November 1

Ezekiel 1:1-3:5; Hebrews 3:1-19; Psalm 104:1-23; Proverbs 26:24-26

Hooray!  I so rarely get to be the one to begin a new book.  And Esther has given us such lovely introductions to others, I'm inspired to give some background information on the book of Ezekiel.  (We may need some extra encouragement, too, as we begin another long book of prophecy.)

Ezekiel is a priest (see Ez. 1:3), which puts him in a small sub-group of prophets.  (Of the sixteen books of prophecy, only three [Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah] are written by priests from the line of Aaron.)  He writes during the exile (vs. 1), when Judah is in captivity in Babylon.  His book is organized chronologically, so the vision he receives by the Kebar River is the beginning of his prophetic ministry.  It's interesting that the exiles are by the river.  As we saw in Paul's missionary journeys, he frequently found groups of God-followers by the rivers outside the city.  When there was no synagogue, no temple, no formal place of worship, Jews would meet outside the city walls near a river or other body of water that could be used for ceremonial washing.  Perhaps this tradition was already in place by the time of the exile, explaining the location of their homes (see 3:15).  (In fact, one of the captivity psalms, Psalm 137, mentions meeting by the rivers of Babylon.)  The community of exiles meets here to worship, to lament, and - now - to hear the visions of Ezekiel.

And Exekiel's visions are striking.  Living creatures with four wings and four faces; a man's figure, glowing as with fire or molten metal; a scroll, full of lament but sweet as honey.  That's just the first three chapters!  

We'll see that the first half of Ezekiel will prophesy about the eventual destruction of the city of Jerusalem.  We'll see that, after this complete and terrible judgment comes to pass, Ezekiel's prophecies will change, speaking first about God's accounting of the nations surrounding Israel and then about the future restoration and hope for the exiled nation.  Throughout, Ezekiel will consider the glory of God (as in Ez. 3:12).

Notice, too, that God calls Ezekiel, over and over again, by the name "son of man" (see Ez. 2:1, 3, 6, 8 and 3:1, 3, 4, 10, and many, many other places throughout the book). This appellation emphasizes Ezekiel's humanity, and will be an epithet used for Jesus himself (see Mt. 16:13), thus stressing Christ's identification with mankind.

So while this book was written at a specific time and for a certain group of people, it has been preserved for our benefit today.  We are reminded of God's holiness, his other-ness, his perfection and awesomeness.  We see again how seriously God takes sin.  We remember God's interest in man, his creation, and we hope anew with the exiles, as exiles ourselves, for the restoration to come. 

- Sarah Marsh

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