Read
or review paragraphs 1-5 of the “Bible Background.”
Read the following biographical data
about Ezekiel and the descriptions of his messages. Ezekiel:
•
was a temple priest in
•
was taken to
•
was God's spokesperson from 593-571 B.C.
•
was married (his wife died in 588 B.C.)
•
lived in his own home in Telabib in Babylonia by the
river Chebar (a canal for the
•
was eccentric
•
spoke and acted symbolically
•
delivered God's messages to elders in the Exile until 571 B.C.
•
gave a message of doom from 593-587 B.C. while
•gave
a message of hope from 587-571 B.C. since
destroyed
(see chapters 33—48)
(Adapted by permission from Kerygma:
The Bible in Depth Leader's Guide. The Kerygma
Program, 1984, p. 249.)
Reflect
upon the picture the above information presents about this prophet.
How do you think the above characteristics or information affected the way people
received Ezekiel's message?
Read
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Explore Ezekiel's vision using some or all of these
questions:
•
What is the significance of the opening words "the hand of the lord
came upon me"? (See also 3:22; 8:1; and 40:1.)
•
In Ezekiel we often hear echoes of Jeremiah's preaching. What are the
similarities and differences in Jeremiah 8:1-2 and Ezekiel 37?
•
The Hebrew word ruah (RU-ach) is a key
thread that weaves this story together. It appears ten times in the story and
is translated into three terms. Thus, it appears in three different senses. In
one sense it is God's "spirit" coming upon Ezekiel. In another it is
"breath," the very animating principle of life. In a third it is
"wind."
List the ten occurrences of these words in verses 1-10.
Read verses 1-10 substituting ruah for
each occurrence.
What is the relationship of the English words spirit, breath, and wind
in this story?
•
This Ezekiel story has connections with the Genesis story. Ruah
is also key to the story of Genesis 1 and 2. (See Genesis 1:2 and 2:7.) The
continuity of Genesis 2 and Ezekiel occurs also in the two-stage regeneration.
What are the two stages of raising the dead in Ezekiel?
What are the parallel stages in Genesis 2 ? (See Genesis 2:7.) What do
you think is being said here by the linkage of this vision with the Genesis
story?
•
What is the meaning of Ezekiel's vision? (See verses 11-14 and
paragraphs 6-7 of the "Bible Background.")
“I will put my
spirit within you, and you shall live.”
Bible
Background (taken from Journey
through the Bible Book 2, Christian Board of Publications, 1995, p. 39)
In Babylonian exile, the captives—or many of
them, at least—followed Jeremiah's advice. They settled in, built houses, found
occupations to support themselves, observed the basic elements of their
religious faith, and especially claimed the sabbath day, every seventh day, as
a day of rest, relaxation, and study of God's Law, God's Teaching. And most of
all: They survived as a people.
2But it was not Jeremiah alone who helped them survive and keep hope
alive. Other prophets did as well, and none was more important in the early
years of exile than the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a priest and a prophet,
carried off into exile in 597 B.C.E. and called to be God's prophet to
3One of his strange visions opens the book of Ezekiel. The prophet was
in
"Throughout the intervening years from 593 B.C.E., when this first
vision came, until the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6, Ezekiel used all his skills
and powers to help keep hope alive among the exiles and to urge the remaining
community in Jerusalem to mend their ways and turn to God with renewed faith
and commitment to justice and mercy so that they might be spared.
5But when the end came, and when other exiles began to arrive in
became one of hope and consolation for them too. God had brought
judgment, but God was merciful and loving, had not abandoned the people of the
covenant, and would find a way to restore them to their land and renew their
witness to God before all the nations.
6 One of the greatest of his visions of hope is found in Chapter 37, the
picture of the valley of dry bones that suddenly come together and become
alive. As is often the case with Ezekiel, the prophet has a strange and almost
grotesque vision of a valley strewn with the bones of human beings— thousands
of them, bleached and dried in the sun. All life is long since gone from this
vast army of the dead. But the prophet is commanded by God to prophesy to these
bones, calling on them to hear God's word. He does so, and the bones begin to
reassemble to form human beings. As the bones are reconnected, sinew and flesh
appear on the bones, and then skin, and suddenly, there is a whole people. But
are they alive? No, not yet, for the divine Spirit has not yet entered them to
give them life. So Ezekiel is required to prophesy to the wind, or breath, so
that breath comes into this whole host, and then they become truly alive. Dry,
rattling bones have clattered together, and now human beings stand there—a huge
company.
7 But who are they? They are "the whole house of
8 Chapter 36 talks about that inner transformation. God will remove the
stony hearts of the people who simply do not think they can believe in God or
in the future. God will replace these stony hearts and the broken spirits that
go with them, giving to the people of Israel hearts of flesh, real, living
hearts, and will give them God's own Spirit to sustain them and keep them
confident and hopeful, watching for the day of deliverance. Ezekiel was a
great pastor to the people in exile.
