Ezekiel 1:1-3

Chapter Two

EZEKIEL'S INAUGURAL VISION
1:1-28

Before a prophet could speak to others, God had to speak to him. A special call vision catapulted the apprentice priest Ezekiel into the prophetic ministry. The vision of the divine chariot the Merkabah as it is known in Jewish literature is a fitting introduction to his career. Jewish mystics have always been fascinated with this material. More recently science fiction writers have subjected the Merkabah to the most detailed scrutiny in search of evidence that spaceships from other worlds have landed on this planet, Much has been written on this chapter of Scripture. Often the discussion has centered on the mechanics of the Merkabah rather than the message which God is trying to communicate through this vision.

In chapter 1 of his book Ezekiel discusses (1) the setting (Ezekiel 1:1-3) and (2) the substance (Ezekiel 1:4-28) of his inaugural vision. -s-'

1. THE SETTING OF THE VISION 1:1-3

TRANSLATION

(1) NOW it came to pass in the thirtieth year, the fourth month, the fifth day of the month that I was in the midst of the captives beside the river Chebar. The heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. (2) In the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the captivity of King Jehoiachin) (3) the word of the LORD came most assuredly to Ezekiel son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans beside the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD came upon him there.

COMMENTS

The first three verses are in the nature of a preface to the Book of Ezekiel. Two distinct statements can be identified here. Ezekiel 1:1 is in the first person and Ezekiel 1:2-3 are in the third person.[51] Some critics think two distinct superscriptions are used here, superscriptions which at one time headed separate collections of Ezekiel's writings. It is better, however, to regard Ezekiel 1:2-3 as a parenthetical insertion by Ezekiel himself designed to explain the puzzling, indefinite expressions in Ezekiel 1:1. That Ezekiel 1:2-3 are an integral part of this book can be seen in the fact that they provide, in addition to the date for the book, the customary information about the author. The following chart sets forth the differences between the autobiographical and parenthetical superscriptions to the book.

[51] Ezekiel 1:3 is the only verse in the book in which Ezekiel's personal experiences are described in the third person.

THE SUPERSCRIPTION TO THE BOOK

Ezekiel 1:1

Ezekiel 1:23

FORM

First Person

Third Person

DATE

Thirtieth Year

Fifth Year of Jehoiachin's Captivity

Fourth month
Fifth day

Fifth day

PLACE

In the midst of the captives by the river Chebar

In the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar

EXPERIENCE

Heavens were opened, 1 saw visions of God

Word of the lord came assuredly unto Ezekiel
Hand of the LORD was there upon him

RECIPIENT

Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest

The preface to the Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1-3) presents the setting for the inaugural vision of the prophet. These verses set forth information regarding (1) the recipient; (2) the time; (3) the place; and (4) the nature of the vision.

A. The Recipient of the Call Vision

The author of the book identifies himself for the first time in Ezekiel 1:3. He is Ezekiel the son Of Buzi. The name Ezekiel means God strengthens. Nothing further is known of his father beyond what is said here. The title the priest properly belongs to the name Buzi as is indicated by the Hebrew accent marks. Ezekiel would also be a priest, however, as the Old Testament priesthood was hereditary.

In the first three Chapter s of Ezekiel that moment in time is described in which the fledgling priest was called to be a prophet. A prophet is one who speaks for another (Exodus 7:1; Exodus 4:16). This involved speaking for God to man through sermon and oracle, and it involved speaking for man to God in intercessory prayer. While the priesthood was hereditary, one could only become a prophet who was divinely chosen to be so. Priests interpreted the law of God and led in the divinely ordained Temple rituals. Prophets interpreted history in the light of the Law, urged compliance to the spirit of the Law in the present, and announced God's plans for the near and distant future as those plans related to Israel and the neighboring nations as well. While both priest and prophet fulfilled vital functions, the ministry of prophet was somewhat broader and less affected by time Priests were concerned with Old Covenant law and ritual the types and shadows which according to God's grand plan were to pass away. Prophets were concerned with basic timeless principles and with the ultimate developments of God's program for this earth. While the names of even the greatest priests are scarcely known today, the prophets through their writings continue to instruct, challenge, guide and rebuke the sons of men

B. The Time of the Call Vision

Ezekiel's inaugural receives double dating. In Ezekiel 1:1 the vision is dated in terms of Ezekiel's own life; in Ezekiel 1:2, according to the captivity of King Jehoiachin.

