Ezekiel

The book of the prophet Ezekiel contains visions, images, and messages that may seem strange to people today. But its message still matters: God will make his people pure and live with them forever. Even in their darkest days, God promised to bring his people back to himself. This message gave hope to the people of Judah in exile, when they were forced to live away from their land. It also gives hope to all who trust in God.

Setting

The book of Ezekiel was written in Babylonia during Judah’s exile in Babylon. This was a difficult time for God’s people, from 605 to 538 BC. The Babylonians captured Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in 612 BC. They defeated the last Assyrian armies at the important battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. After this battle, Babylon controlled the region. In that same year, the Babylonians attacked Judah. They took some people from Judah’s leading families to Babylon as captives. These included Daniel and his three friends (Daniel 1:1–5).

In 601 BC, King Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against Babylon. He died during the siege that followed in 598 BC. His son Jehoiachin ruled for only a short time. Then he surrendered and was taken to Babylon in 597 BC. At that time, the Babylonians also took the prophet Ezekiel and other important people into exile. They also took many treasures from the temple in Jerusalem.

While Ezekiel was in Babylon, the Babylonians made Zedekiah king of Judah. Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle. When Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, the Babylonians attacked Judah and surrounded Jerusalem in January 588 BC. They broke into the city and destroyed it in August 586 BC.

The Babylonians forced Zedekiah to watch as they killed his sons. Then they blinded him and took him to Babylon. They also took other skilled people from Judah to Babylon, where the empire could use their skills. These exiles stayed in Babylon for a generation. Later, the power of the empire changed again (see the book of Ezra).

Ezekiel received his first visions in Babylon in 593 BC, when he was 30 years old (Ezekiel 1:1–2).

Summary

Ezekiel’s visions cover the years before and after Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC. Before Jerusalem fell, Ezekiel gave a sad message: God’s judgment would come on the people of Judah. After Jerusalem was destroyed, Ezekiel gave a new message of hope. Israel would rise again from its ruined past. Ezekiel mourned what the people had lost. But he also saw that God would give them hope. The people would turn away from the sins that led to their destruction, and the Lord would make the nation holy.

Chapters 1–3 describe how God called Ezekiel to be a prophet. Ezekiel’s first vision shows the glory of the Lord moving toward Judah in "a whirlwind" (1:4–28). The vision uses pictures of movement and judgment. It shows the Lord as a divine warrior, riding in his heavenly chariot and coming to judge his people. When God called Ezekiel, the Spirit told him that the people of Judah were stubborn and rebellious. They would not listen to his message (2:1–3:15). But the Lord wanted Ezekiel to be firm and faithful as he spoke God’s message.

Ezekiel was like a watchman, a person who warned a city when danger was coming (3:16–27). He had to give God’s warning clearly. God would hold Ezekiel responsible for giving the message. But God would not hold him responsible for how the people responded.

In chapters 4–24, Ezekiel gives many messages of judgment against Judah and Jerusalem. He also performs several sign acts. These are actions that show a message from God. They show that Jerusalem will be surrounded, attacked, and destroyed.

Chapters 8–11 describe Jerusalem's sins in four scenes. Each scene shows evil that is worse than the scene before it. These scenes explain why God’s judgment is coming. God’s glory leaves the sanctuary, the holy place where the people worshiped him. Later, the temple is completely destroyed.

The poems, messages, and visions in this section all point to the same truth. Jerusalem’s destruction is certain, and God’s judgment is just. This section ends with the announcement that Nebuchadnezzar has surrounded Jerusalem. It also ends with one final message that God’s judgment will surely come (chapter 24).

Ezekiel then turns to a message of hope. He begins with seven messages against the nations around Judah (chapters 25–32). These nations helped the Babylonians and were glad when Jerusalem fell. These messages show that God’s promise to Abraham still stood: “I will … curse those who curse you” (Genesis 12:3). God would judge all who were glad when his people fell. He would also judge those who gained from their suffering.

Chapters 33–48 complete the movement from judgment to hope. This section begins when the exiles hear that Jerusalem has been destroyed (33:21). At this point, the Lord again calls Ezekiel to serve as a watchman. Ezekiel must announce judgment on those who refuse to turn away from sin. He must also promise life to those who do turn away from sin.

