A. EZEKIEL HIMSELF
Ezekiel's name means “one whom God sustains.” He was taken captive into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar1 in 597 B.C. (II Kings 24:14). In Jerusalem he had been a priest (1:3). Perhaps he had ministered in the Temple itself, since his writings show that he was minutely acquainted with that sanctuary. During the fifth year (1:2) of his captivity, in 592 B.C., he was called of the Lord to be a prophet, and exercised that office for at least twenty-two years (29:17).
Along with Ezekiel, in the first major deportation, Nebuchadnezzar had taken 10,000 of the most prominent men of the country—including the skilled workers, the nobility, and King Jehoiachin himself. Nebuchadnezzar thought that, with the leaders in his own land, he could better subject the populace of Jerusalem and Judah to his will. (See Chart B.)
In exile, although King Jehoiachin was imprisoned, the Israelites in general had considerable freedom. Ezekiel had his own house (3:24; 20:1) and was married (24:18). He lived rather comfortably at Tel-abib, near the river Chebar. While Daniel lived out the seventy years of captivity, Ezekiel must have died before it was over.
Ezekiel was a watchman to warn the faithless, and a man with balm for the faithful. Unlike the false prophets, who had been given nothing to say but nevertheless spoke (Jer. 29:31), Ezekiel received his oracles from the Lord. Perhaps more than any other prophet, what he had to say he felt compelled to say.2
B. THE TIMES OF THE PROPHET
For the Israelites, being subjected to another power and taken into exile was a disgrace indeed. Canaan had been promised to them, and finally delivered into their hands by the power of their God. But from Moses onwards they had been told by the prophets that if they rebelled against the Lord they would be punished, driven from the land, and dispersed among the nations (Lev. 26:14-45; Deut. 28:15-68). Already, in 721 B.C., the northern kingdom of Israel, composed of ten of the twelve tribes, had fallen to Assyria. Just before Ezekiel's time, Jeremiah prophesied that a similar fate would come upon Judah, including Jerusalem. Jeremiah had specifically foretold that exile would be their lot and that it would last seventy years (Jer. 29:10).
Ezekiel rose to prominence as a priest just in time to be taken in the Captivity. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had first invaded Judah in 606 B.C. He captured Jerusalem and carried away several outstanding young men, including Daniel. This began the seventy years of captivity. Eight years later, in 597, after Jerusalem had revolted, Nebuchadnezzar invaded the Holy City a second time, now taking into exile 10,000 leading men, including Ezekiel.
Zedekiah was made king in Jerusalem. But after eleven years, hoping for help from Egypt, he revolted against Nebuchadnezzar. The king of Babylon then turned his fury against Jerusalem a third time. After a siege of some three years he destroyed the city, the Temple, and the kingdom, killing or deporting the people in large numbers.
It was in such times as these that Ezekiel lived. To such times as these he spoke his warnings and gave his comforts as a prophet of the Lord.
C. THE PROPHECY ITSELF
The prophecy of Ezekiel is one of the major prophetic books of the Old Testament. It was divided into forty-eight chapters probably in the thirteenth century A.D. The first twenty-four chapters have to do with Ezekiel's call to be a prophet and with his prophecies concerning the fall of Jerusalem—the final Babylonian destruction, which occurred in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign. Chapters 25—33 contain prophecies of judgment against seven heathen nations—Ammon (25:1-7), Moab (25: 8-11), Edom (25:12-14), Philistia (25:15-17), Tyre (26:1—28: 19), Sidon (28:20-23), and Egypt (29—32). The last section, chapters 33—48, contains prophecies about the restoration of Jerusalem and hope for the future of Israel.
Ezekiel makes it clear that he was an exile in Babylon when he was called to be prophet. He prophesied from Babylon both against his fellow exiles and against those still living in Jerusalem before its final fall during Zedekiah's revolt (1:3; 3:11, 15, 23; 10:15, 20, 22; 11:24-25).
Some have suggested that Ezekiel did not write chapters 40—48. Others would include also chapters 38—39 as from another author. There are scholars who suggest that a redactor added other materials, such as the verses which place the prophet in Babylon as he writes. But there is no serious evidence against the traditional view that the prophecy as a whole is from that dauntless watcher and warner known to the centuries as Ezekiel.
The style of the prophecy is difficult because of the poetic symbolism with which it is adorned. This style caused the ancient Jerome to despair of ever plumbing the book's truth. It may be the reason why John Calvin wrote a commentary on only the first twelve chapters, and why Martin Luther did not give it any special attention. Howie says, “The Prophecy of Ezekiel, written in apocalyptic style and replete with obscurities in text and meaning, has baffled more scholars and given rise to more strange ideas than perhaps any other book of the Bible.”3
Yet with all the book's symbolic mystery, it yields truths of spiritual worth to those who slacken their rapid pace long enough to dig out what is at the book's depth.