Ezekiel 1

About Ezekiel.

The Book of Ezekiel

Purpose

1. To pronounce the impending judgment on Judah

2. To offer hope following Jerusalem’s destruction

Author

Ezekiel

Date

Around 593–571 BC

Setting

Exile in Babylon, immediately before, during, and after the destruction of Jerusalem

The book of the prophet Ezekiel contains visions, images, and messages that may seem strange to people today. But its message still matters: God will make his people pure and live with them forever. Even in their darkest days, God promised to bring his people back to himself. This message gave hope to the people of Judah in exile, when they were forced to live away from their land. It also gives hope to all who trust in God.

Setting

The book of Ezekiel was written in Babylonia during Judah’s exile in Babylon. This was a difficult time for God’s people, from 605 to 538 BC. The Babylonians captured Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in 612 BC. They defeated the last Assyrian armies at the important battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. After this battle, Babylon controlled the region. In that same year, the Babylonians attacked Judah. They took some people from Judah’s leading families to Babylon as captives. These included Daniel and his three friends (Daniel 1:1–5).

In 601 BC, King Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against Babylon. He died during the siege that followed in 598 BC. His son Jehoiachin ruled for only a short time. Then he surrendered and was taken to Babylon in 597 BC. At that time, the Babylonians also took the prophet Ezekiel and other important people into exile. They also took many treasures from the temple in Jerusalem.

While Ezekiel was in Babylon, the Babylonians made Zedekiah king of Judah. Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle. When Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, the Babylonians attacked Judah and surrounded Jerusalem in January 588 BC. They broke into the city and destroyed it in August 586 BC.

The Babylonians forced Zedekiah to watch as they killed his sons. Then they blinded him and took him to Babylon. They also took other skilled people from Judah to Babylon, where the empire could use their skills. These exiles stayed in Babylon for a generation. Later, the power of the empire changed again (see the book of Ezra).

Ezekiel received his first visions in Babylon in 593 BC, when he was 30 years old (Ezekiel 1:1–2).

Summary

Ezekiel’s visions cover the years before and after Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC. Before Jerusalem fell, Ezekiel gave a sad message: God’s judgment would come on the people of Judah. After Jerusalem was destroyed, Ezekiel gave a new message of hope. Israel would rise again from its ruined past. Ezekiel mourned what the people had lost. But he also saw that God would give them hope. The people would turn away from the sins that led to their destruction, and the Lord would make the nation holy.

Chapters 1–3 describe how God called Ezekiel to be a prophet. Ezekiel’s first vision shows the glory of the Lord moving toward Judah in "a whirlwind" (1:4–28). The vision uses pictures of movement and judgment. It shows the Lord as a divine warrior, riding in his heavenly chariot and coming to judge his people. When God called Ezekiel, the Spirit told him that the people of Judah were stubborn and rebellious. They would not listen to his message (2:1–3:15). But the Lord wanted Ezekiel to be firm and faithful as he spoke God’s message.

Ezekiel was like a watchman, a person who warned a city when danger was coming (3:16–27). He had to give God’s warning clearly. God would hold Ezekiel responsible for giving the message. But God would not hold him responsible for how the people responded.

In chapters 4–24, Ezekiel gives many messages of judgment against Judah and Jerusalem. He also performs several sign acts. These are actions that show a message from God. They show that Jerusalem will be surrounded, attacked, and destroyed.

Chapters 8–11 describe Jerusalem's sins in four scenes. Each scene shows evil that is worse than the scene before it. These scenes explain why God’s judgment is coming. God’s glory leaves the sanctuary, the holy place where the people worshiped him. Later, the temple is completely destroyed.

The poems, messages, and visions in this section all point to the same truth. Jerusalem’s destruction is certain, and God’s judgment is just. This section ends with the announcement that Nebuchadnezzar has surrounded Jerusalem. It also ends with one final message that God’s judgment will surely come (chapter 24).