The messages of hope promise a new shepherd, a renewed covenant (a binding agreement between God and his people), and a renewed land. In this renewed land, the people will live together in unity (chapters 34–37).

War threatens this picture of blessing (chapters 38–39). But the Lord shows that this new future is certain. The Lord gathers Gog and his allies. He does this not to judge his people, who are living in peace, but to destroy their enemies completely.

After God defeats Gog and his allies, he shows Ezekiel the final temple and the land set in a new order (chapters 40–48). Ezekiel’s final vision uses images of buildings, worship, and land. It gives the same message as the rest of the book: God will make his people holy in a new way so that he can live among them again.

Those who were faithful in the past receive new access to God’s presence. Those who were less faithful remain farther away. A river of life flows out from this new temple. As the river flows, it grows and turns death into life. God’s final words to his people through Ezekiel are not words of abandonment and destruction. They are words that promise life and fellowship with God.

Author and Date

In the first verses of the book, Ezekiel says that he is the author (1:3). There is little reason to doubt this claim. The book shows the concerns we would expect from a priest like Ezekiel. The destruction of Jerusalem is also the main event that shapes the book.

Ezekiel most likely wrote the book during the years when he received his visions and messages, from 593 to 571 BC. The final form of the book probably came soon after his last message.

Meaning and Message

Before 586 BC, the exiles in Babylon and the people still living in Judah believed that Jerusalem could not be destroyed. They thought the temple and its required rituals would keep the city safe. Ezekiel had to tell them that they were completely wrong. The temple and its rituals had become corrupt. The people had turned away from the Lord. Because of this, Jerusalem had to be destroyed.

ll the Old Testament prophets spoke against sin and idol worship. But Ezekiel used some of the strongest words. He said God’s people had disobeyed him since their time in Egypt. Their sin had spread through every part of society. They had offended God in every way. God could not ignore or accept such sin. He would soon judge his people. Nothing could save God’s city or its people from his judgment.

After Jerusalem was destroyed, God’s people were in great danger of losing hope. They felt spiritually dead. They felt abandoned by God and separated from his presence. They said, “Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?” (33:10).

The people lived in Babylon, where people worshiped many false gods. These gods seemed to have defeated the Lord. No one had returned home from captivity. The people’s hope was gone. They thought they had no choice but to stay in the pagan land of Babylon and become part of its culture.

Ezekiel gave these discouraged people a message about God’s rule and glory. He showed that God is great, holy, and powerful. The gods of Babylon had not defeated the Lord. Instead, the Lord had chosen to leave his land and temple because of his people’s sin. But even though he left the unclean city of Jerusalem, he did not abandon his people. He went to the faithful remnant, the small group of his people who were in exile (11:16). This is where Ezekiel first saw the glory of the Lord (1:1).

God was still ruling over all things. This included King Nebuchadnezzar’s attempts to ask his gods for guidance through divination, a practice of seeking hidden knowledge through signs (21:21–23; compare Daniel 2–4). The Lord had decided that Jerusalem would be destroyed because of its sins. Nebuchadnezzar was simply serving as God’s agent.

The destruction of Jerusalem was not the end of the story for God’s people. God had promised to bless Abraham’s descendants. He would make them into a great nation and bless all nations through them. The messages against the nations around Judah show that God had not forgotten this old promise (Ezekiel 25–32). He would judge the nations that were glad when Israel fell.

God would not abandon his people forever. One day, he would return to be their shepherd (34:11). He would bring the land and the people from death to life. God’s glory would return to the temple, and the temple would never again be made unclean.

God would also gather his scattered people into his presence. He would replace their old ways with new laws and a higher call to holiness. When God filled the people with his Spirit, they would no longer make the land unclean with their sins.

Ezekiel points to a greater hope that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God’s glory lives fully among us. He is the light in the darkness of our exile, when we are separated from our true home with God (11:16; 43:1–5; John 1:14). Jesus is the Good Shepherd who brings justice for his sheep (Ezekiel 34:1–24; John 10:11). He fills us with his Spirit and makes us new people in him (Ezekiel 36:26–28; 37:1–14; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Those who belong to Christ have even greater access to God’s presence than Ezekiel’s visions showed. They can come freely to God’s throne of grace. They can drink from the water of life that flows from the throne (Ezekiel 47:1–11; Revelation 22:1–5). Everything Ezekiel anticipated (and more) is ours in Christ.