Daily Lesson for September 2, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ezekiel chapter 27 verses 1 through 10:

The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:

Because your heart is proud

and you have said, “I am a god;

I sit in the seat of the gods,

in the heart of the seas,”

yet you are but a mortal, and no god,

though you compare your mind

with the mind of a god.

3 You are indeed wiser than Daniel;

no secret is hidden from you;

4 by your wisdom and your understanding

you have amassed wealth for yourself,

and have gathered gold and silver

into your treasuries.

5 By your great wisdom in trade

you have increased your wealth,

and your heart has become proud in your wealth.

6 Therefore thus says the Lord God:

Because you compare your mind

with the mind of a god,

7 therefore, I will bring strangers against you,

the most terrible of the nations;

they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom

and defile your splendor.

8 They shall thrust you down to the Pit,

and you shall die a violent death

in the heart of the seas.

9 Will you still say, “I am a god,”

in the presence of those who kill you,

though you are but a mortal, and no god,

in the hands of those who wound you?

10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised

by the hand of foreigners;

for I have spoken, says the Lord God.

This morning's Lesson is a hard word against Tyre, a mighty trade city set upon the Mediterranean Sea. This City's leaders put all their stock in the success of its market and acted with arrogance in their wealth and luxury.

But trade would not save them from the foolishness of their own pride. And the LORD would not be mocked by the false gods of mammon. In the end; Tyre would pay the piper. And its citadels of commerce would be crushed.

And this too is a warning for many nations in many centuries. The gods of wealth and trade will not protect a fool from his own pride. And in the end, this is his downfall.

And the mortal who compares his own mind to that of God, will one day discover that God has a mind of God's own; and the once-mighty gods of cold-hearted capitalism will find themselves praying to the LORD for a bailout.

Caveat Venditor

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. There's some hard truth in here; but it sure seems relevant even at 2,500 years distance. We stay with the prophet Ezekiel for the next several days. Tomorrow's Lesson will come from chapters 31-33.