God sends Isaiah to Judah before Israel’s fall to Assyria (740 B.C.).
God sends Jeremiah to Judah before and during Judah’s fall to Babylon (627 B.C.).God sends Ezekiel to Judah in exile in Babylon (593 B.C.).
Remember, our focus is two-fold:
- Learning about how God related to people during the time of each prophet, which requires we know about the historical record of the time, and reading the message of the prophet during that time. This gives us insight into God’s attributes.
- Understanding something of what it was like to live in the time of the prophet. We do this by giving attention to the religious, political, and social climate of the time. By thinking about what our response would be like while living in that time, we get closer to appreciating how our life story fits into God’s Story.
Ezekiel was in Babylon, while Jeremiah was in Jerusalem. Jeremiah ministered for forty years. Ezekiel ministered for at least twenty-three years until he was fifty years old. He witnessed much of the decline and fall of the Assyrian Empire. In place of the Assyrians, the armies of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar emerged as the world power in the region of Chaldea (the entire Babylonian area). Ezekiel settled with a colony of Jewish captives near Tel Abib, on the River Chebar, a canal flowing into the Euphrates River southeast of Babylon.Sharing:
- In Ezekiel, God makes it personal. Not that it wasn’t before, but He takes His love to a depth that should almost make us afraid of how much He loves us. His love is powerful! He is unshakeable in the pursuit of the one He loves.
- Repetitive sin should hurt us with the knowledge of how it hurts our God. Israel was called out for mistreating the poor, for their slander, gossip, lies, sinning in the dark, and worshipping themselves and saying its God they worship.
Ezekiel faced the reality of the hearts of the people of Judah:
- Ezekiel 12:1-2: “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear…”
- Ezekiel 14:1-3: “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts…”
Yet, God’s mercy shows forth:
- Ezekiel 2:4-5: “I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse – for they are rebellious house – yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
- Ezekiel 11:16: “Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.
- Ezekiel 33:11: “Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing a sinner die. I would rather see him stop sinning and live.”
In place of the Assyrians the armies of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar emerged as the dominant power in the region of Chaldea. The names ‘Chaldeans’ and “Babylonians” are used interchangeably by biblical writers. The Babylonians and the armies of Pharaoh Necho of Egypt periodically fought over the territory formerly subject to the Assyrians along the coast of Syria and Israel. The kings of Judah in Jerusalem were caught in the middle.
While Ezekiel was in captivity with much of the population of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as ruler of Judah. He ruled until the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
The exiles and many of those remaining in Jerusalem hoped that the Exile would be short, that those who had been deported would soon be returned to the city, and that Jerusalem would be spared further disaster. There were false prophets who wrongly encouraged this belief. Ezekiel had to warn the exiles that a worse end was yet in store for Jerusalem.
- Jehoiakim was placed on the throne of Jerusalem by Pharaoh Necho. After the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians, Jehoiakim switched his allegiance and became subject to Nebuchadnezzar. He remained a Babylonian subject for three years and then switched has allegiance back to Egypt. Jehoiakim died in the same month Nebuchadnezzar set out on an expedition to punish him.
- Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, was left to face Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath. He succeeded his father as king. After a brief siege, Jehoiachin was taken into captivity with much of the population of Jerusalem, including Ezekiel.
- Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, was installed as ruler of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. He ruled until the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Though in this way Zedekiah became the last king of Judah, Jehoiachin was considered the last legitimate ruler from the Davidic line. David’s line ended after twenty-one kings ruled for 514 years, including Saul’s twenty-year reign.
The Divine name used by Ezekiel is not “Jehovah Elohim” (Lord God), but “the Sovereign Yahweh” (2:4). It occurs over two hundred times in the Book, thus showing Ezekiel’s concept of the sovereign majesty of the God of Israel.
Names & Titles of God | ||
Hebrew | Reference | Meaning |
Adonai | Psalm 2:4 | Lord, Master |
El-Berith | Judges 9:46 | God of the Covenant |
El Elyon | Genesis 14:18-20 | Most High God/Exalted One |
El Olam | Genesis 21:33 | The Eternal God |
El Shaddai | Genesis 17:1-2 | All Powerful God |
Qedosh Yisra’el | Isaiah 1:4 | The Holy One of Israel |
Shapat | Genesis 18:25 | Judge/Ruler |
Yahweh-jereh | Genesis 22:14 | Yahweh Provides |
Yahweh-seba’ot | 1 Samuel 1:3 | Yahweh of Armies |
Yahweh-shalom | Judges 6:24 | Yahweh is Peace |
Yahweh-tsidkenu | Jeremiah 23:6 | Yahweh Our Righteousness |
Aramaic | ||
Attiq yomin | Daniel 7:9 | Ancient of Days |
Illaya | Daniel 7:25 | Most High |
More than ninety times God addresses Ezekiel as the son of man (see Ezekiel 2:1). The phrase means “person”, human being”, and emphasizes the humanity and frailty of the prophet, especially as it stands in contrast to a vision of God’s glory.
- Announcement of judgment on Jerusalem (chs. 4-24).
- Announcement of judgment on foreign nations (chs. 25-32).
- The promise of restoration and mercy for the future (chs. 33-48). After a messenger arrived reporting the destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel gives the message of hope.
