Just as our Lord began His public mission at the age of thirty (Luke 3:23; 4:14-21, and consequently, John, as well (Luke 1:24-26)), Ezekiel’s prophetic call was also in his thirtieth year (Ez. 1:1). Born during the reign of the good king Josiah, who attempted with all of his power to reform Israel, Ezekiel was twenty-five years old when king Jehoiachin, himself and ten thousand others were carried away into captivity (II Kings 24:8-15). It was during his fifth year in captivity that the Lord called him with a vision of His glory (1:2,3, 26-28).

Ezekiel was first of all a priest (Ezek. 1:3). Several ages are given in scripture regarding when this service was to begin. In order to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, Moses wrote one had to be thirty years old and then continued in service till age fifty (Num. 4:3). So, just as Ezekiel would enter into the full work of the tabernacle, he also began his work as a prophet. Interestingly, like Jesus, he, too, spoke in parables (20:49).

In Numbers 8:25 the age of twenty-five is given as the age at which one began to work in the service of the tabernacle. Some have thought this meant one began in their service in a training capacity and then entered in full service at thirty, others that one could only serve in the priesthood and carry the furniture at thirty, while others think the age was changed when more people were needed. David, apparently, being a prophet, lowered the age to twenty, when the Lord had given them rest and they no longer needed to carry the furniture of the tabernacle (I Chron. 23:25; II Chron. 31:17).

If Ezekiel at first nurtured any intentions of returning to Jerusalem and serving the Lord in the temple, five years into the captivity, it probably soon became apparent to him that he would never return home. Though scripture tells us nothing of the end of Ezekiel’s life, tradition states he was martyred for condemning idolatry. Those same traditions also suggest he was buried near Baghdad.

Ezekiel was married and he must have loved his wife deeply for God says of her that she was “the desire” of his eyes (24:16). In one of the rare instances when he reveals something of a personal nature he records the death of his wife. Even this was to illustrate a point, for the Lord told him not to mourn over the loss of his wife which He would take away in an instant (24:15-17). And when Jerusalem was taken, then they would not mourn out loud for fear of their captors or in astonishment. Therefore, Ezekiel, himself, would be a sign to them (24:24).

Ezekiel’s visions were very visual and his prophesies were in many ways acted out as he often became the sign himself. The marvelous visions of Jehovah’s glory is just but one example of his visions (chaps. 1-3). He was told by God to use his hair to illustrate the future judgment upon them (5:1-4). God would cause him to be unable to speak until the Lord wanted him to prophesy (3:26). He was to remove his things from his house by a hole he created in the wall to teach a lesson of the future carrying away (12). He was to draw upon a tile to illustrate Jerusalem and lay upon his side to illustrate the siege (4).

While his earlier visions and prophesies were of God’s judgement, through his later visions God provided Israel with hope. One of the great visions which illustrate this is the vision of an immense valley full of very dry bones (37). The Lord asked him if these bones could live (37:3). God showed him that they could and as they were graphically reassembled, the Lord used this to illustrate that Israel would be resurrected from the grave of captivity and return back home (37:14). It also foreshadowed the resurrections of the New Covenant (e.g., Luke 8:49-54; I Cor. 15; etc.).

In his final prophecy, Ezekiel sees a magnificent temple (chaps 40-48). This vision finds it’s fulfillment not in any literal temple contemplated in the past nor in some alleged and fanciful future millennial kingdom but in the very real, but spiritual, temple of the church of Christ (I Cor. 3:17), both in its earthly manifestation (Eph. 2:21) and heavenly (Rev. 3:12; 21:22; cf. II Pet. 1:11). In this temple we serve as priests (I Pet. 2:5; Rev. 5:10), just as Ezekiel did in Jerusalem, but our Great High Priest is the One whom Ezekiel saw on the Throne (Heb. 4:14; 1:26-28).

Eric L. Padgett