Who Was Ezekiel, and How Did God Use This Prophet?
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The prophet looks out over a valley of death, a horrifying scene of skeletons. The bones were dry, like they had lain there for centuries. Scanning back and forth at the remains of an ancient slaughter, a hopeless scene, Ezekiel asks a hopeful question. “Can these dry bones live?”
Ezekiel understood, on some level, that these dry bones represented the nation of Israel. He spoke and ministered during the people of God’s greatest and most humiliating defeat, and those bones represented the death of Israel’s mission and purpose. It seemed completely hopeless. Yet Ezekiel knew God. The one who created the universe with his word might bring life to the dead. So Ezekiel asks if God can restore and resurrect the hopeless and dead.
God says the dry bones can live. And they do.
This dramatic scene in Ezekiel 37 has been the subject of countless sermons and messages over the last two thousand years. Full of symbolism and meaning, the prophet’s experience still speaks to our hearts today. Yet Ezekiel ministered during a great crisis, and this powerful vision from God comes within a larger, more epic moment.
Who was Ezekiel? How did God use this prophet?
Who Was Ezekiel?
Ezekiel’s name in Hebrew was Yechezquel, which means “God strengthens” or “God will strengthen.” His name references the power he needed to fulfill God’s prophetic calling during his life. He wrote the book named after him, Ezekiel, one of the major prophetic books of the Old Testament.
Ezekiel was born into a priestly family, which had him serve in the Jerusalem Temple. His father, Buzi, was also a priest, so Ezekiel came from a long line of spiritual leaders. Ezekiel’s priestly background influenced his messages; his visions often included the temple and rituals to communicate God’s word. From the priestly class, he had been trained in the Scripture and tradition as preparation for a spiritual leadership.
Babylon invaded Judah and took captives when Ezekiel was around 25 years old. Ezekiel settled with a group of exiles along the Kebar River in Babylon. At age 30, when priests usually begin their service, Ezekiel got his first vision and prophetic calling. His first vision included a revelation of God’s glory. The prophet saw a whirlwind, a great cloud with flashing fire, and living creatures with wheels full of eyes. God spoke to Ezekiel during the vision and called him to be a prophet to Israel, also warning him of the people’s resistance to the truth. However, God instructed him to be faithful with the Lord’s word, regardless of how people responded.
Despite Ezekiel’s hardships, including exile and rejection, he remained committed to his calling and relied upon God’s strength to see him through a traumatic time in Judah’s history.
What Was Happening with Judah during Ezekiel’s Time?
During the days of Ezekiel, Judah and Israel experienced one of the darkest periods in their history. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered and dispersed by the Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah followed a similar path of rebellion against God, which led to its downfall.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah a number of times, finally conquering Jerusalem in 605 BC, making Judah a vassal state and taking some of the leaders and young men captive, including Daniel. Judah rebelled against Babylon in 597 BC, and Nebuchadnezzar returned and sacked the city and temple, enslaving more people, including Ezekiel. These thousands of exiles lived near the Kebar River in Babylon.
What few leaders left in Jerusalem, including King Zedekiah, continued to resist Babylon’s rule. The prophet Jeremiah warned Zedekiah and the Jews to submit to Babylon, as part of God’s plan, but they refused to listen. Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem one final time in 586 BC. The Babylonians destroyed the city and the temple, deporting the remaining people to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar left the city empty and in ruins.
The exiles in Babylon lived with immense grief, feeling abandoned by God. They struggled to comprehend why God would allow their defeat and exile, despite continued messages from Isaiah and Jeremiah. Some Jews started turning to idolatry while others thought the covenant with God was broken forever.
God called Ezekiel to speak judgment and hope into this despair. He communicated how the story wasn’t over. He was righteous in his judgment, and he would also lovingly restore his people.
How Did God Use Ezekiel as a Messenger to Israel and Judah?
God used Ezekiel to call Judah to repentance from the sins which prompted the exile, while also promising a future redemption.
The Lord first established Ezekiel as a watchman over Israel, including Judah. The role of watchman acted as someone who watches for danger and warns the people. God told Ezekiel to deliver his message, whether the people listened or not. If Ezekiel failed to warn them, their blood would be on his hands. But if he spoke God’s words, Ezekiel would save his own life even if others disbelieved him (Ezekiel 3:17-21).
