Ezekiel
A priest deported with Jehoiachin in 597 BC. His visions by the river Chebar speak of the glory of God leaving the temple, of dry bones restored to life and of a new temple.
Ezekiel was a priest, the son of Buzi, and was taken to Babylonia in the first deportation. His call came in the fifth year of that exile, by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1–3). His book dates its oracles year by year from the deportation; the latest falls in the twenty-seventh year (Ezekiel 29:17).
He announced the fall of Jerusalem before it happened (Ezekiel 4:1–3) and the restoration of Israel afterwards, in the visions of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1–14) and of a rebuilt temple (Ezekiel 40:1–4).
In the timeline
- 16 March 597 BC, firm dateThe First Deportation to Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, deports the young king Jehoiachin with thousands of Judah’s leading people, and puts Zedekiah on the throne. Babylon’s own chronicle dates the capture to the day.
- 593 BC to 571 BC, estimated dateEzekiel’s Visions among the Exiles
Among the deported Judeans in Babylonia the priest Ezekiel sees the glory of God, announces the fall of Jerusalem and then its restoration, in the visions of the dry bones and of a new temple.