That Yahweh, the eternal God, is spoken of, we cannot doubt; and such passages as Colossians ; Hebrews ; John ; John , justify us in maintaining that the revelation of the divine glory here made to Ezekiel has its consummation or fulfillment in the person of Christ, the only-begotten of God compare Revelation The vision in the opening chapter of Ezekiel is in the most general form - the manifestation of the glory of the living God. It is repeated more than once in the course of the book compare Ezekiel , Ezekiel ; Ezekiel ; 10; Ezekiel ; Ezekiel The person manifested is always the same, but the form of the vision is modified according to special circumstances of time and place.
Commentary by A. His father was Buzi Eze , a priest, and he probably exercised the priestly office himself at Jerusalem, previous to his captivity, as appears from the matured priestly character to be seen in his prophecies, a circumstance which much increased his influence with his captive fellow countrymen at Babylon.
Tradition represents Sarera as the land of his nativity. His call to prophesy was in the fifth year from the date of his being carried away with Jehoiachin see 2Ki by Nebuchadnezzar, B.
The best portions of the people seem to have been among the first carried away Eze ; Jer , 8, The ungodly were willing to do anything to remain in their native land; whereas the godly believed the prophets and obeyed the first summons to surrender, as the only path of safety.
These latter, as adhering to the theocratic principle, were among the earliest to be removed by the Chaldeans, who believed that, if they were out of the way, the nation would fall to pieces of itself. They were despised by their brethren in the Holy Land not yet captives, as having no share in the temple sacrifices. Thus Ezekiel's sphere of labor was one happier and less impeded by his countrymen than that of Jeremiah at home. The vicinity of the river Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates near Circeslum, was the first scene of his prophecies Eze Tel-Abib there now Thallaba was his place of residence Eze , whither the elders used to come to inquire as to God's messages through him.
They were eager to return to Jerusalem, but he taught them that they must first return to their God. He continued to prophesy for at least twenty-two years, that is, to the twenty-seventh year of the captivity Eze , and probably remained with the captives by the Chebar the rest of his life.
A treatise, falsely attributed to Epiphanius, states a tradition that he was killed at Babylon by a prince of his people whom he had reproved for idolatry. He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel.
The former had prophesied for thirty-four years before Ezekiel, and continued to do so for six or seven years after him. The call of Ezekiel followed the very next year after the communication of Jeremiah's predictions to Babylon Jer , and was divinely intended as a sequel to them.
Daniel's predictions are mostly later than Ezekiel's but his piety and wisdom had become proverbial in the early part of Ezekiel's ministry Eze , 16; They much resemble one another, especially in the visions and grotesque images.
It is a remarkable proof of genuineness that in Ezekiel no prophecies against Babylon occur among those directed against the enemies of the covenant-people. Probably he desired not to give needless offence to the government under which he lived.
The effect of his labors is to be seen in the improved character of the people towards the close of the captivity, and their general cessation from idolatry and a return to the law. It was little more than thirty years after the close of his labors when the decree of the Jews' restoration was issued. His leading characteristic is realizing, determined energy; this admirably adapted him for opposing the "rebellious house" "of stubborn front and hard heart," and for maintaining the cause of God's Church among his countrymen in a foreign land, when the external framework had fallen to pieces.
His style is plain and simple. His conceptions are definite, and the details even of the symbolical and enigmatical parts are given with lifelike minuteness. The obscurity lies in the substance, not in the form, of his communications. The priestly element predominates in his prophecies, arising from his previous training as a priest.
He delights to linger about the temple and to find in its symbolical forms the imagery for conveying his instructions. This was divinely ordered to satisfy the spiritual want felt by the people in the absence of the outward temple and its sacrifices.
In his images he is magnificent, though austere and somewhat harsh. He abounds in repetitions, not for ornament, but for force and weight. Poetical parallelism is not found except in a few portions, as in the seventh, twenty-first, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth through thirty-first chapters. His great aim was to stimulate the dormant minds of the Jews. For this end nothing was better suited than the use of mysterious symbols expressed in the plainest words.
Inattention to this divine purpose has led the modern Jews so to magnify this obscurity as to ordain that no one shall read this book till he has passed his thirtieth year.
Rabbi Hananias is said to have satisfactorily solved the difficulties Mischna which were alleged against its canonicity. Ecclesiasticus refers to it, and Josephus [Antiquities, It is mentioned as part of the canon in Melito's catalogue [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 4. The oneness of tone throughout and the repetition of favorite expressions exclude the suspicion that separate portions are not genuine. The earlier portion, the first through the thirty-second chapters, which mainly treats of sin and judgment, is a key to interpret the latter portion, which is more hopeful and joyous, but remote in date.
Thus a unity and an orderly progressive character are imparted to the whole. The destruction of Jerusalem is the central point. Previous to this he calls to repentance and warns against blind confidence in Egypt Eze ; compare Jer or other human stay. After it he consoles the captives by promising them future deliverance and restoration. His prophecies against foreign nations stand between these two great divisions, and were uttered in the interval between the intimation that Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem and the arrival of the news that he had taken it Eze Havernick marks out nine sections:— 1 Ezekiel's call to prophesy Eze Some of these were uttered much later than others, but they all began to be given after the fall of Jerusalem.