Ezekiel then turns to a message of hope. He begins with seven messages against the nations around Judah (chapters 25–32). These nations helped the Babylonians and were glad when Jerusalem fell. These messages show that God’s promise to Abraham still stood: “I will … curse those who curse you” (Genesis 12:3). God would judge all who were glad when his people fell. He would also judge those who gained from their suffering.

Chapters 33–48 complete the movement from judgment to hope. This section begins when the exiles hear that Jerusalem has been destroyed (33:21). At this point, the Lord again calls Ezekiel to serve as a watchman. Ezekiel must announce judgment on those who refuse to turn away from sin. He must also promise life to those who do turn away from sin.

The messages of hope promise a new shepherd, a renewed covenant (a binding agreement between God and his people), and a renewed land. In this renewed land, the people will live together in unity (chapters 34–37).

War threatens this picture of blessing (chapters 38–39). But the Lord shows that this new future is certain. The Lord gathers Gog and his allies. He does this not to judge his people, who are living in peace, but to destroy their enemies completely.

After God defeats Gog and his allies, he shows Ezekiel the final temple and the land set in a new order (chapters 40–48). Ezekiel’s final vision uses images of buildings, worship, and land. It gives the same message as the rest of the book: God will make his people holy in a new way so that he can live among them again.

Those who were faithful in the past receive new access to God’s presence. Those who were less faithful remain farther away. A river of life flows out from this new temple. As the river flows, it grows and turns death into life. God’s final words to his people through Ezekiel are not words of abandonment and destruction. They are words that promise life and fellowship with God.

Author and Date

In the first verses of the book, Ezekiel says that he is the author (1:3). There is little reason to doubt this claim. The book shows the concerns we would expect from a priest like Ezekiel. The destruction of Jerusalem is also the main event that shapes the book.

Ezekiel most likely wrote the book during the years when he received his visions and messages, from 593 to 571 BC. The final form of the book probably came soon after his last message.

Meaning and Message

Before 586 BC, the exiles in Babylon and the people still living in Judah believed that Jerusalem could not be destroyed. They thought the temple and its required rituals would keep the city safe. Ezekiel had to tell them that they were completely wrong. The temple and its rituals had become corrupt. The people had turned away from the Lord. Because of this, Jerusalem had to be destroyed.

ll the Old Testament prophets spoke against sin and idol worship. But Ezekiel used some of the strongest words. He said God’s people had disobeyed him since their time in Egypt. Their sin had spread through every part of society. They had offended God in every way. God could not ignore or accept such sin. He would soon judge his people. Nothing could save God’s city or its people from his judgment.

After Jerusalem was destroyed, God’s people were in great danger of losing hope. They felt spiritually dead. They felt abandoned by God and separated from his presence. They said, “Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?” (33:10).

The people lived in Babylon, where people worshiped many false gods. These gods seemed to have defeated the Lord. No one had returned home from captivity. The people’s hope was gone. They thought they had no choice but to stay in the pagan land of Babylon and become part of its culture.

Ezekiel gave these discouraged people a message about God’s rule and glory. He showed that God is great, holy, and powerful. The gods of Babylon had not defeated the Lord. Instead, the Lord had chosen to leave his land and temple because of his people’s sin. But even though he left the unclean city of Jerusalem, he did not abandon his people. He went to the faithful remnant, the small group of his people who were in exile (11:16). This is where Ezekiel first saw the glory of the Lord (1:1).

God was still ruling over all things. This included King Nebuchadnezzar’s attempts to ask his gods for guidance through divination, a practice of seeking hidden knowledge through signs (21:21–23; compare Daniel 2–4). The Lord had decided that Jerusalem would be destroyed because of its sins. Nebuchadnezzar was simply serving as God’s agent.

The destruction of Jerusalem was not the end of the story for God’s people. God had promised to bless Abraham’s descendants. He would make them into a great nation and bless all nations through them. The messages against the nations around Judah show that God had not forgotten this old promise (Ezekiel 25–32). He would judge the nations that were glad when Israel fell.

God would not abandon his people forever. One day, he would return to be their shepherd (34:11). He would bring the land and the people from death to life. God’s glory would return to the temple, and the temple would never again be made unclean.

