Ezekiel was a priest who should have served in the temple in Jerusalem. Instead he was carried to Babylon with King Jehoiachin. At thirty, by a canal far from home, the heavens opened and he saw the glory of the LORD on a throne of fire and wheels.
His ministry was full of strange signs: lying on his side for months, shaving his head, not mourning when his wife died. He watched in vision as God's glory left the temple. But he also saw dry bones live, a new heart promised, and a river flowing from a new temple that made the Dead Sea fresh.
“
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.
Name means
God strengthens
Home
By the Chebar canal in Babylonia
Role
Priest taken to Babylon in 597 BC, prophet to the exiles
Read in
Ezekiel's story
The river from the temple
Beginning
The heavens opened
By the Chebar canal he sees the glory of the LORD and falls on his face.
Turning point
A watchman
He sits stunned for seven days; then God makes him a watchman for Israel.
Turning point
Signs in the dust
He acts out Jerusalem's siege by lying on his side for months.
Low point
Glory departs
In vision he watches God's glory leave the temple.
Low point
His wife dies
The delight of his eyes dies, and he is told not to mourn openly, as a sign.
High point
Dry bones live
He prophesies to a valley of bones and they stand up, a great army.
Ending
The river
Water flows from the temple, deepening, bringing life wherever it goes.
Starts as a priest with no temple. Ends as a prophet who saw the river of life.
Where Ezekiel lived and went
Only places Scripture records. Softer, dotted pins are traditional or uncertain sites. Tap a pin for the passage.
HomeMinistryKey momentTraditional or uncertainPinch or use + to zoom. Tap a cluster to spread it out.
How Ezekiel is wired
The Investigator
Enneagram 5, Individualist wing
To understand what God is showing and to see it clearly and exactly.
Scripture doesn't give us much here, so treat this as a best guess.
At their best, toward 8 Under stress, toward 7
Why we think so
1
Precise observer. He describes his visions in careful, measured detail. ()
2
He withdraws to take it in. He sits overwhelmed among the exiles for seven days. ()
3
He dates everything. He marks visions by year, month and day. ()
The 4 wing shows in his vivid, unusual imagery and his lonely sign-acts. ()
The Challenger. At his best his seeing becomes bold speaking: he prophesies to the bones. ()
The Enthusiast. Under strain he goes quiet and bitter. ()
Why so tentative
Ezekiel almost never tells us what he feels, so this is read from how he records what he saw.
Other lenses
Big Five. Read from what is recorded in the prophets.
ReservedOutgoing
SteadyReactive
ChallengingAccommodating
SpontaneousDisciplined
TraditionalCurious
DISC style: Watchful, exact, obedient
Strengths & struggles
What's good in Ezekiel
Obedient in costly and humiliating signs (). A faithful watchman (). Saw hope beyond judgment ().
Where Ezekiel struggles
He sat overwhelmed for seven days, in bitterness of spirit (). He asked to be spared defilement ().
Ezekiel saw glory leave the temple. In Jesus, glory came back to dwell with us.
God promised through Ezekiel to be his people's shepherd himself (), and Jesus said, I am the good shepherd (). The river from Ezekiel's temple returns in Revelation flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ().
Questions to sit with
1
What in you feels like dry bones right now?
2
Ezekiel obeyed even when it made him look strange. What would obedience look like for you if you stopped worrying how it looked?
Study Ezekiel with your group
Ready-to-lead group studies with discussion questions and a leader's note are on the way.
