Ezekiel

Ezekiel, name means "God will strengthen." A priest, the son of Buzi, born in Judah but transported to Babylonia with the group that went into captivity with Jehoiachin in 597 b.c. (Eze 1:1—3). He was then about 25 years of age if "the thirtieth year" (ch 1:1) is a referrence to his age. He was with a group of Jews settled at Tel—abib (chs 1:1, 3 3:15) by "the river Chebar" (ch 1:1), an irrigation canal known from cuneiform records as Nâr Kabari, which passed the city of Nippur. Archeological evidence testifies to a large Jewish settlement in this vicinity during the time of the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel was happily married, but his wife died about 9 years after their captivity began (ch 24:1, 16). He seems to have had a house of his own (Eze 3:24 8:1 cf. Jer 29:5). In the 5th year of his captivity he was called to the prophetic office (Eze 1:2, 3 2 3), and served in this capacity for some 22 years (ch 29:17), from about 593 to 571 b.c.. At a time when the Temple lay in ruins and the people were in exile it was particularly appropriate that the offices of priest and prophet should be united in one person. Jeremiah, whose ministry was, in part, contemporary with that of Ezekiel, was likewise a priest—prophet (Jer 1:1), as was Zechariah, and also doubtless others (Zec 1:1 cf. Ezr 5:1 6:14 Neh 12:4, 16). In a special sense Ezekiel was God's messenger to the Jews in captivity, as Jeremiah was to the Jews who remained in Judah and Jerusalem, and as Daniel was to Nebuchadnezzar and the court at Babylon. All 3 were divinely commissioned with the purpose of securing the divine objectives in the Captivity. Apparently Ezekiel was well liked by the people to whom he bore his inspired messages, but his mission seems to have met with limited success (Eze 20:49 33:32).