EZEKIEL
(Answers)
Updated 1/2024
CHAPTER 1
- Ezekiel received this vision
in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity. (Ezekiel was thirty years
old. He would have been born during King Josiah’s reign).
- Ezekiel saw four living
creatures.
- Each creature had a face of
a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.
- The wheels moved with the
living creatures.
- The creatures may represent
the Spirit of the Lord.
- The Spirit of God controls
them.
- A throne with the likeness
of a man on it. This seems to represent God's throne.
CHAPTER 2
- Ezekiel should not be afraid
but speak the word of the Lord to the people of Israel. He was to warn
them and teach them.
- The briers and thorns and
scorpions are the rebellious Jews who would resist the prophet's words.
CHAPTER 3
- The scroll was the word of
God given to Ezekiel to tell the people of Israel. It was words of
preparation but words of judgment and sorrow to come.
- Those who turn from sin will
save their soul, and those who turn from righteousness will lose their
soul and their righteousness will not be remembered.
- The watchman’s responsibility
was to warn the wicked and the righteous who turn from their
righteousness. If he did not warn them their blood would be on his hands.
- God made Ezekiel mute so he
would not rebuke the people.
CHAPTER 4
- Ezekiel made a model of the city of Jerusalem under a
siege.
- Ezekiel lay on his side 390
days for Israel and 40 days for Judah.
- Ezekiel cooked his food with
cow waste in front of the people.
CHAPTER 5
- One third of Ezekiel’s hair
represented the people dying by pestilence and famine; one third by sword;
and one third scattered and dying by the sword.
CHAPTER 6
- The corpses of the people
will be laid before their idols and their high places.
- Those in captivity will
look back and remember the words of God.
CHAPTER 7
- The time had come for the
destruction of Israel.
- Pestilence and famine would
devour the people on the inside of the city.
CHAPTER 8
- The people worshiped an
idol they had placed at the entrance of God's temple.
- Every sort of creeping
thing and abominable beast and idols were carved in the wall of the
sanctuary.
- The women were weeping
before Tammuz ( a fertility god) in the court of the sanctuary.
CHAPTER 9
- The people were marked for death
by God's angels, only a few were saved.
CHAPTER 10
- Ezekiel again saw the
vision of the living creatures and the glory of the Lord.
- Coals of fire were pulled
from the wheels.
CHAPTER 11
- The leaders of the city
were giving the people wicked counsel and advice against the words the
prophets had spoken.
- The people began to do the
evil and corrupt things that were being done around them by the other
nations.
- The people would not take
the word of God into their hearts. They followed the desires of their own
hearts.
CHAPTER 12
- He portrayed the ruler of
Israel, trying to escape through a hole in the wall of the city and the
city being carried captive by Babylon.
- The ruler’s (King Zedekiah)
eyes were gouged out when he was captured by Babylon. He was taken to
Babylon where he lived until he died (see 2 Kings 25:7).
CHAPTER 13
- The prophets were speaking
false prophecies, telling the people things from their own spirit and have
seen nothing.
- The people who trusted in
the prophets did not prepare themselves and build up the wall to defend
themselves against their enemies. They assumed peace and not danger.
- The Lord will break down the
wall to the ground and the people will be consumed in the midst of it.
CHAPTER 14
- There were no prophets in
the land who would speak the truth from God. God would answer those who
sought the prophet by the multitude of their idols (in judgment).
- a. God would induce the
prophet to speak only to further convict him. b. God will destroy the
prophet and the one who came to him.
- Noah, Daniel, and Job could
be saved from God’s wrath but the rest of the people would not be saved.
Because of their righteousness
these three would live
CHAPTER 15
- Jerusalem was compared to
the use of the wood of a vine.
- Jerusalem was useful for no
work and like the vine they will be thrown into the fire to be devoured..
CHAPTER 16
- Israel was in the beginning
like a struggling newborn baby who needs to be taken care of and nurtured.
- Israel trusted in their
beauty (riches) and reputation.
- The people used their
children in worshiping their false gods. They passed them through fire.
- The adulteress wife sinned
for pleasure, not like a harlot for the money.
- Jerusalem will be judged as
a woman who breaks wedlock or sheds blood; they would suffer and even die because
of their sin.
- Jerusalem followed the ways
of the foreign nations around them. They were the daughter of the nations
they imitated.
- Jerusalem’s sins were worse
than Sodom and Samaria. Jerusalem continued in their sin and idolatry even
though they knew what happened to Sodom and Samaria (Israel).
- Samaria and Sodom were
never restored to their former state, Sodom not at all. Jerusalem will
never be stored to their former state.
CHAPTER 17
- Babylon was the eagle that
carried Judah away to a foreign land.
- Egypt was the country Judah
turned to for help against Babylon.
- Judah was the branch.
- God would return His people
to their land and rebuild them. Zerubbabel began the rebuilding of
Jerusalem but its full accomplishment came in the kingdom of the Messiah.
