Agere Sequitur Esse

Ezekiel

Book of Ezekiel

Notes.. .

. ..Introduction. By Ezekiel to announce God’s judgement on Israel and other nations and to foretell the eventual salvation for God’s people. People include Ezekiel, Ezekiel’s wife, Israel’s leaders, and Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar. Places include Jerusalem, Babylon, and Egypt.
. ..Themes. God’s Holiness, Sin, Restoration, Leaders, and Worship.
. ..Outline. “The accepted moral and theological underpinnings of life who were of the people of Ezekiel’s day held were evidently inadequate. Instead of right being victorious over wrong, evil forces were securely in control. The people of Judah had accommodated themselves to Egyptian rule” (William Seay 2019, L11 14:28–14:54).
. ..Application. “The book of Ezekiel calls us to live in a fresh and living new encounter with the God of Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. We must be overcomers, or we will be overcome. Thus, Ezekiel issues us nine different challenges” (Seay 2019, L11 28:42–29:02).
. ..Timeline. Daniel was taken captive to Babylon in 605. Ezekiel was taken captive to Babylon in 597. Ezekiel becomes a prophet in 593. Judah falls, and Jerusalem is destroyed in c. 586 BC. Ezekiel’s ministry ends in 571.

Introduction. 10:35 – The purpose is to announce God’s judgement on Israel and other nations and to foretell the eventual salvation for God’s people. The author is Ezekiel. It was written to the Jews in captivity in Babylon and God’s people everywhere. The key people are Ezekiel, Ezekiel’s wife, Israel’s leaders, and Nebuchadnezzar. The key places are Jerusalem, Babylon, and Egypt.

Themes. 11:30 – There are five theological themes. (i) God’s Holiness. Ezekiel had a vision that reveals God’s absolute moral perfection. God was morally and spiritually superior to Israel’s corrupt and compromising society. Ezekiel wrote to let the people know that God was also present in Babylon and not just in Jerusalem. (ii) Sin. Israel has sinned and God’s punishment came. The fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile had been used by God to correct the rebels and draw them back from their sinful way of life. Ezekiel warned them that not only way their nation responsible for sin, but each individual was accountable to God. (iii) Restoration. Ezekiel consoled the people by telling them that the day will come when God will restore those who turn from sin. God will be their king and shepherd. He will give His people a new heart to worship Him and He will establish a new government and a new temple. (iv) Leaders. Ezekiel condemned the shepherds who were the unfaithful priests and leaders who led the people astray. By contrast, he served as a caring shepherd and a watch sentry to warn the people about their sins. One day, God’s perfect shepherd, the messiah, will lead His people. (v) Worship. An angel gave Ezekiel a vision of a temple in great detail. God’s holy presence had departed from Israel and the temple because of their sin. The building of a future temple portrays the return of God’s presence. God will cleanse His people and restore true worship.

Outline. 14:20 – The accepted moral and theological underpinnings of life who were of the people of Ezekiel’s day held were evidently inadequate. Instead of right being victorious over wrong, evil forces were securely in control. The people of Judah had accommodated themselves to Egyptian rule after the death of king Josiah who died at the hands of the Egyptian army under Pharaoh Nico in c. 609 BC. Three months later, the Egyptians deposed the younger but more popular [ ] the people had enthroned. The Egyptians then enthroned Josiah’s older brother, Jehoiachin.

Nebuchadnezzar’s victory over Egypt in one of the world’s great battles in 605 BC imposed Babylonian’s sovereignty upon Judah which still maintained its national, spiritual, and cultural identity. Jehoiachin’s ill timed revolt against Babylon in 597 BC brought Babylon’s full force on Judah. Suddenly, life’s situations drastically changed. Ezekiel and his wife along with 10,000 selected captives were marched off to Babylonian captivity. Priests and craftsman held respectable influential positions in Jerusalem. Suddenly, in Babylon, their positions were reversed. As captives and slaves, they became deposed and inconsequential. Their captures taunted and shamed them because of their allegiance to Yahweh. Soon, the Babylonians gleefully concluded that Yahweh was no equal to their own god.

