Ezekiel 1:1

Ezekiel 1:1 . Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year — It is very uncertain from whence this computation of time commences. But the most probable opinion seems to be that which the Chaldee paraphrast, Archbishop Usher, Dr. Prideaux, and other learned men adopt: namely, that these thirty years are to be reckoned from the time when Josiah and all the people of Judah entered into that solemn covenant mentioned 2 Kings 22:3 ; and when the book of the law was found by Hilkiah the priest, which was in the eighteenth year of Josiah, from which date, it appears, to the fifth year of the captivity, were thirty years. This being an event which put the Jewish state upon a new trial, was certainly sufficiently remarkable to render the time when it took place an era proper to be dated from. Accordingly, from the same period learned men compute the forty years of Judah’s transgression, mentioned Ezekiel 4:6 . In the fourth month — Thammuz, which nearly corresponds to our July; as I was among the captives — Carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, with King Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24:14 . Thus the godly are sometimes involved in the same outward calamities which befall the wicked. By the river Chebar — Which river Ammianus calls Aboras, and Ptolemy, Chaboras. It flows into the east side of the Euphrates at Circesium, or Carchemish, nearly two hundred miles northward of Babylon.

On this river, at Tel-abib and other places, Nebuchadnezzar planted his Jewish captives, probably to cultivate waste lands, or to carry on some manufacture for the benefit of their victors. This was the scene of Ezekiel’s prophecies, which were continued through the course of twenty-two years. Here he was present in body, though in visionary representation he was sometimes taken to Jerusalem: see Bishop Newcome. The heavens were opened — As a prelude to a heavenly vision. The appearance of the heavens, as it were, opening, seems, in this and such like cases, to have been represented first to excite attention to the vision that was to follow: see Matthew 3:16 . And I saw visions of God — It is probable that the captive Jews had been left some time without prophets or visions from God, which might supply the want of the more ordinary means of instruction; at length, however, God raised them up a prophet in their captivity, to whom he first revealed himself by an extraordinary vision, as he had done to Isaiah, chap. 6., to Jeremiah, chap. 1., to Abraham, Acts 7:2 , and to many others of his servants, in order, as it were, to open and settle a correspondence, and a satisfactory way of intercourse, so that there needed not afterward a vision upon every fresh revelation made to them.

(1) The thirtieth year. —On this date see Introduction, § 4. It may be added here that the concurrence of the “fifth day of the month” in connection with this epoch, and with that of Jehoiachin’s captivity in Ezekiel 1:2 , shows that the years of the two epochs began at the same time. Among the captives.—i.e., in the midst of the region where they were settled. The vision which follows was seen by Ezekiel only, and was probably vouchsafed to him in solitudes” The captives,” or rather, the captivity, as it is in the original, is the same word as is used of Jehoiachin in the next verse, and yet must be somewhat differently understood in the two cases. Jehoiachin was actually in prison for many years; his people, within certain limits, were free. They were more than exiles, but less than prisoners. (On “the heavens were opened,” comp. Matthew 3:16; Acts 7:56.) Visions of God.—Not merely great visions, as the Divine name is often added in Scripture to express greatness or intensity (see Genesis 10:9; Psalm 36:6, marg., Psalm 80:10, marg.; Jonah 3:3, marg.; Acts 7:20, marg.), but Divine visions, visions sent from God, as in Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 40:2.

Verse 1. - Now ; literally, and. The use of the conjunction indicates here, as in Jonah 1:1 , that the narrative that follows links itself on to something that has gone before. In Exodus 1:1 and 1 Samuel 1:1 it may point to a connection with the book that precedes it. Here the sequence is subjective. We may think of Ezekiel as retracing the years of his life till he comes to the thirtieth. Then, as it were, he pulls himself up. That must be the starting point of what he has to say. Our English use of "now" is nearly equivalent to this. In the thirtieth year. I incline, following Origen, Hengstenberg, Smend, and others, to refer the date to the prophet's own life. That year in Jewish reckoning was the age of full maturity. At that age the earlier Levites ( Numbers 4:23, 20, 39, 43, 47 ) had entered on their duties. It is probable, though no written rule is found, that it was the normal age for the functions of the priesthood. In the case of our Lord ( Luke 3:23 ) and of the Baptist it appears to have been recognized as the starting point of a prophet's work. Jeremiah's call as a "child" ( Jeremiah 1:6 ; the word may, however, include adult manhood, as in 1 Samuel 30:17 ; 1 Kings 3:7 ) was obviously exceptional.

