The MAJOR & MINOR Prophets - The 16 Writing Prophets Of The Hebrew Canon

The Book of Ezekiel The year was 597 B.C., a sad year indeed for the 10,000 Jews rounded up in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. This was the second of three deportations of captive Jews from the capital city of Judea back to Babylon. Jerusalem, as a tributary, had caused the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar a real headache. Ideally, captive peoples should settle down, pay their tribute and be happy they ZHUH SURWHFWHG E\ VXFK D VXSHULRU QDWLRQ 7KH -HZV GLGQ·W IHHO WK at way and when the Babylonian forces would pull out, the Jews would revert to their insubordination. Finally, Nebuchadnezzar returned in 586 B.C. for the final siege and total destruction of Jerusalem and conquest of Judah. At that time, the Temple was destroyed, and the final deportation of captives took place. Our present interest is the second deportation in 597 B.C. Although the prophet Jeremiah, by divine command, had consistently told the Jews to submit to Babylon, they consistently refused; thus, their bad attitude left Nebuchadnezzar no alternative. The puppet king Jehoiachin and 10,000 captives (including craftsmen, 1 many nobles and priests and the better class of the population, 2 Kings 24:14 ff; Jer. 29:1-2) were gathered and taken the more than 1,000-mile march back to Babylon. This was not like a vacation trip; these people were being uprooted and transplanted, requiring them to relinquish homes, possessions and businesses -- and acclimate to a new culture, language and environment. For many, the harshest part of the judgment was to leave the Temple and the land of Abraham, the core of their religious belief. Ezekiel (and probably his wife) were among the captives of t KH VHFRQG GHSRUWDWLRQ (]HNLHO·V QDPH ´VWUHQJWKHQHG E\ *RGµ ZDV FHUWDLQO\ WLPHO\ for facing such challenging times in Babylonia.

He was apparently 25 years old at the time, and his call to be a prophet came five years later in Babylon. Ezekiel was of priestly descent, like Jeremiah (Jer 1:1) and Zechariah (Zec 1:1; Neh 12:16). 2 Daniel, possibly two years younger than Ezekiel, had been taken as a teenager in the first deportation, and was now prominent and well established in Babylon as head of the wise men. In Babylonia, Ezekiel and his wife lived in their own house in a Jewish colony called Tel-abib by the river Chebar (1:1; 3:15; 8:1), probably the great ship canal that ran out of the Euphrates, just north of Babylon. Priests become active in that ministry at the age of 30, so it seems significant that when Ezekiel became 30 (1:1), he received the prophetic call that lasted some 22 years. Apparently, his priestly background fitted him well to UHFHLYH WKH YLVLRQV RI *RG·V KROLQHVV DQG GHWDLOV RI WKH FRPLQJ NLQJGRP +H DFWXDOO\ EHFDPH ´D V\QWKHVLV DV LW ZHUH RI SURSKHW DQG SULHVW µ 3

1 Leon Wood, The Prophets of Israel, p. ³KH ZDQWHG WKHVH WR EROVWHU KLV RZQ ZRUNLQJ IRUFH LQ %DE\ORQLD ´ 2 Hobart Freeman, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets, S ³-HUHPLDK EHORQJHG DV D SULHVW WR WKH OLQH RI ,WKDPDU Ezekiel, as a Zadokite deriving his descent from the line of Eleazar the son of Aaron, was of the priestly aristocracy, which may account for his exile, while Jeremiah was allowed to remain EHKLQG LQ WKH GHSRUWDWLRQ RI WKH UR\DO KRXVH DQG QRELOLW\ LQ ´ 3 Ibid., p. 303.

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