08/13/2020 – Day 167 – Ezekiel 1 – 6 -Introduction – 8 week Saturday study – So many connections to other points in His world including Revelation.
The Halley BIble Handbook excerpts are a repeat from our last cycle, 10/31/2020. I encourage y’all to search on the date as there are three other separate posts. There is just so much to cover in what essentially is only four pages of the Bible. As I noted last cycle, to quote a beloved bible study brother over 15 years ago as we were concluding a study of the Old Testament prophets: “If God place an ad for a prophet in the newspaper, would you answer it? Case in point, in a symbolization of the Siege of Jerusalem that was to take place , God instructs Ezekiel:
To lay on his side for 430 days, a day for each year of Israel and Judah’s sin combined. God then instructs him to bake his barley cake meal using human excrement for fuel. When Ezekiel protests that no unclean meat has ever entered his mouth, God relents by commanding him to use cow manure instead. Notice that Ezekiel didn’t protest by saying would a good person he was, so unlike the all those other Jewish people.
God proclaims Ezekiel as a watchman. Are we not also watchmen today? Take another look at this ominous warning for those who do not warn fellow souls.
Here is the introducton section from last cycle. I so appreciate Halley’s Handbook, it so arms us up for a new Book of the Bible study.
Once again , I am going to quote from my Halley’s Bible Handbook for the book of Ezekiel introduction. This I believe so enriches the study and the prayer associated with our Saturday readings 8 weeks. And immediately following that, we will do a whirlwind read of Daniel the next two Saturdays. Saturday is our day for the books of the “prophets” .
Ok , let’s get started with Halley’s intro!:
Ezekiel
“The Fall of Jerusalem/ Judgments on Surrounding Nations / The Restoration of Israel / “They shall Know that I am God.”
The Assyrian Captivity of Israel had been 120 years earlier: 734 B.C. Galilee and North and East Israel, by Tiglath-pileser. // 721 B.C. Samaria and the rest of Israel by Sargon. //701 B.C. 200,000 inhabitants of Judah, by Sennacherib. //
The Babylonian Captivity of Judah was accomplished: 606 B.C. // Some captives taken to Babylon, including Daniel. 597 B.C. // More captives taken to Babylon, including Ezekiel. 586 B.C. (See further page 211.) The Captivity lasted 70 years , 606 – 536 B.C. Ezekiel was there from 597 B.C. to at least 570 B.C.
Ezekiel and Daniel
Daniel had been in Babylon 9 years when Ezekiel arrived; and had already attained to great fame (15:14, 20). Daniel in the palace; Ezekiel in the country. They may have met often.
Ezekiel and Jeremiah
Jeremiah was the older. Ezekiel may have been his pupil. Ezekiel preached among the exiles the same things that Jeremiah was preaching in Jerusalem; certainty of Judah’s punishment for her sins.
Ezekiel and John
Some of Ezekiel’s visions seem to be extended into the book of Revelation; Cherubim (Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4); Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38, Revelation 20); Eating the book (Ezekiel 3, Revelation 10); New Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40-48, Revelation 21); River of Water of Life (Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22).
“They Shall Know that I am God”
This is the dominant note of the book. We have counted 62 places in which it occurs in 27 of the 48 chapters, as follows: 6:7, 10, 13, 14; 7:4, 9, 27; 11:10, 12; 12:15, 16, 20; 13:9, 14, 21; 14:8; 15;7; 16:62; 17:21, 24; 20:12, 20, 28,38,42,44; 21:5; 22:16, 22; 23:49; 24: 24, 27; 25:5, 7, 11, 17; 26:6; 28:22, 23, 24 26; 29:6, 9, 16, 21; 30:8, 19, 25 , 26; 32:15; 33:29; 34:27, 30; 35:4, 9, 12, 15; 36:11, 23, 36, 38; 37:6 13, 14, 28: 38:16, 23; 39:6, 7, 22, 23, 28.
Ezekiel’s mission seems to have been to explain the action of God in, causing , or permitting Israel’s captivity. It was because of the unspeakable abominations of which they had been guilty; abominations for which other nations had been blotted out. But for Israel, it was punitivel By their punishment, they would come to KNOW THAT GOD IS GOD. They did. The Babylonian Captivity cured Israel of Idolatry. Up to that time, they just wanted to be idolaters. From that day to this, whatever other sins the Jews have been guilty of, they have not been Idolaters.
Chronology of Ezekiel’s Book
The pivot around which the book centers is the Destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred 586 B.C. Ezekiel’s prophecies began six years before that and continued 16 years thereafter, covering a period of 22 years. Until Jerusalem fell, Ezekiel was unceasingly predicting its certainty. (chapters 1 – 24) After that his prophecies deal with the Overthrow of surrouding Heathen Nations (Chapters 25 -32); and the Re-establishment and Glorious Future of Israel (Chapters 33-48)
His visions, with minor exceptions, are given in chronological sequence. The years are dated from king Jehoiachin’s Captivity , which was 597 B.C. The “30th year” (1:1), which was the equivalent of the “5th year of Jehoiachin’s Captivity (1:2), is thought to have been the 30th year of Ezekiel’s life (age at which Levites began their service (Numbers 4:3): Jesus and John the Baptist began their work at age 30),Or, it may have been the 30th year in the Babylonian calendar of Babylon’s independence fof Assyria, won by Nebopolasar 625 B.C. “
Soli Deo Gloria!