Ezekiel
(Ezekiel 1:3)
(C3375-3445, 629/559 AC)
His name, Jechezkel in Hebrew means "the Lord strengthens." He was a priest who was with the captives by the river Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans, probably having gone with King Jehoiachin.
In the fifth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin (595 BC), the fifth day of the fourth month, Ezekiel had his first vision of God. It was the beginning of the thirtieth year since the restoration of the worship of God by Josiah in the eighteenth year of his reign. In the vision, Ezekiel saw what he calls the "appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord" and its description is given in detail in the first chapter of his book. Falling to the ground on his face, Ezekiel heard "a voice of One speaking."
Calling him a "son of man" the voice commanded Ezekiel to stand on his feet, and as he spoke, the Spirit entered him and set him on his feet. God (from whom came the voice) said that He was sending him to the rebellious nation of Israel, and that he should present himself as prophet from the start using the words "Thus says the Lord God," and whether they wanted or not, he must peak His words, whether they heard or refused.
You should not be afraid of them, nor of what they said, nor be dismayed by their looks. He himself was not to be rebellious like them, but open his mouth and eat what God gave him. When he looked, he saw a scroll of a book in a hand stretched out to him, and it was spread out before him and he saw that it was written on the inside and outside with "lamentations and mourning and woe."
When obediently eating the scroll, Ezekiel found it was in his mouth like honey in sweetness (according to Revelation 10:8-10 the last prophet, John, had a similar experience). They were visions to make us understand that anyone who intends to communicate a message from God, or from His Word, whether prophet or preacher, must first "absorb" the message he is about to transmit, making it a part of his own life, as we read in Ezekiel 3:10.
Preparing him further, God made "his face hard against their faces and his forehead strong against their foreheads."
God repeated his order that he must not hesitate to speak to the people of Israel even if they did not want to hear him. Then the Spirit lifted Ezekiel and led embittered and angry with the rebellion of the people, but with the strong hand of the Lord about it, even the captives who were in a place called Tel-Abib (lot of wheat). Sat with those who lived there, stunned, for a week.
God then reminded him of his mission, and warned Ezekiel that, because of the mission he had been given, he would be punished for the sins committed by the wicked if he had not warned him. Then he arose and went out, and again saw the glory of the LORD standing before him. The Spirit entered him again and confirmed the instructions he had been given.
God then told Ezekiel to prepare a model of the siege of Jerusalem made ??of brick and other objects. He must then lie down in front of it:
- On his left side for three hundred and ninety days, representing the iniquity of the kingdom of Israel in years (since the time of Jeroboam (975 BC-see Ezekiel 4:1-17, 1 Kings 12:32, 33).
- On his right side for forty days, representing the iniquity of Judah in years.
During this time Ezekiel must prophesy against Jerusalem tied up, having rationed water for drinking and food cooked with excrement, symbolizing the suffering of the people in Jerusalem.
After this demonstration, Ezekiel was led immediately by the Spirit to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:1, 9:1-11:25). In a vision he saw the general idolatry practiced there, and the plagues that would come upon the city because of it. He also had a vision of the Spirit leaving the city. Then Ezekiel was transported back by the Spirit to his people exiled in Chaldea, and there declared what he had seen.
Through signs and verbally God revealed the future escape of King Zedekiah overnight, his capture and blinding, and death in captivity in Babylon. He also predicted the captivity of the remaining Jews in and Jerusalem, and the calamities that precede it (Ezekiel 12:1-28).
That same year (594 BC) the chapters 13-19 of the book of Ezekiel were written. In chapter 14 Daniel is mentioned twice, along with Noah and Job: even with their righteousness, God declares, if all three were in Jerusalem at that time they would save only themselves, which reminds us of Abraham's intercession for his nephew Lot (Genesis 18:23-33).
The following year Ezekiel reproved the elders of the people for their hypocrisy in coming to him seeking the counsel of God, but prophesied about the calamity to come upon all nations, pronounced God's judgment on idolaters and comforted the godly (Ezekiel 20: 1 to 23:49).
The siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar that Ezekiel had prophesied began in 590 BC, after he had already conquered all the cities of Judah except for Jerusalem, Lachish and Azekah. On the day the siege began, God revealed to Ezekiel, who was in Chaldea, that Jerusalem would be destroyed completely.
The revelation was made ??in the morning through the symbol of a pot cooking meat and bones and shown to the people. In the afternoon by the hand of God Ezekiel's wife died, and God commanded him not to mourn or weep for her, but to sigh in silence.
The people asked him the meaning to them of what he did, and he replied that the Lord God commanded him to inform that He would profane His sanctuary, which represented all their greatness of which they were proud, and their sons and daughters would all be killed. Like Ezekiel behaved on the death of his wife, they would do themselves. It was a sign to know that He was the LORD (Ezekiel 24).
In 589 BC Ezekiel prophesied against Pharaoh and all of Egypt, warning that they would suffer desolation during forty years (Ezekiel 29), and the following year he prophesied against Tyre, also stating that it would suffer invasion and destruction by Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 26).
The city of Jerusalem, whose inhabitants were suffering severely from hunger due to the siege, was finally overrun by the Babylonians in 588 BC and the prophecies uttered by Ezekiel against it were subsequently fulfilled, after an interval of six years.
Most of the Jews who were left in their land fled to Egypt. Some stayed on, and Ezekiel prophesied in the following year (587 BC):
- the complete destruction of this remnant of the people
- the terrible plague and affliction that Nebuchadnezzar would take to Egypt (Ezekiel 32:1-16 and 33-21-29)
- that the pharaoh and the people of Egypt would be destroyed as well as the rest of the uncircumcised nations (Ezekiel 32:17-32).
In 584 BC the captain of the guard of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, led to Babylon the remaining seven hundred and forty-five Jews and Israelites, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel that the iniquity of Israel lasted three hundred and ninety years (Ezekiel 4:5-6 ).
In 575 BC Ezekiel prophesied the building of a new temple. On the site where the Temple of Solomon had been a new temple came to be built by Zerubbabel when he returned from exile, and this was expanded by Herod during the time of Christ. But this one also was destroyed by the Romans, and it did not correspond perfectly to the details given by Ezekiel.
We deduce, therefore, that this new temple prophesied by Ezekiel is still future. Not the "Third Temple" designed in Israel which will probably be in use during the time of Tribulation, but it will be the temple built by Christ in the millennium and used as the seat of world government (Isaiah 2:2-4, Ezekiel 43 : 7, 48:35, Daniel 2:44-45, 7:13-27, Zechariah 6:12-13,14:8-9, Revelation 11:15).
From chapter 36 to the end of his book Ezekiel prophecies about the restoration of Israel in their promised land, during the millennium of Christ's kingdom. Future enemies of Israel will be destroyed (chapter 38, 39), the temple built (chapters.40 to 42), where they will worship (chapters 43, 44) and where the world’s administration will be carried out (chapters 45, 46), the waters will be purified (chapter 47:1-12), and the land shall be divided (chapter 47:13-20, 48).
Just as the prophecies of the beginning of the book were fulfilled in their time, we can be sure that the rest, still future for us, will also be fulfilled faithfully: it is the Word of the Lord.
R David Jones