The Books of the Prophets Ezekiel and Daniel. Scientific line-by-line explanation of the Bible. Andrey Tikhomirov

that God is invisible, but he speaks through his prophets, that is, people who are under the hypnotic influence of the top of the Jewish priesthood).

      31 When you bring your gifts and lead your sons through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day, and you want to question me, house of Israel? I live, says the Lord God, I will not give you an answer. (The passage through fire existed among many peoples, this supposedly «cleansed» the wiring objects, goes back to the ancient worship of fire, as well as the use of fire as a wound healer).

      32 And what comes to your mind will not come true at all. You say: «Let us, like pagans, like foreign tribes, serve wood and stone.» (As a prophet, Ezekiel, who himself was captured in Babylon, had to consider it his direct duty to maintain faith in Yahweh in his countrymen and hope for an improvement in their lot, if God wanted it. He also made prophecies about other peoples: Ammon and Moab, Edom, Tyre and Egypt, predicting them revenge from Yahweh for having treated Israel and Judah badly in the past and gloating about his disasters in the present – for this they will perish, and Israel will be reborn).

      33 As I live, saith the LORD God, with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with an outpouring of wrath, I will rule over you. (But when, after the fall of Jerusalem, the second and third parties of exiles appeared in Babylon, the prophets of Yahweh obviously had to face new tasks. During these years, among the captive Jews in Babylon, there were many who, losing faith not only in the power of Yahweh, but also in the immutability of his love for Israel, began to worship the gods of the land on which they found themselves settled. Ezekiel meant exactly that when he put a stern warning into Yahweh’s mouth to these faint-hearted).

      34 And I will bring you out of the nations and out of the countries where you are scattered, and I will gather you with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with an outpouring of wrath. (Yahweh can do anything).

      35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face. (God will judge, that is, the Jewish priests performed judicial functions).

      36 As I judged your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you, says the LORD God. (God will judge, that is, the Jewish priests performed judicial functions).

      37 And I will lead you under the rod and bring you into the bonds of the covenant. (A covenant, that is, an agreement, an alliance, is beneficial to the priesthood in order to influence it in the same way in the right relation to the priesthood).

      38 And I will single out from among you those who are rebellious and disobedient to me. I will bring them out of the land of their sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel, and you will know that I am the Lord. (All rebels will be destroyed, because only submissive and obedient slaves are needed).

      39 But you, house of Israel, – thus saith the LORD God, – go each to your idols and serve them, if you do not listen to me, but do not defile my holy name with your gifts and your idols, (Like an offended child, an outcast God refuses to «play» with his «chosen ones», sending them away to other people’s «toys» – idols).

      40 For on my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel,“ says the LORD God, „all the house of Israel will serve me there, as many as there are on earth; there I will receive them with pleasure, and there I will demand your offerings and your firstfruits with all your holy things. (It is possible to serve «My holy mountain» – Zion, although the so-called god himself forbade worshipping heights, but this is the «right» height, the main thing is to drag offerings and rudiments more often, and that would be without a flaw!).

      41 I will receive you as a fragrant incense when I bring you out of the nations and gather you from the countries where you are scattered, and I will be hallowed in you before the eyes of the nations. (Smoking is also allowed, but smoking is forbidden to other gods-idols, the main thing is to drag more and more often offerings and rudiments, and that would be without a flaw!).