Introducing Ezekiel

Ezekiel 1-2

            Of the major prophets, Isaiah is the most familiar and the most lovable. Yes, he has long sections of condemnation, but 1) his poetry is always beautiful and 2) his condemnations are offset by some of the clearest promises of good news in the Bible. Jeremiah is a whole other thing. Condemnation and judgment dominate his book, so much so that he becomes a little difficult to read.

            Ezekiel is a whole other thing again. Ezekiel was a priest (1:3), and the temple dominates a lot of his thinking. Ironically, for a book dominated by temple concerns, Ezekiel only ever prophesied from Babylon and to exiles in Babylon. (A little chronology: Ezekiel was 30 when he started prophesying, meaning he was born about 623, was among the first exiles taken to Babylon in 597, and began prophesying in 593, seven years before the temple was destroyed.)

            Besides temple ideology, another feature of Ezekiel is the nature of his prophecies. As you will notice today, Ezekiel sees visions—and sometimes fantastic ones, at that! He also enacts a lot of his message. For example, in chapter 3, he is to be bound and silent in his house for a period of time. More on that tomorrow.

 

            Today’s inaugural vision of the Lord is both fantastic and in some way stereotypical. The four living creatures appeared in Isaiah 6, and they will come back again in the book of Revelation. They are some order of angel, and their description is in some sense symbolic. The various gems seem to be a way of saying that they are dazzling, difficult to see because of the various colors reflecting among them. The depiction of four faces bear the sense of power and wisdom: the lion the most powerful of the wild animals, the ox the strongest of the domestic animals, and the eagle the most majestic of the birds; and the face of a human, the being who is to rule them all. The overall picture is of a chariot or a cart, but it has four wheels so it is able to move in any direction, unlike a chariot that takes a long time to turn around. The ‘vault’ above them recollects Genesis 1 and the vault of the heavens. In some ways it indicates that the Lord is lord of all, reigning from heaven, and that His holiness is such that it must be veiled lest it utterly destroy the unholy.

 

            Ezekiel’s call to ministry is similar to both Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s. The similarity with Isaiah begins with the vision of the Lord that accompanies it. But all three are similar in that they are commissioned to a message of judgment over a stubborn, thick-necked people. They are told to be courageous, assured of the Lord’s sustaining presence. And the words they are to speak are to be the Lord’s words and no other. I don’t really have time to explore it, but as a pastor I’m always fascinated by the ways that prophetic calls inform the call to ministry that I have…