Visions & Idolatry

What happens in Ezekiel 1–16

Ezekiel is one of the most dramatic and visually stunning books in the Bible. The prophet Ezekiel is a priest who was carried into exile in Babylon in 597 BC, about eleven years before Jerusalems final destruction. While living among the exiles by the Kebar River, Ezekiel receives an overwhelming vision of Gods glory: a whirlwind from the north, four living creatures with multiple faces (human, lion, ox, eagle), wheels within wheels covered with eyes, and above it all a figure like a man on a sapphire throne surrounded by brilliant light. This is the glory of the LORD, and Ezekiel falls facedown.

God commissions Ezekiel to speak to a rebellious house, the people of Israel who have stubbornly resisted God for generations. He is told to eat a scroll containing words of lament, mourning, and woe, and it tastes sweet as honey. God makes Ezekiel a watchman for Israel: if he warns the wicked and they don't listen, their blood is on their own heads, but if he fails to warn them, God will hold him accountable.

What follows is a series of dramatic symbolic acts that are unlike anything else in Scripture. God tells Ezekiel to build a model of Jerusalem under siege, lie on his left side for 390 days and his right side for 40 days, cook food over dung, and shave his head dividing the hair into thirds, burned, struck with a sword, and scattered to the wind, representing the fate of Jerusalem's people.

In chapters 8-11, Ezekiel receives a vision-tour of the Jerusalem temple that reveals shocking idolatry happening behind closed doors: elders worshiping images of crawling things, women weeping for the Babylonian god Tammuz, and men with their backs to Gods temple worshiping the sun. In response, Gods glory, His visible presence that had dwelt in the temple since Solomons dedication, begins to depart. It moves from above the cherubim to the threshold, then to the east gate, then to the Mount of Olives. This is one of the most sobering moments in the Old Testament: God literally leaving His own house because of His peoples unfaithfulness.

Chapters 12-15 contain more symbolic acts and messages of judgment. Ezekiel digs through a wall and carries his belongings out at night, dramatizing the exile. He condemns false prophets who whitewash walls with false peace and prophetesses who practice divination. Jerusalem is compared to a useless vine, good for nothing but burning.

Chapter 16 contains the longest allegory in the Bible: Jerusalem as an abandoned baby girl whom God rescues, nurtures, and eventually marries in a covenant of love. She grows into stunning beauty, but then uses the very gifts God gave her to pursue other lovers, the surrounding nations and their gods. This unfaithfulness is described in graphic terms to show how deeply God's people have betrayed His love. Yet even this devastating chapter ends with a whisper of hope: God will remember His covenant and establish an everlasting covenant with His people.