Scripture
Ezekiel
CHAPTER 1
1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the
fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of
God.
2 On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year
of the exile of King Jehoiachin),
3 the word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel son
of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was on him there.
4 As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a
great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually, and
in the middle of the fire, something like gleaming amber.
5 In the middle of it was something like four living
creatures. This was their appearance: they were of human form.
6 Each had four faces, and each of them had four
wings.
7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their
feet were like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished
bronze.
8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human
hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus:
9 their wings touched one another; each of them moved
straight ahead, without turning as they moved.
10 As for the appearance of their faces: the four had
the face of a human being, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an
ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle;
11 such were their faces. Their wings were spread out
above; each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another,
while two covered their bodies.
12 Each moved straight ahead; wherever the spirit would
go, they went, without turning as they went.
13 In the middle of the living creatures there was
something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and
fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright, and lightning issued from
the fire.
14 The living creatures darted to and fro, like a
flash of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel
on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of
them.
16 As for the appearance of the wheels and their
construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl; and the four had
the same form, their construction being something like a wheel within a
wheel.
17 When they moved, they moved in any of the four
directions without veering as they moved.
18 Their rims were tall and awesome, for the rims of
all four were full of eyes all around.
19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved
beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels
rose.
20 Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the
wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the
wheels.
21 When they moved, the others moved; when they
stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose
along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was
something like a dome, shining like crystal, spread out above their heads.
23 Under the dome their wings were stretched out straight,
one toward another; and each of the creatures had two wings covering its
body.
24 When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings
like the sound of mighty waters, like the thunder of the Almighty, a sound of
tumult like the sound of an army; when they stopped, they let down their
wings.
25 And there came a voice from above the dome over
their heads; when they stopped, they let down their wings.
26 And above the dome over their heads there was
something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the
likeness of a throne was something that seemed like a human form.
27 Upward from what appeared like the loins I saw
something like gleaming amber, something that looked like fire enclosed all
around; and downward from what looked
like the loins I saw something that looked like fire, and there was a splendor
all around.
28 Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was
the appearance of the splendor all around. This was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I
heard the voice of someone speaking.
CHAPTER
16
1 The word of the LORD came to me:
59 Yes, thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you
as you have done, you who have despised the oath, breaking the covenant;
60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the
days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.
61 Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed
when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to
you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you.
62 I will establish my covenant with you, and you
shall know that I am the LORD,
63 in order that you may remember and be confounded,
and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all
that you have done, says the Lord GOD.
1 The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me
out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was
full of bones.
2 He led me all around them; there were very many
lying in the valley, and they were very dry.
3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones
live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."
4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones,
and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause
breath to enter you, and you shall live.
6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to
come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall
live; and you shall know that I am the
LORD."
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I
prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came
together, bone to its bone.
8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh
had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in
them.
9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath,
prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may
live."
10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath
came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
11 Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are
the whole house of
12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the
Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O
my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your
graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.
14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall
live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the
LORD, have spoken and will act," says the LORD.
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BIBLICAL TIME SCALE |
|
BCE |
|
|
1300 |
|
|
|
Exodus from |
|
|
|
|
|
Conquest of |
|
1200 |
|
|
|
Invasion of the Philistines |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1100 |
Deborah |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Samuel |
|
1000 |
Saul founds monarchy 1020-1000 |
|
|
David rules |
|
|
Solomon rules |
|
|
|
|
|
Division of kingdom |
|
900 |
Asa king of |
|
|
|
|
|
Ahab king of |
|
|
Elisha |
|
|
Jehu's revolution 842 |
|
800 |
Jehoash king of |
|
|
|
|
|
Jeroboam II king of |
|
|
Amos, Hosea |
|
|
|
|
700 |
Isaiah (1), Micah |
|
|
Hezekiah king of Judah 715 Assyrians take |
|
|
Manasseh king of |
|
|
Zephaniah |
|
|
Josiah's reform, 641 Nahum |
|
600 |
Jeremiah |
|
|
Ezekiel, Babylonians sack |
|
|
Exile
in |
|
|
Isaiah (2), Cyrus begins |
|
|
Haggai & Zechariah |
|
500 |
2nd |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Nehemiah rebuilds |
|
|
|
|
400 |
The Pentateuch accepted as Scripture (or 550?) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alexander conquers East |
|
|
|
|
300 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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The Prophets accepted as Scripture |
|
|
|
|
200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maccabees |
|
|
Hasmonean rulers |
|
|
|
|
100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Romans conquer |
|
|
Herod the Great |
|
|
3rd |
|
C.E. |
Birth of Jesus |
|
|
Jesus' ministry |
|
|
Paul's ministry |
|
|
Roman's destroy |
|
|
Gospels written |
|
100 |
The Writings close the OT Canon |
|
|
Last NT books written, Clement |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
300 |
|
|
|
Nicene Creed 325 |