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Book 26 of 39 · Major Prophets

Ezekiel

The Complete Story28:24

Overview

Ezekiel is the third of the Major Prophets. Its prophet, Ezekiel son of Buzi, was a priest deported from Jerusalem to Babylon in 597 BC along with King Jehoiachin and about ten thousand of Judah's leading citizens. He lived among the exiles at Tel-abib by the Chebar canal near Nippur, and was called "in the thirtieth year… in the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity" (1:1–2), that is 593 BC. His dated oracles run to about 571 BC. Unlike Jeremiah, who stayed in Jerusalem, Ezekiel spoke to people far from the temple who still believed Jerusalem could not fall.

Ezekiel's book is strikingly visual: dazzling visions of God's glory, strange sign-acts that he performed in public, and extended allegories. Its central thread is the glory of the LORD — seen by a river in Babylon, departing from the defiled temple, and finally returning to a new temple. God addresses Ezekiel some ninety times as "son of man" (mortal), and the refrain "they shall know that I am the LORD" recurs more than sixty times. Most of the book is arranged in date order.

The structure: Part 1 (chs 1–3) the call and the vision of glory; Part 2 (chs 4–24) judgment on Jerusalem, up to the start of the siege in 588 BC; Part 3 (chs 25–32) oracles against the nations; Part 4 (chs 33–39) after the fall — restoration and new life; Part 5 (chs 40–48) the vision of the new temple and the renewed land.

Part 1 — The call (chapters 1–3)

The chariot-throne (1). A storm wind comes from the north, a great cloud with flashing fire. Within it are four living creatures, each with four faces — man, lion, ox and eagle — and four wings. Beside them are wheels "as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel" (1:16), their rims full of eyes, moving wherever the Spirit goes. Above, on a crystal expanse, is a throne like sapphire and on it "a likeness as the appearance of a man", gleaming like fire and surrounded by brightness "as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud" (1:26–28). "This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD." Ezekiel falls on his face. The scroll and the watchman (2–3). God sends him to "a rebellious nation… impudent children and stiffhearted", whether they hear or refuse. He is given a scroll written on both sides with "lamentations, and mourning, and woe" and eats it; it is "as honey for sweetness" (3:3). He sits stunned among the exiles for seven days. Then God makes him "a watchman unto the house of Israel" (3:17): if he fails to warn the wicked, their blood will be on his hands.

Part 2 — Judgment on Jerusalem (chapters 4–24)

Sign-acts of the siege (4–5). Ezekiel engraves Jerusalem on a clay brick and lays siege to it with model ramps and battering rams. He lies on his left side 390 days for Israel's guilt and on his right side 40 days for Judah's, eating measured bread and water. He shaves his head and beard with a sword, burns a third of the hair, strikes a third with the sword and scatters a third to the wind — keeping a few strands tucked in his robe for a remnant. The end is come (6–7). Oracles against the mountains of Israel and their idol shrines; "An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land" (7:2). The temple vision and the departing glory (8–11). In 592 BC, while the elders sit in his house, Ezekiel is lifted "by a lock of mine head" and taken in vision to Jerusalem. He sees an "image of jealousy" at the gate, seventy elders burning incense to carved images in a dark chamber, women weeping for Tammuz, and twenty-five men with their backs to the temple worshipping the sun (ch 8). A man clothed in linen marks the foreheads of those "that sigh and that cry" over the abominations, and six executioners strike the rest, beginning at the sanctuary (ch 9). The glory of the LORD rises from the cherubim, moves to the threshold, to the east gate, and finally to "the mountain which is on the east side of the city" (10:18–19; 11:23). Yet to the exiles God promises: "I will give them one heart… and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh" (11:19). More signs and false prophets (12–14). Ezekiel packs an exile's baggage and digs through a wall at dusk, a sign that Jerusalem's prince (Zedekiah) will flee and be captured (ch 12). He condemns prophets who daub a flimsy wall with whitewash, crying "Peace" when there is no peace (ch 13). Even Noah, Daniel and Job could save only themselves (ch 14). Allegories (15–17; 19; 23). Jerusalem is useless vine wood, fit only for burning (ch 15). In the longest allegory (ch 16), God finds Jerusalem as an abandoned newborn, says "Live", raises her and clothes her as a queen; she becomes unfaithful, yet God will "remember my covenant with thee… and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant" (16:60). Two eagles and a cedar picture Babylon, Egypt and Zedekiah's broken oath, ending with God planting a tender twig that becomes a noble cedar (ch 17). The sisters Oholah and Oholibah represent Samaria and Jerusalem (ch 23). Personal responsibility (18). God rejects the proverb "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge": "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (18:2–4). Each generation stands before God for itself, and the wicked who turn will live: "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth… wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye" (18:32). Israel's history and the sword (20–22). A review of Israel's rebellion from Egypt onward. "A sword, a sword is sharpened" (21:9); the king of Babylon stands at a fork in the road and divines with arrows, and the lot falls on Jerusalem. God sought "a man… that should… stand in the gap" and found none (22:30). The siege begins (24). On the very day Babylon besieges Jerusalem (January 588 BC), Ezekiel gives the parable of a rusted cooking pot. That evening his wife, "the desire of thine eyes", dies; he is told not to mourn publicly, a sign of the numbing grief to come when the temple falls (24:16–24).

