EZEKIEL Index
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A STUDY OF EZEKIEL Index EZEKIEL .................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION ....................................... 5 CHAPTER 1 ................................................ 5 CHAPTER 2 .............................................. 11 CHAPTER 3 .............................................. 15 CHAPTER 4 .............................................. 19 CHAPTER 5 .............................................. 22 CHAPTER 6 .............................................. 25 CHAPTER 7 .............................................. 27 CHAPTER 8 .............................................. 31 CHAPTER 9 .............................................. 36 CHAPTER 10 ............................................ 38 CHAPTER 11 ............................................ 41 CHAPTER 12 ............................................ 45 CHAPTER 13 ............................................ 48 CHAPTER 14 ............................................ 50 CHAPTER 15 ............................................ 53 CHAPTER 16 ............................................ 55 CHAPTER 17 ............................................ 61 CHAPTER 18 ............................................ 64 CHAPTER 19 ............................................ 67 CHAPTER 20 ............................................ 69 CHAPTER 21 ............................................ 74 CHAPTER 22 ............................................ 78 CHAPTER 23 ............................................ 81 CHAPTER 24 ............................................ 86 CHAPTER 25 ............................................ 89 CHAPTER 26 ............................................ 93 CHAPTER 27 ............................................ 96 CHAPTER 28 ............................................ 99 CHAPTER 29 .......................................... 103 CHAPTER 30 .......................................... 106 CHAPTER 31 .......................................... 109 1 CHAPTER 32 .......................................... 112 CHAPTER 33 .......................................... 116 CHAPTER 34 .......................................... 122 CHAPTER 35 .......................................... 126 CHAPTER 36 .......................................... 128 CHAPTER 37 .......................................... 133 CHAPTER 38 .......................................... 139 CHAPTER 39 .......................................... 144 CHAPTER 40 .......................................... 149 CHAPTER 41 .......................................... 155 CHAPTER 42 .......................................... 158 CHAPTER 43 .......................................... 161 CHAPTER 44 .......................................... 165 CHAPTER 45 .......................................... 169 CHAPTER 46 .......................................... 172 CHAPTER 47 .......................................... 176 CHAPTER 48 .......................................... 179 EZEKIEL Commentary by Dr. Mark G. Cambron Key Word: GLORY! Date: 592-572 B.C. Exilic. Babylonian Period. Ezekiel, which means, “God Strengthens,” was taken into Babylonian captivity with Jehoiachin in 599 B.C., being about 23 years of age. Seven years later, he began his prophetic ministry, and continued for 20 years. Like Jeremiah, he was a priest as well as a prophet. Of the three Major Prophets, Isaiah was the great poet, Jeremiah was the great preacher, and Ezekiel was the great artist. Isaiah had blown the silver trumpet over Jerusalem, Jeremiah was playing the mournful flute in Judah, and Ezekiel was striking the iron harp by the river Chebar. This prophet has not the sustained flight of Isaiah, nor the tenderness of Jeremiah, but there is a directness which is common only to a stern and strong nature. The domination notes of his ministry are Sin, Punishment, Repentance, and Blessing. To destroy false hopes and awaken true ones was the burden of his soul. The Book falls into three distinct parts: (1) Predictions before the siege of Jerusalem (1-24) B.C. 592-588; 4 1/2 years; (2) Predictions during the siege of Jerusalem (25-32) B.C. 588-586; 2 years (3) Predictions after the siege of Jerusalem (33-48) B.C. 586-572; 14 years. The subjects treated in these parts are: the Denunciation of Judah; the Visitation of the Nations; and, the Restoration of Israel. The Book begins with Heavenly Glory, in the