Ezekiel
Purpose
Ezekiel is a priest carried into exile with the first group of Judean captives in 597 BC and called as a prophet five years later by the river Chebar in Babylon. His book answers a crisis of faith: with Jerusalem and its temple seemingly secure back home, the exiles cling to the false hope that judgement will not really come, while the presumptuous in Jerusalem insist that Abraham's covenant guarantees their safety. Through bizarre symbolic acts, devastating oracles, and a series of stunning visions, Ezekiel demolishes both delusions — Jerusalem will fall because of its covenant unfaithfulness, and each person is accountable before God for their own righteousness. Yet the book's long final movement is pure hope: the LORD will seek and shepherd his scattered flock, give them a new heart and a new spirit, raise the dry bones of national death to life, defeat the end-time invader Gog, and return his glory to a rebuilt temple in a renewed land. As priest-prophet, Ezekiel binds judgement and restoration together around one unshakeable truth: God acts so "that they shall know that I am the LORD."
Author
Ezekiel, a priest exiled to Babylon
Time Period
c. 593-571 BC, during the Babylonian exile
Key Themes
- The glory of the LORD
- Individual accountability
- Judgement and exile
- The watchman
- New heart and spirit
- Restoration
- Gog and Magog
Outline
Call and commission (ch. 1–3): the chariot-throne vision of God's glory; the sweet scroll; the prophet as watchman over Israel. Symbolic warnings of Jerusalem's siege and exile (ch. 4–7): the brick map, lying on his side, the shaved hair; "the end has come." The glory leaves the temple (ch. 8–11): the abominations in Jerusalem; the slaughter by the six men; the glory moves to the threshold and then to the mountain east of the city. Oracles of judgement on leaders and nations (ch. 12–24): false prophets, plotting elders, the eagle-and-vine parable, the unfaithful wives Oholah and Oholibah, and Jerusalem as the cooking pot. Oracles against the nations (ch. 25–32): Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre (the anointed cherub who falls), Sidon, and Egypt's long lament. Restoration and hope (ch 33–37): the watchman renewed; the worthless shepherd; the ingathering of the sheep; the new heart and spirit; the valley of dry bones; the sign of the two sticks rejoined. The war of Gog (ch. 38–39): the northern invader's defeat and burial. The new temple, the return of glory, and the renewed land (ch. 40–48): the temple measured out; the water flowing from the sanctuary; the holy district; and the city named "The LORD is there."