Ezekiel 1:1-2. What is different about the setting of the book of Ezekiel?
In Isaiah and Jeremiah, destruction is imminent, and repentance is still possible. But in Ezekiel, some of the punishment has already taken place. The carrying away of the first wave of captives has begun, and Ezekiel is in that number.The prophet must speak to his fellow exiles the Word of the Lord, for even more judgment is coming. He will also be called upon to announce the rest of the judgment coming on the ones still in Jerusalem.
Knowing the setting will help us to understand some of the prophecies.
Ezekiel 1:5-14. Is there anything else in Scripture that compares to Ezekiel’s “living creatures”?
Indeed. John the apostle sees similar beings in his vision, Revelation 4:6-8. Note especially the lion, calf, man, and eagle, of John, plus the six wings. And then there are the “eyes”, that compare to what Ezekiel will see next to the living beings, verse 18.
Most significant also is the very fact of this heavenly vision being the first of the revelations of the prophet, which compares to the similar timing in Revelation and also in Daniel. These men are afforded revolutionary glimpses of Heaven and Heaven’s beings before they are introduced to prophetic material.
Ezekiel 1:15-21. Do the wheels suggest any other Biblical reference?
The fact that the wheels moved in unison with each other and the Living Beings suggests a chariot, especially when “fire” is added to the mix. Yes, we can almost see Elijah and his heavenly escort to the Spirit realm at the end of his life. Ezekiel is seeing the chariots of fire that transport angelic beings. How awesome must have been this moment for a mere man.
Ezekiel 1:26. Who does Ezekiel see at the Throne?
Comparing this passage to Daniel and John and even Isaiah, we are forced into the opinion that Ezekiel is seeing the Lord, the Great God Almighty. He falls on His face, not out of duty but out of exhaustion. His very breath is taken away. Though he stands up in the next verse, it is only with the supernatural power of the Spirit upon him.
How strange to hear visionaries in our own day talk so casually of their so-called encounters with Heaven. One comes out of such experiences wounded emotionally and sometimes physically (think, Jacob). It is not an every day occurrence. And it cannot ever be forgotten. We are so glad that Ezekiel was told to write it down.
Ezekiel 2:8-3:3. Who else had the experience of eating, literally and figuratively, the Word of God?
John, Revelation 10:10. Jeremiah, Jeremiah 15:16. David, Psalm 119:103. In all three cases, the sweet Word became a bitter one, as life in this Word continued and divided the eater from his surroundings.
Ezekiel 4:1-3. How are this and the other signs mentioned here, communicated to the people of Israel?
There are assumptions made about Ezekiel and his situation that we must know. Somehow, Ezekiel is a known figure in the exiled community. People have heard him speak and are regularly watching him and his movements. So when he suddenly builds a miniature city and labels it “Jerusalem”, the people around him are anxiously awaiting the message. He reminds us of the sidewalk chalk artist or street preacher who through his dramatic ways knows how to draw a crowd.
Jerusalem has already suffered much, but more trouble is coming, says the prophet. Babylon will besiege the city.
Ezekiel 4:4-8. Did Ezekiel lay down for 430 days?
Ezekiel’s ministry was a public one. God now instructs him to do some public sleeping. We are not told how many hours each day he is to sleep on one side or the other. It may have only been a short nap time each day during which Ezekiel called attention to himself, and the side upon which he was lying.
He is still making the gathering people aware of the mini-city he has created, and connecting the length of the punishment to the siege that shall come.
Commentators have struggled to figure out what the 390 and the 40 mean. Why so much more for Israel? The conjecture is that Israel was evil much longer and with greater intensity. Never was there a king who loved God with all his heart, in the Northern Kingdom. Judah actually had a lot of them. Never did the people of the north worship in the true Temple in the true way. True worship was set up permanently in Judah.
Was Ezekiel reminding the Jews in exile that God had kept Israel in Egyptian bondage for 430 years, and that the trek through the wilderness was 40 years? Did the actual days of the siege amount to 430?
As with so much of this book, there are questions that linger.
Ezekiel 5. What is Ezekiel to use as a symbol of the Israelites and their coming judgment?
His own hair. He is to cut his beard and all the hair of his head, lay it on scales, divide it into thirds. One third is to be burned, symbolizing those Jews who will die by plague or famine. One third, he is to attack with a sword in his mini-city, representing that third that will literally die by the sword. The final third is to be thrown into the air and scattered by the wind, showing that scattering is coming to the ones whose lives are spared.
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