Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week, I introduced a theme for the next year of our sermons and worship gatherings: the life-giving love of God.

So what text should we turn to as we delve into this theme?

Which book of the Bible should we study first?

Ezekiel, anyone?

I know that’s not the first book of the Bible that comes to mind.

Of course, the love of God is such a pervasive biblical theme, we can find a way to preach it from any text.

But as long as I serve as a minister here, I will insist that we return regularly to the Old Testament; for unless we can trace the story of God’s love for his people, and then see how we’ve come to be counted among those people, we will be short-sighted in our understanding of the life-giving love of God.

So, we come to Ezekiel.

This morning I want to introduce us to this book of the Bible by reminding us of the historical setting in which it was written.

The historical point of Ezekiel was an important one in redemptive history, one in which we can clearly see the providence of God.

And the points in history that most clearly show the providence of God also suggest that he is in control in the more obscure ones as well.

The first three verses of Ezekiel call us to consider not only the historical setting of Ezekiel, but also the prophetic message of the books and the strange character whose name is this book’s title.

The Historical Setting

First, let’s get our minds around the historical setting in which the book of Ezekiel is based.

Ezekiel is dealing with historical realities, with things that really happened.

Ezekiel is rooted in a specific moment in history, as the very first verse reminds us: “In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month.”

Ezekiel begins with a note about the exact year, month, and day in which he was living.

In fact, this is a dominant feature of Ezekiel.

He was concerned with the time he was in; we should take note of it and the circumstances in which his prophecies took place.

From the dating Ezekiel gives us, we are zooming in on the late 7th century and early 6th century BC.

A New World Superpower

What was happening in the world during that time?

This was the time in which the Babylonian empire rose to power superseding the previous world domination of the Assyrians.

These two superpowers were in constant conflict as we near the turn of the century.

The Assyrians had made an alliance with the Egyptians, trying to stave off the rise of Babylon.

But they would not succeed.

At the famous Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, the Babylonians and their allies defeated the last remnants of the Assyrian empire.

The defeat marked the annihilation of Assyria while Egypt was severely crippled.

The Babylonians under their military leader, Nebuchadnezzar, became the new world superpower.

The Bible mentions this famous battle in Jeremiah 46, which is also mentioned in the Babylonian Chronicles housed in the British Museum.

Again, it is good to remind ourselves that these are real historical events.

The story of the Bible cannot be understood apart from the record of what has happened in world and human history.

History and Providence

But it’s not correct to say that the Bible is simply a book of history, merely telling us about things that have happened in time and space.

The Bible tells us about these events theologically.

It argues that these events all happen under the purview of God.

It insists that the events of history are the outworking of providence—God’s “completely holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing every creature and every action.”[1]

When we think of the providence of God, we ought to be thinking, not so much of divine power, but of divine purpose.

What brings history and providence together is God’s aim in history.

And to understand God’s aims we need to see how the events of history impacted and affected God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel.

How did the decisive events of the late 7th century BC affect Israel?

At this point, we’re talking mainly about the southern kingdom of Israel known as Judah, the northern tribes having fallen to the Assyrians over a century earlier.

We know that Babylon and Assyrian and Egypt were the competing powers of the day, but how did Judah fit into the equation?

After all, the answer to that question is also the answer to what God’s plans were for these historical events.

The Final Kings of Judah

Ok, so let’s see if we can get our minds around the important points here.

The time is recorded for us at the end of 2 Kings.

In chapter 23, we read of the reforms of Josiah, the last of Judah’s good kings.

Josiah was killed by the Egyptians in 609 BC (2 Kings 23:29).

He was succeeded by his son, Jehoahaz, but the Pharaoh of Egypt deposed him three months into his reign and set up his own puppet king, Jehoiakim, who was Jehoahaz’s brother (2 Kings 23:33-34).

Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years.

At this point, remember, the Babylonians became the world’s superpower, and Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakim his vassal while also deporting some of Judah’s elite, like Daniel and his friends, to Babylon.

When Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar conquered and apparently executed him.[2]His

son, Jehoiachin was named king, but he also would not submit to Nebuchadnezzar who had him deported to Babylon along with most of Judah’s wealth.

It was at this point that Ezekiel, along with other captives, was taken to Babylon (2 Kings 24:14-16).

Nebuchadnezzar named Zedekiah king of Judah, another one of Josiah’s sons.

The year was 597 BC.

This is an important date for Ezekiel since he dates his prophecies in relation to the exile of King Jehoiachin (Ezek 1:2).

But the big date in Israel’s history at this time came about 11 years later.

In 587 BC, Nebuchadnezzar once more invaded Judah when Zedekiah rebelled against him.

This time, Nebuchadnezzar held nothing back.

He made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons, then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and hauled him off to exile in Babylon (2 Kings 25:7).

He then torched Jerusalem, including Solomon’s temple, burning it all to the ground (2 Kings 25:9).

And with that came the end of the kings of Israel.

The Prophetic Message of Ezekiel

The destruction of Jerusalem, the exile of the Jews to Babylon, and the end of Israel’s monarchy—this is the historical setting in which Ezekiel was written.

To put it mildly, this was a traumatic moment in Israel’s history.

And it was in this traumatic moment, in this historical setting, that God spoke to Israel a prophetic message.

Ezekiel says, in verse 1, “I saw visions of God.” Verse 3 says, “the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel.”

The Major Prophets of Israel

The book of Ezekiel is categorized in our English Bibles with the other major prophets of Israel: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel (Lamentations is included here as well since it was written by Jeremiah).

The term “major prophet” simply designates the length of that prophet’s written text in comparison with those of the so-called “minor prophets.”

In the Hebrew Bible, there is a three-fold division of the sacred texts: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.

The Prophets includes the historical texts of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings—called the Former Prophets—followed by the Latter Prophets: the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve “minor prophets.”

So, whether you’re using the English order or the Hebrew order, Ezekiel is considered a prophetic book.

What does that mean?

It means that when we read through the book of Ezekiel, we can expect to see some foretelling of events, what we might call “predictive prophecy.”

But that’s not the primary feature of a text that categories it as prophetic.

Considering again the fact that the historical books like Joshua and 1 and 2 Kings are categorized with the prophets, what we find that all the prophetic books have in common is not the prediction of history but rather its interpretation.

The prophets tell the story of Israel and explain how Israel’s God is interacting with that story.[3]

History and Theological Trauma

History is a strange thing.

We know it’s the reality that our entire existence is built upon.

But at the same time, it might be the most significant, personal reality that is easiest to ignore.

I find it fascinating that the British monarchy’s family tree can be traced all the way back to the 9th century.

Alfred the Great was the new King of England’s 33rd great-grandfather![4]

I don’t know the name of my 2nd.

We seem to lose our grip pretty quickly on our own history.

It’s hard enough to take in the realities of what is happening in real-time history in other parts of the world.

What’s it like to be living right now in war-torn Ukraine or Syria?

We have very little idea.

So of course, it is a challenge for us to take in the realities of what people in the ancient world experienced.

What was it like for the Jews in the early 6th century BC?

Since we here in Oklahoma have received over 1,000 Afghan refugees in the past year and a half, you and I can get to know some people who have been displaced by something similar to what the Jews experienced in the Babylonian captivity.

Though pretty much all of us have not had that kind of experience, we have probably faced similar kinds of theological experiences.

As one commentator says, Israel in captivity was experiencing “intense theological shock.”[5]Some of you have experienced something similar.

You have come to the point where your experiences or your observations of life simply do not line up with what your understanding of God and it leads to nothing short of a crisis of faith.

This is what happened to Israel when they were taken into captivity in Babylon.

What did they believe about God that made these historical events so theologically traumatic for them?[6]

History and Theological Truth