- Other nations will dwell in
the shadows of Jerusalem’s benefits. Later, this would expand to all the
Gentile nations in the Kingdom of the Messiah.
CHAPTER 18
- The righteous will have
life.
- The unrighteous will die for
their sins. The soul who sins shall die.
- The one who turns from
unrighteousness will be forgiven of his sins, and he will live.
- If the righteous turns to
unrighteousness none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will
die.
- a. The people must turn
away from sin and iniquity. b. The people need to get a new heart and
spirit that seeks God's principles.
- God has no pleasure in a
lost soul.
CHAPTER 19
- Israel was like a lion,
strong and powerful.
- Israel was captured by
Assyria and Judah by Babylon and became weak and helpless.
CHAPTER 20
- God rejected the elders of
Israel.
- The elders fell to a habit
of iniquity and idol worship causing them to fall from God.
- God saved a remnant of
Israel to uphold His name before the Gentiles, His strength, and not
refuse Him when they would have an opportunity for salvation.
- By obeying God as He led
them, Israel would become a holy and blessed people.
- The Sabbath served as a
sign and a remembrance that Israel knew God and served Him.
- a. The word of God and
judgment will come to the people. b. Many people will be devoured, young
and old, and rich and poor, righteous and wicked (Ezekiel 21:3).
CHAPTER 21
- Babylon is the sword
against Judah.
- Jesus is the heir to the
thrown.
- The Ammonites had
reproached Israel when they were made desolate, and when the sanctuary was
profaned, and when Judah was taken into captivity (Ezekiel 25:3).
CHAPTER 22
- Israel was like dross (the
impurities) from silver that was being purified.
- The priests and leaders did
not teach and lead the people in the ways of God. The priests violated the
Law and profaned the holy things; they did not distinguished between the
holy and unholy, nor make known the difference between the clean and the
unclean; and they did not observe the Sabbaths. The leaders destroyed
people to get dishonest gain
- The prophets gave Israel
false visions and lies concerning their security against the enemy.
Untempered mortar was missing what strengthened it. The people were
missing what could strengthen them.
CHAPTER 23
- Samaria (Israel) and
Jerusalem (Judah) were harlots to God.
- Judah continued in their
sins and even committed worse harlotry than Israel.
CHAPTER 24
- Babylon made siege on
Jerusalem in the ninth year and tenth month of King Zedekiah (2 Kings
25:1).
- a. The cauldron was the
city of Jerusalem. b. The people in the city are the meat in the cauldron.
They would be purified through the tribulation.
- a. God took Ezekiel's wife
as a sign to Judah. b. As Ezekiel was not to mourn, the people were not to
mourn or weep for what happened to Judah but to accept their judgment.
CHAPTER 25
- Ammon rejoiced when Israel
was taken captive, when the sanctuary was profaned, and when Judah was
taken into captivity.
- Moab mocked God saying Judah
was like all the other nations around them (their God was not able to save
them).
- Because Edom took vengeance
on the house of Judah God is going to stretch out His hand against them.
- The Philistines were
constantly taking vengeance on Israel out of a spite heart.
CHAPTER 26
- Babylon would strike Tyre.
Tyre became greedy and believed they could profit materially and
economically from Israel’s downfall.
- The coastlands traded with
Tyre and they became like Tyre. If the leader fell, so would the
followers.
CHAPTER 27
- The nations followed the
ways of Tyre in greed and materialism.
CHAPTER 28
- They had no lack of
anything and could get anything from any of the nations that traded with
them. Their heart was lifted up because of their riches and glorified
himself as a god.
- Satan was the power behind the
king of Tyre. As Satan caused the fall of man in Eden He was causing the
fall of man at Tyre.
CHAPTER 29
- Egypt was proud of their
wealth and felt their success was by their own power (the Nile was theirs
and created by them). (They also were the nation Israel leaned on for help
instead of God.)
- All the people and
possessions of Egypt would be laid waste.
- Since Babylon didn’t profit
from Tyre, Egypt would be Babylon's reward for working for the Lord.
CHAPTER 30
- Egypt would be totally
weakened, never to become a powerful kingdom again (Ezekiel 29:14-15).
- Babylon would plunder
Egypt.
CHAPTER 31
- Egypt is compared to the
nation of Assyria.
- The trees are the other
nations under God’s control.
- Assyria fell because they
were prideful.
- The fall of Assyria is a
lesson to all nations that become full of pride. They will be brought down
to the pit. They will be destroyed.
CHAPTER 32
- Those nations and people
who did not know God or follow His ways are the uncircumcised that go down
to the pit.
- Assyria, Elam, Meshech,
Tubal, Edom, and the Sidonians will go to the pit of hell.
- Pharaoh of Egpyt and his
army will go down to the pit with the nations already there.
