Ezekiel

Ezekiel
Ezekiel was the son of a priest. Since he was called to prophetic office when he was thirty years old, during the fifth year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah (592 B.C., Ezek. 1:1-2), the prophet must have been born around 623-622. His ministry continued for at least twenty-two years, through the time of the last dated oracle in the book in Jehoiachin’s twenty-seventh year of exile (571, 29:17). His membership in a priestly family reveals itself throughout the book in Ezekiel’s concern with the temple and its rituals. An eligible man ordinarily began his service in the temple when he reached thirty years of age (Num. 4:3). However, Ezekiel was unable to fulfill his calling as a priest while living in exile far from Jerusalem. Instead, in the year that Ezekiel would have begun his priestly vocation, God called him to serve as a prophet. In his inaugural vision Ezekiel saw God riding in his war chariot—it was an ominous portent, for God would soon abandon Jerusalem (Lam. 10:1-2, 18-22). Rather than defend the city, God would decree, plan, and superintend its destruction. The exiles among whom Ezekiel lived had come from the upper classes of Judean society. They were a privileged group that had not often heeded prophetic warnings in the past (Lam. 2:3-8). They hoped for a short time of exile and a speedy return to their positions of wealth and privilege. They were hostile to Ezekiel’s message and dismissed his words as entertaining prattle (20:49; 33:30-32). But God would soon vindicate himself and his prophet (33:33). The exile would not be brief, and the city would not be spared. Raymond B. Dillard and Tremper Longman III - AN INTRODUCTION to the OLD TESTAMENT