Confronting such persecution, the people of the captivity faced the following alternatives: (i) They could agree that the gods of Babylon were superior to Yahweh, the God of Israel. That would mean to accept and serve Babylon’s gods; and some captives so responded. This was the policy of accommodation. (ii) They could maintain their military and political rehearsals and not really changed anything. In just a matter of a brief time, God would overthrow Babylon. They would then be able to return home and resume their former roles. This was the policy of blind, fanatical, nationalism. (iii) They could submit to the inevitability of social, religious, and national amalgamation. Their present circumstances were bleak. Such a future looked even worse. This circumstance provides fertile soil for the [ ] of hopeless despair. Many of the captives, especially after Jerusalem’s total destruction by Babylon in c. 586 BC felt that the future held no hope. As far as they could see, they were no better than dead men. This was the policy of fatalism. (iv) They could rediscover the uniqueness of Yahweh worship and recapture the concept of divine sovereignty that had been evident in Israel’s exodus from Egypt. This action necessitated the painful devaluation and rejection of the current religious concepts that seemed to be so adequate such a short time previously. It involved a new emphasis on the ancient covenant with Moses with its long-ignored demands for faith and obedience to covenant stipulation. Such an approach provided explanation for the past, strength for the present, and hope for the future. Ezekiel chose this course. It was a spiritual policy of repentance and covenant renewal.

Destined to begin his life’s ministry as a priest at age 30, Ezekiel was uprooted from his homeland and marched off to Babylon at age 25. For five years, he languished in despair. At age 30, a majestic vision of Yahweh’s glory captivated his being in Babylon. The priest’s prophet discovered that God was not confined to the narrow strictures of Ezekiel’s native land. Instead, He is a universal God who commands and controls persons and nations. In Babylon God imparted to Ezekiel His Word for the people. His call experienced transformation in Ezekiel. He became avidly devoted to God’s Word. He realized that he had nothing personally to assist the captives in their bitter situation, but he was convinced that God’s Word spoke to their condition and could give them victory in Him. Ezekiel used various methods to convey God’s Word to his people. He used art in drawing a depiction of Jerusalem, symbolic actions, and unusual conduct to secure their attention. He cut his hair and beard to demonstrate what God would do to Jerusalem and its inhabitants. From c. 593 BC to c. 571 BC Ezekiel administered to his generation who were exceedingly sinful and thoroughly hopeless. By means of his prophetic ministry, he attempted to bring them to immediate repentance and confide in their distant future. He taught that God works through human messengers.

93 times, Ezekiel is called son of man. Yahweh used this title to address the human messenger. Such a usage occurring so infrequently elsewhere in the OT identified the prophet with His people. God chose to work through a common man who could identify with His people and their grief, pain, and despair. Even in defeat and despair, God’s people need to affirm God’s sovereign Lordship. The term, “I am ‘Yahweh,” or, in other words, ‘I am the Lord’ appears at least 49 times in the book. Such a phrase indicates God’s sovereignty. Nothing can prohibit the accomplishment of His will. God’s sovereignty is universal. His presence was not limited to Israel. He was also present in Babylon using them as tools in His hands to accomplish His will. Ultimately, He calls all people under His judgement. His own people were not exempt when they rebelled. Nevertheless, His wrath gave way to love and redemption for those who would accept and serve Him. God’s Word never fails. No person or nation can prevent the fulfillment of God’s true Word. God’s Word may seem bitter at times. As Ezekiel received the Word, he found it to be sweet and effective. As he studied the scrolls of earlier prophets, God’s Word met his desperate need. Thus, he proclaimed faithfully for it possessed the power to deliver Israel once again as God has delivered the nation from Egypt. God is present and can be worshiped anywhere. Geography has no bearing on God.

