Ezekiel

A Jewish prophet from the family line of priests. Ezekiel was forced to move from Jerusalem to Babylon in 597 BC. The army of King Nebuchadnezzar captured the city and took many of the furnishings of the temple. Nebuchadnezzar forced thousands of priests, scribes, and skilled workers to move to Babylon, about nine hundred miles away. Ezekiel built a house for himself and his wife in Babylon. He taught the people to be faithful to God’s laws even though they had no temple in which to worship. He encouraged them to gather to pray and study the Scriptures. Many scholars believe this was how Jewish synagogues became the place of worship instead of the temple. When Ezekiel had been living in Babylon five years, God called him to be a prophet, and he saw an amazing vision of God on a throne. It was the first of many visions that Ezekiel received. Ezekiel was often told to help people remember his prophecies by acting out the message. Before Jerusalem was finally destroyed in 586 BC, he made a brick model of Jerusalem with armed soldiers around it.

After the final destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel encouraged his people by prophesying that Jerusalem and the temple would be restored. These prophecies began to be fulfilled about fifty years later, in 538 BC, during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezekiel died in Babylon without ever returning to his own land or seeing Jerusalem restored.