Eze 1 | TNotes | STEP | Book of Ezekiel — Quick facts: Purpose: To pronounce the impending judgment on Judah and 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 Book of Ezekiel — Overview: Setting The book of Ezekiel was written from Babylonia during the difficult days of Judah’s exile in Babylon (605–538 BC ). The Babylonians had captured the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (612 BC ), and Babylonian domination was made complete with the defeat of the last resisting Assyrians at the decisive battle of Carchemish (605 BC ). In that same year, the Babylonians raided Judah and took hostages from the upper classes back to Babylon, including Daniel and his three friends (Dan 1:1-5 ). In 601 BC , King Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against the Babylonians, and he died during the ensuing siege (598 BC ). His son, Jehoiachin, reigned for only a brief period before he surrendered and was taken to Babylon in 597 BC . At that time the Babylonians also took the prophet Ezekiel and other prominent people into exile and plundered many treasures from the Temple in Jerusalem. While Ezekiel was in Babylon, the Babylonians placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah on the throne of Judah. When Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, the Babylonians ravaged Judah and besieged Jerusalem in January 588 BC . The city was finally breached and destroyed in August 586 BC . The Babylonians forced Zedekiah to watch as they put his sons to death; then he was blinded and taken to Babylon with the other citizens of Judah who had skills useful to their overlords. These exiles remained in Babylon for a generation until the fortunes of the empire changed again (see the book of Ezra). Ezekiel’s first visions took place in Babylon in 593 BC , when he was thirty years old (Ezek 1:1-2 ). Summary Ezekiel’s visions span the years leading up to and following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC . Before Jerusalem’s fall, Ezekiel delivered the woeful message that judgment would come upon the people of Judah. After that event, Ezekiel conveyed a new vision of hope: Israel would emerge from the ashes of her past. Although the prophet mourned what had been lost, he saw a bright future when the people would repent of the sins that brought their destruction and the Lord would establish the nation in holiness. Chapters 1–3 tell of Ezekiel’s call and commissioning as a prophet. His opening vision tells of the Lord’s glory, ominously on the move (1:4-28 ). With images of motion and judgment, the vision depicts the Lord as the divine warrior in his heavenly chariot, coming to judge his people. During Ezekiel’s call (2:1–3:15 ), the Spirit told him that the stubborn and rebellious people of Judah would not listen to his message. However, the Lord wanted Ezekiel to be equally stubborn in faithfully delivering his message. Like a watchman (3:16-27 ), he should sound the alarm clearly and distinctly. God would hold the prophet accountable for delivering the message, not for the people’s response. In chapters 4–24 , Ezekiel delivers a litany of doom against Judah and Jerusalem. The prophet performs a series of sign acts depicting the coming siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Chapters 8–11 depict Jerusalem’s sins in four scenes of increasing abomination that clearly illustrate the reason for the coming destruction. God’s glory departs from the sanctuary, and the Temple is completely destroyed. The poems, oracles, and visions throughout this section cumulatively establish the inevitability and justice of Jerusalem’s destruction, culminating with the announcement of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem and a final message of the certainty of judgment (ch 24 ). Ezekiel then turns toward hope, beginning with seven messages (chs 25–32 ) that indict the surrounding nations for having assisted the Babylonians and for delighting in Jerusalem’s fall. These messages show that the promise God made to Abraham remained intact: “I will ... curse those who treat you with contempt” (Gen 12:3 ). God’s judgment would come on all who took pleasure in the downfall of his people and who profited from their demise. Chapters 33–48 complete the movement from judgment to hope, beginning with the decisive moment when the exiles finally hear the news of Jerusalem’s destruction (33:21 ). At this point the Lord again commissions the prophet Ezekiel to minister as a watchman, proclaiming judgment on those who refuse to repent and promising life for those who do. Messages of hope promise a new shepherd with a renewed covenant and land, where the people will dwell together in unity (chs 34–37 ). The dark clouds of war threaten this picture of blessing (chs 38–39 ), but the Lord demonstrates the certainty of the new state of affairs. The Lord gathers the forces of Gog and his allies, not to judge his peacefully settled people, but to smash their enemies once and for all. After God defeats Gog and his allies, he can reveal the final Temple and the reoriented land (chs 