Ezekiel also received the call of a messenger, delivering God’s words through prophecies, visions, and interesting actions with spiritual meaning. One of those acts included lying on his side for a long time to represent the siege of Jerusalem. God instructed him to only speak what God commanded, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Even Ezekiel’s times of silence, under God’s direction, sent a message of divine judgment.
Since Judah had disobeyed God, their sin had deceived them, and they didn’t understand why God enacted such radical judgment. Therefore, God reminded them of their sin, injustice, and idolatry through Ezekiel. God gave him very vivid and harsh messages, warning of Jerusalem’s fall and the destruction of the temple. One vision showed how God’s glory departed from the Temple (Ezekiel 10), a symbol of how Judah broke their covenant with God and led to their exile from the Promised Land.
However, in his love, God offered restoration through repentance. Ezekiel prophesied how God would remain faithful to his covenant and restore all Israel back to their land and proper worship. God promised to gather the people from exile, forgive them, and give them a new covenant. The valley of dry bones spoke of this great revival.
How Did God Use Ezekiel to Pass Judgment on Other Nations?
While God judged Judah through Babylon, neighboring nations took advantage of Israel’s downfall and acted with injustice toward God’s people. God rules over all people, everywhere, not just the nation of Israel. And he holds all nations accountable. Ezekiel chapters 25-32 pronounce judgment upon these nations.
Ezekiel starts with condemning Ammon for their celebration of Judah’s destruction. In this judgment, Ammon would suffer Judah’s same fate — conquered by foreign powers, their land left desolate, and their people in exile. God’s judgment on his chosen people wasn’t something to celebrate but mourn.
Then Ezekiel rebukes Moab and Edom, nations also from the family of Abraham. Moab mocked Judah and claimed Israel wasn’t any different from other nations. Of course, God had chosen them to be his special people. God promised to also hand Moab over to the Babylonians to humble their pride. Edom, from the line of Esau, had long fought with Israel and Judah, which continued while the Jews came under exile. God spoke his vengeance upon them, how Israel would rule over them.
Toward the Mediterranean coast, the Philistines had long warred with Israel and Judah, even up to the day of exile. God declared he would destroy them and cut off their future. Tyre and Sidon, wealthy city states, were also brought under God’s judgment. Tyre possessed pride in their riches and trade and also rejoiced over Jerusalem’s fall. Ezekiel prophesied Tyre’s destruction by Babylon and other future nations. God’s condemnation of the king of Tyre could be compared to the arrogance of Satan who tried to exalt himself above God. Sidon faced judgment for their opposition to Israel, and God prophesied plague and violence upon them.
Finally, Israel’s old enemy Egypt received a long prophecy of judgment, lasting three chapters (Ezekiel 29-32). God rebukes Pharoah for his pride and relying upon human ability. Ezekiel prophesies the Egyptian fall to Babylon, weaking that ancient empire further to become a poor nation.
As we see in later prophets, each of these same nations would have the opportunity for restoration through becoming part of God’s people in a new covenant which would offer a new kingdom to all.
How Did God Use Ezekiel to Reveal the New Covenant?
God used Ezekiel to give his people hope. The story wasn’t over yet. While they underwent tragedy, God had even greater things planned for the future. The promise of a new covenant became the foundation of this future hope. Unlike the old covenant, broken by Israel’s disobedience, the new covenant promised a transformation of the heart.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 prophesies this new covenant: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” In these verses, God addresses the real issue — the heart. The stiff-necked and rebellious people couldn’t keep the divine law. However, a transformed heart could. Therefore, God promises to change them from within, giving them his Spirit so they could walk in righteousness.
The vision of the valley of dry bones almost immediately follows the new covenant promise. In Ezekiel 37, the prophet sees the lifeless bones representing Israel. God commands Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones, and they come together as flesh. God eventually breathes new life into these formerly dead bodies, symbolizing the complete and radical restoration of Israel and the new covenant.
Later, Ezekiel describes a vision of the new temple (chapters 40-48), symbolizing the new relationship with God based on right worship and the Lord’s presence in his people. The imagined temple was bigger than any previous one and has never been built. On some level, the temple vision signified the perfect and eternal nature of the new covenant. God’s glory returned to fill the temple; a fitting conclusion come full circle from one of Ezekiel’s first visions. God would once again live with his people where true worship was restored.
Jesus declared himself as this new covenant, referring back to promises in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Ezekiel revealed the promise of this new covenant and offered hope and restoration to Israel, a promise which would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ and his disciples today.
Peace.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Daniel Christel
