Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Historical Background
  Since Ezekiel began ministering in 593 B.C. when he was 30 years old, he would have been born about 623 B.C and would have grown up in Judah during King Josiah's reforms (622-609 B.C.). The date of Jeremiah's birth was about ...
• Audience and Purpose
  Ezekiel ministered to the Jews in exile. He probably wrote this book for the benefit of the exiles and the other Jewish communities of his day and beyond his day. In some of his visions (e.g. chs. 8 and 11) the Lord carried t...
• Structure
  There are two major structural peculiarities that set Ezekiel off as distinctive.First, the book is a collection of prophecies arranged in almost consistent chronological order. No other prophetical book is as consistently ch...
• Outline
  I. Ezekiel's calling and commission chs. 1-3A. The vision of God's glory ch. 11. The setting of the vision 1:1-32. The vision proper 1:4-28B. The Lord's charge to Ezekiel chs. 2-31. The recipients of Ezekiel's ministry 2:1-52...
• 3. The nature of Ezekiel's ministry 2:8-3:11
  This pericope contains 10 commands, and it is the center of the chiasm in chapters 1-3."The Lord's charge to Ezekiel emphasized the absolute necessity of hearing, understanding, and assimilating God's message prior to going f...
• 6. Ezekiel's muteness 3:22-27
  3:22 While Ezekiel was among the exiles in Tel-abib, the Lord directed him to go out to the nearby plain where the Lord promised to speak with him (cf. ch. 1; Acts 9:6; Gal. 1:16-17).3:23 Ezekiel obeyed the Lord. While he was...
• 9. The importance of individual righteousness ch. 18
  This chapter, like 12:21-28, corrected a common proverb. This one dealt with the people's false view of the reason for their judgment by God."In Chapters 18 and 33 are contained some of the most thorough, carefully expressed,...
• The sign of Ezekiel's silence 24:25-27
  24:25-26 Evidently Ezekiel was not to deliver any more prophetic messages to his fellow exiles after he made the explanation in verses 20-24 until he received word of the destruction of the temple and the capture of the remai...
• III. Oracles against foreign nations chs. 25--32
  It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). I...
• A general prophecy of Tyre's destruction 26:1-6
  26:1 An oracle concerning Tyre came to Ezekiel on the first of an unspecified month in the eleventh year of the captivity, namely, 587-586 B.C.35326:2 Divine judgment would come on this city-state because its people rejoiced ...
• D. Israel's restoration from the nations 28:25-26
  As in numerous other prophetic Scriptures, promises of Israel's restoration accompanied predictions of judgment on the nations (e.g. 34:27; 38:8; 39:26; Isa. 65:21; Jer. 23:6; Amos 9:14-15).28:25 The Lord also promised to reg...
• E. Judgment on Egypt chs. 29-32
  Ezekiel concluded his oracles against foreign nations with seven messages the Lord gave him concerning the fate of Egypt, one of Israel's most ancient and powerful enemies (cf. Isa. 31:1; Jer. 2:36; 46:1-26). God controls eve...
• 2. The consummation of Egypt's judgment 29:17-30:19
  29:17 Ezekiel received another message from the Lord about Egypt's judgment in 571 B.C. (on his New Year's day). This was probably the second to the last recorded prophecy of Ezekiel, and the prophet would have been about 50 ...
• 6. A funeral dirge for Egypt 32:1-16
  32:1 This is the first of two messages that Ezekiel received from the Lord concerning Egypt in 585 B.C. Less than two months had passed since the exiles had learned of Jerusalem's fall, which had occurred several months earli...
• IV. Future blessings for Israel chs. 33--48
  "This last major division of the book focuses on the restoration of Israel's blessing. Israel would be judged for her sin (chaps. 1-24) as would the surrounding nations (chaps. 25-32). But Israel will not remain under judgmen...
• A. A warning to the exiles 33:1-20
  Since this message is undated, it may have come to Ezekiel about the same time as the previous two in chapter 32, namely, in the last month of 585 B.C. If so, Ezekiel received it about two months after God gave him the six me...
• 1. An exhortation to heed the watchman 33:1-9
  This part of Ezekiel's message of warning to the exiles is similar to 3:16-21. Yahweh recommissioned Ezekiel to his prophetic task (cf. chs. 2-3)."Now that Ezekiel's original ministry of judgment was completed, God appointed ...
• B. Restoration to the Promised Land 33:21-39:29
  "The concept of the land is particularly significant to the six messages [33:21-39:29] delivered in that one night before the news of Jerusalem's fall reached the exiles in Babylonia [cf. 33:21-22]. Since Jerusalem had fallen...
• The date and setting of the six messages about Israel's restoration to the Promised Land 33:21-22
  Ezekiel's last prophecy about the judgment coming on Judah and Jerusalem ended with an announcement that a fugitive would escape Jerusalem's destruction and come and report the city's fall to the exiles (24:25-26). At that ti...
• The covenant of peace 34:25-31
  "The themes of regathering as sheep and of covenant merge in Ezekiel 34:25-31. The Lord promises to make a covenant of peace with His regathered sheep."44434:25 The Lord also promised to make a covenant of peace (i.e., result...
• 6. Future invasion of the Promised Land chs. 38-39
  This is the sixth and last message that Ezekiel received from the Lord the night before the refugees reached the exiles with the message that Jerusalem had fallen (cf. 33:21-22). It too deals with God's plans for Israel in th...
• A summary of God's blessing on Israel 39:25-29
  This message forms a fitting conclusion to the whole section of prophecies about Israel's restoration to the Promised Land (chs. 33-39) as well as to those about future invasion (chs. 38-39).39:25-26 The Lord promised to rest...
• C. Ezekiel's vision of the return of God's glory chs. 40-48
  The Book of Ezekiel begins with a vision of God's glory (ch. 1), records the departure of God's glory (chs. 8-11), and ends with another vision of God's glory (chs. 40-48). This is the longest vision outside the Book of Revel...
• 1. The setting of the vision of the return of God's glory 40:1-4
  40:1 Ezekiel dated the vision that comprises the final portion of the book as coming to him in 573 B.C., more than 12 years after his immediately preceding messages (cf. 33:21-22).512He located it in time using two points of ...
• 5. Topographical aspects of the Millennium chs. 47-48
  God promised Abraham that He would give a particular piece of real estate to his descendants (Gen. 12:7). Later He reiterated this promise and became more specific about its boundaries (Gen. 15:7, 18-21; 17:8; Num. 34:1-12). ...
• Bibliography
  Ackroyd, Peter R. Exile and Restoration. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1968.Alexander, Ralph H. Ezekiel. Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1976._____. "Ezekiel."In Isaiah-Ezekiel. Vol. 6 of The Expo...