In Ezekiel’s era, the people has so associated the worship of God with temple sacrifices, rituals, and services they thought that moving from the Jerusalem temple made worship an impossibility. In Babylon, Yahweh had no temple. Did that mean that they could no longer worship Him effectively? Ezekiel would reply, by no means! He himself settled for the God of Israel in reverence and submission out on the Babylonian plane. Thus, God had become a little sanctuary for them in a foreign land. Worship did not depend on impressive buildings but on submissive parts. Worship was, in essence, spiritual in nature. Anything less borders on idolatry. With that concept, the Babylonian captives began to practice and produce synagogue worship involving prayer, hymn, and Scripture.

People are personally responsible for their actions. Ezekiel’s generation was swift to blame their circumstances on someone else. Ezekiel forcefully declared the doctrine of individual responsibility. Each person was responsible for his or her own response to God. God’s people must obey God if they expect to receive God’s blessings. In Ezekiel’s day, the people tended to emphasize only the blessing of being a covenant people. They ignored the demands of faith and obedience and stipulation of God’s covenant commandments. The prophet repeatedly noted the fallacy of such religious presumptions. He called the people back to the obligations of covenant relationship. God’s kingdom will come.

With the collapse of a nation and demise of a peoples aspiration, Ezekiel hoped to focus the peoples’ attention on the future. He described the kingdom as established by God with a coming messianic ruler that would be without end. In Him, their hopes and God’s policies would, ultimately, be fulfilled. Thus, the future belonged to people of faith who would faithfully serve Him. God’s promised new covenant is superior to the old Mosaic one. While Jeremiah preached in Jerusalem about a new covenant being implemented in place of the Mosaic covenant, Ezekiel assured the people who had been exiled that one-day God would make a new covenant with His people. That covenant would be associated with the coming messiah. In it, they would know peace and again an inclination to serve God.

God provides for the worship needs of His people. In looking to the distant future, Ezekiel saw a time when Israel’s worship would center around a new temple. The new temple would be vastly different from the temple Ezekiel had known from his youth. Even though its size and design would be different, the most radical difference would be the absence of Israel’s most sacred symbol, the ark of the covenant. Instead, the very glory of Yahweh would inhabit the house and His followers would serve Him.

Application. 28:35 – The book of Ezekiel calls us to live in a fresh and living new encounter with the God of Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. We must be overcomers, or we will be overcome. Thus, Ezekiel issues us nine different challenges: (i) To experience a life changing vision of God’s power, knowledge, eternal presence, and holiness. (ii) To let God direct us from the expected path of service to the existing avenues of ministry. (iii) To realize the sweetness and effectiveness of God’s Word to challenge and direct our lives. (iv) To comprehend the depth of a commitment to evil that lodges in each human heart. (v) To identify with the humanity of the very one whose lifestyle we must understand and condemn. (vi) To recognize that God holds His service responsible for warning wicked men of their peril. (vii) To understand that momentary tragedy is not God’s ultimate purpose for our lives. (viii) To experience a living relationship with Jesus Christ who said that the new covenant is to be found in His blood. (ix) To depend upon God daily being confident that His kingdom will suffice both now and forever.

Timeline. 30:50 – Daniel was taken captive to Babylon about c. 605 BC. Ezekiel was taken captive to Babylon about c. 597 BC. Ezekiel becomes a prophet through the exile in c. 593 BC. Judah falls, and Jerusalem is destroyed in c. 586 BC. Ezekiel’s ministry ends in c. 571 BC.

Again, it is important to remember that the term, I am Yahweh, which means, I am Lord, appears 49 times in the book of Ezekiel. Such a phrase indicates God’s sovereignty.

Ref.

Seay, William. 2019. Old Testament Theology [MP3]. Andersonville Theological Seminary (ATS). Camilla, GA: ATS