My perspective is also shaped by the Hebrew scriptures.
In the dirge for the King of Tyre, Ezekiel was commanded to say.....
11Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ...
17Your heart became haughty because of your beauty; you destroyed your wisdom with your brightness;
This is clearly a reference to Thesatan. Unless of course, the King of Tyre was a 'covering cherub in the garden of Eden'? This is the description of one who at first was "perfect" in his service to God, but whose beauty got the better of him and he began to think more of himself than he did of his Creator. His ambition turned into outright rebellion and his course turned the human race into adversaries like himself. God has many adversaries according to the scriptures, but there is only one who is THE adversary. In the same way that the scriptures refer to Adonai as THE God. There is only one true God among the many gods worshipped by men.
Surprisingly, I can read English, so there's no need to post the Hebew and I'd prefer if you didn't, so as not to post the Tetragrammaton.
He was commanded to say this about...the king of Tyre, not Satan. Tyre is a real place. So is Zidon, the next country to be lambasted. As you can see from the previous chapters (26:2-3), Tyre is getting a prophecy because of how they went against Israel. This particular chapter is referring back to the first king of Tyre, Hiram I. He was a great guy,a friend of David and Solomon. Through their friendship became very wealthy and helped build the Temple.
The "cherub of measure that covers, in Eden" thing is a metaphor:
During Hiram's reign, Tyre grew from a satellite of Sidon into the most important of Phoenician cities, and the holder of a large trading empire. The metaphor is saying that Hiram was like a huge flying angel who hovers over a large swath of land. Tyre grew under Hiram I to cover a large area.
The prophecy here is contrasting the actions of the first king of Tyre, with what Tyre is doing now, setting itself against Jerusalem. That's the whole topic of these chapters
I can't think of any reason that wouldn't be exceptionally obvious to you, unless you were approaching the chapter with preconceived notions.
Really? An all knowing God who has already stated that there is 'no one like his servant Job' as far as righteousness is concerned, needs Thesatan to prove otherwise? To whom?
This is the job of the satan: to stand in adversary to people. In this respect, satan acts as an expression of G-d's justice, that even the most righteous person will still be searched through to ensure that he's not getting more than he deserves.
Imposing limitations means that God is always in control of all things. The fact that he had to impose limits indicates that Thesatan was not content to set those limits himself. What does that tell you about him? He had to be told not to kill Job.
It tells me nothing other than that satan is not clairvoyant and needs G-d to tell him what parameters he may act within.
You know what they say about those who "assume"? I believe that the Bible is one book, from one author who has one story to tell. It begins in Genesis with the loss, and ends in Revelation with a complete restoration. (Isaiah 55:11) All of the Bible writers were Jewish. (Hebrews; descendants of Abraham)even those who wrote the NT. They were not Gentiles with no understanding of Jewish beliefs.
That's like saying, so long as a Christian writes a book, it is inherently filled with Christian belief. The fact that the particular Christian is no scholar and mostly ignorant of Christianity is irrelevant, because he's Christian, so it must be accurate.
I understand the Jewish attitude to the NT, (as indoctrinated in Jewish minds, just as much as Jews think Christians are indoctrinated to accept the Greek scriptures) but in reality, given the history of the nation of Israel as recorded in the Hebrew Bible, you apparently place your trust in men whose teachings and traditions continually led Israel into apostasy, God's disfavor and often severe punishment. God has limits to his patience and as it was foretold in your own scriptures...only a remnant of fleshly Israel would be saved. Why?
This is a problem that stretches back to the prophets and didn't change very much after prophecy stopped and all we had were men whom the Holy Spirit of G-d rested on. Clearly, its totally unrelated to the nature of the lesson or the people teaching it.
I wonder at the nature of your accusation, unless you happen to be a Catholic...
The Jews that are saved, only refers to the Jews that merit to make it through the Messsianic Age, not the Jews that make it to the World to Come. Living during the Messianic Age requires a strong merit. Very few Jews, if any are completely cut off forever.
Although I wouldn't have made the connection between these two verse, of course I agree with your point. When the messiah will come, all the nations of the world will come to worship the G-d of the Jews and will bring sacrifices at the Temple Mount. Until then, Christians will follow their G-d, Muslims will follow their prophet, Baha'i theirs, Hindus theirs, etc.
Saul of Tarsus, a former Pharisee and a son of Pharisees...and a foremost persecutor of Christians by his own admission, who became the Christian apostle Paul, said.....
I don't understand why you are bringing this up.
But Yesha‘yahu, referring to Isra’el, cries out,...
Where is Israel today in God's eyes? Is she not just another blood-spilling nation? Is she fulfilling the words of Isaiah 2:2-4?
Of course, since Isaiah 2:2-4 is a messianic prophecy, we wouldn't be fulfilling that.
But as to the rest, we're the same as always. Some of us follow G-d and most of us don't. According to surveys, in another few generations it will be most of us that will be following G-d.
Its of course very hard to say that Israel is a "blood spilling nation". I assume you're referring to the state of Israel. A country which houses only about half of the
nation of Israel. And within that state, there's of course us, the ultra-Orthodox making up about 10% and growing, of people who are against the state. Then there's the leftists, and peace activists and all the other various parties all with different ideas of what action the state should take. So this statement of yours seems to have been made as an generalization based on ignorance.
"2 Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.
...
God's "mountain" is made up of people of all nations today, and they are identified by their peaceful state; by their complete separation from the bloodshed and political squabbles of this world and seen in the love they have for God....for one another....and for their neighbors.
This is already the reality for God's true worshipers today. They invite all who wish to serve the true God to join them.
No it isn't. Its an actual mountain called the Temple Mount. Its called that because the Temple, which is also called the "House of G-d" sat on it twice and will sit on it a third time. That's what this verse is referring to. Its a messianic prophecy about the rebuilding of the Third Temple when G-d's revelation will cause all nations to come to serve him.
So far to our sorrow, this has demonstrably not happened.
Anyways, as we've seen, your views are clearly shaped by the NT.