Other theories are: (1) That the years are reckoned from the era of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar ( B.C. 625 ), dating from his throwing off the sovereignty of Assyria, and giving here the date B.C. 595 (Michaelis, Rosenmuller, Ewald, and others); but against this it may be urged (a) that there is no evidence that that era was in use in Ezekiel's time, and (b) that he nowhere else uses a double historical chronology. (2) That the years are reckoned from the discovery of the book of the Law in the reign of Josiah ( 2 Kings 22:8 ; 2 Chronicles 34:14 ), as a turning point or era in the history of Judah (Targum, Theodoret, Jerome, Havernick), which would again bring us to B.C. 595 . This view is, however, open to the same objections as (1). We have no proof that the Jews ever reckoned from that event, and Ezekiel did not want, here or elsewhere, another point to reckon from, as far as his people's history was concerned, than the captivity of Jehoiachin. In the fourth month . Both here and in ver. 2 the months are probably reckoned from Abib, or Nisan, the month of the Passover, with which the Jewish year began ( Exodus 12:2 ; Nehemiah 2:1 ; Esther 3:7 ), so that the fourth month, known by later Jews as Tammuz, would bring us to June or July. Among the captives (literally, the captivity ) by the river of Chebar.

FIRST DIVISION, CH. 1–24, PROPHECIES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE KINGDOM First Section. Ch. 1–3:21 The section consists of two divisions: First, Ch. 1 inaugural vision of Jehovah; second, Ch. 2–3:21, the various steps by which Jehovah, thus seen, initiated the prophet into his work. The inaugural vision Ch. 1. has two parts; (1) Ezekiel 1:1-3 , definition of the time and place of the appearance of the vision of God; and (2) Ezekiel 1:4-28 , description of the vision itself, with its influence upon the prophet. 1–3. The manifestation of Jehovah was made to the prophet in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, and in the midst of the captives by the river Chebar ( Ezekiel 1:1 ); or, it was on the fifth of the month, in the fifth year of the captivity of king Jehoiachin, and in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar ( Ezekiel 1:2-3 ). Ezekiel 1:1-3 appear to contain two superscriptions, one in Ezekiel 1:1 , in which the prophet speaks in the first person, and which is syntactically connected with Ezekiel 1:4 seq .; and one in Ezekiel 1:2-3 , in which the prophet is spoken of, his name and descent and priestly rank stated, and the thirtieth year of Ezekiel 1:1 identified with the fifth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin. The language in Ezekiel 1:1 is precisely similar to almost all the other specifications of time in the Book, e.g.

Ezekiel 8:1 , Ezekiel 20:1 , Ezekiel 24:1 , Ezekiel 26:1 Ezekiel 29:1 ; Ezekiel 29:17 , Ezekiel 30:20 , Ezekiel 31:1 , Ezekiel 32:1 ; Ezekiel 32:17 , Ezekiel 33:21 , Ezekiel 40:1 . In two cases the phrase “and it came to pass” is not used ( Ezekiel 29:1 , Ezekiel 40:1 ). If the verse stood alone the natural inference from the other dates would be that the year was the thirtieth of Jehoiachin’s captivity, as in other cases, or as it is put in two instances “our captivity” ( Ezekiel 33:21 , Ezekiel 40:1 ). The latest date mentioned in the Book is the 27th year of the captivity ( Ezekiel 29:17 ), and it has been conjectured that Ezekiel 1:1 refers to another prophecy or vision three years later, and that Ezekiel 1:2-3 form the real heading. Against this, however, is (1) that the specification of circumstances and place in Ezekiel 1:1 is natural in an introductory statement, but not to be expected in any other. In point of fact it nowhere occurs after the introductory visions by which the prophet received his commission, except in references to these visions ( Ezekiel 10:15 ; Ezekiel 10:20 ; Ezekiel 10:22 , Ezekiel 43:3 ). And (2) the words “which was the fifth year” Ezekiel 1:2 evidently refer to some year already mentioned, which is now said to coincide with the fifth of Jehoiachin’s captivity. The two parts of the superscription are awkwardly connected, but neither of them can be wanted, though it is quite possible that they do not appear in their original form.

Now it came to pass in the {a} thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of {b} Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of {c} God. The Argument - After Jehoiachin by the counsel of Jeremiah and Ezekiel had yielded himself to Nebuchadnezzar, and so went into captivity with his mother and various of his princes and of the people, some began to repent and murmur that they had obeyed the prophet's counsel, as though the things which they had prophesied would not come to pass, and therefore their estate would still be miserable under the Chaldeans. By reason of which he confirms his former prophecies, declaring by new visions and revelations shown to him, that the city would most certainly be destroyed, and the people grievously tormented by God's plagues, in so much that they who remained would be brought into cruel bondage. Lest the godly despair in these great troubles, he assures them that God will deliver his church at his appointed time and also destroy their enemies, who either afflicted them, or rejoiced in their miseries. The effect of the one and the other would be chiefly performed under Christ, of whom in this book are many notable promises, and in whom the glory of the new temple would perfectly be restored.