40–48 ). With architectural, ritual, and geographic imagery, Ezekiel’s final vision depicts the same message as the rest of the book: God will raise his people to a new level of holiness so that he can once again dwell in their midst. Those who were faithful in the past receive renewed access to God’s presence, while those who were less faithful remain on the margins. A river of life flows out from this new Temple; as it flows, it grows and transforms death into life. God’s final words to his people through Ezekiel do not warn of abandonment and destruction; rather, they promise fellowship and life. Authorship and Date In the opening verses of the book, the prophet Ezekiel claims that he is the author (1:3 ), and there is little reason to doubt his claim. The book shows all the interests expected from a priest such as Ezekiel, and the central event of Jerusalem’s destruction dominates the book’s structure. The prophet most likely wrote the book during the period in which his visions and messages were given (593–571 BC ), with the completed composition probably dating shortly after the final message. Meaning and Message Before 586 BC , both the exiles in Babylon and the people remaining in Judah were convinced that Jerusalem could not be destroyed. They believed that the presence of the Temple and its prescribed rituals would guarantee the city’s survival. Ezekiel had to tell them that they were completely wrong. Because the Temple and its rituals were corrupt and the hearts and lives of the people were thoroughly pagan, Jerusalem had to be destroyed. While all the Old Testament prophets condemned sin and idolatry, perhaps none used quite such sweeping terms as Ezekiel. From Israel’s time in Egypt onward, the disobedience of God’s people infected every branch of society and encompassed every form of offense against God. God could not ignore or condone such sin and would surely judge his people soon. Nothing could save God’s city or its people from his judgment. Following the destruction of Jerusalem, God’s people were in grave danger of disillusionment and despair. They felt spiritually dead, abandoned by God and cut off from his presence. They said, “Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?” (33:10 ). Babylonian deities, who seemed to have triumphed over the Lord, surrounded the people. No one had returned home from captivity. Their hopes were dashed, and they believed they had no choice but to settle in the pagan land of Babylon and become part of its culture. To these disillusioned people, the prophet delivered a message of God’s sovereignty and glory, depicting God as majestic, transcendent, and powerful. The Babylonian gods had certainly not defeated the Lord; rather, God had voluntarily abandoned his land and dwelling place because of his people’s sin. Although he left the defiled city of Jerusalem, this glorious God did not abandon his people. Instead, he went to the remnant of his people in exile (11:16 ), where Ezekiel himself first saw the Lord’s glory (1:1 ). God was still controlling all things, even the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar’s attempts to consult his own gods through divination (21:21-23 ; cp. Dan 2–4 ). The Lord had decreed the destruction of Jerusalem for its sins; Nebuchadnezzar was simply acting as God’s agent. Jerusalem’s destruction did not mark the end of the story for God’s people. God had promised to bless Abraham’s descendants, making them into a mighty nation and blessing all nations through them. The oracles against the nations surrounding Judah (Ezek 25–32 ) demonstrated that God had not forgotten his ancient promise that those who rejoiced at Israel’s downfall would themselves be severely judged. God would not forever abandon his people. One day he would return to be their shepherd (34:11 ); he would transform the land and the people from death to life. God’s glory would once again return to the Temple, which would never again be defiled. Further, God would gather his scattered people into his presence and replace the old ways of doing things with new laws and higher standards of holiness. When filled with God’s Spirit, the people would no longer defile the land with their sins. Ezekiel points toward a greater hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God’s glory fully dwells in our midst as light in the darkness of our exile (11:16 ; 43:1-5 ; John 1:14 ). The Good Shepherd restores justice for his sheep (Ezek 34:1-24 ; John 10:11 ). He fills us with his Spirit and makes us new creatures in him (Ezek 36:26-28 ; 37:1-14 ; 2 Cor 5:17 ). Those who have allied themselves with Christ have even greater access to God’s presence than Ezekiel’s visions anticipated. They are able to approach the throne of grace freely and drink from the life-giving water that flows from the throne (Ezek 47:1-11 ; Rev 22:1-5 ). Everything that Ezekiel anticipated—and more—is ours in Christ. Summary for Ezek 1:1-3:27: 1:1–3:27 Old Testament prophetic books often begin with a “call narrative” that gives details of the prophet’s commissioning to his office (e.g., Jer 1:4-19 ). The prophetic call narrative demonstrated that the prophet’s words were legitimate, showing that he spoke as the Lord’s ambassador. It often introduced themes that his prophecy would address in greater detail, just as the overture to a symphony introduces the musical motifs that form the basis for the composition that follows. The focus of Ezekiel’s call narrative is the Lord’s impending judgment of his people. Summary for Ezek 1:1-3: 1:1-3 The opening verses locate the prophet’s ministry among the exiles from Judah who had been carried off to Babylon. 