Prophet Ezekiel

Ezekiel trained to be a priest like his father, but he was taken into exile before being able to serve in the Temple at Jerusalem. He was called to be a prophet in c. 592 bc through a series of visions at the age of 30: “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you” (Ezekiel 2:1). He spent part of his life among the Jewish community beside the Kebar River in Babylonia, where he was much respected by the elders.

Ezekiel had visionary experiences of rich, symbolic meaning, and adopted unusual methods to convey God’s messages. He acted as a spiritual “watchman for the people of Israel” (3:17), delivering divine warnings to the people of Judah and other nations. He also prophesied the fall of Jerusalem, and guided the people toward a new future. The ability to make individual choices and accept responsibility for personal actions—whether to be faithful to God or to receive God’s judgment—was a key theme of his teachings.

The Glory of God

Ezekiel’s central message was the glory of the Lord. He had a vision of God’s majestic throne of lapis lazuli “above the vault that was over the heads of the cherubim” (10:1), and then he looked on as “the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold” of the desecrated Temple (10:18). The people had been sent into exile; but a purified remnant would return one day to the land God had given to them. His glory would return to Jerusalem and fill the rebuilt Temple.

Ezekiel encouraged the exiles to reconcile themselves to their situation by understanding its cause. The exile was a time to trust in the sovereign God, not to doubt him or be angry with him. Calling for spiritual renewal, Ezekiel stressed the need for both individual and moral responsibility.

Visions of the Future

Ezekiel’s message of hope was expressed in a number of vivid images. God himself would become Israel’s shepherd, replacing the false shepherds who had destroyed the flock. Israel’s mountains, currently barren and deserted, would become fruitful and prosperous again. God would breathe new life into the nation; the dried up bones of its people would join together again, flesh would be reformed, and “a vast army” (37:10) would come to life.

Joining two broken sticks together, Ezekiel predicted a reunited and purified nation under God’s rule. God would defeat the forces of Gog (a figurative name for the enemies of God’s people; see Ezekiel 38) in a climactic battle that would display his greatness over the nations.

Visions of the Temple

The most detailed vision of the future concerned the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, a vision close to the heart of Ezekiel the priest. He not only envisaged a magnificent temple from which life would flow to all parts of the Earth, but prophesied that the glory of the Lord would return to it “through the gate facing east” (43:4).

Ezekiel’s performances

Ezekiel sometimes adopted theatrical or nonverbal methods to convey his prophesies. He enacted the siege of Jerusalem using a brick and a pan, and the impending exile was represented by his bound body lying on the ground beside the assemblage for the number of days that expressed the years of sin added up by the peoples of Israel and Judah. After wasting away like this for over a year, his head was shaved in disgrace and the cut hair burned and blown away, representing the coming murder, plague, and famine, until only a few strands remained—the surviving exiles.

Lists of Prophecies from Ezekiel

1: The downfall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 7)

2: The departure of God’s glory (Ezekiel 10)

3: False prophets condemned (Ezekiel 13)

4: Jerusalem’s spiritual adultery (Ezekiel 16)

5: Babylon as God’s instrument of punishment (Ezekiel 21)

6: The Lord as the good shepherd (Ezekiel 34)

7: God’s Spirit restored to Israel (Ezekiel 36)

8: The valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37)

9: The battle against Gog (Ezekiel 38,39)

10: The restored Temple and land (Ezekiel 40–48)