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I. EZEKIEL’S VISION, COMMISSION AND MESSAGE1:1 – 5:17a. Introduction1:1-31 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, theheavens were opened and I saw visions of God.2 On the fifth of the month — it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of theBabylonians. There the hand of the Lord was upon him.Chapters 1-3 describe the vision in which Ezekiel received the call to be the prophet to the exiles. The bookopens with the Hebrew word hayah, which has the primary meaning of “to exist,” “to be,” or “to come to pass.” Itcould be rendered “and,” but according to Strong’s Definitions, it is “always emphatic, and not a mere copula orauxiliary.” We find it, among many other examples, in the verse: “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there waslight.”1The Pulpit Commentary comments: “The use of the conjunction indicates here, as in Jonah 1:1, that thenarrative that follows links itself on to something that has gone before. In Exodus 1:1 and 1 Samuel 1:1 it maypoint to a connection with the book that precedes it. Here the sequence is subjective. We may think of Ezekiel asretracing the years of his life till he comes to the thirtieth. Then, as it were, he pulls himself up. That must be thestarting point of what he has to say. Our English use of ‘now’ is nearly equivalent to this.” But I prefer seeing inEzekiel’s use of the word an introduction to a mode of existence that is more real than any experience we know. Thisis the real “to be.”Although Ezekiel’s mention of time, “the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day” seems to beclear beyond argument, it has been a topic of controversy among Bible scholar throughout the ages. Some, likeOrigen, believe it to be a reference to the prophet’s own age. Priests and Levites began their public ministry at the ageof thirty.2 Others take it to be the thirtieth year of King Jehoiachin’s age, which would make it 585 B.C. Some goback to Josiah’s reform, making it 593/592 B.C. Modern Bible translations present it as the prophet’s own age. TheNew Living Translation, for example, reads: “On July 31 of my thirtieth year.” The Living Bible: “One day late inJune, when I was thirty years old.” The older ones hold on to a literal rendering of “the thirtieth year, in the fourthmonth on the fifth day.”There is a strange switching back and forth between the first and the third person singular, particularly infirst three verses of this chapter. This gives the impression as if Ezekiel could hardly believe that this is whathappened to him. The phrase “the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” is unusual in the Old Testament.None of the Old Testament prophets described their experience with God in this manner. The words “visions of God”can be interpreted in different ways.The Pulpit Commentary states: “The words admit of three interpretations: (1) Great, or wonderful, visions;as in the ‘mountains of God’ ( Psalm 36:6), the ‘cedars of God’ ( Psalm 80:10), the ‘river of God’ ( Psalm65:9); (2) visions sent from God; or (3) actual theophanies or manifestations of the Divine glory, of these (3) is mostin harmony with what follows, here and elsewhere, on the phrase (comp. Ezekiel 8:3; 40:2; 43:3). Such atheophany constituted in his case, as in that of Isaiah ( Isaiah 6:1), Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 1:9), Zechariah ( Zechariah 1:8-14), his call to the office of a prophet. The visions may be thought of as manifested to his wakingconsciousness in an ecstatic state, and are thus distinguished from the dreams of sleep (comp. Joel 2:28 for thedistinction between the two — ‘visions’ belonging to the young, and ‘dreams’ to the old). The visions of Balaam,seen in a ‘trance,’ but with his ‘eyes open’ ( Numbers 24:3, 4), and of St. Paul, ‘whether in the body or out of thebody’ he could not tell ( 2 Corinthians 12:2, 3), present suggestive parallels.”1.2.Gen. 1:3Num. 4:3,4

