Ezekiel – By Jack P. Lewis

Outline

Introduction
A. The Historical Background of the Book
B. The Prophet

Discussion
C. The Message of Ezekiel
___1. Jerusalem Must Be Destroyed
_____a. Symbolic Actions
_____b. Visions
_____c. Allegories
___2. Oracles on Foreign Nations
___3. Oracles on Restoration
___4. Points of Special Interest:
_____a. Individual Responsibility
_____b. Idolatry
_____c. For the Sake of His Name
D. Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation

Conclusion — Ezekiel’s Value

Introduction

The Historical Background

A detailed grasp of the historical and political setting of Ezekiel is an absolute requirement if a person is to understand the book. Following the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C., the remnant of the Assyrians established itself at Haran and was at its death throes until Nebuchadnezzar was victorious over Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in 605 B.C., thereby determining that the Neo-Babylonian Empire would control the Middle East.

Within Judah, the death of Josiah at Megiddo in 609 B.C. put Jehoahaz upon the throne, but Nehco removed him and carried him a prisoner to Egypt only three months later, leaving another son of Josiah, Jehoiakim, upon the throne. With the rise of Nebuchadnezzar, lordship over Judah passed from Egypt to Babylon. Hostages like Daniel and his companions (Daniel 1:1) were taken to Babylon. After a brief period of vassalage, Jehoiakim saw fit to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar came west to put down the revolt, but Jehoiakim died before the siege began. His son, Jehoiachin, capitulated to Nebuchadnezzar on 2 March 597 and was carried to Babylon along with the artisans and upper classes of Israel. Ezekiel was among them. Nebuchadnezzar has left behind an account, which was only recently published, of his victory. He placed Zedekiah, another son of Josiah, upon the throne. Zedekiah was at first a loyal vassal, but in 586 was led into revolt. The ensuing punitive action of Nebuchadnezzar brought to an end the Jewish state by carrying its people captive and burning the temple. Gedeliah, left by Nebuchadnezzar to be governor over those still in Judah, was murdered shortly afterward, and the people fled to Egypt to escape further appraisals from the Babylonians. The years of the captivity had set in.

The Two Portions of Ezekiel’s Career

In the last 11 years of the Jewish state, following the calamity of 597, an undue optimism characterized both those who had been left in Judah and those in captivity. Those in Judah thought of themselves as “the cream of the crop” who had been left behind because of their virtues. They said of the exiles; “They have gone far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession” (Ezekiel 11:15). Of themselves they said: “Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many, so the land is surely given to us to possess” (Ezekiel 33:24). Ezekiel, like Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24:1), sets the future hope of the nation upon those who are already in captivity; and the facts of the matter are that those returning from the exile rebuilt the temple and not the “people of the land.”

The people in exile likewise were kept in a state of extreme optimism and on the verge of revolt by the false prophets who promised them that the captivity would be over in two years (Jeremiah 28:1ff). This optimism seems to have centered around three focal points: 1) the people were Abraham seed and entitled to the promise blessings; 2) a descendant of David still reigned on the throne of Zion in the person of Zedekiah; 3) the temple where God’s name dwells was still in Jerusalem. To combat this optimism, which if it led to revolt, would bring the doom of the people, is the major goal of the first portion of Ezekiel’s career. The expectation of a speedy return is a delusion (Ezekiel 13).

On the other hand, when the final calamity came, a spirit of despair swept over the people which expresses itself in the phrases: “Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” (Ezekiel 33:10); and “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; and we are clean cut off (Ezekiel 37 11). To combat this despair, which if unchecked might lead to a complete abandonment of Jehovah, is the aim of the second portion of Ezekiel’s career. Ezekiel is the prophet of the exile.

The Prophet

Ezekiel was active in the 22 years from 592 B.C. (Ezekiel 1:2) to 571 (Ezekiel 29:17). Sizable portions of his book are in an autobiographical form, but actually other than a list of his visions and symbolic actions, he gives us little information about himself. We know very little of him as a personality. He was a priest and the son of Buzzi. He was active in Babylon. He had a house; exiles were permitted a great deal of freedom with the exception that they could not return to Jerusalem. Ezekiel had a wife who was taken from him by death. These are the only private and domestic incidents that he refers to. He behaves in exceedingly strange ways. Unlike Jeremiah who complained of his lot, if Ezekiel has emotional involvement in his work and sympathy for his doomed people, it is only expressed in his cry: “Ah Lord God, will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”, which he uttered when Pelatiah the idolater dropped dead (Ezekiel 11:13). Ezekiel mechanically delivers his message that men may know that there has been a prophet among them and that it is God who brings their doom.

