Ezekiel is a tough one for me!
I've been in Ezekiel 23 this week. Yet another really tough chapter to digest. It sounded horrible when I first read it, and I had a tough time with it. I listen to it on audio book on the way to work throughout the week, so it was again particularly difficult to read (go read it yourself and you'll see that certain verses stand out as being rather explicit).
It's about two sisters and their depravity. I kept listening to it, and finally I found the bit I was looking for.
4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
It's a parable! While that made it slightly easier to read, it was still pretty difficult. Take this verse for example:
48 “So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.
Had I posted only verse 48 without verse 4, people would read it and think that God warning women, when really, he is warning Samaria, Jerusalem, and the surrounding cities. This is the importance of context. One verse may not be enough to understand what is going on, and you need to delve deeper. God didn't make it easy to figure out, he wants us to search for him, to maintain that relationship. We are encouraged to constantly study the Bible. When I was in school, my studying consisted of reading the chapter and highlighting a few important formulas or words. That's not really studying. Studying is to go beyond the text. To look at other things related to it. To test applications of the theories. To practice.
We're starting up a new Bible study series at our church and I'm very excited about it. We all need to find what works best for each of us to study God's word. There's so much depth there and I'm always finding new things to take and put into practice.