Ezekiel 1 - In Exile

As I’ve read the Bible over the years, I’ve honestly never really paid much attention to Ezekiel. It has been one of those skip-it-over books. Perhaps it’s the seemingly bizarre visions that caused me to shy away because they didn’t fit my flannel graph view of God. However, there’s some good stuff here.

At the onset of the book, we find that God had lifted his hand of protection from the Israelites because of their disobedience and their enemies conquered them. Some of the people were left in Israel while others were exiled to the land of the Babylonians.

And Babylon is where we meet Ezekiel. He’s 30 years old and standing alone by the Kebar River. Now that might sound all fine and dandy, but he’s a Levite and at age 30 he should be starting his priestly duties. However, he’s stuck in Babylon with no temple in sight to fulfill his calling. But it’s right here that God shows up in a vision.

Now I can’t fully wrap my head around everything from that vision, but I like the fact that it challenges the flannel graph view I sometimes have of God. It reminds me of the mystery. And that mystery had a profound effect on Ezekiel. It moved him so much that he fell flat on his face in response to such awesome majesty and glory.

“Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”  

-Gina G.