According to rabbinic tradition that began during a time when average life expectancy was around fifty years, rabbis were not supposed to teach from the book of Ezekiel until they were at least forty years old, which means I have only become qualified to write these words this year.
Ezekiel was among the early exiles to Babylon prior to the destruction of Jerusalem when a vision of God appeared to him. The prophet sought to describe the image of God in words that he and others (including us) could comprehend; he described strange beasts and wheels turning within wheels in an attempt to place the majesty and overwhelming power of the Lord into terms that humans could understand. The descriptions throughout this book are also understood to be intentionally abstract so as to not be easily interpreted by any of the Babylonians who might read or hear Ezekiel’s prophecies.
In the midst of this vision, God’s voice told Ezekiel that he was being sent to be a prophet to the Israelites, who had rebelled against the commands of the Almighty. The words of the Lord came to Ezekiel as a scroll that the prophet ate. The words on the scroll would become the prophecies that he would declare to the people. The heart of Ezekiel’s prophet ministry was to watch over the people and to warn them to change their ways.
When the word of the Lord came upon the prophet, he spoke out against the idolatry of the Israelites, who had built shrines to pagan gods on the hills and mountains of their land. God promised destruction to the people who had engaged in these idolatrous practices, while also reminding them that some would be spared from death and instead sent into exile. The prophecy continued by declaring the end of Israel as an independent nation. God’s judgment would soon fall upon them through the vessel of Babylon, “the most wicked of nations.”
While much of Ezekiel’s prophecy focused on the evils of Israel, God also pronounced judgments on the enemies of His Chosen People. Much of this judgment focused upon Tyre, which had been a historic trading partner of Israel. Tyre’s destruction would be brought about by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, just as Jerusalem’s would be, and Tyre would never again be a predominant city among the nations. Even while prophesying Tyre’s downfall, God lamented the destruction of the place which had provided the timbers that had been used in the construction of the Jerusalem’s Temple.
Psalm 77, our psalm of the week, is a psalm of lament that begins with a feeling of loss and need for the presence of God, who seems to not hear the cry of His people. As the psalmist works through this overwhelming emotion of despair, the people slowly become cognizant of God’s presence with them even in the times when they seem to be alone and unheard.