1:1 of my thirtieth year: Priests began to minister in the Jerusalem Temple when they were thirty years old. Ezekiel was a priest (see 1:3 ), but he was with the Judean exiles ... in Babylon and was therefore unable to serve in the usual ways. Ezekiel’s identity as a priest in exile is significant to the message that follows. The exiles felt cut off from God and from conventional ways of appealing to him in the Temple. In the ancient world, most gods were closely tied to particular lands, so it was easy for those who were removed from the Promised Land to assume that the Lord was no longer interested in them. That God’s word had come to a prophet among the exiles in Babylon showed that God had not forgotten them and still had a future for them. • The Kebar River was probably a large irrigation canal in the Nippur region southeast of Babylon. The Babylonians (Babylonians) had deported the previous occupants because of their Assyrian sympathies and replaced them with exiles from elsewhere in their empire, including Judah. The Babylonians generally resettled peoples by ethnic groups and allowed them to retain their identity, unlike the Assyrians, whose policy of exile was to disperse and scatter populations. This difference later made it possible for the remnant of the exiles of Judah to return to their homeland. Those who had been exiled from the northern kingdom by the Assyrians were not able to return in the same way.

Book of Ezekiel — Quick facts:

Purpose: To pronounce the impending judgment on Judah and 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

Book of Ezekiel — Overview:

Setting
The book of Ezekiel was written from Babylonia during the difficult days of Judah’s exile in Babylon (605–538 BC). The Babylonians had captured the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (612 BC), and Babylonian domination was made complete with the defeat of the last resisting Assyrians at the decisive battle of Carchemish (605 BC). In that same year, the Babylonians raided Judah and took hostages from the upper classes back to Babylon, including Daniel and his three friends (Dan 1:1-5 ^a).
In 601 BC, King Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled against the Babylonians, and he died during the ensuing siege (598 BC). His son, Jehoiachin, reigned for only a brief period before he surrendered and was taken to Babylon in 597 BC. At that time the Babylonians also took the prophet Ezekiel and other prominent people into exile and plundered many treasures from the Temple in Jerusalem.
While Ezekiel was in Babylon, the Babylonians placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah on the throne of Judah. When Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, the Babylonians ravaged Judah and besieged Jerusalem in January 588 BC. The city was finally breached and destroyed in August 586 BC. The Babylonians forced Zedekiah to watch as they put his sons to death; then he was blinded and taken to Babylon with the other citizens of Judah who had skills useful to their overlords. These exiles remained in Babylon for a generation until the fortunes of the empire changed again (see the book of Ezra).
Ezekiel’s first visions took place in Babylon in 593 BC, when he was thirty years old (Ezek 1:1-2 ^b).

Summary
Ezekiel’s visions span the years leading up to and following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Before Jerusalem’s fall, Ezekiel delivered the woeful message that judgment would come upon the people of Judah. After that event, Ezekiel conveyed a new vision of hope: Israel would emerge from the ashes of her past. Although the prophet mourned what had been lost, he saw a bright future when the people would repent of the sins that brought their destruction and the Lord would establish the nation in holiness.
Chapters 1–3 ^c tell of Ezekiel’s call and commissioning as a prophet. His opening vision tells of the Lord’s glory, ominously on the move (1:4-28 ^d). With images of motion and judgment, the vision depicts the Lord as the divine warrior in his heavenly chariot, coming to judge his people. During Ezekiel’s call (2:1–3:15 ^e), the Spirit told him that the stubborn and rebellious people of Judah would not listen to his message. However, the Lord wanted Ezekiel to be equally stubborn in faithfully delivering his message. Like a watchman (3:16-27 ^f), he should sound the alarm clearly and distinctly. God would hold the prophet accountable for delivering the message, not for the people’s response.
