PROPHET EZEKIEL

Group 4

HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDThe book of Ezekiel is part of the

larger collection of Israel’s prophecies that include Jeremiah and Isaiah. 

The prophet Ezekiel received his prophetic call at the age of thirty (594B.C.E.). 

The historical circumstances of his teenage years arguably influenced his twenty-twoyear prophetic ministry (593–571 B.C.E.). 

As a youth, Ezekiel lived during the social and spiritual reformation instituted by king Josiah (639-609 B.C.E.). 

The purging of pagan priests from the Jerusalem temple and the destruction of local shrines purified the toxic polytheism that raged through Judah. As a priest, Ezekiel must have welcomed the religious cleansing of the temple as well as the reinstatement of the ancient Israelite laws and worship practices. Following the death of king Josiah at Megiddo, the nation of Judah began to regress back to her pagan ways.

KING JOSIAH Josiah is credited by most historians with having established or compiled important Hebrew Scriptures during the Deuteronomic reformthat occurred during his rule.

Josiah became king of Judah at the age of eight, after the assassination of his father, King Amon, and reigned for thirty-one years,

He was married and lost his wife in 587 B.C.E. when Jerusalem was overtaken and destroyed by the Babylonians.

The book of Ezekiel recorded fourteen precise dates for individual oracles. Over half of the dates occurred in the oracles against the nations.

Several prophetic visions recorded Ezekiel being transported from Babylon to Jerusalem and back. 

His unique personality and actions have led modern scholars to describe him as schizophrenic, catatonic,and psychotic.

Roughly coinciding with Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry was the rise of the neo-Babylonian dynasty (605–562 B.C.E.) under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar II. 

NEBUCHADNEZZAR II was a Chaldean king of

the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who reigned c. 605 BC – 562 BC. Both the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the destruction of Jerusalem's temple are ascribed to him. He is featured in theBook of Daniel and is mentioned in several other books of the Bible.

The Babylonians overtook the land routes from Africa to Asia once controlled by the Egyptians. Following a brief reign of Josiah’s youngest son Jehoahaz, the Egyptian pharaoh Necho placed Eliakim, the eldest son of the deceased king, as the vassal over Judah. 

After the appointment, Eliakim took the regnal name Jehoiakim. In 605 BC, Jehoiakim transferred his allegiance to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, which he repudiated three years later.

JEHOIAKIMwas a king of Judah

 from 608 to 598 BCE. He was the second son of kingJosiah by Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

His birth name was Eliakim

It was during this tumultuous time that the young Ezekiel was deported in 597 B.C.E. to Babylon and his hopeof fulfilling his priestly office in Jerusalem was abolished. 

He along with other exiles settled in Tel Abib (3:15) near the “River Chebar,” probably not far from the city of Nippur in Babylon.While residing in this area, Ezekiel received his prophetic call in the fourth year of exile.

TEL ABIB

The prophet Ezekiel was among the first to be taken captive to Babylon. According to the Bible he lived at a place called Tel-abib which was by the River Chebar or (grand canal)

The prophet himself identified the fate of his people by taking on the suffering and dramatizing their fate through personal anguish and agony.Yet, the people over time accepted their new home in Babylon and the message of Ezekiel. The conditions in Babylon were favorable and comfortable. The displaced people flourished so much so that many refused to return to their homeland when given the opportunity. 

The message of Ezekiel differed from the words proclaimed by Jeremiah and Hosea. He argued the people were corrupt from the beginning. Furthermore, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were considered deviant offspring of sin and surpassed deplorable Samaria.

Ezekiel cherished the hope reposed in the monarchal covenant betweenYahweh and David. The prophet reapplied the Davidic promise by emphasizing its fulfillment inthe future. The message of restoration reached a climax through the oracles of hope in 33:1– 34:24. The vision of the revitalization of the dry bones in 37:1–14 promised the miraculousrenewal and restoration of the exiles to Palestine

AUTHORSHIPExternal Evidence: - Ezekiel was considered to be the

author of this book until the Twentieth Century when in 1924 Gustav Hoelscher first questioned authorship based upon questionable internal evidence.

- Therefore, external evidence is almost unanimously in favor of the prophet Ezekiel as the book's author

Internal Evidence: - The autobiographical style of the book supports Ezekiel as the author of the book (I, me, my are in almost every chapter of the book; cf. chapter 2:1-10)

- The book has a uniformity of language, style, theme, and message which support the theory of a single author

- Hill and Walton write, The lack of strict chronological ordering of the literature may argue in favor of Ezekiel as the compiler of the oracles, since it is very likely another editor would have been more concerned with the deliberate sequencing of the dated materials.

PURPOSES OF THE BOOK

To speak locally to the exiles whom Jeremiah addresses by letter (e.g., Jer. 29), as people who continue to listen to false prophets and practice idolatry. The contents of Ezekiel indicate that little has changed in the attitude of the Jewish people who have come to Babylon.

To outline the blessing that follows necessary judgment

 To emphasize God's sovereignty which will bring about judgment and restoration

To warn Israel as a watchman of imminent judgment

To stress the need for individual responsibility and national accountably before God

It was written to announce judgment upon Judah, to allow them one last chance to repent. It also foretells of the coming deliverance of God’s nation from captivity in Babylon. It mainly discusses the events during the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel is a priest who is called by God to deliver His messages.

SUMMARY OF THE BOOK

The book of Ezekiel is Narrative History, Prophetic and Apocalyptic in genre and even contains Parables. The prophet Ezekiel wrote it approximately 571 B.C. (this date is accurately precise because this book contains more defined dates than any other book in the Bible.) Key personalities include Ezekiel, Israel’s leaders, Ezekiel’s wife, King Nebuchadnezzar, and “the prince”.