Ezekiel’s call to service is told in greater detail than that of any other prophet. At the same time its details are so perplexing that many despair of the book before they get past them. Ezekiel is distinctive in that he is the first prophet of whom we know that was called to service outside of the land of Palestine. The call came in 592 B.C. A list of provisions for Jewish exiles has been found at the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, dating in the same year, with Jehoiachin’s name upon it. Ezekiel always dates from the time of Jehoiachin’s captivity. The call was five years after the calamity of 597 and only six years before the final end of the state. These would be years in which Jeremiah was active in Jerusalem.

Ezekiel describes his vision as arising out of a storm cloud. There were four living creatures and a chariot with wheels within wheels. I would suggest that you attempt to think of a good West Texas northerner with the boiling of its clouds and its lightning. But most important of all on this chariot, there was a chair and a likeness of a man upon it who could hand him a scroll. As you read the chapter, you will notice the extreme reluctance of the prophet to be specific as to just what he saw: “the likeness of a throne . . . and seated above it as it were of a human form” (Ezekiel 1:26). Lest we become lost in the details, this vision represents to the prophet the glory of God which was supposed to dwell in the temple. The distinctive idea of Ezekiel is that it can appear by the river Chebar, which is likely one of the canals near Babylon. It can abandon the temple and the city of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 10:18ff) and only return when the city has been rebuilt and cleansed (Ezekiel 43:1-4). God’s glory is not tied to one locality.

From his vision the prophet is commissioned to go to a stubborn, rebellious people, of whom he is not to be afraid, and preach whether they hear or refuse. They have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. A hand stretched out to him a scroll written on both sides with “mourning, lamentation, and woe” (2:10) which he ate and found in his mouth as sweet as honey, for God’s word is described elsewhere as sweeter than the drippings of the honeycomb (Psalms 19:10). This is the symbolic impartation of God’s message to him.

The prophet’s task was an appalling one which left him speechless for seven days. He was awakened out of his stupor by the reminder that a watchman once chosen must warn of approaching danger; otherwise, he is responsible for the inevitable calamity. If the warning was sounded, then the watchman had discharged his task. The responsibility for action then rests upon the individual hearer (Ezekiel 3:16ff; Ezekiel 33).

Ezekiel is addressed as “son of man” some 87 times in the book. The term means a “human” as contrasted to the divine speaker who commissions him. The “hand of the Lord” is his phrase to express Divine control (Ezekiel 1:3; 3:22; 8:1; 33:22; 37:1; 40:1).

The locale of Ezekiel’s activities has been one of the most heatedly debated topics concerning the book. Since many of his visions are of matters in Jerusalem, some have attempted to have him reside there. Others have him at times in Babylon and at times in Jerusalem. But since the prophet specifically says that he was in Babylon and that by the hair of his head he was carried in “visions of God” to Jerusalem; and since visions are just as real to the seer as the actual event, there seems little reason to insist that he be bodily in Jerusalem. He is a prophet of the exile with a message for the exiles.

Ezekiel’s generation found him quite amusing. They thought of him as a maker of allegories (Ezekiel 20:49). They came to hear him as one might go to a side show. They said, “Come and hear what the word is that comes forth from the Lord” (Ezekiel 33:30). They found him as one who sang love songs with a beautiful voice and who played well on an instrument. They heard what he said, but they would not do it (Ezekiel 33:32-33).

Discussion

The Message of Ezekiel

“Jerusalem must be destroyed!” This is one thing that Ezekiel has to speak upon in the first part of his career. The method of declaring it may have variations, but the theme is the same. Ezekiel is a man of one idea. His theme is presented in symbolic act, vision, and allegory.

