile was his idea. He intended to punish his own people for their idolatry and hypocrisy. He wanted to humble them, and so bring them back to himself. But they wanted to cheat.

Our God does not like it when we break the rules. We can justify our cheating all we want, but God knows when we step over the line.

LORD, keep us between the lines so that we demonstrate our commitment to you.