He was among the eight or ten thousand able men exiled to Babylonia after the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC (2 Kgs. 24, 14, 16). (Evidently other family members were not counted in the census.) The last dated formula in the book is March/April 571 (29, 17 ), which introduces a promise that Babylonia will plunder Egypt. The time span between the first and the last oracle is twenty-two years.
According to the date formula in 1, 2, Ezekiel's prophetic ministry began with his call in July 593 near a canal ("River Chebar" in NAB) near Nippur, a few miles south of the city of Babylon.
King Zedekiah had to face the awful consequences. Captured, he was forced to look on as his two sons were murdered, then his own eyes were put out (2Kgs 25). among the eight or ten thousand deportees of 597 (2 Kgs 24, 14-16 give both figures) was Ezekiel ( Ez 1,1), evidently a Zadokite priest. With other exiles, he settled in Nippur and seems to have occupied a prominent place in the transplanted community and was often consultd by them (Ez 8, 1: 14, 1: 20, 1). To judge by his commission to stand in opposition to the community and by his vigorous criticism of their opinions, he had a very different understanding of the exile than they did. He saw the exile as a long process of judgment that required fait[[posterous-content:pid___0]]h. The people , on the other hand, saw themselves as helpless victims and hoped for a speedy and trouble-free return. No wonder that the Lord said to the prophet: "Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God!" (2,4)
Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, for their part, played one great power against the other, but found, to their cost, that Egypt was weak and unreliable. Jeremiah vigorously opposed such attempts to fend off Babylon, which be regarded as God's instrument to punish and purge Judah. Jeremiah was right. Judean political juggling roused the Babylonians, and in 598 its army sacked the city and deported many of its leaders to Babylonia (2 Kgs. 25, 19: Jer 52, 31-33). Jehoiachin's uncle Zedekiah was named regent (2 Kgs 24, 18-20), and he continued his predecessors' rebellious policies. Nebuchadnezzar responded with force. After a campaign lasting three years (588-586 BC), he destroyed the cities of Judah and looted and burned Jerusalem an
Descendants of Josiah came to the throne in succession, all at the command of foreign powers: Jehoahaz (609, three months), Jehoiakim (609-598) and his son, Jehoiachin (598/7, three months), and Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah (597-587/6). Though it had to yield control of Palestine to Babylon, Egypt remained a formidable state, never letting an opportunity pass to encourage Judah to rebel against Babylon.
In 622 BC, an ancient law book, the nucleus of the present book of Deuteronomy, was found in the Temple in the course of restoration work. It became the basis of a wide-ranging religious reform (2 Kgs 22, 1-23, 27). Unfortunately, the promising reform collapsed with Josiah's unexpected death in 609 BC (2 Kgs 23, 28-30). Judah was again reduced to a vassal state, first under Egypt and then, after Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt at the battle of Carchemish ( in northern Syria) in 605 BC, under Babylon.
In 640 BC, Josiah came to the throne in Judah. A child just eight years old. Josiah was assisted by a group of people loyal to the Lord and the authentic traditions of Israel. The death of the Assyrian king Assurbanipal, in 627 BC, freed him to
Shortly before Ezekiel appears on the scene, in the last quarter of the seventh century, the hitherto dominant Assyrian empire collapsed with astonishing speed, enabling small states in the Levant such as Judah to regain their freedom and rebuild. (The Levant is the land area bordering the eastern Mediterranean.) Under Assyrian rule, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had become an Assyrian province, and Judah, with territory reduced, was a vassal state. These were the times of the prophets Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah, who had the task of explaining to the people that what was happening, however horrific, was the work of the Lord, that the events did not necessarily mean the end of Israel, and that the divine work demanded a faithful response.
Ezekiel, it will be shown below, interpreted the same historical events as Jeremiah, but saw them from a quite different perspective--that of a priest. The writing prophets, therefore, had a twofold task: to interpret the national traditions in the light of the everchanging course of history, and to persuade people to act in accord with the required changes. Theory and practice, interpretation and praxis, were inseparabl
Hosea, for example, used the metaphor of marriage and the prospect of a new exodus to exhort Israel to remain faithful to the relationship. Amos mercilessly exposed the social injustice of the people and revised the traditional notion of the Day of the Lord to mean that the lord might attack Israel rather than its enemies. Isaiah uncovered forgotten aspects of the Zion and Daivid traditions to show that the promises were demands for fidelity as well as assurances of divine help Jeremiah used the Exodus tradition and attemped to show that the divine judgment the people were experiencing could have a positive outcome if the people were obedient.
Prophets were needed to reinterpret the ancient traditions for a radically new turn of events and to make it possible for the people to respond in a new situation. Each prophet emphasized in his own way the centrality of the relationship to the Lord and guided the people to appropriate actions.