The Hebrew word, translated vision is mar’ah, which has the double meaning of “a vision” and “a mirror.”An example of the first meaning of the word is in “And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, ‘Jacob!Jacob!’”1 The only example of the second meaning of the word is found in “They made the bronze basin and itsbronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.”2 The secondmeaning of “mirror” reminds us of Paul’s statement: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shallsee face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”3 Ezekiel saw the mirrorimage of God’s glory. That was the closest anyone could ever come to reality in the Old Testament. For the NewTestament believer, Paul’s statement applies: “Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now theLord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflectthe Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, whois the Spirit.”4V.2 seems to clarify the questions about the date mentioned in v.1, but, as The Keil and DelitzschCommentary observes: “The real identity of these two dates is placed beyond doubt by the mention of the same dayof the month, ‘on the fifth day of the month’ (v. 2 compared with v. 1). The fifth year from the commencement ofJehoiachin’s captivity is the year 595 B.C.; the thirtieth year, consequently, is the year 625 B.C. But the era, inaccordance with which this date is reckoned, is matter of dispute, and can no longer be ascertained with certainty.”The Hebrew text states: “The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi.” TheHebrew word used is hayah, which literally means “to exist,” and which serves here to add emphasis to the statement.The experience of the vision is described as “the hand of the Lord was upon him.” The verb “was” is not in theHebrew text. The Pulpit Commentary states about the expression: “The ‘hand’ of the Lord is the natural symbol of hispower, and the phrase seems to be used to add to the consciousness of inspiration, that of a constraining, irresistiblepower. Ezekiel continually uses it ( Ezekiel 3:14, 22; 8:1; 33:22; 37:1; 40:1).”One of the unusual parts of Ezekiel’s experience seems to be that he was physically taken away by the Spiritof God while the hand of God was upon him, and that he was returned to his place among the exiles at the end of hisvision. We conclude this from the reference in a later chapter that reads: “Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heardbehind me a loud rumbling sound — May the glory of the Lord be praised in his dwelling place!— the sound of thewings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumblingsound. The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with thestrong hand of the Lord upon me. I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Abib near the Kebar River. And there, wherethey were living, I sat among them for seven days — overwhelmed.”5 Ezekiel was the first human being ever to havethis experience. Moses and Isaiah had seen God’s glory manifested on earth. Paul did not know whether hisexperience was in the body or out of the body,6 John had his revelation “in the spirit”,7 but Ezekiel was, evidently,taken up bodily.b. The vision of the Lord’s chariot-throne 1:4-284 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north — an immense cloud with flashing lightning andsurrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,1.2.3.4.5.6.7.Gen. 46:2Ex. 38:8I Cor. 13:12II Cor. 3:16-18Ezek. 3:12-15II Cor. 12:2-4Rev. 1:9,10; 4:1,2

5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man,6 but each of them had four faces and four wings.7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.8 Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings,9 and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face ofa lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing ofanother creature on either side, and two wings covering its body.12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forthamong the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike.Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turnabout as the creatures went.18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from theground, the wheels also rose.20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit ofthe living creatures was in the wheels.21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when thecreatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was inthe wheels.22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, andawesome.23 Under the expanse their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering itsbody.24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice ofthe Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.25 Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.26 Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the thronewas a figure like that of a man.27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that fromthere down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard thevoice of one speaking.The first impression Ezekiel received was that of an enormous wind storm. The Hebrew words used areruwach ca ar, which stands for “a hurricane.” The phenomenon seems to have been the same as at the manifestationof God at Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments. We read there: “On the morning of the third day therewas thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camptrembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it likesmoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently.”1

