Ezekiel #65

Ezekiel, son of Buzi, was a priest who was carried to Babylon with King Jehoiachin in 597 BC and who received his prophetic call there by the Chebar canal in the fifth year of that exile (Ezekiel 1:1-3). He prophesied to the exiles for about twenty years, and his book is one of the most visually striking in the Bible. Where his contemporary Jeremiah spoke in Jerusalem, Ezekiel spoke from among those already in captivity.

Biblical Significance

Ezekiel’s call begins with a vision of the glory of God appearing on a moving throne accompanied by living creatures and wheels, revealing that God was not confined to the temple in Jerusalem but was present with his people in exile (Ezekiel 1:1-28). He was commissioned to speak to a rebellious people whether they listened or not, and he was appointed as a watchman, responsible for sounding a warning (Ezekiel 3:16-21; 33:1-9). Much of his early message consists of symbolic acts, such as acting out the siege of Jerusalem and refusing to mourn publicly when his wife died, which served as a sign of the coming loss of the temple (Ezekiel 4; 24:15-27).

A later vision carries him in the spirit to Jerusalem, where he sees idolatry in the temple and the glory of God leaving the city (Ezekiel 8 through 11). Once Jerusalem had fallen, his message turned toward restoration. God condemns the failed shepherds of Israel and promises to shepherd the flock himself (Ezekiel 34). He promises to gather his people, cleanse them, and give them a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:24-28).

The best known passage is the vision of the valley of dry bones, in which the prophet is asked whether the bones can live, and then sees them reassembled and filled with breath by the word and Spirit of God, as a picture of Israel’s restoration from a state that the people themselves described as hopeless (Ezekiel 37:1-14). The book closes with a detailed vision of a new temple and a river flowing from it that brings life to the land (Ezekiel 40 through 48; 47:1-12). Interpreters differ on whether this last vision should be read as a literal blueprint, as symbolic, or as pointing to a future age.

Legacy

Ezekiel’s themes of a new heart, the indwelling Spirit, and God as the true shepherd are echoed in the New Testament, especially in John’s portrayal of Jesus as the good shepherd (John 10) and the river of life in Revelation 22:1-2. His watchman image has been used often in Christian reflection on responsibility for warning others. In Jewish tradition, the opening chapter of his book, with its vision of the chariot, became a focus of mystical study. His book also names him alongside Noah and Job as an example of a righteous figure (Ezekiel 14:14, 20), and the Daniel mentioned there is generally understood by many to be the same Daniel known from the book that bears his name, although some scholars think it refers to a different figure.