Ezel 1—Ezekiel’s calling
2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, [the 5th year of Zedekiah’s reign over Judah/Jerusalem]
3 The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.
The rest of Ezek 1 is a vision, to be covered in part 4 of the Book of Ezekiel.
Ezek 2—the prophet is told not to be afraid to speak the Lord’s words to the people
The Holy Spirit speaks to Ezekiel, and sends him to the rebellious Children of Israel. Whether they will listen to him or not, they will know that a prophet has been sent to them.
6 ¶ And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks . . .
7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
Ezekiel is given a book/scroll, a book of mourning and lamenting.
Ezek 3 the prophet is sent as a watchman, and he is responsible to warn the people
Still a part of the interaction with the Holy Spirit in the previous chapter, Ezekiel is told to consume the book/scroll. It is sweet as honey in his mouth. Compare John’s similar experience as recorded in Rev 10:9-10, the scroll he was given to eat was sweet as honey in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach.
Ezekiel is sent to speak the words of the Lord to the captive House of Israel. In an ironic parenthetical remark, he is told that if he had been sent to a foreign nation, they would have listened to him. The House of Israel is “impudent and hardhearted.” But the Lord promises to make Ezekiel equal to the task before him. He is not to be afraid of them. “Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads . . . Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears..”
To Tel-abib, by the river of Chebar, Ezekiel goes and sits with the captives there for 7 days. Then the word of the Lord comes to him, “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.”
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
The Lord sends Ezekiel to “the plain”, where he sees another vision of the glory of the Lord. The Spirit enters him, sets him on his feet, and sends him home. He is warned that he would be taken bound and imprisoned, and he should only speak to the people when the Lord opens his mouth.
Note that the Lord speaks to Ezekiel by inspiration as well as when he feels impelled to do or speak something. For info about Tel-abib and the river Chebar, see
https://biblehub.com/topical/t/tel-abib.htm
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ezekiel/3-15.htm
https://bibleatlas.org/tel-abib.htm
https://bible-history.com/map-babylonian-captivity/tel-abib
Ezek 33 The responsibility of a Watchman; people may change for good or bad; Ezekiel gets word that Jerusalem is destroyed
Ezekiel is commanded to speak to his people about the responsibility of a watchman:
When war comes and the people set up a watchman and he blows the horn to warn the people, whoever hears the horn and ignores it, his blood is on his own head. Those who heed the warning will save themselves. But if the watchman sees an enemy coming and doesn’t blow the horn in warning, whoever is captured bears his own iniquity, but his blood is required at the watchman’s hand.
The Lord tells Ezekiel that He has set him as a watchman to Israel. When he hears the Lord’s words, it’s his duty to warn the people. If Ezekiel doesn’t warn a wicked man to repent, that man will die in his sins, but his blood is required at the prophet’s hand. If the prophet warns the wicked man, but he doesn’t repent, he’ll die in his sins, but the prophet has delivered his own soul.
So the Lord tells Ezekiel to answer the people who question, If our sins are on us and we pine away because of them, how can we live? The Lord says, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
If a righteous person turns from his righteousness, his former righteousness will not save him. If a wicked person turns from his wickedness, he will not suffer for what he has repented of. If a righteous person trusts in his righteousness, thinking he can now get away with sinning, his former righteousness will not be remembered. And if a wicked person repents of his sins, does what is lawful and right, restores any pledge he withheld, returns what he has stolen, walks in the Law of life, not committing sin, none of his former sins will be mentioned to him. (compare Isa 1:18)
People say, The Lord is not being fair, or treating people equally/the same. But the Lord affirms that He will judge every person for the way he behaves.
In the 12th year of the captivity (the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign in Jerusalem), a person who had escaped from Jerusalem comes to Ezekiel and tells him the city was destroyed. The evening before the man came, Ezekiel was unable to speak. But the next morning, after he got the news, the Lord opens his mouth and gives him a charge to tell the people that because of their sins even those who have fled to the wilderness, caves, and places of refuge will die by the sword, by wild animals, and by pestilence. The Lord will lay the whole land waste because of their abominations:
Eating blood (forbidden in the Law of Moses), worshipping idols, shedding blood (not rightfully; possibly a reference to child sacrifice, but could also be mafia-like tactics to gain wealth), committing adultery . . .