Part 3 — Oracles against the nations (chapters 25–32)

The neighbours (25). Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia, who rejoiced over Judah, will be judged. Tyre (26–28). The great Phoenician port, which gloated over Jerusalem, will become "a place for the spreading of nets" (26:5). Chapter 27 laments Tyre as a magnificent merchant ship wrecked at sea. The king of Tyre says "I am a God", but he is a man; he is pictured as one who was "in Eden the garden of God" and cast down for his pride (28:2, 13–17). Sidon is also judged, and Israel is promised safe dwelling. Egypt (29–32). Egypt, a "staff of reed" to Israel, will fall. Pharaoh is "the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers", saying "My river is mine own"; God will put hooks in his jaws (29:3–4). Nebuchadnezzar will be given Egypt as wages. A final lament sends Pharaoh's multitude down to the pit with Assyria, Elam and the other fallen empires.

Part 4 — After the fall: new life (chapters 33–39)

The news arrives (33). Ezekiel's watchman commission is renewed. In the twelfth year of exile a fugitive arrives: "The city is smitten" (33:21). Ezekiel's mouth, closed since the siege began, is opened. The exiles enjoy his words "as a very lovely song" but do not obey them. The good shepherd (34). Israel's rulers were shepherds who fed themselves. God declares, "I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out" (34:11). He will set over them "one shepherd… even my servant David" and make "a covenant of peace". Mountains, a new heart and dry bones (35–37). Edom (Mount Seir) is judged; the mountains of Israel will bear fruit again. God acts for his holy name: "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you… A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you" (36:25–26). In the valley of dry bones, God asks, "Son of man, can these bones live?" As Ezekiel prophesies, bones rattle together, flesh covers them, and breath enters them: "an exceeding great army" (37:10). "These bones are the whole house of Israel": God will open their graves and bring them home. Two sticks, for Judah and for Joseph, become one in his hand — one nation under one king, with God's sanctuary among them for ever. Gog of Magog (38–39). In the latter days Gog, "of the land of Magog", leads a great coalition against a restored, unwalled Israel. God defeats him with earthquake, pestilence, hail and fire; the weapons are burned for seven years and the dead buried for seven months. God will "pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel" and never again hide his face.

Part 5 — The new temple and land (chapters 40–48)

The measured temple (40–42). In 573 BC, "the five and twentieth year of our captivity", Ezekiel is taken to "a very high mountain" in Israel. A man whose appearance is like bronze, with a linen cord and measuring reed, leads him through a new temple, measuring gates, courts, chambers and the sanctuary in precise detail. The glory returns (43). The glory of the God of Israel comes from the east, "his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory" (43:2), and fills the house. "This is the place of my throne… where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever" (43:7). Laws for the altar follow. Priests, prince and offerings (44–46). The east gate is to remain shut because the LORD has entered by it. The Levites and the sons of Zadok receive their duties; a prince provides offerings for the feasts; land is set apart for the sanctuary. The river of life (47). Water flows from under the temple threshold, ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep, then a river too deep to cross. It runs east to the Dead Sea and makes its waters fresh, full of fish from En-gedi to En-eglaim. Trees on its banks bear fruit every month, "and the leaf thereof for medicine" (47:12). The land and the city (47–48). The land is divided anew among the twelve tribes, with foreigners who live among them sharing the inheritance. The city has twelve gates, three on each side, named for the tribes, "and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there" (48:35).

Key themes, and the bridge to Daniel

  • The glory of the LORD. God is not confined to Jerusalem; his glory appears in Babylon, leaves the defiled temple and returns to a renewed one.
  • Holiness and defilement. As a priest, Ezekiel sees idolatry as pollution that drives God's presence away.
  • "They shall know that I am the LORD." Both judgment and restoration reveal who God is.
  • Personal responsibility. Each person and generation can turn and live.
  • New heart and new spirit. Restoration is inward as well as outward: cleansing, a heart of flesh and God's Spirit within.
  • Resurrection of a people. The dry bones picture a nation brought back from the death of exile.

Ezekiel ends not with the exiles' return but with a vision of a city whose name is "The LORD is there". The people are still in Babylon, waiting. The next book, Daniel, follows a group of young exiles in Babylon's royal court, learning how to stay faithful under foreign kings.