In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. (Ezek 1)

Babylon

The whole of the first chapter of Ezekiel provides the setting for Ezekiel’s call to ministry. This opening statement simply establishes that he was living among the exiles in Babylon beside what is described as the Kebar River. This was a canal flowing into the River Euphrates at Nippur. The date presents difficulties as no one knows what calendar is used here – it is not the Babylonian nor the Hebrew calendar. But in the next verse, Ezekiel says it is the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s reign, which means that it is the fifth year of the exile, because the King, who had only been on the throne three months, was taken to Babylon along with 10,000 of his people, including the young priest Ezekiel (2 Kgs 24:12–16).

This is the date when Ezekiel had his amazing experience of the presence of God that marked the beginning of his ministry among the exiles in Babylon. A further difficulty with these opening verses in the Hebrew is that verse 1 is written in the first person singular, whereas 2 and 3 are in the third person – reporting what happened to the prophet. Then the rest of the chapter reverts to the first person singular, describing the ecstatic vision of the glory of God that was given to the prophet that changed his life. It is a first-hand account of an incident that was highly personal and that opened the way for God to speak directly to him.

It is a first-hand account of an incident that was highly personal and that opened the way for God to speak directly to him.

Nippur was a major town near Babylon. It was high up, overlooking a beautiful plain with a valley below, where the Kebar ran into the Euphrates. It was a sufficiently important town to have its own god, En Lil, who had been the chief god of the region from about 3,000 BC until the rise of the Babylonian Empire in the sixth century BC. He was known as the ‘Lord of lords’ and the ‘Lord of heaven and earth’, and the ‘Creator of all things’. With the advent of the Babylonian Empire, their god, Marduk, took precedence over the god of Nippur.

Community of exiles

The area near where Ezekiel lived was a settlement established by a community of exiles from Judah and Jerusalem. The name ‘Ezekiel’ literally means “May God strengthen” and he is said to have been a priest whose father was Buzi, of whom there is nothing known. Ezekiel was a Zadok, which was the family of the high priest, and he would have had his training for the priesthood in the temple precinct in Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 1:3 says, “The hand of the Lord was upon him”, which is a phrase usually used to describe an ecstatic experience. This is similar to Isaiah’s call to ministry in Isaiah 6, where he was in the temple in Jerusalem and he had a vision of seraphs, each with six wings and faces. Ezekiel’s vision, detailed throughout this first chapter, is triggered by a colossal storm described in chapter 1:4.

A violent storm

The storm would have been unusual in the month of June, in that part of the world. It was a particularly violent storm with flashes of lightning and thunder ripping up trees and setting fire to dry brush. Ezekiel was watching the storm sweep across the valley, and it led to him vividly experiencing the presence of God.

For Ezekiel this was especially significant, meaning that God was not only in the temple in Jerusalem, but that he was right there in Babylon.

The faces of the creatures Ezekiel saw symbolised the all-seeing God, and the wheels symbolised his omnipresence – that he could move in any direction. He was the omnipotent and ever-present God. For Ezekiel this was especially significant, meaning that God was not only in the temple in Jerusalem, but that he was right there in Babylon. This was preparing him to see the glory of God in Babylon. “The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels”, which symbolised the royalty of God and his glory. It was kings who used to be driven in chariots.

Ezekiel would no doubt have been acutely aware of the Lord’s hand in judgement upon the nation of Judah because God had withdrawn his protection of Jerusalem due to the idolatry in the city. Jeremiah had complained that there was an altar to a foreign god on every street corner in the city.

The power of God

Ezekiel may have remembered the words of Isaiah 66:15 “See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.” The storm would have been a vivid reminder of the power of God which he saw as being a message from God of his anger. But this led to the ecstatic experience of the presence of God, which was the prelude to Ezekiel’s call to ministry which we read about in chapter two.

The vision climaxes from verse 25, where Ezekiel heard a voice coming from what looked like a throne of sapphire. The prophet avoids describing God, but he saw the appearance of a man with four faces and four wings and he heard a voice which he likens to the appearance of a rainbow shining through the clouds on a rainy day (v 28). For Ezekiel this was “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord”. His response was to fall down on his face and worship the Lord.

But this led to the ecstatic experience of the presence of God, which was the prelude to Ezekiel’s call to ministry

The term ‘glory’ may mean ‘honour’ – the same Hebrew word is found in Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” And in Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name”. In Ezekiel the ‘glory’ of God is His presence. He always sees the glory of the Lord in ecstatic visions as when he sees the glory leaving the temple (10:18). In the same way he sees the glory of the Lord return through the same East gate as he had left (43:1-2), and later he saw the presence of God being restored to the temple.

The presence Of God

Most Christians will have had a personal experience of the presence of God at some time in their lives. It may not have been anything as dramatic as Ezekiel’s experience, but there is no regular pattern for divine visitations. Each one is intensely personal, as was the one in Ezekiel 1, which clearly was not easy for the prophet to describe.

For Ezekiel it was all part of the experience through which God prepared him for receiving his call to ministry among the exiles, who at that stage were in a state of shock, as vividly described in Psalm 137, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” These were the people for whom God was preparing Ezekiel to act as pastor, teacher and prophet – an incredible task. It is small wonder that the prelude to his call should be such a powerful encounter with the God of Israel.

We do not all have an ecstatic experience, but we can all hear from God.

Paul and Peter

There are some similarities between Ezekiel’s encounter with God and that of Paul on the road to Damascus, who saw “a light from heaven flash around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:3-4). Peter also had a similar divine encounter on the roof at Joppa, when he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and all kinds of creatures (Acts 10:10-12). We do not all have an ecstatic experience, but we can all hear from God.

In chapter 2 which we will examine next week, we will see how Ezekiel recognised God speaking to him. (Read the rest of Clifford's Ezekiel series here.)