1. Israel and the Promised Land 33:21-33

 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 time God would open Ezekiel's mouth and he would be dumb no longer (24:27). Now the messenger arrived and God opened the prophet's mouth.

33:21 On the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of the Jews' exile, namely, in 585 B.C., word reached the exiles from refugees who had come from Jerusalem. They announced that Jerusalem had fallen to Nebuchadnezzar.⁴³⁶This news reached them several months after the city fell in 586 B.C.⁴³⁷

33:22 The Lord had spoken to Ezekiel the evening before the refugees arrived and gave him permission to speak to the people when they heard the announcement of Jerusalem's fall. This broke the silence that God had imposed on him (cf. 3:26-27; 24:27).

 The first message of hope 33:23-33

This first message dealt with a serious defect in the Israelites. The Jews still in Judea were not listening to the whole counsel of God but were picking and choosing what they would obey (vv. 23-29). The Jews in exile were listening to Ezekiel, but they were not responding (vv. 30-33). If they were to profit from the messages of hope that Ezekiel proceeded to give them, all the Jews needed to respond to those he had already delivered by repenting. Thus this first message in this series prepared them for those that followed. The first step on the road to hope was a change in their attitude toward God's word.