Symbolic actions are not limited to Ezekiel, but few prophets use them more than he. The action is a type of pantomime by which the prophet’s message is graphically acted out. It has not been demonstrated that the action had a magical quality to bring about the prophecy as some have insisted that it did. Ezekiel is led by the Lord to get himself a clay brick upon which he drew the city of Jerusalem and then played war while lying alternatively on each side (Ezekiel 4). This action was a symbol of the siege of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. He was called upon to eat sparingly of food mixed of various grains cooked upon human dung as a symbol of the sparse, unclean food to be eaten in the siege. When the prophet protested, the Lord permitted cow’s dung to be substituted for human dung (Ezekiel 4). The prophet was to shave his hair and divide it into three parts: one part he burned; a second part he hacked to pieces with a sword; a third part he scattered to the winds, saving only a few hairs in his robe (Ezekiel 5). These parts symbolize the various fates of the people in Jerusalem: death by pestilence and sword for some and exile for others. Only a few were to be left to witness about the Lord’s actions.

The prophet was commanded to prepare his luggage and to break out of the side of his house with covered head as a symbol of the fate of Zedekiah as he attempted to escape through the breach in the wall, but he was captured, blinded, and taken to Babylon (Ezekiel 12). He ate his food with fear and trembling as the people would do (Ezekiel 12). He was told abruptly that the “desire of his eyes”, his wife, would be taken from him, but he was to show no signs of grief that evening that his wife had died (Ezekiel 24). It was a sign of the destruction of the temple, “the delight of their eyes.” Each of these actions caused the people to ask the reason for the prophet’s strange behavior and gave him a chance to preach his message: Jerusalem is doomed.

The visions of the book carry the same message. The prophet, carried by his hair, came to the temple to see its abominations, which assured that it could afford no security to the people (Ezekiel 8). In the north of the inner court he saw an image of jealousy which was an idolatrous image of some sort. After making a hole through the wall, he saw on the wall pictures of creeping things and loathsome beasts with Jaazaniah and others offering incense to them. They were saying: “The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see” (Ezekiel 9:9), so they had turned to other gods. At the north gate he saw women weeping over the fertility god Tammuz whose worship can be traced back as far as 3,000 B.C. At the door of the temple he saw 25 men with their backs to the temple who were worshiping the rising sun. These abominations make it obvious that God will not hear a prayer offered from the temple. Hope which centers on the temple is a vain hope.

The prophet saw the executioners of the city draw near (Ezekiel 9). A man clothed in linen was commissioned by the Lord to put a mark on the forehead of all who sighed and groaned over the abominations of the city. When the man reported the task completed, the executioners were sent forth to slay indiscriminately the population who had no mark. Ezekiel further saw the man in white linen commissioned to take coals from the altar to sprinkle over the city in a symbolic burning of the city. He saw the glory of God in chariot form departing from it that it might be abandoned (Ezekiel 10). While the prophet was prophesying, he saw Pelatiah, son of Benaiah, one of the leaders in idolatry drop dead (Ezekiel 11). These visions make it clear that the hope in the continued existence of Zion is a delusion.

Under the form of numerous allegories the prophet presented his theme. Some of the allegories are explained in detail. For their comprehension a minute knowledge of the politics of the time is essential. The vine, national symbol of the Jewish nation in both the Old Testament and New Testament, is to Ezekiel the worthless wood out of which one cannot even make a peg. After it is burned at both ends and in the middle, that is, after the nation has suffered the calamity of 597 and has yet to face that of 586, it is hopeless (Ezekiel 15). In another allegory Israel is the foundling girl who has been reared and taken for a bride, only to turn whorish (Ezekiel 16). Still again the two sisters Ohola and Oholibah, Samaria and Jerusalem, become whorish and must suffer the punishment of harlots (Ezekiel 23). Ezekiel in these chapters uses extremely plain language in describing the perversions of harlotry. The allegory depicts a reaction to the entangling political alliances of the kings and the idolatry the alliances brought with them.

