Ezekiel denounces prophets who speak from their own hearts rather than Yahweh’s word. Instead of repairing Israel’s breaches, they cover an unstable wall with untempered mortar and promise peace where there is none. False prophetesses also manipulate the people, harm the righteous and strengthen the wicked.
Ezekiel’s actions become public signs of captivity and siege. His enacted escape portrays Zedekiah’s flight and capture, while trembling bread and water depict Jerusalem’s fear and scarcity. Yahweh rejects the claim that His visions are delayed: what He has spoken will happen.
Ezekiel condemns Jerusalem’s leaders but announces hope for the exiles. The leaders’ claim that the city is a protective cauldron is reversed; Yahweh promises to be a sanctuary to the scattered, gather them and give them a new heart, while His Glory leaves the city.
Ezekiel sees the Glory of Yahweh preparing to leave the Temple. The vision of chapter 1 returns, now identified with the cherubim; coals of fire are taken from between them and scattered over the city as the Glory moves toward the east gate.
Before Jerusalem is struck, a man clothed in linen marks those who grieve over its abominations. Six men with slaughter weapons are then sent to execute judgment, beginning at the sanctuary, while the marked are spared.
A loud voice calls those appointed over the city. Six men approach from the north with slaughter weapons, accompanied by a man clothed in linen who carries a writer’s inkhorn. They stand beside the brazen altar.
In a vision, Ezekiel is carried to Jerusalem and shown the abominations taking place in and around the Temple. The sequence exposes idolatry among the people and explains why Yahweh’s Glory will depart from the sanctuary.
While elders of Judah sit before him, Ezekiel sees the Glory of Israel. The Spirit lifts him in the visions of God and brings him to Jerusalem; this is visionary transportation while he remains among the captives.
Ezekiel announces that the end has come upon the land: violence and pride have ripened, wealth cannot save, the sanctuary is profaned and every level of leadership collapses under judgment.
The announcement is repeated with urgency: an end has come upon the four corners of the land, and the day of judgment is near. The people are judged according to their ways and abominations. The repeated warning culminates in recognition that Yahweh is the LORD who strikes.
Ezekiel proclaims judgment against Israel’s idolatry, while Yahweh preserves a remnant who will remember Him and grieve over their former abominations.
Ezekiel turns toward the mountains of Israel, where high places, altars and images have drawn the people away from Yahweh. These places will be destroyed; the slain will fall before their idols, and their bones will lie around the altars. The judgment will make known that Yahweh is the LORD.
Yahweh continues the enacted signs of Jerusalem’s judgment. Ezekiel’s shaved hair is divided to portray fire, sword and scattering; a small remnant is preserved, while Jerusalem’s rebellion and defilement bring severe judgment.
Ezekiel uses a sharp razor to shave his head and beard, then weighs and divides the hair. One third is burned, one third struck with the sword, and one third scattered to the wind, with a sword pursuing them. A few hairs are kept in the prophet’s garment, though some of these too are cast into fire.
Ezekiel acts out the coming siege of Jerusalem. The tile, iron pan, measured food and prolonged posture of the prophet portray a city surrounded, cut off and brought to famine because of its iniquity.
Ezekiel sketches Jerusalem on a tile and portrays the city under siege, setting up a fort, a mound, a camp and battering rams. An iron pan between the prophet and the city signifies a barrier as the siege is enacted before the people.
