Wednesday, October 26, 2011

PROPHECY OF GOD'S JUDGMENT AGAINST ISRAEL

The preface to Ezekiel in my ESV says that Ezekiel was about 30 years old when he began receiving and writing down his visions, and that the visions continued over a time span of 20 years, until he was about 50 years old.

The timeline offered states that he was taken into captivity in Babylon when he was about 25 years old, and that at the age of 30, his first writings would have been around 593 B C. The ESV study notes even go so far as to suggest July as the month he began writing that year. Frankly, I'm impressed by the information-gathering that permits that keen of historical timing. One of the reasons it is possible is that Ezekiel references dates of what is happening in the secular world, which allows corroboration of a reasonably accurate timeline. Still, impressive!

Chapters 1 - 25 were written before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B C, so they prophesy what was still to come at the time written. In chapter 4 of Ezekiel, God directs Ezekiel to bear the punishment of the house of Israel, with very specific instructions pertaining to his diet and sleeping position; and following that, to bear the punishment for Judah.

Chapter 4 goes on to lay out what some of the punishment of Jerusalem will entail. All spoken before it happened.

That is the key thing that piques my interest. I know Ezekiel will later cover prophecies relevant to these very last of the last days before Jesus returns. I'm eager to get to those!

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