The Book of Ezekiel

Ezekiel was a prophet of the Babylonian exile. He grew up in the environs of the Jerusalem temple; he was the son of a Zadokite priest, Buzi. Ezekiel probably was trained for the priesthood, or had already become one.

We know little about him in exile at Tel-Abib ("Hill of the Storm God") except that he was married. In 593 during a thunderstorm he had a wondrous vision of God and received the call to be a prophet.

The Zadokite priesthood rose to power during Josiah's reform movement and became the recognized priesthood in charge of true worship at Jerusalem. Without getting into all of the arguments about dates and authorship, the text cites Ezekiel as living and prophesying in the first half of the 6th century while in Babylon. We do know that the book was heavily edited so it is diffiicult to ascertain whether he wrote in poetry or prose.

Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city of Jerusalm (597 B.C.) and carried the young king, Jehoiachin, with 10,000 (II Kings 24:14) or 3,023 (Jeremiah 52:28) fellow Hebrews (probably royalty) into captive exile. He appointed Zedekiah as a puppet king. Many Hebrews hoped and prayed that Jehoiachin would soon return to rule. But rebellion in Jerusalem led to its destruction in 586.

Thirteen oracles are included in the book with some basis for dating them although they do not appear in chronological order over a period of 23 years.

Notes by Harrell Guard