Ezekiel 1-6
About 13 years before the destruction of Jerusalem, which we have just read about in Jeremiah and Lamentations, King Nebuchadnezzar had subdued Israel and made her a vassal state. He took about 10,000 Israelites back to Babylon to live in exile. Jeremiah was addressing these very people in Jeremiah 29, when he said, “I know the plans I have for you...plans to give you hope and a future!”!
Ezekiel was among those first 10,000 exiles. He began writing and prophesying about seven years before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and continued ministering at least 15 years afterward. In other words, he prophesied in Babylon while Jeremiah was prophesying back home. It was Israel’s darkest hour.
It all begins with Ezekiel’s incredible vision. It is so strange, so amazing, that some have read the first chapter of Ezekiel and come to the bizarre conclusion that the prophet was contacted by aliens! I prefer to take it at face value; Ezekiel says it was “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” (1:28). Find a good study Bible and explore the amazing symbols God uses when “Ezekiel saw the wheel...way up in the middle of the air!” (Do you remember the old spiritual?)
The amazing vision was designed to get Ezekiel’s attention, and call him to the thankless ministry of a prophet. “Son of Man,” the Lord says, “I am sending you to...a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me.” (2:3) And it doesn’t get any easier from there. The Lord goes on to say, “I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.” (3:8) After his call, Ezekiel is whisked away by the Spirit and taken to the exiles. He sat among them seven days before saying a word, (3:15) during which God warns him of his accountability to sound the alarm, as a good watchman.
What follows, from Ezekiel 3:24—6:14 is a detailed description of Ezekiel’s signature style of prophesy. God instructs him to prophetically enact what is coming, and Ezekiel explains it as he goes. He builds a detailed model of Jerusalem, then constructs model siege works against it. He ties himself up and sits by his model for 390 days. He shaves his head with a sharp razor, then uses some of the hair as kindling for a fire around his model city. All of this, Ezekiel explains, is to picture the distress and destruction coming to Jerusalem because of their sin and idolatry.
On Monday, the glory of the Lord departs from the Temple in Jerusalem!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
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