The particularity of details as to the temple and its offerings rather discountenances the view of this vision being only symbolical, and not at all literal. The event alone can clear it up.
At all events it has not yet been fulfilled; it must be future. Ezekiel was the only prophet in the strict sense among the Jews at Babylon. Daniel was rather a seer than a prophet, for the spirit of prophecy was given him to qualify him, not for a spiritual office, but for disclosing future events. His position in a heathen king's palace fitted him for revelations of the outward relations of God's kingdom to the kingdoms of the world, so that his book is ranked by the Jews among the Hagiographa or "Sacred Writings," not among the prophetical Scriptures.
On the other hand, Ezekiel was distinctively a prophet, and one who had to do with the inward concerns of the divine kingdom. As a priest, when sent into exile, his service was but transferred from the visible temple at Jerusalem to the spiritual temple in Chaldea. Ezekiel's Vision by the Chebar. Four Cherubim and Wheels. As this formula in Jos has reference to the written history of previous times, so here and in Ru , and Es , 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 Jer , Jeremiah sent by Seraiah a message to the captives Jer to submit themselves to God and lay aside their flattering hopes of a speedy restoration.
This communication was in the next year, the fifth, and the fourth month of the same king for Jehoiachin's captivity and Zedekiah's accession coincide in time , followed up by a prophet raised up among the captives themselves, the energetic Ezekiel.
As the Lord was about to be a "little sanctuary" Eze to the exiles on the Chebar, so Ezekiel was to be the ministering priest; therefore he marks his priestly relation to God and the people at the outset; the close, which describes the future temple, thus answering to the beginning. By designating himself expressly as "the priest" Eze , and as having reached his thirtieth year the regular year of priests commencing their office , he marks his office as the priest among the prophets.
Thus the opening vision follows naturally as the formal institution of that spiritual temple in which he was to minister [Fairbairn]. Chebar—the same as Chabor or Habor, whither the ten tribes had been transported by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser 2Ki ; 1Ch It flows into the Euphrates near Carchemish or Circesium, two hundred miles north of Babylon.
The time of Ezekiel's prophecy by the river Chebar, Eze His vision of four cherubims, and four wheels, Eze , and of the glory of God above them, Eze Now : this does not refer to any particular time before mentioned, though sometimes this English particle now connotes particular time, the Hebrew is and , so the Greek and Latin, but is a phrase in use on entering upon discourse.
It came to pass in the thirtieth year, of the prophet's age, or from the finding the book of the law in the eighteenth year of Josiah, when the threats were read which now were executed on the Jews, according to 2Ki , from which date to the fifth year of the captivity are thirty years; or in the thirtieth year of the Chaldean monarchy, founded by Nabopollassar.
Other accounts omitted, you are left to your own thoughts which of these two latter are more probable; both have very weighty authority for them; and indeed they both concur and meet in the fifth year of the captivity, and so either computation may without mistake be followed.
In the fourth month; the original hath only in the fourth , concisely, but it is certainly the month, but whether in account from Marchesvan, October with us, to Shebat, January, or from Nisan, March, unto Tamuz, July, is more questionable; the latter I guess to be the rightest account; so from Nisan, which is part of our March and April, to Tamuz, part of our June and July, will be the fourth month; and this account in church things best suits the prophet's design.
In the fifth day of the month; it was the third day of our July, probably it was the sabbath day, when the Jews would be free from labour, and at leisure to hear the prophet; and indeed such declarations of the will of God are an entertainment suitable to the consecration of the seventh day to God. As I was among the captives; Heb. Though a priest and prophet, the first by birth and lineal descent, the other by extraordinary commission, yet I also found as little respect as my countrymen.
Among the captives; in the midst of the captivity, so the Hebrew idiom; perhaps the prophet rather useth the abstract itself than the concrete, to express the grievousness of it: they were captive, nay, captivity rather, under extreme bondage; as darkness for dark. By the river; either there commanded to dwell, or thither retiring, that more freely they might lament their own sins, and Jerusalem's desolation: or what if it were to keep, as they might, their sabbath, in which the spiteful Babylonians interrupt them, and with scorn require them to sing a temple song, Psa Chebar; a branch of Euphrates, or that part which Chobar advised should be made to divert the violence of Euphrates, lest it damnify the city Babylon.
Or rather a river now called Giulap, arising out of the mountain Masius, and falls into Euphrates, somewhat below a city called by the same name, Giulap or Chaboras; as Ferrarius and Hotoman observe. The heavens were opened; the firmament or lower parts of the celestial arch either really did, or to appearance seemed to divide, and the contiguous parts withdrew as a curtain, to give the prophet the view of what was within; or as folding doors set open that he might look into that apartment where this unusual sight was prepared.