CHAPTER 33
- A watchman is one who knows
God's and is expected to warn those who are in sin.
- If a watchman does not warn
then he and the people will die for their sins. However, the watchman will
be responsible for the blood of the lost. (Ezekiel 3:16-21)
- If a righteous person falls
to sin he will die because of his iniquity. His former righteousness will
not save him.
- A person who trusts his own
righteousness trusts his former righteousness to cover his present sins,
(or he justifies his sin based on his own judgment of righteousness).
- One who had escaped from the
city told Ezekiel Jerusalem was captured fulfilling the prophecy of God in
Ezekiel 24:26-27 and Ezekiel 3:26-27.
- God restricted Ezekiel from
specific prophecy on Israel until He wanted Ezekiel to speak (Ezekiel
3:26-27). (Ezekiel still prophesied about other nations during this time.)
Ezekiel was restricted from the ninth year and tenth month of the
captivity, the same day his wife died, to the twelvth year and tenth month
of the captivity when Jerusalem was captured (Ezekiel 24:1, 16, 18, 25-27)
- The causes of Judah’s ruin
were they didn’t follow God’s precepts (like the eating of meat with
blood), they worshiped idols, and they shed (innocent) blood. They
committed abominations, and defiled each other’s wives.
- Ezekiel’s words sounded
like a lovely song to the people but they did not do them. “For with their
mouth they show much love but with their hearts they pursue their own
gain.”
CHAPTER 34
- The shepherds are the
priests of Israel - responsible for leading and teaching the people in the
ways of God.
- They shepherds were not
strengthening the faith of the weak or establishing the faith of God in
any people.
- The fat sheep are those
who used their position for their own gain. The lean sheep are those who
were pushed around by the fat and have become weak.
- a. The servant of David
(Jesus) is the shepherd. b. God would be their God.
- The leaders and all the
people of the land will produce fruits of righteousness.
CHAPTER 35
- Mount Seir was in Edom.
- Edom will be judged because
of their ancient hatred of Israel, they shed the blood of Israe; they
sought to take the land of Israel, and they spoke against and blasphemed
the God of Israel.
CHAPTER 36
- God speaks to the land of
Israel, which is to receive the people of Israel once again.
- Israel’s defilement caused
them to be removed from God for a period of time as when a woman is
ceremonial unclean for a period of time and then she could come to the
temple again.
- God will save Israel to
save His great name that had been profaned in the nations.
- The heart of flesh and
God’s Spirit in us would be fulfilled in the coming of Jesus through His
life, death, and resurrection.
CHAPTER 37
- The house of Israel was
dead, lost, and with no hope. They were useless to God.
- God would join Judah and
Israel together as one nation again.
- The prince shall be God’s
servant David (who we know is Jesus).
- The land of Jacob is a
place of peace, sanctification, protection, and residence of the Lord for
His people.
CHAPTER 38
- Gog appeared splendid and
impressionable, and with power.
- The land of Gog would come
against God's people.
- God's people would rise up
with truth against the darkness of Gog. Gog and all their followers will
not be able to stand.
CHAPTER 39
- After the defeat of Gog
Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.
- The followers of God will
have power over sin and darkness and over their enemies.
- The Gentile nations will
understand the history of Israel, their fall and rise.
- God’s Holy Spirit will be
poured out.
CHAPTER 40
- Ezekiel sees in a vision
the rebuilding of the temple of God.
CHAPTER 41
- The walls of the temple
had cherubim and palm trees carved in it all around.
- The cherubim had two faces
each that faced the palm trees. The face of a lion faced a palm tree on
one side and the face of man faced a palm tree on the other side.
CHAPTER
42
1.
The
chambers were for the priests to eat the most holy offerings and to store their
holy garments.
CHAPTER
43
1.
Ezekiel sees
the vision of God on His throne, the same vision he saw at the River Chebar.
2.
The whole area
of holiness will be expanded outside the Holy of Holies to include the whole
area surrounding the mountaintop.
CHAPTER 44
- The east gate would be
closed to people because God had come through that way, and it was holy.
- The Levites would not come
before God as priests to minister before the Holy of Holies.
- The Levites would do the
work to be done in the temple. They would minister to the people, slay the
burnt offerings, and be gatekeepers of the house.
- The faithful sons of Aaron
who had remained faithful to God, the sons of Zadok, will be the only
people who can come before the Lord
- The priests would wear
linen garments and linen turbans which would keep them cool and from
sweating..
CHAPTER
45
1.
The area for
the Lord will be twenty-five thousand cubits long by ten thousand cubits wide.
2.
The
sanctuary will be five hundred rods by five hundred rods.
CHAPTER 46
- The people will enter from
one gate and go out the opposite gate..
CHAPTER 47
- The water is the living
water of God (His word) going out to all people.
- The multitude is the
people who will come to the living water of God.
CHAPTER
48
- The land will be divided
among the twelve tribes of Israel.