administrator, Bureaucrats, bureaucrats, checkuser, editor, emailconfirmed, move, Administrators
3,292
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
{{DOD-August}}
[[Ezekiel]] was a [[prophet]] of the captivity. He was carried to [[Babylon]] in 597 b.c., eleven years before [[Jerusalem]] was destroyed. He was the son of a Zadokite priest. His wife died the day the siege of [[Jerusalem]] began.
[[Ezekiel]] 's prophetic ministry began in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's exile, and continued until at least April, 571 b.c. As we read the Book of [[Ezekiel]] we will notice a striking resemblance to the Book of the Revelation. While [[Jeremiah]] was in Palestine prophesying the destruction of [[Jerusalem]], [[Ezekiel]] , his younger contemporary, was in [[Babylon]], declaring the same fate for the apostate city.
[[Ezekiel]] 's ministry was principally to the exiles, and his messages had a large note of consolation in them. He showed his suffering colleagues that the [[Lord]] was justified in sending His people into captivity. His ministry centered in showing the preventive and corrective nature of [[God]]'s chastenings, that His people might "know that He is [[God]]." This expression is found many times throughout the book.
In chapters 1--3 [[God]]'s glory is revealed to [[Ezekiel]]. [[Ezekiel]] was a priest in captivity, and thus unable to exercise his ministry, since he was away from the Temple and the sacred [[altar]]. But [[God]] opened the heavens to him and called him to be a [[prophet]]. He had been in captivity for five years when his call came. It was [[Ezekiel]] 's task to tell the people that [[God]] was going to destroy [[Jerusalem]], not [[Babylon]], but that there would be a day when the glorious restoration of the people and the Temple would come to pass. The phrase, "The [[Word]] of the [[Lord]] came," is used 49 times in this book. How wonderful to know that [[God]]'s [[Word]] is never far from [[God]]'s people.