Ezekiel is the only prophetic book that is entirely autobiographical, written in the first person from the vantage point of the prophet himself. He describes more symbolic actions than any other prophetic book. These are object lessons for the people. For example, Ezekiel was married to a woman who was "the desire of his eyes" (Ezekiel 24:16). One of the saddest notes of his life was the death of his wife. In Ezekiel 24:1-2 and 18 the prophet was told that on the very day he received the revelation that Babylon would lay siege against the holy city of Jerusalem, his wife would die. Ezekiel's sadness at the death of his wife was to match the grief of God over the sin of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was commanded not to grieve her death; he was to prepare himself for this tragedy even as God had prepared Himself for the death of His beloved city (Ezekiel 24:15-22). Perhaps no other event in the lives of the Old Testament prophets is as touching as this. The harshness of God's command to His prophet emphasizes the Lord's grief over the fate and sufferings of His rebellious people.
Sharing:
- God tells Ezekiel that He will take his wife, so that he would know God’s pain as Israel is taken. His wife!!! I love my wife a lot, and can see that love all around me, but to know that God loves us like that and so much more should break us down to a life that desires HIS love, not our pleasures.
- To bring us deeper into His heart, God tells Ezekiel a story about Israel and how He views His people. He compares Israel with three sisters. How He found Israel bloody and crying in the desert. He picked her up and wrapped a blanket around her and carried her home to His palace. She had no wants that weren’t fulfilled. Her every need was tended to. God delighted in giving her gifts. He made her beautiful and surrounded her with every good thing, because He loves her and delights in her happiness. But she began to look at her sisters, and how they had many men that loved them. She began to give the gifts that God gave her out of love to these men to get their love too. As she did this, she felt farther from her true love so she gave more of herself to these other men. She gave and gave to the many men until she had no more of God’s gifts to give. They began to grumble and complain, so in desperation she gave all of herself to them. But they didn’t want her anymore. She wasn’t beautiful like she was when she was surrounded by God’s gift and her eyes were bright with the sure knowledge of being loved. So she became worse than a prostitute and gave herself for nothing at all. And all the while, God was there, telling her how precious she was, calling out to her. Telling her what was happening and what would happen if she kept running to other men who could never love her like Him. Until finally she was back in the desert, beaten and bloody and crying. And God picked her up, and said, “Come home, I love you, I forgive you, I’ll never leave you no matter what.”
We are that precious to God, the Old Testament is God’s pursuit of His bride, of His loved ones. He loves relentlessly. He will never stop calling out and giving mankind a chance to repent and find rest and hope and a home.
The message of the book of Ezekiel is one of judgment and restoration based on the covenant relationship between God and His people. Judgment came because of a double tragedy: the people’s rebellion against the will of God, and their false belief that they enjoyed protection regardless of their behavior. False prophets felt sure that even if they failed to keep the terms of the covenant, God was obliged to rescue them because of His covenant with Israel, and more specifically with the house of David.
One of the greatest insights of the Book of Ezekiel is its teaching of individual responsibility. This prophet proclaimed the truth that every person is responsible for his own sin, as he stands exposed before God. In Ezekiel's time the Jewish people had such a strong sense of group identity as God's covenant people that they tended to overlook their need as individuals to follow God and His will. Some even believed that future generations were held accountable for the sins of their ancestors. They misapplied Exodus 20:5 and Numbers 14:18. But Ezekiel declared: “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (Ezekiel 18:20). This underscores the responsibility of every person before the Lord.
Ezekiel also paints a beautiful picture of the future age in which God will rule triumphantly among His people. Although God's people were suffering at the hands of a pagan nation when Ezekiel prophesied, better days were assured. God would establish His universal rule among His people through a descendant of David (Ezekiel 24-25).
Isaiah told of the coming redemption, which would be accomplished by the righteous Servant of the Lord, suffering for His people and making atonement for their sin. Jeremiah declared that a new covenant would secure it. Ezekiel reveals that all this would result in the establishment of a new Israel. Salvation would be realized in a new spiritual system, of which the old Mosaic system was but a shadow.
Through the use of parables, Ezekiel portrayed God's covenant people as a helpless new-born child (Ezekiel 16:1-6), as a lioness who cared carefully for her cubs (Ezekiel 19:1-9), as a sturdy cedar (Ezekiel 17:1-10), and as a doomed and useless vine (Ezekiel 15). He also used a clay tablet to portray the Babylonian siege against the city of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1-2), ate his bread "with quaking" and drank his water "with trembling and anxiety" (Ezekiel 12:18). He used these to symbolize God's wrath. He also carried his belongings about to show that God would allow His people to be carried into exile by the Babylonians (Ezekiel 12:1-16).
Never did God ever forsake His faithfulness in justice and mercy in all of Judah’s rebellion. Here are portions of Ezekiel’s message:
- Ezekiel 2:4-5: “I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse – for they are rebellious house – yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
- Ezekiel 3:8-9 (GNB): “Now I will make you as stubborn and as tough as they are. I will make you as firm as a rock, as hard as a diamond; don’t be afraid of those rebels.”
- Ezekiel 3:17: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel…”
- Ezekiel 14:14: “Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it [the land], they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.
Daniel is another person who lived during the time of Judah’s exile. As you read and think, consider how God related to this statesman and prophet, and how you would respond to his message.
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