Ezekiel was a Jewish exile, taken to Babylon in the second deportation with King Jehoiachin. (Refer to Day 224, August 12th for a brief summary of the history of the exile, if you need a refresher.) If he had not been exiled, he would have been a priest. As it turned out, he ministered in a very different way than he planned, speaking God’s word to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. His ministry to the Jews in Babylon overlapped Jeremiah’s service in Jerusalem. The two prophets spoke a consistent message, even though they were a great geographic distance apart. Ezekiel is probably the more enjoyable book of the two because it uses a lot of drama.
The drama starts in the fourth verse of the first chapter, with Ezekiel’s description of “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” He doesn’t say it was the glory of the Lord, but the appearance of the likeness. Analysis of what he saw is beyond the scope of this blog; what is pertinent is that God’s glory is beyond what we can imagine. As a priest Ezekiel was educated, but he obviously struggled to find a way to describe what he saw. God’s glory is beyond man’s ability to describe because we describe by making connections to things that we know, and God is so far beyond us that we have nothing in our experience to use as a reference. That’s what the term “holy” means – “other.” Although what Ezekiel described sounds monstrous, it was obviously overwhelming, because he fell face-down when he saw it and had to be stood back on his feet, and was rendered speechless for seven days. Take a few minutes to contemplate Ezekiel’s description and his response to what he saw. We may have only a limited understanding of what God is like, but we should be moved to praise at each glimpse we have of Him. Can you offer praise to Him for who He is, revealed in a small way in this passage?
The drama continues with God’s instruction to Ezekiel to act out the siege of Jerusalem. Poor Ezekiel! God took away his ability to speak except when God wanted him to speak, and He used his actions – very uncomfortable actions – to speak in what would have been a powerful way to some, but ridiculous to others. Notice what God said about Ezekiel’s audience: “Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse.” It wasn’t that God didn’t care about their heeding His words; He obviously did care if He continued to speak to a rebellious people. Rather, He didn’t force Himself on them. He is the same way today. Are we willing listeners? Are you a willing listener? Think about a listener’s behavior; do you behave like a listener? A study of the word used in that verse reveals that in the original Hebrew the word “listen” connoted not simply to hear, but also to give attention, to respond, and to obey. Do you behave like a listener? Why not ask God what He thinks of your listening?