The vision came toward Ezekiel from the north. Several Bible scholars consider this to be a reference to theChaldean invasion that came into Israel from the north. That would mean that Ezekiel saw himself as being inJerusalem, which is inconsistent with the opening statement in which he declares himself to be by the Kebar River inBabylonia.The Pulpit Commentary observes about “the north”: “In Jeremiah 1:13, 14 a like symbol is explained asmeaning that the judgments which Judah was to suffer were to come from the north, that is, from Chaldea, upon theprophet’s countrymen. Here the prophet is himself in Chaldea, and what he sees is the symbol, not or calamities, butof the Divine glory, and that explanation is, accordingly, inapplicable. Probably the leading thought here is that theDivine presence is no longer in the temple at Jerusalem. It may return for a time to execute judgment ( Ezekiel 8:4;10:1, 19, 20), and may again depart ( Ezekiel 11:23), but the abiding glory is elsewhere, and the temple is as Shilohhad been of old ( Psalm 78:60). Ezekiel was looking on the visible symbol of what had been declared inunfigurative language by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 7:12, 14; 26:6, 9). That the north should have been chosen ratherthan any other quarter of the heavens is perhaps connected (1) with Job 37:22, where it appears as the region of‘fair weather,’ the unclouded brightness of the ‘terrible majesty’ of God; (2) with Isaiah 14:13, where ‘the sides ofthe north’ are the symbols of the dwelling place of God. For the Jews this was probably associated with the thought ofthe mountain heights of Lebanon as rising up to heaven or with the fact that the ‘north side’ of Zion ( Psalm48:2), as the site of the temple, was the ‘dwelling place of the great King.’ Parallels present themselves in theAssyrian hymns that speak of the ‘feasts of the silver mountains, the heavenly courts’ (as the Greeks spoke ofOlympus), ‘where the gods dwell eternally’ and this ideal mountain was for them, like the Meru of Indian legend,in the farthest north. So, in the legendary geography of Greece, the Hyperborei, or ‘people beyond the north,’ were aholy and blessed race, the chosen servants of Apollo possibly the brilliant coruscations of an Aurora Borealis mayhave led men to think of it as they thought of the glory of the dawn or the brightness of the lightning, as a momentaryrevelation of the higher glory of the throne of God.” But The Wycliffe Bible Commentary states: “Ezekiel here is notborrowing the mythological concept of the north as the home of the gods, but may be suggesting God’stranscendence.”The way in which Ezekiel describes the vision gives the impression of it being so overwhelming andglorious that it is actually beyond description. Words as “look like,” “resemblance” and “appearance” are used toconvey the impression. The Hebrew word used is demuwth, which denotes “similitude.” The first time the word isused is in the verse: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’”1 Ezekiel tries to convey to usthat what he saw was actually incomparable; it could not be defined in terms of any earthly reality. The Apostle Paul,in describing his experience of being taken up into heaven, said that he “heard inexpressible things, things that man isnot permitted to tell.”2 This reminds us of God’s word to Isaiah: “‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is myequal?’ says the Holy One.”John B. Taylor, in Ezekiel, states about the onset of this vision: “Alone with his thoughts, and doubtlesssharing the gloomy views of his fellow-exiles about the separation from the presence of God in Jerusalem, hesuddenly was aware of a black storm-cloud gathering in the north. It is possible that in his actual experience he beganby observing some such natural phenomenon, from which there developed the supernatural vision of the glory of theLord which occupies most of this chapter. The physical and visible led into the spiritual and the visionary.Alternatively, the whole thing from beginning to end was a vision experience with no starting-point in reality. At allevents, the description of the vision moves from the normal to the supranormal, beginning with a thunder-cloud,black and threatening, with the brightness of the desert sun lighting up its edges and with lightning-flashes streakingacross the darkened sky. The last phrase of verse 4 begins to show that this is more than the usual desert hurricane: itsappearance is graphically described as being ‘like the gleam of glowing bronze from out of the fire.’ The rare Hebrewword hašmãl, used here and in verse 27 and in 8:2, is not amber (AV, RV) but some kind of shining metal (cf. RSV’s1.1.2.Ex. 19:16-18Gen. 1:26II Cor. 12:4

bronze): in every case it is descriptive of the Lord’s dazzling splendor, and so it prepares the way for the supernaturalfeatures of the visions that follow.”Most of Ezekiel’s description of this theophany centers on the four living creatures and the wheels that seemto carry them. The Hebrew word for “living creature” is chay, which has the basic meaning of “alive.” “Live-ones”would be an acceptable translation. Ezekiel’s vision resembles Isaiah’s in many details, but it is not completelysimilar. We read in Isaiah: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted,and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings theycovered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to oneanother: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices thedoorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.”1 The Apostle John also saw the same throneof God with four living creatures surrounding it. We read this in Revelation: “In the center, around the throne, werefour living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion,the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four livingcreatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stopsaying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’”2 Here too is a good deal ofsimilarity, but the three pictures are not identical. Much of the difference may be attributed to the speed with whichthe living creatures seem to be moving. Ezekiel says: “The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.”Ezekiel and John agree on the fact that the “living ones” resemble human beings, but their form is quitedifferent from humans on earth. The most striking difference is the wings. Ezekiel seems to describe two sets ofwings on each living being, a total of four. John distinguishes six wings on the creatures he describes. Ezekiel doe

Ezekiel was one of the captives taken to Babylonia (“Our exile” 1). He owned a house,2 was married, 3 was a priest, the son of Buzi, and he was probably thirty years old when God called him. 4 The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia observes about Ezekiel’s age at the time