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Ezekiel, part 1, Introduction

Ezekiel is a book of judgment, restoration, and the glory of God. It explains why Jerusalem was being judged, why exile did not mean that God had abandoned His ultimate goals and purposes, and how God would restore His people by giving them a new heart and His Spirit.

Who Was Ezekiel?

Ezekiel was a priest, the son of Buzi, whom God called to be a prophet while he was living among the exiles in Chaldea, or southern Babylon (Ezekiel 1:1–3). His name means “God strengthens,” a fitting name for a man commissioned to speak to a stubborn and rebellious people. Names usually reflect a prophet’s calling, so in this case, Ezekiel’s name prophesied of the strengthening (reconstitution) of the lost kingdom. It also suggested the reunification of Israel and Judah, which is necessary to fully establish the Kingdom of God.

Ezekiel began to prophesy beside the river, or canal, Chebar. Some older Bible dictionaries identified Chebar with Habor, where some of the exiled Israelites had been deported (1 Chronicles 17:6). However, most scholars now agree that cuneiform documents found at Nippur speak about the Kabaru waterway. Its location agrees with Ezekiel 1:3, “in the land of the Chaldeans.” Chaldea was near the Persian Gulf in the southern part of Babylonia.

Nippur is in southern Iraq, about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Baghdad, near the modern town of Afak. Its ruins are known as Nuffar. The ancient Shatt en-Nil waterway, commonly associated with Ezekiel’s Chebar, ran through Nippur.

When Did Ezekiel Begin to Prophesy?

Daniel is traditionally dated as having been deported to Babylon in 605 B.C., during Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign against Jerusalem. Daniel 1:1–6 places this in the third year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Jehoiakim’s accession year was 609 B.C., and so (as they reckoned it) his first year was 608, and therefore his third year was 605 B.C. It appears that Daniel and his friends were deported a year before Jerusalem actually capitulated to Nebuchadnezzar in 604.

Jehoiakim remained as a vassal king under Nebuchadnezzar for three years (2 Kings 24:1), paying tribute in 603, 602, and 601, according to historical records. Then Nebuchadnezzar suffered a defeat in fighting Egypt, and Jehoiakim stopped paying tribute. When he died in 598, his son Jehoiachin took the throne for just three months, before capitulating to Nebuchadnezzar in 597. Along with 7,000 others, Jehoiachin was brought as a captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24:12–16), where the deposed king spent the next 37 years in a Babylonian dungeon (2 Kings 25:27).

Ezekiel dates his prophecies primarily according to the year of Jehoiachin’s captivity—that is, from 597 B.C.

His prophetic ministry began in approximately 593 B.C.; the latest dated prophecy in the book belongs to approximately 571 B.C.

As a priest, Ezekiel was particularly concerned with the temple, holiness, clean and unclean things, and the distinction between true worship and idolatry. His priestly background helps explain the detailed temple vision near the end of the book. Likewise, we can assume that Ezekiel knew Jeremiah, a fellow priest. We do not know if he knew Daniel personally, but he certainly knew about him (Ezekiel 14:14, 20).

Who Was He Sent To?

God told him in Ezekiel 2:3,

³ … Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me….

Apparently, these were Israelites who had been exiled by the Assyrians more than a century earlier. It appears that these were either immigrants from the north or perhaps forcibly resettled in Chaldea. Keep in mind that Babylon was a province of Assyria until it revolted and overthrew Assyria. Nineveh was overthrown in 612 B.C. by a coalition led by the Babylonians and Medes.

Its fall destroyed Assyria’s principal capital, but Assyrian resistance continued at Harran until 609 B.C. Thus, Nineveh’s destruction and the final collapse of the Assyrian Empire were separate stages.

The wording in Ezekiel 2:3 speaks of “the sons of Israel,” which seems to be distinct from the House of Israel. Individuals do not constitute a nation or even a tribe. I believe these “sons of Israel” had settled in Chaldea near the Chebar canal, not far from where their brethren of Judah were being resettled. Many assume that these “sons of Israel” were from Judah, but Ezekiel maintains the distinction between Judah and Israel throughout his book.

In fact, we read in Ezekiel 3:17 that he was called more broadly to be “a watchman to (the captives of) the House of Israel.” Here he uses the national term, “House of Israel.” This is important, because it signaled a prelude to the ultimate reunification of Israel and Judah prophesied in Ezekiel 37:16-23. In fact, the presence of Israelites living near the Judahites in captivity was, in itself, a prophecy of future reunification.

Nonetheless, after the Edict of Cyrus in 534 B.C., only people from Judah and Benjamin returned to the old land to rebuild under Ezra and Zerubbabel (Ezra 1:5; 2:1). Nehemiah 11:20-36 gives us a list of the specific cities that they rebuilt and resettled. South of Jerusalem the Judahites settled; north of Jerusalem the people of Benjamin settled. By the time of Christ, Galilee was largely the land of Benjamin. This is where Jesus chose most of His disciples.

What Was Ezekiel’s Primary Message?

Ezekiel’s central message was that God would judge His people’s rebellion, vindicate His holy name, and restore them through an inward transformation that He Himself would accomplish.

This unfolds in three principal movements:

Chapters 1-24—Judgment upon Jerusalem. The people’s covenant relationship with God did not protect them from accountability. Idolatry, violence, injustice, and corrupt leadership had defiled the nation and the sanctuary. In chapters 8–11, Ezekiel sees God’s glory depart from the temple. Jerusalem’s destruction would reveal that possessing a temple was no substitute for obedience.

Chapters 25-32—Judgment upon the nations. Israel’s God also ruled the surrounding nations. Their pride, cruelty, and hostility toward His people brought them under His judgment.

Chapters 33-48—Restoration. After Jerusalem fell, the emphasis shifted toward hope: faithful shepherding, cleansing, a new heart, resurrection pictured by dry bones, reunion, and the return of God’s glory. The heart of this promise appears in Ezekiel 36:26–27:

²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.… ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes….”

This is a foundational expression of the New Covenant principle: God does more than command obedience; He supplies the Spirit that changes the heart to bring them into full agreement.

A recurring declaration throughout Ezekiel is “they will know that I am the Lord.” Both judgment and restoration serve that purpose. God also makes clear that restoration rests upon His faithfulness and concern for His holy name, rather than Israel’s merit (Ezekiel 36:22–23).

The book ends with the name of the restored city: Yahweh Shammah, “The Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35). The glory that departed returns, and God’s presence among His people becomes the defining feature of their restoration. This is ultimately fulfilled in Revelation 21:3,

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold the tabernacle of God is among them, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”

This is fulfilled through the second coming of Christ. When Christ came the first time, it was prophesied that He would be called Jesus, “Salvation.” But earlier, Isaiah had prophesied that “they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means ‘God with us’.” (Matthew 1:23). He came the first time to bring salvation, but His second coming brings “God with us.”

The Immanuel prophecy is set forth in the final verse of Ezekiel, and it is fulfilled in Revelation 21:3 when He makes His tabernacle with us and lives among us and in us. Even as the glory had departed from Israel in 1 Samuel 4:22 and later from Judah (Jerusalem) in Ezekiel 10:4, 18, and 11:23, His glory will return to fulfill the Immanuel prophecy.

This is the heart of Ezekiel’s restoration message.