Ezekiel

Ezekiel (Heb. Yechezqel, “God strengthens”) is the son of Buzi, a priest carried to Babylon with King Jehoiachin in 597 BC, eleven years before Jerusalem’s final destruction. Settled by the river Chebar near Nippur, he is called by the LORD in the fifth year of his exile, at the age of thirty (Eze.1.1–3). His opening vision is the most elaborate theophany in the Old Testament — four living creatures, wheels within wheels, and the glory of the LORD above the firmament. His message has two great movements: before 586 BC he prophesies the certainty of Jerusalem’s fall, watching the glory of the LORD depart from the temple in successive stages (Eze.8–11); after 586 he turns to comfort and restoration, with the famous visions of the valley of dry bones receiving the breath of life (Eze.37) and the great future temple of chapters 40–48. He communicates often by symbolic action — lying on his side for 390 and 40 days (Eze.4), shaving his hair (Eze.5), refraining from mourning his wife’s sudden death (Eze.24.16–18). His ministry extends to at least the twenty-seventh year of exile (Eze.29.17), about 571 BC.