Judah is presented as more guilty in the Lord’s sight than Samaria who had suffered her doom 130 years before. An additional national symbol, best known to us from the phrase “lion of the tribe of Judah” is called upon by the prophet as he presents the tragedy of the reigning house in a lion allegory. The lioness had trained her offspring to catch prey, but the first, Jehoahaz, had been captured by the hunters and taken to Egypt. The second, Jehoiachin, had been put in a cage and taken to Babylon (Ezekiel 19). The vulture allegory represents Nebuchadnezzar as a vulture who had planted a cedar, that is, had put Zedekiah on the throne (Ezekiel 17). A second vulture, Pharaoh, enticed the cedar toward him. The prophet threatened the king with appraisals from Nebuchadnezzar for his breach of the covenant made with him. These allegories make quite clear that no hope is to be placed in the reigning house. The son of David on the throne is no security.

Like several prophetic books, Ezekiel also gives his attention to foreign nations in a special section of his book. Though Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia are mentioned, it is Tyre and Egypt that are of special interest. The doom of Tyre is envisioned. Her fall is presented under the form of a great ship laden with precious cargo which flounders in the midst of the sea (Ezekiel 17). Doom for Egypt is also seen. Egypt is presented as a great dragon in her Nile River free from danger, but who shall be captured; or as a cedar well-watered who must now be brought down to Sheol. She has been a seductive force to Israel: “A staff of a reed . . . when they grasp you with the hand, you broke, and tore all their shoulders; and then they lean upon you, you broke, and made all their loins to shake” (Ezekiel 29:6-7). Few better descriptions could be imagined for the way Egypt stirred up rebellion, promised aid, but never delivered. Nebuchadnezzar carried out a campaign against Egypt. History has not preserved a clear record of its outcome.

When Ezekiel’s wife died (Ezekiel 24) and the fugitive of Jerusalem arrived in Babylon to report that the city had fallen (Ezekiel 33:21), the warnings of the prophet had become a tragic reality. A spirit of despair comparable to that expressed in Psalm 137 set in, threatening to destroy the future of the people. Ezekiel did an about face in his preaching and became a prophet of comfort. This second phase of his work presents the vision of the valley of the dry bones that come to life (Ezekiel 37). There would be a rebirth of the nation. They would come out of their graves of exile. He joined two sticks upon which were written Ephraim and Judah in his hand to make one stick, a symbol of the restoration of both halves of the nation (Ezekiel 37:16).
These express the idea of a miracle to take place which is beyond all expectation.

The prophet not only envisioned external renewal, but spoke of inward regeneration. The nation would be cleansed. God would take away their old heart of stone and give them a new heart and a new spirit that would be responsive to His will (Ezekiel 36:24-28). Though a great deal of emphasis is upon God’s grace in the renewal, the prophet did not overlook the need for inward repentance upon the part of the individual.

In this future, the Messianic hope is not absent. Ezekiel alludes to it upon several occasions. The vulture allegory (Ezekiel 17) ends in the Lord planting a sprig of cedar that will bear fruit. The joint sticks (Ezekiel 17) will have “My servant David” as king over them. The prophet indicts the present reigning house as evil shepherds who have looked after their own interests and have permitted the flock to be scattered (Ezekiel 34). God promises to become the shepherd to gather the scattered sheep. We recognize this as the ultimate source of the Good Shepherd figure used by the Lord in John 10. It is also an excellent statement of the duties of an elder of God’s people. In Ezekiel, the parable ends with “My servant David shall be Prince among them” (Ezekiel 34:24).

Near the end of Ezekiel’s career in 572 B.C. he was granted an elaborate vision which fills eight chapters of his book. He envisions a new temple, a renewed priesthood constituted from the sons of Zadok, an elaborate sacrificial ritual, and a renewed land distributed among the tribes. Problems of interpretation are many. What did he have in mind? Is this a literal picture of Zerubbabel’s return to Palestine? This is impossible for Ezekiel’s temple does not correspond to Zerubbabel’s nor was the land flat and level except for one hill as Ezekiel envisions it. Is it a literal blueprint for the millennial age? Likewise, this is impossible, for Ezekiel envisions sin offerings in his temple (Ezekiel 45:17,19ff). Shall we give up the once for all offering of Jesus for the blood of bulls and goats that cannot remove sin? The picture seems to be a highly figurative description of the ways of God from Ezekiel’s day which finally culminate in the New Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s city is “Jehovah is There.” The Revelation of John says of its city: “Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He would dwell with them and they shall be His people” (Revelation 21:3).

