Ezekiel 1:1

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. NOW IT CAME TO PASS - rather, And it came, etc. This formula in has reference to the written history of previous times; but here, and in and , it refers to the unwritten history which was before the mind of the writer. The prophet by it, as it were, continues the history of the preceding times. In the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign () Jeremiah sent by Seraiah a message to the captives ...

We see that the Prophet was called to the office of a Teacher in the fifth year after Jehoiachin had voluntarily surrendered himself to the king of Babylon, (2 Kings 24:15); and had been dragged into exile, together with his mother: for it was, says he, “in the thirtieth year.” The greater part of the Commentators follow the Chaldee Paraphrast, and understand him to date from the finding of the Book of the Law. It is quite clear, flint this year was the eighteenth of king Josiah; but in my computation, I do not subscribe to the opinion of those who adopt this date. For this phrase — “the thirtieth year,” would then appear too obscure and ‘forced. We nowhere read that succeeding writers adopted this date as a standard. Besides, there is no doubt that the usual method among the Jews was to begin to reckon from a Jubilee. For this was a point of starting for the future. I therefore do not d...

1-14 It is a mercy to have the word of God brought to us, and a duty to attend to it diligently, when we are in affliction. The voice of God came in the fulness of light and power, by the Holy Spirit. These visions seem to have been sent to possess the prophet's mind with great and high thoughts of God. To strike terror upon sinners. To speak comfort to those that feared God, and humbled themselves. In ver. Ezekiel 1:4, is the first part of the vision, which represents God as attended and served by a vast company of angels, who are all his messengers, his ministers, doing his commandments. This vision would impress the mind with solemn awe and fear of the Divine displeasure, yet raise expectations of blessings. The fire is surrounded with a glory. Though we cannot by searching find out God to perfection, yet we see the brightness round about it. The likeness of the living creatures came...

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL _Chronological Notes relative to the commencement of_ _Ezekiel's prophesying_ -Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3409. -Year of the Jewish era of the world, 3166. -Year from the Deluge, 1753. -Second year of the _forty-sixth_ Olympiad. -Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian or generally received account, 159. -Year from the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 158. -Year from the building of Rome, according to Polybius the historian, 157. -Year from the building of Rome, according to

THE THIRTIETH YEAR - being closely connected with as I, is rather in favor of considering this a personal date. It is not improbable that Ezekiel was called to his office at the age prescribed in the Law for Levites Numbers 4:23, Numbers 4:30, at which age both John the Baptist and our Lord began their ministry. His call is probably to be connected with the letter sent by Jeremiah to the captives Jeremiah 29 written a few months previously. Some reckon this date from the accession of Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, 625 b.c., and suppose that Ezekiel here gives a Babylonian, as in Ezekiel 1:2 a Jewish, date; but it

EXPOSITION For the life of the prophet prior to the vision which this chapter relates, and which constituted his call to that office, see Introduction. EZEKIEL 1:1 NOW; literally, _and. _The use of the conjunction indicates here, as in Jonah 1:1, that the narrative that follows links itself on to something that has gone before. In Exodus 1:1 and 1 Samuel 1:1 it may point to a connection with the book that precedes it. Here the sequence is subjective. We may think of Ezekiel as retracing the years of his life till he comes to the thirtieth. Then, as it were, he pulls himself up. That must be t

NOW IT CAME TO PASS IN THE THIRTIETH YEAR,.... Either from the last jubilee, as R. Joseph Kimchi r, Jarchi, and Abendana; or from the time that the book of the law was found by Hilkiah the priest s; so the Targum, which paraphrases the words thus, "and it was in the thirtieth year after Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the law, in the house of the sanctuary, in the court under the porch, in the middle of the night, after the moon was down, in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah;'' or, according to Jerom t, from the time of the prophet's birth, who was now thirty years of age, and was just entered into his priestly office; or rather it was the thirtieth year of Nabopolassar, or the father of Nebuchadnezzar: this was the twelfth year of the captivity, reckoning from the third of Jehoiakim, which was the first captivity, and from whence the seventy years are to be reckon...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. PREDICTIONS BEFORE THE FALL OF JERUSALEM A. judgment Predictions Concerning Jerusalem (1-24) Chapter S 1:1-3:14 The Vision of Glory and the Call of the Prophet _ 1. The introduction (Ezekiel 1:1) _ 2. The vision of glory (Ezekiel 1:4) 3. Ezekiel's call and commission (Ezekiel 2:1) 4. The roll eaten and the repeated commission (Ezekiel 2:9; Ezekiel 3:1) Ezekiel 1:1. The introductory words give

EZEKIEL 1-3. EZEKIEL ENTERS UPON HIS MINISTRY. Ezekiel 1:1. Ezekiel's Vision. Ezekiel 1:1. Like the prophets generally, Ezekiel enters upon his ministry only after he has had a vision of God and a call from Him. The book, therefore, appropriately opens with a description of these experiences. They took place in the thirtieth year a difficult phrase: perhaps the thirtieth year of the prophet's life in any case in 592 B.C., the fifth year after Jehoiachin and the leading citizens of Judah had been carried captive into Babylon (2 Kings 24:10 Ezekiel 1:16). Among them was Ezekiel, who whether or not a priest himself, c

EZEKIEL. In Hebrew. _Y heze el yehazzek- el =_ El is strong, or El strengthens (compare Israel, Genesis 32:28). OF THE FOUR GREATER PROPHETS, Ezekiel and Daniel (who prophesied in Babylonia) are compounded with "El" (App-4. IV); while Isaiah and Jeremiah (who prophesied in the land) are compounded with "Jah". EZEKIEL WAS. PRIEST (Ezekiel 1:3), carried away eleven years before the destruction of the city and temple (Ezekiel 1:2; Ezekiel 33:21; 2 Kings 24:14). He dwelt in his own house (8. I. Compare...