In chapters 4–24 ^g, Ezekiel delivers a litany of doom against Judah and Jerusalem. The prophet performs a series of sign acts depicting the coming siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Chapters 8–11 ^h depict Jerusalem’s sins in four scenes of increasing abomination that clearly illustrate the reason for the coming destruction. God’s glory departs from the sanctuary, and the Temple is completely destroyed. The poems, oracles, and visions throughout this section cumulatively establish the inevitability and justice of Jerusalem’s destruction, culminating with the announcement of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem and a final message of the certainty of judgment (ch 24 ⁱ).
Ezekiel then turns toward hope, beginning with seven messages (chs 25–32 ^j) that indict the surrounding nations for having assisted the Babylonians and for delighting in Jerusalem’s fall. These messages show that the promise God made to Abraham remained intact: “I will ... curse those who treat you with contempt” (Gen 12:3 ^k). God’s judgment would come on all who took pleasure in the downfall of his people and who profited from their demise.
Chapters 33–48 ^l complete the movement from judgment to hope, beginning with the decisive moment when the exiles finally hear the news of Jerusalem’s destruction (33:21 ^m). At this point the Lord again commissions the prophet Ezekiel to minister as a watchman, proclaiming judgment on those who refuse to repent and promising life for those who do. Messages of hope promise a new shepherd with a renewed covenant and land, where the people will dwell together in unity (chs 34–37 ⁿ). The dark clouds of war threaten this picture of blessing (chs 38–39 ^o), but the Lord demonstrates the certainty of the new state of affairs. The Lord gathers the forces of Gog and his allies, not to judge his peacefully settled people, but to smash their enemies once and for all.
After God defeats Gog and his allies, he can reveal the final Temple and the reoriented land (chs 40–48 ^p). With architectural, ritual, and geographic imagery, Ezekiel’s final vision depicts the same message as the rest of the book: God will raise his people to a new level of holiness so that he can once again dwell in their midst. Those who were faithful in the past receive renewed access to God’s presence, while those who were less faithful remain on the margins. A river of life flows out from this new Temple; as it flows, it grows and transforms death into life. God’s final words to his people through Ezekiel do not warn of abandonment and destruction; rather, they promise fellowship and life.

Authorship and Date
In the opening verses of the book, the prophet Ezekiel claims that he is the author (1:3 ^q), and there is little reason to doubt his claim. The book shows all the interests expected from a priest such as Ezekiel, and the central event of Jerusalem’s destruction dominates the book’s structure. The prophet most likely wrote the book during the period in which his visions and messages were given (593–571 BC), with the completed composition probably dating shortly after the final message.

Meaning and Message
Before 586 BC, both the exiles in Babylon and the people remaining in Judah were convinced that Jerusalem could not be destroyed. They believed that the presence of the Temple and its prescribed rituals would guarantee the city’s survival. Ezekiel had to tell them that they were completely wrong. Because the Temple and its rituals were corrupt and the hearts and lives of the people were thoroughly pagan, Jerusalem had to be destroyed.
While all the Old Testament prophets condemned sin and idolatry, perhaps none used quite such sweeping terms as Ezekiel. From Israel’s time in Egypt onward, the disobedience of God’s people infected every branch of society and encompassed every form of offense against God. God could not ignore or condone such sin and would surely judge his people soon. Nothing could save God’s city or its people from his judgment.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem, God’s people were in grave danger of disillusionment and despair. They felt spiritually dead, abandoned by God and cut off from his presence. They said, “Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?” (33:10 ^r). Babylonian deities, who seemed to have triumphed over the Lord, surrounded the people. No one had returned home from captivity. Their hopes were dashed, and they believed they had no choice but to settle in the pagan land of Babylon and become part of its culture.
To these disillusioned people, the prophet delivered a message of God’s sovereignty and glory, depicting God as majestic, transcendent, and powerful. The Babylonian gods had certainly not defeated the Lord; rather, God had voluntarily abandoned his land and dwelling place because of his people’s sin. Although he left the defiled city of Jerusalem, this glorious God did not abandon his people. Instead, he went to the remnant of his people in exile (11:16 ^s), where Ezekiel himself first saw the Lord’s glory (1:1 ^t). God was still controlling all things, even the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar’s attempts to consult his own gods through divination (21:21-23 ^u; cp. Dan 2–4 ^v). The Lord had decreed the destruction of Jerusalem for its sins; Nebuchadnezzar was simply acting as God’s agent.