1. The personal dating (Ezekiel 1:1). Ezekiel was thirty years old when he received the divine call to be a prophet.[52] From Ezekiel 1:2 it can be computed that the call vision fell in the year 593 B.C. This would mean that Ezekiel was born about 622 B.C. during the reign of good King Josiah. He was born four years after Jeremiah began his ministry, and one year before the discovery of the lost book of the Law in the Temple. The dated prophecies in this book cover a span of twenty-two years, and thus Ezekiel's prophetic activity centered in the period of his life between the ages of thirty and fifty-two.

[52] This interpretation of the thirtieth year in Ezekiel 1:1 seems to have been proposed first by the church father Origen (d. A.D. 253). The objection has been raised that it is rather unusual for a prophet to call attention to his age. It must be remembered, however, that Ezekiel was an unusual prophet, Ezekiel 1:1 presents certain unique characteristics on any interpretation. See Harrison, JOT, p. 838.

It is strange that nothing is said in the Old Testament or in Jewish tradition about the age at which a priest began to serve. However, under the Law of Moses Levites entered into their service at the age of thirty (Numbers 4:23; Numbers 4:30), and the probability is rather strong that this was the normal age for entering priestly service as well.[53] If this is so, then Ezekiel never functioned as a priest prior to his deportation in 597 B.C., for as Ezekiel 1:2 clearly shows, his thirtieth year fell in 593 B.C. While he never officiated in the Temple, Ezekiel must have studied for years the intricate details of priestly ritual. His thirtieth birthday would have been particularly sad for the son of Buzi because he knew he would never succeed his father in the sacred vocation for which he had prepared throughout his youth. This was a crucial time in the life of Ezekiel. Since it would not be possible for this godly man to serve the Lord as a priest, God called him to another and even more vital sphere of service.

[53] It was at this age that Jesus commenced his priestly ministry. John the Baptist was also in his thirtieth year when he began to preach on the banks of Jordan.

Some scholars feel that the thirty years should be reckoned from some fixed point in Babylonian or Jewish history. Thus in one scheme the thirty years are counted from the accession of Nabopolassar in 626 B.C. This would yield a date of 596 B.C., one year after the deportation of Ezekiel and ten thousand of his countrymen. This computation would not square with the fifth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin mentioned in Ezekiel 1:2. Even less justification exists for counting the thirty years from 621 B.C. when the lost lawbook was discovered in the Jerusalem Temple.[54] As important as this event was in the history of the monarchy, no example of reckoning time from this year can be adduced in the Old Testament.[55]

[54] An interpretation advocated in the Targum and in Fisch, SBB, p. 1.

[55] For a host of other interpretations of the thirtieth year see Blackwood, EPH, pp. 35-36. Blackwood overstates the difficulty of the expression when he calls the interpretation here an insoluble puzzle.

So important was the inaugural vision in the life of Ezekiel that he dates it as to month and day as well as year. The call came in the fourth month. Ezekiel here follows the normal preexilic custom of numbering rather than naming the month. In post-exilic times the fourth month was known as Tammuz. Converted into modern day equivalents, Ezekiel's call vision occurred on July 31, 593.

2. The national dating (Ezekiel 1:2). The vision is further dated to the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity. Jehoiachin was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar when he surrendered to the Chaldean conqueror on March 20, 597 B.C. The fifth year of the captivity would thus fall in 593 B.C.

Most of the dates in Ezekiel are given in terms of the captivity of Jehoiachin. It has been suggested that Ezekiel regarded Jehoiachin as the legitimate ruler of the Jews even though he had reigned only for three months after the death of his father Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:8).[56] However this may be reading too much into Ezekiel's dating system. The captivity of Jehoiachin involved Ezekiel as well, and may simply have been the most convenient way of measuring time for the captives.

[56] Carley, BPE, p. 10.

