TEACHING BOX 1B
An Overview of Ezekiel
Generally speaking, the book of Ezekiel may be divided as follows:
CHAPTERS 1 TO 3
In 613 B.C.E., while living among the Jewish exiles in Babylon, Ezekiel sees visions of Jehovah and is commissioned to prophesy to the Jews living by the river Chebar.
CHAPTERS 4 TO 24
Between 613 and 609 B.C.E., Ezekiel delivers prophetic messages consisting primarily of judgment against Jerusalem and her rebellious, idolatrous people.
CHAPTERS 25 TO 32
Starting in 609 B.C.E., the year the final Babylonian siege of Jerusalem began, Ezekiel’s message of judgment shifts from Jerusalem to surrounding enemy nations—Ammon, Edom, Egypt, Moab, Philistia, Sidon, and Tyre.
CHAPTERS 33 TO 48
Starting in 606 B.C.E., with Jerusalem and its temple lying in ruins hundreds of miles away, Ezekiel focuses on a message of hope—the thrilling restoration of the pure worship of Jehovah God.
The book of Ezekiel is thus basically arranged chronologically as well as topically. Prophecies about the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple come before the bulk of the prophecies about the restoration of pure worship. That makes sense, for the restoration prophecies presuppose that worship at the temple had ceased.
In addition, Ezekiel’s prophecies against the surrounding enemy nations (chapters 25 to 32) are inserted between his judgment messages against Jerusalem and the prophecies about the restoration of pure worship. Commenting on Ezekiel’s judgment messages to the nations, one scholar observes: “They form a suitable transition from the declaration of God’s wrath to that of His mercy towards His people, because the punishment of their enemies is in itself a part of the deliverance of His people.”