I will leave [Pharaoh] in the desert,
    you and all the fish of your streams.
You will fall on the open field
    and not be gathered or picked up.
I will give you as food
    to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.
Exodus 29:5 (NIV)

For over a decade, my family would spend our two weeks of family vacation going to the boundary waters in northern Minnesota. We went to the same place, Camp Idlewood on Rainy Lake. There we would fish, ski, swim, and play. For a boy my age, it was an invitation to all sorts of adventures. I’ll never forget the year my father rented a 16’ john boat and a small outboard motor. I was able to explore the giant lake and its countless islands.

It’s funny how chores can become adventure when it’s something you don’t get to do every day. Every day families would return from a day of fishing and go to the “Cleaning House” which was a small shack designed to “clean” their catch. The fish were filleted and the heads, skins, and guts were dumped into five gallon buckets. Every day or so, those five gallon buckets had to be emptied. Fish guts are a natural meal for birds, especially seagulls. So, I would haul the buckets of fish guts to my little boat, and take them out to a small, uninhabited island not far from camp. There was a large are of rock along the shore and there I’d dump the guts as the seagulls began swarming in anticipation of their feast.

This memory came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter, which opens a seven-part set of prophesies against Pharaoh and Egypt. In this opening prophetic salvo, Zeke metaphorically calls Pharaoh a “monster” in the Nile River with all the fish of the Nile stuck to his monstrous scales. He then tells Pharaoh that he and the fish stuck to his scales will be left in the desert, just like me throwing fish guts on the rocks, to be food for carrion fowl and scavenging beasts.

The Pharaoh at this time was Hophra (in Hebrew) better known by his Greek name Apries. Hophra made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Jerusalem from the Babylonian’s siege. He attempted by diplomacy and force to raise a coalition of nations against the Babylonian Empire. When Nebuchadnezzar was laying siege to Jerusalem, Hophra brought his army up in an attempt to assist Judah, but quickly realized he was outmatched and shamefully fled back to Egypt with his tail between his legs. Eventually Hophra’s own people turned on him. The prophecies of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel proclaiming his downfall were fulfilled.

I was also struck by the fact that God’s message of doom for Egypt through Zeke ends with “Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord.” It struck me because I’m preparing a message for my local gathering of Jesus’ followers this Sunday regarding Moses and the ten “plagues” against Egypt in the story of Moses and the Exodus. Moses lived roughly 1,000 years before Ezekiel. When God tells Moses about the plagues He’s about to unleash on Egypt He tells Moses, “then the Egyptians will know that I am God.” (Ex 7:4-5). One thousand years and God is still trying to get through.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about the nature of evil. At the core, the Great Story is a story of conflict between good and evil, God and Satan, the Kingdom of God and human empire. As I’ve observed before, the Great Story ends in Revelation with Satan gathering “the kings of the earth” in a final battle against God. The presumption here is that as long as there is evil there will always be those who refuse to know, or at least acknowledge, that God is God. Egypt is a recurring reminder of that in the Great Story. Evil always refuses to know and/or acknowledge Good. When I see evil in the events and the headlines of my daily news, I am reminded that this is the Story. This spiritual conflict will continue with all of the tragic aftermath in its wake.

The question for me is which side will I serve? The answer is not in what I say, but in how I live this day.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.