Sun 100328 pm Ez 32-35

Ezekiel 32
32.5  your carcass...  Not a lion, but a sea creature on dry land.  That is a good picture of us.  We think that we are a pretty big deal in the water, but won't be so big and tough when God throws us up on the bank.
32.224  My sword in his [Babylon] hand...  This is an interesting thing to ponder.  Babylon swinging "God's" sword, but later held accountable for its sin in doing so.  The synergy between God's sovereignty and free moral choices blows my mind.
32,19  Who do you surpass in beauty?...  This a sobering question in the context of this verse.
32.22  Assyria...
32.24 Elam...
32.26  Meshech-Tubal...
32.29  Edom...
32.30  Sidonians...


Ezekiel 33
33.3  the trumpet... interesting imagery 
33.13  yet if he [the righteous] trusts in his righteousness...
33.31  they hear what you say but they will not do it for...  The reason given is a good warning.


Ezekiel 34
43.4  weak, sick, injured, strayed, lost...  are the special responsibility of the shepherds.
34.10  the shepherds feed themselves...
34.26  they shall be showers of blessing... So here is the source for that favorite hymn.

     Daniel W. Whittle wrote the words to “There Shall be Showers of Blessing.”  The hymn appeared first in Gospel Hymns, No. 4.  Named after the famous Daniel Webster, the American politician and famous for the dictionary, Daniel Webster Whittle made an impact on American society on his own.  He lost his right arm during the American Civil war and spent time in a prisoner of war camp.  It was here that he found a New Testament to read and came to know Christ personally.  But he didn’t accept Christ until after someone at the hospital had asked him to say a prayer over a dying prisoner.  Afterward, he worked in Chicago at the Elgin Watch Company.  It was in Chicago that he met and worked with Phillip Bliss and James McGranahan—both musical evangelists who worked with Dwight L. Moody.  
     James McGranahan wrote the melody to “There Shall be Showers of Blessing.”  McGranahan had been gifted with a lovely and rare tenor voice that promised to lift him into a great career in opera.  He had become a Christian several years earlier and was very good friends with Phillip Bliss, who at the time was singing as part of the Daniel Webster Whittle  musical evangelists team.   During the Christmas season in 1876, Phillip had written to James before he boarded a train.  In his letter, Phillip had urged James to reconsider using his voice for the Lord rather than to continue training for the opera and pursuing that career.  Phillip’s own experiences in music had been similar to McGranahan’s, and they were very close friends.  Phillip had explained in the letter what a joy it was to see people come to know the Lord while he was singing.  He wanted his friend to know that kind of joy.  Not long after James received the letter, he also received news that his friend had died in a train wreck.  When he went to the train wreck to help recover any belongings and identify bodies, he met Daniel W. Whittle.  On the ride home from that tragic scene, James McGranahan gave talents to the Lord and began to serve as a singing evangelist with “Major Whittle’s” evangelism team.   --http://www.gospelpiano.com/articles/there-shall-be-showers-of-blessing-77.htm


There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.


Refrain
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.


There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.
Refrain


There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come, and now honor Thy Word.
Refrain


There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!
Refrain


There shall be showers of blessing,
If we but trust and obey;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
If we let God have His way.
Refrain


Ezekiel 35
35.6  because you did not hate bloodshed...  
35.11  according to the anger and envy that you showed...  Both of these statements indicate that they got or wanted.  
They will know that I am the Lord...  Five times.  This is a common phrase in this part of Ezekiel, but this is more than usual.