8:1
We are now back to prose. Chapters 8 to 11 speak about the punishment of Israel, including the departure of the glory of God from the temple. This first chapter involves God showing Ezekiel why this was happening, He showed him the wickedness that was endemic within Israel, Jerusalem and the priesthood. We should remember that ultimately Ezekiel is a book about salvation, but in order to understand and appreciate that salvation we need to know the wickedness of man. This is relevant not just to Ezekiel, but much more generally. We need to appreciate the reality and the awfulness of sin in order to appreciate God’s salvation. If we start from the premise that everyone is very nice really, which is what we so often do, then we will get nowhere. At the same time, we should appreciate people. Unsurprisingly, Jesus shows us the way. Jesus was under no illusions as to the nature of man, and was not slow to tell people. However, Jesus also enjoyed being with people and appreciated people. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life!
We get one of Ezekiel’s precise dates here, and this vision was received thirteen months after the initial vision of the glory of God. By this time people will have got the idea that Ezekiel was a prophet. The elders of Judah (presumably those in exile) were sitting with Ezekiel, probably wondering what he was going to do or say next! Then “the hand of the Sovereign Lord” came upon him. The message he was going to give was not one he would have made up or even imagined, it was one given by God.
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