God would also gather his scattered people into his presence. He would replace their old ways with new laws and a higher call to holiness. When God filled the people with his Spirit, they would no longer make the land unclean with their sins.

Ezekiel points to a greater hope that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God’s glory lives fully among us. He is the light in the darkness of our exile, when we are separated from our true home with God (11:16; 43:1–5; John 1:14). Jesus is the Good Shepherd who brings justice for his sheep (Ezekiel 34:1–24; John 10:11). He fills us with his Spirit and makes us new people in him (Ezekiel 36:26–28; 37:1–14; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Those who belong to Christ have even greater access to God’s presence than Ezekiel’s visions showed. They can come freely to God’s throne of grace. They can drink from the water of life that flows from the throne (Ezekiel 47:1–11; Revelation 22:1–5). Everything Ezekiel anticipated (and more) is ours in Christ.

Ezekiel 1:1-3:27

Old Testament prophetic books often begin with a “call narrative.” A call narrative describes how God chose and sent a prophet to serve in this role (for example, Jeremiah 1:4–19).

This account showed that the prophet’s message was legitimate. It made clear that the prophet spoke as the Lord’s ambassador (a representative sent with authority). The call narrative also introduced important themes that the book would explain more fully later.

In Ezekiel, the call narrative focuses on the Lord’s coming judgment on his people.

Ezekiel 1:1-3

The opening verses show that the prophet began his ministry among the exiles from Judah. The Babylonians had taken these people away from their land and brought them to Babylon.

Ezekiel 1:1

• In the thirtieth year: Priests began their service in the temple in Jerusalem when they were 30 years old. Ezekiel was a priest (see Ezekiel 1:3). However, he was living with the Judean exiles in Babylon. Because he was far from Jerusalem, he could not serve in the temple in the usual way.

  Ezekiel’s identity as a priest in exile is important for understanding his message. The exiles felt separated from God and from the normal ways of worshiping him in the temple. In the ancient world, people often believed that their gods were closely connected to specific lands. So those who were taken away from the promised land could easily think that the Lord no longer cared about them.

  But God’s word came to Ezekiel while he was in Babylon. This showed that God had not forgotten his people. It also showed that God still had plans and a future for them.

• The Kebar River was probably a large irrigation canal near Nippur, southeast of Babylon. The Babylonians had removed the earlier residents because they supported Assyria. Then they settled other exiles in that region, including people from Judah.

  The Babylonians usually moved people in groups and allowed them to keep their ethnic identity. The Assyrians followed a different policy. They scattered people among many nations to weaken them. Because the Babylonians kept groups together, the people of Judah were later able to return to their homeland. Those from the northern kingdom, who had been exiled earlier by the Assyrians, did not return in the same way.

Ezekiel 1:2

it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin: The word of the Lord first came to Ezekiel in 593 BC. At that time, Judah was still partly independent (see Ezekiel Book Introduction, “Setting”). However, the Babylonians had already taken control of the nation in 597 BC. They had carried King Jehoiachin away into exile in Babylon.

Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, ruled Judah as a vassal of Babylon from 597 to 586 BC. A vassal was a king who ruled under the authority of a stronger king. Ezekiel dated his prophecy from the time of Jehoiachin’s captivity, not from the reign of Zedekiah. He likely viewed Zedekiah as a temporary ruler in place of the rightful king, Jehoiachin.

Later, Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (2 Kings 24:20). In response, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem in 588 BC. He destroyed the city and burned the temple in 586 BC.

Ezekiel 1:3

Ezekiel was a priest by birth. He was also a prophet because the hand of the Lord was upon him. This means that God had chosen him and given him authority.

Priests offered sacrifices in the temple and taught God’s law to the people. Prophets delivered God’s messages of blessing or judgment. They also prayed to God on behalf of the people.

Ezekiel’s ministry included both of these roles. He served as a priest and as a prophet. Through this work, he represented God to the people and brought the people’s concerns before God.

