Book of Ezekiel

Book of Ezekiel

Author

The name Ezekiel means Strengthened by God. The opening verses of the book name Ezekiel, son of Buzi, as the author.

Date

Ezekiel prophesied from 592 B.C. to 571 B.C.

His Situation

- Ezekiel, along with 10,000 other Jews, are taken captive and exiled from Judah in 597 B.C.

- 5 years later Ezekiel began to prophecy (Ezekiel 1:13)

- He lived in a Jewish community of exiles near the Kevar river south-east of the city ob Babylon (3:15)

- The Jews in exile grapple with some serious issues. God addresses these issues through Ezekiel.

Message and purpose

The issues the exiles are dealing with are:

a) in the midst of the foreign culture the Jews could lose their national / spiritual distinctions.

b) the Jews wonder why they are in exile and if their God still cares for them.

c) they wonder if their God can or will restore them.

Ezekiel addresses these issues. He corrects them and warns them that judgment has come because of Sin.

He comforts them and gives them hope. The people will be restored.

He informs them that God is sovereign and powerful. He will deal with the Jews but also with their enemies.

The phrase, "They shall know that I am God" occurs 30 times in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel experiences unusual visions which symbolize the past and refer to the future.

The book of Ezekiel can be broken into four sections: the call and commission of Ezekiel (1-3), the judgment on Judah (4-24), the judgment on the Gentile nations (25-32) and the restoration of Israel (33-48). Like the books of Daniel and Revelation, Ezekiel belong to the apocalyptic writings.

Characteristics of this type of writing include the use of symbolism, visions, parables and symbolic actions. Ezekiel uses many of these avenues of expression to impress upon his fellow exiles that God's Judgment was not yet finished but that a future time of hope and restoration was coming.

Audience

- The Jewish exiles in Babylon

Return to Old Testament from the Book of Ezekiel