The call of Ezekiel did not occur in a historical vacuum. There were antecedents to that inaugural vision. False prophets had arisen in Babylon peddling their nauseating platitudes to the effect that Jerusalem would never be conquered by the Chaldeans and that those Jews in Babylon would shortly be heading home. At least two of the false prophets who were stirring up the captives against the Chaldean government were executed by being burned in a furnace (Jeremiah 29:21-22). Jeremiah wrote a letter to the captives urging that they settle down and submit themselves to the will of God. The prophet from Anathoth predicted that the Babylonian empire would endure for seventy years, and only then would there be any hope of return to Palestine. This letter was sent shortly after the deportation of 597 B.C. Furthermore, in the fourth year of the captivity (594 B.C.) Zedekiah the puppet king of Judah had attempted to throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. When rumors of the conspiracy reached the ears of Nebuchadnezzar he summoned Zedekiah to Babylon to renew his vassal commitment (Jeremiah 51:59). All of this produced confusion in the camp along the Chebar. In the midst of this ferment Ezekiel was called to deliver God's infallible word to the exiles.

C. The Place of the Vision

The inaugural vision took place in the land of the Chaldeans (Ezekiel 1:3). Although originally the Chaldeans and Babylonians were ethnically distinct groups, at this stage of history the two terms were used interchangeably. The land of the Chaldeans is the southern Mesopotamian basin. It is not altogether certain when the Chaldeans began to filter into this region from the SyroArabian desert, but the Assyrian kings found the Chaldeans a formidable force under the leadership of Merodach-Baladan in the late eighth century. Under Nabopolassar (626-605 B.C.) the Chaldeans were able to extricate southern Mesopotamia from the grip of the Assyrians and found what was destined to become the most powerful and wealthy empire which had heretofore existed on the face of the earth.

Ezekiel was by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1) at the time God called him to the prophetic ministry. The Jewish captives were not in confinement, but were restricted to a certain area of the land. It is now known that the river Chebar was not actually a river, but an enormous irrigation canal. The remains of this canal are known as Shatt en Nil. The canal started from the Euphrates above Babylon, flowed southeasterly sixty miles through Nippur, and re-entered the Euphrates near Uruk. Evidence of one large Jewish settlement near Nippur has come to light. The river Chebar is known in Babylonian inscriptions as Naru Kabari, the grand canal.

He was in the midst of the captives (Ezekiel 1:1) when he received his majestic vision. What a mixed group they were! Some had given up on God because of the misfortunes which had befallen them. They had compromised with the materialistic culture of Babylon. Others clung desperately at the outset to the illusion that God would never let Jerusalem be destroyed that God would shortly bring them back to their homeland.

Ezekiel was not the first to receive divine revelation during the Babylonian exile. Daniel had preceded Ezekiel into captivity in 605 B.C. and had begun his prophetic ministry in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar (603-602 B.C.; Daniel 2:1 ff.). But whereas Daniel spoke only to government officials, Ezekiel spoke to the needs of the Jewish captives.

Some critics are unable to accept these statements regarding Ezekiel's location at face value. They think that because this prophet shows such familiarity with the Temple and with the situation in Jerusalem that he must have actually written this book in Palestine. Therefore, it should be underscored that here in the preface Babylon is stipulated as the place of his call, and time and again throughout the book it is mentioned as the place of his labors.[57]

[57] See Ezekiel 3:11; Ezekiel 3:15; Ezekiel 3:23; Ezekiel 10:15; Ezekiel 10:20; Ezekiel 10:22; Ezekiel 11:24-25

D. The Manner of the Call Vision

In the preface of his book Ezekiel states in a general way what he will amplify in the rest of Chapter s 1-3. The vision began when the heavens were opened. Whether to the prophet's mental eye or to his physical eye, the heavens unfolded like curtains of a stage to reveal to him the divine glory.

The phrase visions of God could be legitimately understood in more than one way. Often the Hebrews would add the name of God to a noun to express greatness or majesty. Thus, Psalms 36:6 in the Hebrew refers to the mountains of God by which is meant great mountains.[58] Thus, visions of God could be translated great or majestic visions. But Currey is correct when he observes that .. the visions were not only supremely majestic, but visions of the majesty of God.[59] The Hebrew then may also be translated divine visions, i.e., visions concerning God or devised by God.