Jerusalem’s destruction did not mark the end of the story for God’s people. God had promised to bless Abraham’s descendants, making them into a mighty nation and blessing all nations through them. The oracles against the nations surrounding Judah (Ezek 25–32 ^w) demonstrated that God had not forgotten his ancient promise that those who rejoiced at Israel’s downfall would themselves be severely judged. God would not forever abandon his people. One day he would return to be their shepherd (34:11 ^x); he would transform the land and the people from death to life. God’s glory would once again return to the Temple, which would never again be defiled. Further, God would gather his scattered people into his presence and replace the old ways of doing things with new laws and higher standards of holiness. When filled with God’s Spirit, the people would no longer defile the land with their sins.
Ezekiel points toward a greater hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God’s glory fully dwells in our midst as light in the darkness of our exile (11:16 ^y; 43:1-5 ^z; John 1:14 ^aa). The Good Shepherd restores justice for his sheep (Ezek 34:1-24 ^ab; John 10:11 ^ac). He fills us with his Spirit and makes us new creatures in him (Ezek 36:26-28 ^ad; 37:1-14 ^ae; 2 Cor 5:17 ^af). Those who have allied themselves with Christ have even greater access to God’s presence than Ezekiel’s visions anticipated. They are able to approach the throne of grace freely and drink from the life-giving water that flows from the throne (Ezek 47:1-11 ^ag; Rev 22:1-5 ^ah). Everything that Ezekiel anticipated—and more—is ours in Christ.

Summary for Ezek 1:1-3:27: 1:1–3:27 ^ai Old Testament prophetic books often begin with a “call narrative” that gives details of the prophet’s commissioning to his office (e.g., Jer 1:4-19 ^aj). The prophetic call narrative demonstrated that the prophet’s words were legitimate, showing that he spoke as the Lord’s ambassador. It often introduced themes that his prophecy would address in greater detail, just as the overture to a symphony introduces the musical motifs that form the basis for the composition that follows. The focus of Ezekiel’s call narrative is the Lord’s impending judgment of his people.
Summary for Ezek 1:1-3: 1:1-3 ^ak The opening verses locate the prophet’s ministry among the exiles from Judah who had been carried off to Babylon. 1:1 ^al of my thirtieth year: Priests began to minister in the Jerusalem Temple when they were thirty years old. Ezekiel was a priest (see 1:3 ^am), but he was with the Judean exiles ... in Babylon and was therefore unable to serve in the usual ways. Ezekiel’s identity as a priest in exile is significant to the message that follows. The exiles felt cut off from God and from conventional ways of appealing to him in the Temple. In the ancient world, most gods were closely tied to particular lands, so it was easy for those who were removed from the Promised Land to assume that the Lord was no longer interested in them. That God’s word had come to a prophet among the exiles in Babylon showed that God had not forgotten them and still had a future for them.

• The Kebar River was probably a large irrigation canal in the Nippur region southeast of Babylon. The Babylonians (Babylonians) had deported the previous occupants because of their Assyrian sympathies and replaced them with exiles from elsewhere in their empire, including Judah. The Babylonians generally resettled peoples by ethnic groups and allowed them to retain their identity, unlike the Assyrians, whose policy of exile was to disperse and scatter populations. This difference later made it possible for the remnant of the exiles of Judah to return to their homeland. Those who had been exiled from the northern kingdom by the Assyrians were not able to return in the same way.
1:2 ^an This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity: The word of the Lord first came to Ezekiel in 593 BC, while Judah was still a semi-independent state (see Ezekiel Book Introduction, “Setting”). Judah had been subjugated by the Babylonians in 597 BC, and King Jehoiachin had been carried into exile in Babylon at that time. Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, ruled Judah as a Babylonian vassal (597–586 BC). Ezekiel dates his prophecy with reference to Jehoiachin’s captivity rather than to Zedekiah’s reign because he seems to have viewed Zedekiah as a stand-in for the lawful king, Jehoiachin. Zedekiah later rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs 24:20 ^ao), who besieged the city of Jerusalem (588 BC), destroyed it, and burned the Temple (586 BC).
