Ezekiel was a prophet during Israel’s final fall. His eponymous book contains many different forms of literature. He seems to have been a deeply and broadly knowledgable man, well-prepared to write at that historical moment.
Like a great movement that started in Exodus ended with a return to alienation and captivity. When Ezekiel sat down to write, God told him that Jerusalem would fall, the Temple be destroyed, and Ezekiel’s wife would die. He must not publicly mourn her just as the Jews now exiled with him in Babylon must refrain from public mourning. Ezekiel’s name refers to God’s strength. God punished Israel mightily, but he is also mighty to save, and Ezekiel ends with God’s promise to restore the Temple and console his people. This calamity like all of God’s judgments, purified his people and prepared them for the next movement.
Read more about the Bible or Ezekiel, specifically.
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