Prophets were needed to reinterpret the ancient traditions for a radically new turn of events and to make it possible for the people to respond in a new situation. Each prophet emphasized in his own way the centrality of the relationship to the Lord and guided the people to
The political changes of the mid-eighth century made the people's possession of their land precarious and uncertain. Israel's identity as a special pe
How did these two new factors---the military situation and the prophets' conviction that the relationship had ended---affect Isarael's traditions? These two factors severely damaged the
Indeed, it was possible to mount defenses against the modestly scaled armies that attacked Israel in those days. In the last third of the eighth century BC, however, Assyria moved into the area. Massive, relentless, and superior in war, it could not be defeated in any meaningful sense. The best one
After this time, Ezekiel's message changes. From now on his prophecy is characterized by the promise of salvation in a new covenent, and he is anxious to lay down the conditions necessary to obtain it. Even as Jeremiah had believed, Ezekiel thought that the exiles were the hope of Israel's restoration, once God's allotted time for the Exile had been accomplished. His final eight chapters are a utopian vision of the Israel of the future, rid of its past evils and reestablished firmly under the rule of the Lord. The famous vision of the dry bones in chapter 37 expresses his firm belief in a forthcoming restoration, Israel rising to new life from the graveyard of Babylon. But Ezekiel's new covenant, like Jeremiah's was to see its true fulfillment only in the New Testament.
Two factors played an important in the writing of Ezekiel: (1) the prophets' conviction that the Lord's relationship to Israel had reached a crisis point; and (2) the fact that Israel faced a new kind of enemy, a superower (Assyria) against which it could not defend itself.
The earliest prophet, Amos, it is true, did not mention Assyria, but stated decisively that Israel's special relationship to the Lord had ended (8, 1-3) and that Judah and Israel, like the nations, now stood under the severe judgment of God (2, 4--3, 2). Before the rise of the writing prophets, prophets fought for the Lord and the cause of righteousness in Israel, but never called into question the relationship itself. Reform measures would bring the people back into right relationship with the Lord, they thought.
To understand Ezekiel's message, one must go back a century and a half before Ezekiel, to the earliest writing prophets--Amos, Hosea, Micah and Isaiah of Jerusalem. What provoked these individuals to initiate a new religious movement and write down their prophecies and publicize them for the widest possible audience? Though we will probably never understand the reasons fully, two factors played a major role:
The book of Ezekiel is a unique blend of divine utterance (rather than prophetic utteranace), strange imagery, and careful arrangement. It is the only prophetic book displaying a chronological order. There are four major blocks of material, which are in the same sequence as in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. Chapters 1 through 24 are oracles concerning Judah and Jerusalem; chapters 25 through 32 are oracles concerning the nations; chapter 33 through 37 announce restoration. and chapters 38 through 48 describe the final battle and the vision of the new Temple and city. This essay discusses the historical background, the dated oracles and life of the prophet, the traditions Ezekiel used, the literary structure of the book, some key passages, the theology of the book, the Hebrew and Greek text, and the influence of Eze
God explains the vision. The bones represented the Jewish people scattered throughout the nations. Their reassembling symbolized the Jews regathering to the Promised Land. But only when the people are filled with god's Spirit will they have life.
Ezekiel is shown a valley filled with scattered and dried bones. He is told to prophesy, and the bones reassemble and are covered with flesh. But they do not live until they are given the Breath of Life (Ezekiel 37:1-10).
Again in Ezekiel 18, the prophet gives four examples to show that God deals with human beings individually.
1. If a righteous man has a violent son .. the son will die...Ezekiel 18:5-13
2. If the violent son has a righteous son..the righteous son will live....Ezekiel 18:14-18
3. If a wicked man turns from his ways...he will live...Ezekiel 18:19-23
4. If a righteous man turns to evil...he will die...Ezekiel 18:24-29
Ezekiel 18:30-32....."Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord God. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions,...and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the
Ezekiel 18:30-32 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord God. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions,...and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the
Ezekiel's announcement is one of personal responsibility. In the coming invasion God would distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. The wicked would be killed while the righteous would survive to go into captivity. In Ezekiel 18, the prophet gives four examples to show that God deals with human beings individually.
Personal responsibility: (Ezekiel 18)
Many in Jerusalem shrugged off the warnings of Ezekiel and Jeremiah. If their forefathers had displeased God, and he was intent on punishing them, there was nothing they could do about it. Ezekiel confronted this fatalistic attitude, announcing the soul who sins is the one who will die (Ezekiel 18:4)
The people of Jerusalem based their belief that the city would not fall on the existence of God's temple. Surely God would not permit his dwelling-place to be destroyed by pagans. But in a vision, Ezekiel saw God withdraw his presence from the temple and the Holy City. Afterward, the temple was an empty shell. God would not remain with a people whose sins showed him total disrespect. (The Emptied Tomb: Read Ezekiel 8-11)
