Ezekiel is said to have prophesized to the Jews in exile in Babylon. The historical Ezekiel may have written less
than a quarter of this book. A range of dates from 700 to 200 BCE has been suggested for portions, and it cannot be said confidently
that Ezekiel even lived at the time of the seige.
1. Ezekiel says that while in exile the heavens opened and he saw
a vision of God. A windstorm came from the north with flashes of lightening and a halo of light. Glowing in the centre were three
living beings, each with four faces and four wings. One face was that of a man, the next a lion, the third an ox, and the fourth an
eagle. Beneath the figures were four wheels which sparkled and were filled with eyes. Above the figures rose a throne of sapphire,
and on the throne was a figure of a man, who was God.
2-3. God stretches out his hand, gives Ezekiel a scroll, and instructs
him to eat it. Yes eat it. God commands Ezekiel to never speak again, unless he is speaking for God; that way the people will know
that whenever he speaks it is God’s message. Cruel and unusual punishment.
4. God commands Ezekiel to take a clay tablet, draw
a picture of Jerusalem on it, and then use little ramps and battering rams to lay siege to it in a recreation of Jerusalem’s
fall. Ezekiel is commanded to lie down on his left side for one day for each of the three-hundred and ninety years of Israel’s sin,
then on his right side for one day for each of the four-hundred years of Judah’s sin. To assist Ezekiel, God says he will tie him
up so that he cannot turn from one side to the other before the allotted time. God gives instructions to Ezekiel on cooking, eating,
and drinking, while he performs this (more than two year) ritual of lying on his side. Of all the ridiculous things in the Bible,
this is the most ridiculous. As Ruth Hurmence Green (from the Freedom From Religion Foundation) notes so well: 'And this is the
way God treats his friends'.
5-10. God instructs Ezekiel to shave his head and beard and divide the hair into three piles. The
first pile is to be burnt inside the city (the clay tablet), the second pile he is to strike with his sword around the pretend city,
and the third pile is to be scattered to the wind. This symbolizes the people of Jerusalem killed by famine, sword, and sent into
exile. God tells Ezekiel that he will pile the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and that unheard of
disaster is coming. Ezekiel has a vision: God shows him the ‘detestable’ things the Israelites are doing, such as burning
incense, worshipping the Babylonian god of Spring, and bowing to the sun. In the vision God instructs a scribe to put marks on the
heads of the faithful, then instructs some other men to ‘slay the old and young, both maids, little children, and women; but come
not near any man upon whom is the mark.’ It is not entirely clear if this is all a vision, but assuming so, it is a vision where children
are killed in the name of a jealous God. It is this, not the examples of idol worship, that is detestable. Ezekiel is a religious
sociopath.
11-13. God tells Ezekiel that the leaders of the people are giving wicked advice, then foretells that He will unifyIsrael once more. God commands Ezekiel to perform a ritual where he is a captive being led away to exile, dramatizing the future of
the people remaining in Jerusalem. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against those prophesizing from their own imagination. The irony.
14-16.
God condemns idolaters. He says he will treat the people living in Jerusalem as firewood. Ezekiel (speaking for God) makes an elaborate
analogy between Jerusalem and a baby, then a woman, then a prostitute. Then he constructs a revenge fantasy of this prostitute's humiliation
and gory death. God says he will restore the city of Sodom. Note: Sodom has not been restored to date, to my knowledge. A failed prophesy
of the restoration of a fictional city (see explanation in Genesis).
17-20. God tells Ezekiel a parable about two eagles transplanting
the branches of a tree, which apparently symbolizes the kings of Babylon and Egypt and the exile of the Jewish nation. God says people
who sin will be put to death, people who repent will live, and children will not be punished for the sins of their fathers. Ezekiel
tells a parable of two lions, which symbolize two kings of Judah.
21. Ezekiel ‘sings’ a song of slaughter about God’s sword,
sharpened and polished, sharpened for slaughter, flashing like lightening, closing in on every side, slashing to the right and slashing
to the left. Vile imagery from a very sick mind.
22-23. God says that just as metals can be purified by intense heat,
he will purify Israel by throwing everyone into a furnace. Ezekiel makes an analogy between the cities of Jerusalem and Samaria and
two prostitutes. There is an interesting quote in 23:20 ‘She (Jerusalem) lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkeys and
emissions like those of a horse.’ Some translations omit this anatomical detail for some reason.
24-33. Ezekiel’s wife dies.
Ezekiel prophesizes devastation for the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, the people of Tyre and Sidon, and the Egyptians.
34-37.
God tells Ezekiel that the righteous who turn to sin will die, while the wicked who repent will live. An analogy is made between God
and a shepherd. God promises to rebuild Israel. In a vision, God takes Ezekiel to a valley of bones. God says he will restore the
tendons, flesh and skin to them. Then, tendons and flesh are reapplied amid a rattle of bones, and an army of reanimated corpses stands
up. Disappointingly, the zombie army symbolizes the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and is not, apparently, a reality.
38-48. Ezekiel
prophesizes an earthquake and devastation for Gog, prince of Meshech, when Gog attacks Israel, and that the Israelites will eat
the flesh and drink the blood of his soldiers. Ezekiel has a vision of the precise dimensions of a new temple. God enters the temple
and instructs Ezekiel to tell the people of Israel of its details. In the vision God gives Ezekiel instructions on the slaughter of
bulls and goats, the precise manner in which the blood is to be sprinkled, what the priests must eat and wear, elaborate procedures
for offerings and festivals, and instructions for the division of land between the tribes of Israel.