The people come together to Ezekiel, asking for the word of the Lord, as if they are God’s people, but then they won’t live by His words. Ezekiel is like a talented singer singing a beautiful song, playing well on an instrument. The people like the song and the singer, but it doesn’t change the way the behave. When all the prophecies of Ezekiel come to pass, as they most definitely will, then they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Ezek 18 The Lord judges every person for their own sins, and doles out befitting consequences
The Lord says, What do you mean saying “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? Israel will no loner have an reason to say this. God cares for every soul, both the father and the son. Those who sin will be punished, and those who live righteously (obey the Law of Moses, the Law of the Lord) will be given Life.
A description of a righteous person is given in terms of what he doesn’t do: eat on the mountains (referring to idol worship in the “high places”), look up to idols, commit adultery, have intercourse with a menstrous woman (forbidden in the Law of Moses), oppress others, keep back the collateral of a debtor, commit (violent) robbery, lend money with interest. The things a righteous man does do: gives food to the hungry, clothes the destitute, refuses to commit iniquity, judges righteously (especially in a position of authority), keeps the commandments, deals honestly with others.
If a righteous man has a wicked son, the son’s blood is on himself. If a wicked man has a son “that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like . . . he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.” People would punish a whole family for what they perceived as wrong in the parent/relative in those days, and in certain societies now. But the Lord says that is not to be done. “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
If a wicked person repents and lives right, “All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” the Lord asks rhetorically. Likewise, if a righteous person turns to wickedness, “All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.”
People accused the Lord of not treating people equally. Yet the Lord does treat people equally under the Law. It is humans who show favor to some and not to others. “I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
Ezek 34 The wicked shepherds of Israel (the sheep/flock) and the True Shepherd of Israel
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
Compare Matt 9:36 “sheep having no shepherd”; John 10 Good Shepherd; Psalm 23; Isa 40:11; Jer 23:1-4; Jer 50:6. The fact that contemporaries (Ezekiel & Jeremiah) used the same metaphor doesn’t mean that one plagiarized another, but that they were both inspired, perhaps even by one another. Additionally, later writers/teachers/thinkers might expand or develop the themes introduced in the Psalms of King David.
The Lord will require an accounting from the shepherds of his flock in caring for themselves at the expense of the sheep. He will fire them from their employment. The Lord Himself will go and look for his scattered sheep and bring them back. He will feed them in good pastures, in safety. He will care for the sick and injured. He will separate the sheep (willing followers) from the goats (self-willed & rebellious). Compare Matt 25:31-33 and following. The Lord asks, Is it such a small thing that you eat up the good pastures, you also stomp down the rest? You not only drink up the waters, but befoul the what’s left.
Beside the metaphor of leader/shepherds, the Lord uses the metaphor of the strong animals of the flock persecuting the weak until they scatter them from the safety of the fold. The Lord says He will rescue his flocks. (Note the term “cattle” can mean any herd animals, not just bovines). He promises to set up one shepherd over them, His servant David, who will care for them. Here David is symbolic of his descendant, especially the Messiah.
A covenant of peace the Lord will make with His people. He will “cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land”. We don’t think of animals as being inherently evil, but people of former times spoke of every bad thing that happened as being an “evil”. It’s interesting that wild lions and bears, for instance, no longer inhabit Israel as they used to. People will be able to live safely in the wilderness, and sleep/camp safely in the woods.
Rain will come in its season, so it can be counted on for agriculture (to water the crops when they are growing, and allow the grains to be harvested in dry weather). Fruit trees will give good yields. In those days the House of Israel will live safely in their land, and will know that the Lord is their God. He will have “broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.” In other words, they will no longer be tributaries to those who take away their goods/prosperity/what they work for. One of the greatest blessings will be that they will no longer have to live in fear of their enemies. They won’t go hungry, nor be shamed by the unbelievers or the idolatrous. Then God’s people will know that He is their God, He is caring for them, and they are His people (metaphorically His flock).
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