Delve Into The ProphetsSample

DAY 17 – EZEKIEL

The priest Ezekiel was among the Judeans that Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon in 597 BC. Five years into this exile, God told Ezekiel to “go now to the people of Israel,” meaning both the Israelites in Babylon and those back in Judea, “and speak my words to them.” Like the prophets who came before him, Ezekiel brought God’s message on many occasions by composing finely polished poetic oracles and speaking (or perhaps singing) them in public. But he also used many other forms of communication. At God’s instruction, he told stories that had symbolic meanings, performed and interpreted symbolic actions, and described extraordinary visions that he received. The book of Ezekiel records these various messages that he brought to the people from God.

The book has three main parts:

• Oracles of judgment against Israel 

• Oracles of judgment against other nations 

• Promises of Israel’s restoration

These three parts of the book, which are already distinct in content, are also marked off by references to a unique situation in the prophet’s life. Near the beginning of the first part, God tells Ezekiel he’ll be unable to speak except when God has to say something through him. From then on, Ezekiel can only speak when, as he puts it, “the word of the Lord came to me” or “the hand of the Lord was on me.” At the end of the first part of the book, God tells Ezekiel that someone will soon bring news of the destruction of Jerusalem, and at that point he’ll be able to speak freely again. Early in the third part of the book, this happens. The materials in Ezekiel have therefore been organized thematically into three groups; the references to the prophet becoming unable or able to speak help mark the divisions between them. 

PRAYER: Your Word is amazing, Lord. Help me to understand it – and live according to it.