“And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.” (Eze 17:20 AV)
Call me crazy, but I see the tenderness and compassion of God in this verse. Ezekiel, the prophet of God to Judah, is sharing the reason for the Babylonian captivity. The net of God will draw all of Judah and Benjamin together. He will place them in servitude to a pagan king far away from home. They will cease temple worship. Their liberty will be severely restricted. They will be surrounded by those who hate Jehovah. They will be treated as a conquered people. This doesn’t sound compassionate or tender, does it? But note one small phrase: “and will plead with him there.” I find this very tender. I find in this pleading a loving Father who wants the best for His child, but the only way to provide it is to reduce that child to nothing so he will quiet himself long enough to listen. I find in this verse tough love. But I also find in this verse the patience of God. I find a God who wants a sit-down with His children in a situation where there is nothing else to do but to listen.
When we think of the chastening of God, unfortunately, we use our childhood experiences as a comparison. Far too many times our fathers chastened us for their own pleasure. That is what the book of Hebrews calls it. Too many times, chastening was more about assuaging anger or feeding an ego. Too many times, it was inflicted by an impatient heart. We experienced chastening as an outburst of angry parent. My dear mother, the patron saint of patience, would rarely explode. In fact, in my entire childhood this only happened to me once. My brother and I were messing around at the breakfast table and my Mom’s last nerve snapped. She had a serving spoon in her hand and threw it at me. It hit me right above my right eye. From that day forward, she never lost her temper with me. Not once! My father, however, was not nearly as patient. Serious beating came at his hand. Did I deserve them? Most of them. The thing is, we can misunderstand God’s chastening if we compare our experience against His actions. God doesn’t easy lose His patience. If He does, it is planned. It is not spontaneous. Therefore, the phrase mentioned above is the norm. Not the exception.
One can imaging a father who removes his child from everything. He sends him to his room. He lets him stew a bit over what is coming. Dad is wise enough to know that if he goes up too quickly, emotion will be the major influence in any conversation. The child is removed from his toys. The child is removed from his siblings. He is removed from to comfort of his mother. Everything that could distract or minimize the infraction is removed. When dad does go to the room, he is going to try to reason with his child. Sending him to his room is not the punishment. Sending him to his room isolates him from everything and anything that would get in the way of instruction and correction. When dad does reason with his erring child, it is not to make himself feel better. Ego is put aside. He reasons with his child and tries to help him see why his choices were wrong and the consequences that could come as a result. The word pleading is more than reasoning. It is reasoning with a heart of compassion and understanding. It is reasoning with the knowledge of what will come if the arguments are not heeded. Pleading is reasoning with the deepest of concerns. So, when God sent Judah and Benjamin to Babylon, He was sending them there so He could have their ear. He wanted their ear because He foresaw what would become of them if they didn’t heed His commandments. There is compassion here. There is understanding. There is love.
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