Cherubic Vision (1); it ends with 2 Earthly Glory, in the vision of the New Order (40-48); and in between, it tells of the Departing Glory (8:4; 9:3; 10:4; 18:19; 11:22, 23). The idea of Glory runs through the whole prophecy, and, in a sense, characterizes it. Ezekiel has been called “the prophet of reconstruction,” and this he was. He saw a great future not for Judah only, but for the whole nation, when it shall be reunited and purified. With Jeremiah, he shares in the distinction of promulgating the doctrines of individual responsibility, but he gives it an emphasis which is all his own. Now as far as Ezekiel is concerned, there are NO Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The heart of Ezekiel is found in chapter 24. The Prophet Commissioned (1-3) The Vision (1) The Voice (2-3) Mission (2:1-3:13) Message (3:14-21) Method (3:22-27) The City Judged (4-24) Jerusalem’s Future (4-7) Symbolically Presented (4-5) The brick equals Jerusalem; the soldiers equal Babylon; Ezekiel represents Jehovah. A place of iron between. Position (4:4-8) 390 days on the left side; and 40 days on the right side. Food (4:9-17) Hair (5) Plainly Predicted (6-7) Coming Judgment (6) Coming Destruction (7) Jerusalem’s Conditions (8-9) Vision of the Pollution (8) Vision of the Punishment (9) Comes from the North Jerusalem’s Forfeiture (10-11) Ezekiel sees the: Glory Withdrawn to the Threshold (10:1-9) Glory Withdrawn from the Threshold (10:10-18) Glory Withdrawn from the Temple (10:19 - 11:21) Glory Withdrawn from the City (11:22-23) 3 Glory Withdrawn to Olivet (11:23-25) Jerusalem’s Future (12-24) Certainty of Judgment (12-15) Symbolic Action (12) Treating Discourses (13-14) Prophetic Parable (15) Cause of Judgment (16-24) Set Forth in Parable (16) Jerusalem begotten by heathen parents; God took that young woman to be His wife. But she would not be true. Set Forth in Riddle (17) Set Forth in Proverbs (18) Teeth set on edge. God shows that He deals with man individually. A man is not punished for his father’s sins, but for his own. Set Forth in Lamentation (19) Set Forth in History (20) Israel had worshiped the same gods of the Egyptians. Set Forth in Discourses (21-22) Set Forth in Figures (23-24) Two Sisters: 1. Samaria; 2. Jerusalem— both espoused to God. Samaria’s former lovers were Assyria and Egypt. Jerusalem’s former lovers were Babylon and Chaldea. Boiling Pot: Jerusalem is a rusty pot. Rust is blood; empty pot is the city. Death of Ezekiel’s Wife: Judgment upon Jerusalem. The Nations Visited (25-32) Ammon (25:1-7) Moab (25:8-11) Edom (25:12-14) Philistia (25:15-17) Tyre (26:1 - 28:19) Zidon (28:20-26) Egypt (29 - 32) The Nation Restored (33-48) The Messenger (33) The Message (34-39) Of the Shepherds (34) John 10, Psalm 23, and Ezekiel 34 are the great Shepherd passages in the Bible—of the Shepherd (Jesus Christ) that 4 will come! Of the Mountain (35:1 - 36:15) Of God’s Profanes Name (36:16-38) Of the Dry Bones (37:1-14) Of the Two Sticks (37:15-28) One stick is Judah, Levi, and Benjamin; the other stick is the Ten Tribes. Of Gog and Magog (38-39) The Visions (40-48) Of the Temple (40-42) Of the Service (43-46) Return of the (Glory of) the Lord to the New Temple Of the Land (47:1 - 48:29) Of the City (48:30-35) “THE LORD IS THERE” INTRODUCTION The meaning of the word Ezekiel means “whom God strengthens,” and by him Judah was to know of the future restoration of all Israel to the Promised Land by the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. THE KEY VERSES of this book are Ezekiel 36:24-26 and 36:33-35. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. THE KEY CHAPTER is Ezekiel 37: Restoration & Resurrection of Redeemed Israel. CHAPTER 1 The Prophet Himself: Verse 3 lets us know that he was a Cohen, a priest of the tribe of Levi. He, like John the Baptist, came to Judah and Israel to fulfill God’s appointment of that of a prophet. 5 Verse 1 states that he was 30 years old at the time of his first prophecies—the year that the priests took their office. [For the priest began at 30 years of age and retired at 50]. John the Baptist also began his ministry at age 30. Both Ezekiel and John the Baptist could have lived off things offered upon the altar: (the peace or fellowship offerings, and the sin and trespass offerings). Ezekiel did not, for at the beginning of his ministry he was taken with the majority of the priests to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Then, too,