Ezekiel Survey of the Old Testament: The Prophets Fall 2005

Introduction

Background

Name & Author:

From the start of the book we learn that the book has been written by a man named Ezekiel (1:3). Ezekiel is a priest, the son of Buzi, and he was in the land of the Chaldeans.

Ezekiel was deported to Babylon, along with King Jehoiachin, during the second siege of Jerusalem. King Jehoiakim had died during his rebellion against Babylon. His son, King Jehoiachin ruled for 3 months before Babylon had retaken Jerusalem and deported the king along with Ezekiel and others. Ezekiel was 8 years old at the time of his deportation.

When Ezekiel was 30 years old, in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's exile when he received his first vision and his call by God. As part of the priestly family, Ezekiel would have been eligible to begin serving as a priest in the temple at the age of 30. However, as an exile he would not be able to fulfill is priestly calling. Instead, God calls him as his prophet in Babylon.

Date:

Ezekiel provides date markers 13 times throughout the book. The prophecies are, with one exception, presented in chronological order.

These 13 dates center around 3 specific events in the history of Judah:

• Chapters 1-24 take place before the final siege of Jerusalem (597 – 591 BC).
• Chapters 25-31 take place during the two-year long siege of Jerusalem (587 BC).
• Chapters 32-48 take place after the destruction of Jerusalem (585 – 573 BC).

Audience:

Ezekiel was a contemporary of Jeremiah. However, while Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem, Ezekiel's audience were the exiles in Babylon. Specifically, Ezekiel prophecies in Tel Abib near the river Chebar, a tributary of the Euphrates River in the southeastern section of modern day Iraq.

The deportees in Babylon were not treated as captives. The Jewish exiles were able to travel freely in Babylon, live in houses, and engage in business activities [1].

As the exiles received news from home, Ezekiel's prophecies provided God's commentary on the events taking place in Jerusalem, providing an explanation of the causes of Jerusalem's fall, a call to personal accountability for the fall, and encouragement after the fall.

Style

To the modern reader, Ezekiel seems a weird book. His prophecies are often in the context of visions which include unusual and strange. He sees strange creatures and contraptions (chapter 1). He is teleported thousand of miles to Jerusalem where, like the invisible man, he is able to creep around the temple to see the odd activities taking place there (chapter 8). He sees a valley of dry bones come to life and get joined together (chapter 37). He is transported in time to a new temple which he measures with great detail (chapter 40).

While these visions strike us as odd and cryptic, this genre fits a style of literature which was popular in Babylon at this time. There are numerous examples of “dream vision” literature from seventh and sixth century BC Mesopotamia. Since Ezekiel was writing to exiles in Mesopotamia, his audience would have been quite familiar with this style of writing and it would not have seemed odd or unusual to them [2].

Structure

The book of Ezekiel is structured along chronological lines. The three major sections of the book correspond to the 3 events in Judah's history.

Purpose

Ezekiel is called by God to be the watchman of Israel. In Ezekiel 3:17-21, God tells Ezekiel that his role is to take the words of God and use them to warn his people. It is not Ezekiel's responsibility to bring about repentance, only to communicate the words of God.

If Ezekiel, the watchman, does not provide warning to Israel, then he will be responsible for the destruction of the people. But if he communicates the warning, then responsibility lies with those who heard the warning of the watchman and ignored it (Ezekiel 33:2-9). The message of the watchman is for the people to turn away from their wickedness so that they might live (Ezekiel 33:11, 14-15).

The purpose of the book of Ezekiel is to bring the exiles to a point of personal accountability for the destruction of Jerusalem and call them to repentance.

Theme

First, the explanations, warnings and encouragement are all given in the context of the presence of
God's glory in the temple in Jerusalem. Ezekiel's message is given after he sees the glory of God. Ezekiel sees God's glory leave the temple in Jerusalem in response to the abominations taking place there. Finally, Ezekiel predicts the restoration of God's glory in a new temple which will be built in the future.

Secondly, repeatedly Ezekiel declares that his prophecies are given so that the exiles might know that Yahweh is their God. The phrase “know that I am God” is used 65-times in the book of Ezekiel.

Footnotes

1. Ralph H. Alexander. “Ezekiel.” Expositor's Bible Commentary . Frank E. Gaebelein, ed. Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1998. Electronic edition STEP file.
2. _____. “Ezekiel.” The Nelson Study Bible. Radmacher, Earl D., ed. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. 1997. Electronic edition STEP file.

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