Ezekiel

1. Write one paragraph explaining the historical background and purpose of the prophet.

The book of Ezekiel was written by the prophet and priest Ezekiel beside the Kebar River while in exile (1:1, 3:15). He was called to prophetic ministry during the 5^th year of the exile (1:2-3) and his ministry lasted 20 years (40:1). Ezekiel was one of the people! He lived amongst them (33:21, 40:1), he was married, he was no different than the Jews but he knew God and lived according to His word. God chose him and appointed him to speak on His behalf (2:1-3). He was instructed to not be afraid and to deliver the messages whether they accepted them or not! (2:6-8). Ezekiel was instructed to do all kinds of weird (by human terms) things to show what God was wanting to tell the people.

The Original hearers are the people in Exile and the text is full of God doing and saying things so that “they will know that I am God”. We see a lot of evidence that they were prostituting themselves to other gods (14:3-5; 15); the people even had an idol in the temple! (8:1-6) The people's hearts were so hardened to what they were doing (12:2). And the false prophets were not helping the situation either; they fed them full of wrong prophesies, prophesies that their itching ears wanted to hear. God told them they were worse than Sodom and Samaria (15:47)

But beside all of the condemning He told them they way out! “But if wicked people turn from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous thing they have done.

In Chapter 20 we see God talking about the cycle that the people fell to. We see the conditional oath He made to them, the command He made to them to get rid of their idols and their failure to do so. He threatened to pour out His fury but for the sake of protecting His name amongst the other people He withheld, so instead He delivered them from Egypt and gave them the Sabbath to remember Him but, “They wouldn't obey my regulations even through obedience would have given them life.” (20:13) and they violated the Sabbath. But again God held back, but He did say that He wouldn't take them into the Promised Land. Then He had pity on them and didn't kill them off in the desert. He wanred the children not to follow in their parents footsteps and defile themselves with idols, but the children rebelled, too, and the cycle continued. God says in 20:39, “Go right ahead and worship your idols, but sooner or later you will obey me and will stop bringing shame on my holy name by worshiping idols.” But He still promised hope for those who repent!

The Lord uses Ezekiel to speak to the people of the day, but the main message and purpose of the book is to show those coming back from Exile and the people that are staying in Jersualem the purpose of their Exile, that they've been in the right place and the Lord was using every circumstance to bring them to a realization of where they were at. It's a book for them to look back on and see His goodness, His faithfulness and that in the midst of what seemed like hopelessness there was an immense amount of hope. I think the goal is writing to them was for them to see what happened, why and how to avoid it as their entering this new land.

2. What does this book show you about the character and nature of God?

In Ezekiel we see the vengeance and wrath of a just God. Chapter after chapter is full of His righteous anger towards the people (6:3-6; 7:8-9), like in the rest of the prophets we see how much He detests sin and how upset He is that the people have blatantly turned against Him. There's “no more delay!” (12:28) anymore. But we also see Him extending a hand of redemption for those who repent and turn back to Him (18:21-22, 24). God talks about Himself as the Shepherd in Chapter 34:11-16. He wants to hear the prayers of the brokenhearted returning to Him, “I am ready to hear Israel's prayers and to increase their numbers like a flock.” (36:37).

He is present with them in their time of Exile. He didn't stay with the temple in Jerusalem, He went with them and He's there for them the whole way through. He shows that He is not limited by space or time. The people seemed to thing that He was only in the holy things- the temple, the ark, etc. But He's showing them that He's with them wherever they are, whenever they need Him (11:16)

In all of Ezekiel we see God's deep care for His people, how He longs for them to come back to Him and how He never wanted to punish them but because of their wayward hearts it was His only option. He punishes to bring us back to Him, but because our hearts and humanness only want what looks good and feels good we avoid it and assume that God loves us anyway and will only show mercy. True statement, but there has to be an action of repentance and heartbreak from us before that mercy and grace will be extended.

He's a God of redemption to those who call on His name. I can almost seeing Him crying as He threw out the fury on the people. Yes, He was angry, but the wrath was not what He wanted to pour out on them, but they wouldn't listen! I'm sure it broke His heart more than anything.

3. What does this book show about God's redemptive plan for mankind?

The whole book is about the judgment and wrath they are experiencing with a few sprinkles of hope, but the last 8 chapters are all focused on visions of restoration and the plans that the Lord has for them after they get out of exile. He has so much redemption in store for them, they just fail to see it.

11:16-17- “Although I have scattered you in the countries of the world, I will be a sanctuary to you during your time in exile. I, the soverign Lord, will gather you back from the nations where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of israel once again.”

In 34: 25-31 He calls them the sheep of His pasture and talks about how He will protect them and they will be able to go wherever and not be harmed by the wild animals, they will be famous for their crops.

“...sprinkle clean water of you and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you... And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people and I will be your God” (36:28-32). We also see redemption in 37:20-25 and chapters 40-43 are all about the New Temple that is to be built.

In 44:3 we see “the prince” referenced. This is a reference to Jesus.