Some aspects of Ezekiel’s message demand particular attention:

1. Ezekiel is the prophet of individual responsibility in a unique way. Noah, Daniel, and Job, were they living in his day, could only deliver themselves (Ezekiel 14). The people felt that they were suffering punishment for the sins of the former generation. The prophet declared that there would be no further use for the proverb: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18). Four specific cases are considered: the father with the wicked son; the righteous son with a wicked father; the wicked man who chooses to repent; and the righteous man who lapses into sin. None of these creates an unchangeable fate. The Lord does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he turn and live. Corporate righteousness must be comprised of personal righteousness.
2. Ezekiel insists that idolatry is an abandoning of the unique reason for Israel’s existence. It is motivated by the spirit: “Let us be like the nations” (Ezekiel 20:32); whereas God had selected Israel as His own people. The prophet charges that idolatry can be traced within Israel back to the Egyptian sojourn (Ezekiel 20:7-8); to the desert (Ezekiel 20:15-16); but that it had taken on new forms in Canaan (Ezekiel 20: 28).
3. That God acts “for the sake of His name” is a distinctive idea of Ezekiel. God is concerned that the nations have the proper impression of His nature. He deals in keeping with that essential nature rather than according to their evil ways (Ezekiel 20:44). Israel’s behavior had profaned His holy name (Ezekiel 36: 21ff). And God would have destroyed Israel at many points: Egypt, the wilderness, in Canaan, had it not been that it would have led to a misimpression of His essential nature.

Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation

Ezekiel is the quarry out of which the writer of the book of Revelation hewed his stones. Apocalyptic writers regularly reworked earlier materials. Few studies are more profitable to the student of Revelation than to consider Ezekiel. The four living creatures (Ezekiel 1:5; Revelation 4:6); the rainbow around the throne (Ezekiel 1:28; Revelation 4:3); the eating of the scroll (Ezekiel 3:1, 3; Revelation 10:10); the sealing of the servants of God (Ezekiel 9:4; Revelation 7:3); the burning of the city (Ezekiel 10:2; Revelation 8:5); the fall of Tyre and the fall of Babylon (Ezekiel 26-28; Revelation 18); God is dwelling in the midst of men (Ezekiel 37:27; Revelation 21:3); Gog of the land of Magog (Ezekiel 38:2-3; Revelation 20:8); the seer placed on the high mountain (Ezekiel 40:2; Revelation 21:10); the city measured (Ezekiel 40:3; Revelation 11:1; 21:16); the river issuing from the temple (Ezekiel 47:1, 12; Revelation 22:1-2); and the gates with tribal names on the various sides of the city (Ezekiel 48:31; Revelation 21:12) are still some of the elements which develop from one of these books into the other.

Conclusion

Ezekiel is the prophet of the exile who gives us insights into the causes of the exile. He reminds us of the perils of false leadership. It is a fearful thought he gives when he tells us that the man who comes to God with idols in his heart will be answered according to the multitude of his idols that he may stumble (Ezekiel 14:1-4).

Ezekiel is also a prophet of the return which laid the basis for the coming of the Good Shepherd–the son of David–into the world to establish His kingdom. He dreamed of the city with foundations where God will be with His people, and where all tears shall be wiped away. In that city, by God’s grace, may we all have a share!

Questions for Class Discussion

1. When was the prophet Ezekiel active?
2. How was Ezekiel called to be a prophet?
3. What does the prophet teach of individual responsibility?
4. What does Ezekiel mean by the phrase “for the sake of His name”?
5. What is the purpose of the symbolic action?
6. What is the message of the vision of the valley of dry bones?
7. How has Ezekiel influenced the book of Revelation?
8. Was the prophet Ezekiel actually in Jerusalem?
9. What does Ezekiel contribute to the Messianic hope?
10. What do you know of Ezekiel’s family life?
11. What does the phrase “son a man” mean in Ezekiel? What does it mean elsewhere in the Bible?
12. What part did Egypt play in the downfall of the Jewish state?
13. What has Ezekiel to teach about the responsibilities of elders of the church?
14. Is Ezekiel’s temple a literal temple?
15. What prevents one from believing that Ezekiel’s temple will yet be built in the future?