The Book of Ezekiel has the most logical arrangement of any of the prophetic books. It contains three sections, each of which addresses a different subject matter.

Chapters 1–24 concern the fall of Jerusalem.

Chapters 25–39 contain a series of oracles addressed to foreign nations, concluding with a section in which the future of Israel is contrasted with that of the foreign nations.

The third section, Chapters 40–48, presents a plan for rebuilding the Temple and reorganizing the restored state of Israel.

CHAPTERS 1–24 CONCERN THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. The book opens with an account of the vision

that summoned Ezekiel to his prophetic calling. Ezekiel describes his vision as an elaborate and complex image that symbolizes the majesty of Yahweh and proclaims Yahweh's sovereignty over all the nations of the earth. 

The people who were left in Jerusalem after the first captivity consoled themselves with the idea that they were better off than their brethren who were taken to Babylon. They believed that Yahweh would protect them from any foreign power and that neither the city of Jerusalem nor the Judean kingdom would ever be overthrown. 

Ezekiel's task was to disillusion them with reference to this hope, to make clear to them that the city would be destroyed and also the reasons why it would be overthrown. To accomplish these tasks, the prophet performed a number of symbolic acts. 

Ezekiel explained that for each day he lay on his left side, northern Israel would be in captivity for one year, and for each day he lay on his right side, the southern kingdom — Judah — would spend a year in captivity. He cut off his hair, dividing it into three parts that symbolized northern Israel, the Judeans left in Jerusalem, and those in captivity in Babylon.

According to the prophet, the reason for the captivities that had already occurred, as well as for the one in store for the people left in Jerusalem, is the people's defiance of Yahweh's laws. Because Ezekiel believes that Yahweh rules supreme over all the nations of the earth, any violation of Yahweh's commands without appropriate punishment constitutes an infringement upon the deity's honor.

Jerusalem must be destroyed because of its sins. In his enumeration of these sins, Ezekiel includes both moral and ceremonial transgressions, but he noticeably places the greater emphasis on matters pertaining to the ceremonial. 

He condemns the worship of idols that represent foreign deities, and he severely censures people who eat forbidden meat or violate any of the other rules having to do with the conduct of worship. Coming into direct contact with that which is unclean contaminates Yahweh's sanctuary and profanes his holy name, which Yahweh will not tolerate.

Ezekiel, no less than Jeremiah, sees the significance of the individual in his relationship to Yahweh. Rejecting the ideas that fathers may be punished for the sins of their sons and the sons punished for the sins of their fathers, he boldly states that the soul that sins shall die.

CENTRAL THEMESEzekiel, meaning God will

strengthen, is one of the major Prophets of The Bible. The son of Buzi the priest (Ezekiel 1:3) Ezekiel lived during the Babylonian Exile, among the Jews who settled at Tel-Abib in Babylon (not to be confused with Tel-Aviv, which is in Israel). He was among those taken away captive with Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:14-16) which occurred about 597 BC., 11 years before Jerusalem was completely destroyed (Ezekiel 33:21)

Ezekiel lived in his own house (Ezekiel 8:1) near the Chebar River, where he held a leading position among the exiles. By his own account, here's how Ezekiel received his calling.

The Book of Ezekiel is one of the greatest prophetic works of the Bible, providing a magnificent panorama of what the future holds in store for humanity and the world. A number of Ezekiel's prophecies are reiterated in the Book of Revelation, including the cherubim (Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4), Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38, Revelation 20), eating the scroll (Ezekiel 3, Revelation 10), the River of Living Water (Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22), and the New Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40-48, Revelation 22).

OTHER MAJOR THEMES OF EZEKIEL'S WORK:

Ezekiel's commission from God as a "watchman" (Ezekiel chapters 2-3)

The siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel chapters 4-7)

The parable of the two eagles (Ezekiel chapter 17)

"The soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20), so repent while there is time (Ezekiel 18:30-32)

The apparent fall of David's throne (Ezekiel chapter 19), but which actually survived, to this day, through Zedekiah's royal daughters who were not slaughtered with the king's sons, and who later escaped with Jeremiah (Jeremiah 43:6).

Oholah and Oholibah, a parable of Israel and Judah's unfaithfulness (Ezekiel chapter 23)

Prophecies against Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia (Ezekiel chapter 25), Tyre (Ezekiel chapters 26-28), and Egypt (Ezekiel chapters 29-32)

The "valley of dry bones" resurrection of Israel (Ezekiel chapter 37)

Gog and Magog (Ezekiel chapters 38-39)

The New Temple (Ezekiel chapters 40-48)

Ezekiel's ministry lasted over twenty years, a time contemporary with two of the other major prophets, Daniel and Jeremiah. Daniel was among the earlier group of Jews taken into captivity, about 606 BC, while Jeremiah witnessed the actual destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

MESSAGE ANG TEACHINGSChapters1-24

These tell about the destruction of Jerusalem and the sin that made it necessary. Ezekiel began his prophecy in the 5th year of Jechoiachin's captivity. The one on the throne sent the man in linen to scatter fire over the.

Chapters 25-32Here is described the powerful

God who will handle the other nations as certainly as he had Israel and Judah.

Chapters 33-48This last part describes the new

exodus when God would bring His people back to the land. Ezekiel is like Moses, receiving instructions about a coming temple and recording laws for the people. (Remember that the wilderness tabernacle or tent was a small version of the more-permanent temple.) The crisis of chapters 38 and 39 is resolved in the rest of the book with the new temple and ultimately with the New Jerusalem which we see coming down at the end of the thousand years. Or we might say that the faithful who are seen in those chapters avoid the pitfalls described.