[58] See also Psalms 80:10; Psalms 65:9

[59] Currey, BC, p. 18.

By means of visions and dreams God communicated to individuals known as prophets in Old Testament times (Numbers 12:6). The Israelite prophet (nabhi) was also known as a seer (ro-'eh or chozeh). The term ro-'eh is used of Samuel and Hanani (1 Samuel 9:9; 2 Chronicles 16:7). Isaiah still employed this term in reference to prophets in the eighth century (Isaiah 30:10). The Chronicler uses the title chozeh for such prophets as Gad and Iddo (2 Chronicles 9:29; 2 Chronicles 29:25). The prophecy of Isaiah begins with the phrase, The vision (chazon) of Isaiah. which he saw (chaza). Add to this data the numerous passages within prophetic literature where a prophet describes what he saw. From all of this one must conclude that the visionary experience was an important aspect of the prophetic consciousness in Israel.

These visions of God are further identified as being the word of the LORD (Ezekiel 1:3). This is the most frequently used expression in the Old Testament to affirm that a prophet had received direct communication from God.[60] The phrase is not to be restricted to the oral directions which came to Ezekiel in chapter two. Rather the word of the LORD embraces all the revelatory experiences of the prophet.

[60] See 1 Samuel 15:10; 1 Kings 12:22; Isaiah 38:4; Jeremiah 1:2; Hoses Ezekiel 1:1; Joel 1:1.

The problem of authority was crucial for Ezekiel. The somewhat shocking nature of his message required that his credentials be impeccable. For this reason Ezekiel makes the strongest possible claim that he was commissioned of God. The word of the LORD came most assuredly[61] to him. No doubt existed in his own mind that he had in fact received a heaven-sent vision. In the opening words of Ezekiel 1:3 Ezekiel insists that this book be read as prophecy. Those who communicated the divine will to Israel were said to be in possession of the word of God. The claim to bear the divine word is found often in Old Testament prophecy (cf. Amos 7; Hosea 1).

[61] Hebrew infinitive absolute.

Prophets were not called to dispense their own opinions, nor to feed the fantasies of faithless men. They were called to declare the whole counsel of God. So it was that the word of God came to Ezekiel. The messages he preached were not of his own choosing not necessarily of his own liking. That which he spoke forth was the word of God.

The phrase word of the LORD includes what was seen in vision as well as what was heard. The term word (dabhar) in the Old Testament has a much broader meaning than it does in modern English. The Old Testament use of the term word prepared the way for the grand revelation of John 1 that the eternal Word became flesh and dwelled among mankind.

God not only gave this captive priest a message, He also endowed him with the power to deliver that message. Such is the import of the sentence, the hand of the LORD was there on him (Ezekiel 1:3). Proclaiming the unpopular word of God is never easy Add to that the relative youth of Ezekiel. Young men were to be seen, not heard. All wisdom resided in the elders of the nation! Thus Ezekiel needed the reassurance of the hand of the Lord. He needed that unseen hand to guide, strengthen and protect him.

Reference to the hand of the LORD (or God) is frequent in the Old Testament. This anthropomorphism refers to the authority, power or protection of the Lord. In reference to individuals the expression is used somewhat sparingly. The hand of the Lord is said to have come upon Elijah (1 Kings 18:46) and Elisha (2 Kings 3:15). In the former case the hand of the Lord bestowed upon the prophet unusual physical power and endurance; in the latter case, oracular power. In the Book of Ezekiel the expression is used four times besides the present passage to introduce a visionary experience (Ezekiel 3:22; Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 37:1; Ezekiel 40:1), In two passages the hand of the Lord refers to the divine constraining or sustaining power as it manifested itself in the physical stamina of the prophet (Ezekiel 3:14; Ezekiel 33:22).[62] The evidence then points to the following definition for this expression: The hand of the Lord refers to the supernatural manifestation of divine power in the life of a prophet such as would enhance his physical abilities and enable him to see that which the unaided human mind could never grasp or ascertain. Whereas the term visions of God in Ezekiel 1:1 points to the mystical transcendence of the prophetic experience, the hand of God points to the divine immanence.

[62] Cf. Revelation 1:17; Daniel 8:18; Daniel 10:10.