1:3 ^ap Ezekiel was a priest by descent and a prophet because the hand of the Lord was upon him. Priests offered sacrifices in the Temple and explained God’s law. Prophets delivered God’s words of blessing or curse to the people and interceded with God for them. Ezekiel’s ministry included aspects of both priestly and prophetic mediation between God and the Israelites.
Summary for Ezek 1:4-28: 1:4-28 ^aq The language of this opening vision is that of theophany, a physical manifestation of God (see study note on Deut 1:33). It was difficult for Ezekiel to describe what he saw, as is evident from his frequent use of “looked like,” “something like,” and “seemed.” The overall effect is nonetheless clear and menacing; verbs of motion are combined with symbols of judgment to warn that God’s judgment will inevitably fall upon rebellious Jerusalem. 1:4 ^ar I saw a great storm: This language speaks of theophany (see study note on 1:4-28) as God appears in judgment. That this fiery presence is coming from the north, the direction from which Israel’s enemies had traditionally come, compounds the perception of danger. God was coming as a mighty warrior, not to rescue his people but to bring judgment against them.
Summary for Ezek 1:5-9: 1:5-9 ^as At the center of the fiery cloud were four living beings, each having four faces and four wings. Four is a number of completeness; these composite creatures summed up the created order.
1:10 ^at Each had the face of a lion, the greatest of the wild animals; the face of an ox, the greatest of domestic animals; the face of an eagle, the greatest of the birds; and a human face, representing the pinnacle of creation. The guardians of Mesopotamian palaces also combined features of these same four creatures (though not the four faces).
Summary for Ezek 1:11-14: 1:11-14 ^au These fiery creatures had both wings and legs, enabling them to move like ... lightning in any direction. No one could run away from such fearsome beasts. In the similar vision in ch 10 ^av, they are identified as cherubim, agents of divine judgment.
1:15 ^aw The living creatures were not the only cause for fear—in their midst, Ezekiel saw four wheels that were part of a divine war chariot. Chariots were among the most feared weapons of war in the ancient world.
Summary for Ezek 1:16-17: 1:16-17 ^ax It would be impossible to build a physical chariot in which each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it. This picture depicts a chariot that could travel equally well in any direction, symbolizing God’s freedom of movement in judgment.
1:18 ^ay The wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes (cp. 10:12 ^az). There was no more hope of hiding from this chariot than of running from it.
Summary for Ezek 1:19-21: 1:19-21 ^ba The chariot was infused with the spirit of the living beings, and the whole assembly moved as a single entity.
Summary for Ezek 1:22-25: 1:22-25 ^bb The surface like the sky, glittering like crystal separated the realm of God’s presence (heaven) from the realm of humanity (earth). References to the sky, the cherubim (see study note on 1:11-14), and the rainbow (1:28 ^bc) remind us of the opening chapters of Genesis and suggest that the narrative about to unfold concerns the destruction of what God had created, followed by its re-creation. Just as God destroyed the world he had made with a flood and then restored it through Noah, Ezekiel’s world was also being unmade and restored.
Summary for Ezek 1:26-27: 1:26-27 ^bd On the throne of God was a figure whose appearance resembled a man. Ezekiel’s ability to describe the scene was overwhelmed by the magnificence of the sight. This human form revealed the Lord’s overpoweringly radiant glory that had once filled the Tabernacle and the Temple as a visible manifestation of God’s presence (cp. Dan 7:9-10 ^be; Rev 1:12-17 ^bf). While God’s awesome presence in human form comforts his faithful people, it signifies inevitable judgment for those who are disobeying him. This vision presages God’s coming to earth as a man in Jesus Christ.
1:28 ^bg rainbow shining in the clouds: This image combines the prospect of judgment with a note of mercy. The storm clouds were going to drop a full load of judgment on God’s sinful people, but a rainbow, the sign of hope that God established after the flood (Gen 9:12-17 ^bh), would appear also. Although the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its people to Babylon would be a severe catastrophe in which many would die, God would not forget 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—a common human response to God’s glory (cp. Lev 9:23-24 ^bi; Num 22:31 ^bj; 1 Kgs 18:38-39 ^bk; 1 Chr 21:16 ^bl; 2 Chr 7:1-3 ^bm; Matt 17:5-6 ^bn).