Ezekiel 1:4-28

The language of this opening vision describes a theophany (a visible appearance of God; see study note on Deuteronomy 1:33). Ezekiel found it hard to describe what he saw. He often used phrases such as "the appearance of," "looked like," and "the likeness of." These words show that the vision was beyond normal human experience.

Even so, the message is clear and serious. The vision combines movement with symbols of judgment. It warns that God’s judgment would surely come upon rebellious Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 1:4

I … saw a whirlwind: This language describes a theophany (a visible manifestation of God; see study note on Ezekiel 1:4–28) as God appears in judgment. The fiery presence coming from the north, the direction from which Israel’s enemies traditionally came, increases the sense of danger. God was coming as a mighty warrior, not to rescue his people, but to bring judgment against them.

Ezekiel 1:5-9

At the center of the fiery cloud were four living beings. Each one had four faces and four wings.

The number four often represents completeness in the Bible. These creatures, made up of different features, represented the whole created order (everything that God has made).

Ezekiel 1:10

Each living being had four faces. One face was a lion, the strongest of the wild animals. One face was an ox, the strongest of the domestic animals. One face was an eagle, the strongest of the birds. One face was human, representing the highest part of God’s creation.

In Mesopotamia, the guardians placed at palace entrances also combined features of these same creatures. However, those figures did not have four faces.

Ezekiel 1:11-14

These fiery creatures had wings and legs. They could move very quickly in any direction, like lightning. No one could escape from such powerful beings.

In a similar vision in Ezekiel 10, Ezekiel identifies them as cherubim. Cherubim are heavenly beings who carry out God’s judgment.

Ezekiel 1:15

The living creatures were not the only reason for fear. Among them, Ezekiel saw four wheels. These wheels were part of a divine war chariot (a chariot that symbolized God’s power in battle).

In the ancient world, chariots were powerful weapons of war. Many people feared them because they moved quickly and caused great destruction.

Ezekiel 1:16-17

Building a real chariot with each wheel having another wheel turning sideways inside it is impossible. This image shows a chariot that can move easily in any direction, symbolizing God's freedom to act in judgment.

Ezekiel 1:18

The wheels were tall and frightening. They were covered with eyes (see Ezekiel 10:12). Because of this, no one could hide from the chariot. Just as no one could escape from it, no one could escape its sight.

Ezekiel 1:19-21

The chariot shared the same spirit as the living beings. The same life and power guided both the creatures and the wheels.

Ezekiel 1:22-25

The surface that looked like the sky, shining like crystal, separated God’s realm from the human realm. It marked the boundary between heaven (the place of God’s presence) and earth.

The vision includes images of the sky, the cherubim (see study note on Ezekiel 1:11–14), and the rainbow (Ezekiel 1:28). These images remind us of the opening chapters of Genesis. They suggest that the story about to unfold concerns the destruction of what God had created, followed by its re-creation (making it new again).

In Genesis, God destroyed the world with a flood and later restored it through Noah. In a similar way, Ezekiel’s world was being undone and would later be restored.

Ezekiel 1:26-27

On God's throne was a figure that looked like a man. Ezekiel struggled to describe the scene because it was so magnificent. This human form showed the Lord's bright glory, which had once filled the tabernacle and the temple as a visible sign of God's presence (see Daniel 7:9–10; Revelation 1:12–17). God's presence in human form comforts his faithful people but warns of judgment for those who disobey him. This vision foretells God coming to earth as a man in Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 1:28

• rainbow in a cloud: This image mixes the idea of judgment with a hint of mercy. The storm clouds were ready to bring judgment on God's sinful people, but a rainbow, the sign of hope God established after the flood (Genesis 9:12–17), would also appear.

  Although the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its people to Babylon would be a severe disaster where many would die, God would remember his promise to keep a remnant alive. Judgment would not be God's final word.

• When Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord, he fell face down on the ground as though dead. This was a common human response when people experienced God’s glory (compare Leviticus 9:23–24; Numbers 22:31; 1 Kings 18:38–39; 1 Chronicles 21:16; 2 Chronicles 7:1–3; Matthew 17:5–6).

Aquifer Open Study Notes © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.