Were opened; expressed thus in the passive to let us see that there was a supreme, sovereign, and Divine power and authority by which this was done; it is not said the heavens did open, but they were opened. It was no meteor, chasm, or yawning, which is naturally a figured semblance of a breach in the visible heavens, whence appears a gulf or deep and wide pit to the eye.
These beings did not turn when they went , not moving to the right or the left. Nothing will deter Him—nothing can sidetrack Him at all. If the latter, then they are perfectly responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah described them as burning ones seraphim, Isaiah , and so did Ezekiel. Out of the fire went lightning shows the power and awe associated with these creatures.
The living creatures ran back and forth : The cherubim were active , seeming to not stand still for a moment. Their movements were as quick as a flash of lightning. Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness.
The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them. When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
It is probably the idea of a grand four-wheeled chariot bringing the throne of God. The general impression is of constant activity and motion, not only by the living creatures themselves Ezekiel , but also by the throne of God specifically mentioned in Ezekiel The color of beryl : The mineral beryl can come in many different colors, but one of the more notable and precious is the emerald. This may mean that the wheels and their workings gave off a green color. This is impossible in reality, but in the vision in enables the chariot to run instantly in any direction without turning.
When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went : The sense seems to be that the wheels and their workings could move in any direction, but there was no sense of chaos or disorder to their movements.
The description of full of eyes was how John described the cherubim themselves Revelation The sense is of great knowledge and intelligence.
When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them : As the four cherubim moved, so did the four wheels and their workings. They were so closely connected that Ezekiel could write, the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
In thirteen months the cherubim and this heavenly chariot will return to remove the glory of the Lord from the temple and Jerusalem Ezekiel The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads. And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body.
When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings. A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings. The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures : As Ezekiel looked above the cherubim, he saw space like the color of an awesome crystal.
It usually refers to the curve of the heavens, which to an observer on the ground appears like a vast inverted bowl of blue. In passages like Genesis ; Psalms ; ; Daniel , it clearly has this meaning, but in Ezekiel it has the sense of a firm, level surface or platform. I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty : This seems to describe the loud and majestic noise of a great waterfall. John used this phrase to describe the voice of the ascended Jesus Revelation , the voice of God Revelation , and the voice of a great multitude Revelation A voice came from above the firmament : The living creatures responded to this voice that came from above all.
And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around.
Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.
Above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne : Since the wheels and their working seemed to be on the earth beside each living creature Ezekiel and the voice and the throne came from above the firmament Ezekiel , the presence of God was above the cherubim and the wheels and their workings.
In appearance like a sapphire stone : Moses described parts of his heavenly vision with the blue color and brilliance of a sapphire stone Exodus On the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it : The repetition of the word likeness means that Ezekiel was concerned to emphasize that what he saw were representations of the real.
Ezekiel might very well deny that he saw the actual throne of God or God Himself; he saw their likeness. But given the possibility of a theophany, no form but the human form could conceivably have been used to represent the Deity. A likeness with the appearance of a man : The representation Ezekiel saw of God was something like a man. This is consistent with the other descriptions of God in heavenly visions such as Isaiah and Revelation and the general idea that God made man in His image Genesis Again, Ezekiel did not say that God was a man, merely that His appearance was something like a man.
The color of amber : This is the fourth association of color. First beryl or emerald green Ezekiel , then clear crystal Ezekiel , then sapphire blue Ezekiel , and now golden-brown amber. From the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around : Flashing red and yellow light came downward from this representation of God. The suggestion is of His power and radiance going from heaven down to earth. Yet he still gives direction and order to his creation from his heavenly throne.
Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it : The whole picture is of colorful, bright, happy radiance — like a rainbow in a cloud. All around this setting of all sovereignty, power, authority and glory — this setting of the throne of God — God set a reminder of His promise to never destroy the earth again with water Genesis , a promise that directs His sovereignty, so that it is not capricious or against His promises.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD : Ezekiel artfully built up to this declaration, revealing that the radiant being he described was in fact Yahweh, the God of Israel Himself. Ezekiel did not claim to see God directly, but only the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. Such appearances could illuminate, but could not redeem: for redemption full Incarnation was necessary, and not simply an appearance as a Man.
He had seen the glory of God. One might think that the mere revelation of God in a vision was enough, but it was not enough for God. Something in His nature demands that He reveal Himself through His word, making this vision valuable not only for Ezekiel the prophet but for all who will read and consider His word.
Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. Likewise, the Babylonians could have simply assumed their gods had defeated Yahweh and ruled the heavens and the earth unchallenged. Yahweh has not been defeated, nor has he turned away from his people, Israel. He remains seated in his chariot throne at the center of his domain—the entire cosmos. When we read Ezekiel 1 through ancient eyes, we can feel the same hope today: even amid difficult circumstances, we can know that an all-powerful God is active and present in our lives.
You can discuss this post and others in the Faithlife Today group. Create an account or log in to get started. Michael S. Heiser is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania M. He has a dozen years of classroom teaching experience on the college level and another ten in distance education.
He is a former scholar-in-residence at Logos Bible Software. Biblical Studies. Heiser 4 min read 1 month ago.
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