On Saturday, July 10, 2011, at 8:47 AM (EDT), I sat down at my computer to write my blog assignment. The skies were clear; pleasant temperatures prevailed; I wasn’t hungry –having had a bagel and coffee-- and … details, details, details! The first thing that struck me about Ezekiel’s book is that it is a book of “details, details” and follows through with a very precise description of the timing, location, environs and more, even before he describes his vision of God and God’s instructions. Ezekiel’s penchant for details contrasts with the comparatively generalized descriptions of spectacular events elsewhere in the Old Testament. Even the creation which compared to Ezekiel is (loosely) “Let there be light and stuff…and it was good!” A whole lotta “stuff” happens during each day of the creation week; yet, in contrast to Ezekiel, Genesis is a Cliff Notes synopsis!
The first chapter of Ezekiel gives us incredible detail about his vision of God: “wheels within wheel[s];” a four-sided cherubim each corner of the grand chariot; their straight legs and the soles of their feet sparkling like burnished bronze. Both visual and audio descriptions paint a detailed scene for the reader. The detailed description has clearly inspired many, from the ancients to contemporary sci-fi movie directors, to think about how spectacular and glorious an event to be personally visited by God!
So, what’ up with Ezekiel’s record of detail? The hint comes in the second chapter when God prepares Ezekiel to deliver the word of the Lord to an unappreciative, “rebellious nation” who “are obstinate and stubborn.” God prepares Ezekiel by instructing him that his work is to deliver God’s message and this work will be difficult: Ezekiel he will want to turn away from God’s command. God commanded Ezekiel to deliver His message in the midst of “briars and thorns … all around” him. Perhaps Ezekiel’s approach to this daunting task is to document the details, creating for his stubborn audience an undeniable accounting of witnessing the Lord. Ezekiel can set a detailed accounting to alert his stubborn audience to pay close attention: the word of the Lord is upon them.
In chapter 2, Ezekiel is prepared by God for the thankless and daunting task of witnessing the Lord to skeptical, stubborn and obstinate Israelites. God warns Ezekiel that he will live among thorny briars and scorpions in order to deliver the word. To me, this is allegory about the challenges and the pain (to one’s ego) that comes from delivering a message to a resentful and closed-minded audience. How often we see the stubbornness and obstinate among our brothers and sisters, yet today! I think we all admire modern-day Ezekiels who are called to preach and witness to the most obstinate and faith-rejecting people that they can find! How do they steel themselves against the constant denial, distrust and rejection?
Chapter 3 gives us a big clue about how Ezekiel steeled himself for the task and, I think, how it still works for the modern-day Ezekiel in us all. The clue is that Ezekiel was commanded to eat the scroll that contained the word of the Lord meant for the stubborn and rebellious tribes. The word is God’s, Ezekiel is the messenger. Although God had prepared Ezekiel for a clearly bitter task, much to Ezekiel’s surprise, the scroll left a sweet taste of honey in his mouth. To me, this is the message in Ezekiel 1-3: when we witness and share God’s word with the “stubborn and rebellious ” among us, we know that, in the end, the word is sweet. It is knowledge of the sweetness of God’s promise that pushes us to share—to witness with the detailed stories of Ezekiel, the other prophets and those who wrote the good news of the New Testament—with rebelliousness found both among and within us.Ezekiel 1-3
The Vision of the Chariot
1In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), 3the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was on him there.
4 As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually, and in the middle of the fire, something like gleaming amber. 5In the middle of it was something like four living creatures. This was their appearance: they were of human form. 6Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. 8Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9their wings touched one another; each of them moved straight ahead, without turning as they moved. 10As for the appearance of their faces: the four had the face of a human being, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle; 11such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. 12Each moved straight ahead; wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13In the middle of* the living creatures there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright, and lightning issued from the fire. 14The living creatures darted to and fro, like a flash of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.* 16As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl; and the four had the same form, their construction being something like a wheel within a wheel. 17When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved. 18Their rims were tall and awesome, for the rims of all four were full of eyes all round. 19When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 20Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was something like a dome, shining like crystal,* spread out above their heads. 23Under the dome their wings were stretched out straight, one towards another; and each of the creatures had two wings covering its body. 24When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the thunder of the Almighty,* a sound of tumult like the sound of an army; when they stopped, they let down their wings. 25And there came a voice from above the dome over their heads; when they stopped, they let down their wings.
26 And above the dome over their heads there was something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire;* and seated above the likeness of a throne was something that seemed like a human form. 27Upwards from what appeared like the loins I saw something like gleaming amber, something that looked like fire enclosed all round; and downwards from what looked like the loins I saw something that looked like fire, and there was a splendour all round. 28Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendour all round. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.
The Vision of the Scroll
2He said to me: O mortal,* stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. 2And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. 3He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation* of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. 4The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them. 6And you, O mortal, do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words, and do not be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 7You shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear; for they are a rebellious house.
8 But you, mortal, hear what I say to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you. 9I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it. 10He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
3He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. 2So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.
4 He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. 5For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel— 6not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. 7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. 8See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 10He said to me: Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; 11then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear.
Ezekiel at the River Chebar
12 Then the spirit lifted me up, and as the glory of the Lord rose* from its place, I heard behind me the sound of loud rumbling; 13it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, that sounded like a loud rumbling. 14The spirit lifted me up and bore me away; I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me. 15I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who lived by the river Chebar.* And I sat there among them, stunned, for seven days.
16 At the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17Mortal, I have made you a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die’, and you give them no warning, and do not speak to warn the wicked from their wicked way, in order to save their life, those wicked persons shall die for their iniquity; but their blood I will require at your hand. 19But if you warn the wicked, and they do not turn from their wickedness, or from their wicked way, they shall die for their iniquity; but you will have saved your life. 20Again, if the righteous turn from their righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before them, they shall die; because you have not warned them, they shall die for their sin, and their righteous deeds that they have done shall not be remembered; but their blood I will require at your hand. 21If, however, you warn the righteous not to sin, and they do not sin, they shall surely live, because they took warning; and you will have saved your life.
Ezekiel Isolated and Silenced
22 Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there; and he said to me, Rise up, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you. 23So I rose up and went out into the valley; and the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 24The spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me and said to me: Go, shut yourself inside your house. 25As for you, mortal, cords shall be placed on you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people; 26and I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be speechless and unable to reprove them; for they are a rebellious house. 27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; let those who will hear, hear; and let those who refuse to hear, refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
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