EZEKIEL

(Answers)

 

Updated 1/2024

CHAPTER 1

  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).
  2. Ezekiel saw four living creatures.
  3. Each creature had a face of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.
  4. The wheels moved with the living creatures.
  5. The creatures may represent the Spirit of the Lord.
  6. The Spirit of God controls them.
  7. A throne with the likeness of a man on it. This seems to represent God's throne.

CHAPTER 2

  1. 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.
  2. The briers and thorns and scorpions are the rebellious Jews who would resist the prophet's words.

CHAPTER 3

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. God made Ezekiel mute so he would not rebuke the people.

CHAPTER 4

  1. Ezekiel made a model  of the city of Jerusalem under a siege.
  2. Ezekiel lay on his side 390 days for Israel and 40 days for Judah.
  3. Ezekiel cooked his food with cow waste in front of the people.

CHAPTER 5

  1. 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

  1. The corpses of the people will be laid before their idols and their high places.
  2. Those in captivity will look back and remember the words of God.

CHAPTER 7

  1. The time had come for the destruction of Israel.
  2. Pestilence and famine would devour the people on the inside of the city.

CHAPTER 8

  1. The people worshiped an idol they had placed at the entrance of God's temple.
  2. Every sort of creeping thing and abominable beast and idols were carved in the wall of the sanctuary.
  3. The women were weeping before Tammuz ( a fertility god) in the court of the sanctuary.

CHAPTER 9

  1. The people were marked for death by God's angels, only a few were saved.

CHAPTER 10

  1. Ezekiel again saw the vision of the living creatures and the glory of the Lord.
  2. Coals of fire were pulled from the wheels.

CHAPTER 11

  1. The leaders of the city were giving the people wicked counsel and advice against the words the prophets had spoken.
  2. The people began to do the evil and corrupt things that were being done around them by the other nations.
  3. The people would not take the word of God into their hearts. They followed the desires of their own hearts.

CHAPTER 12

  1. 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.
  2. 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

  1. The prophets were speaking false prophecies, telling the people things from their own spirit and have seen nothing.
  2. 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. 
  3. The Lord will break down the wall to the ground and the people will be consumed in the midst of it.

CHAPTER 14

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. Jerusalem was compared to the use of the wood of a vine.
  2. Jerusalem was useful for no work and like the vine they will be thrown into the fire to be devoured..

CHAPTER 16

  1. Israel was in the beginning like a struggling newborn baby who needs to be taken care of and nurtured.
  2. Israel trusted in their beauty (riches) and reputation.
  3. The people used their children in worshiping their false gods. They passed them through fire.
  4. The adulteress wife sinned for pleasure, not like a harlot for the money.
  5. Jerusalem will be judged as a woman who breaks wedlock or sheds blood; they would suffer and even die because of their sin.
  6. Jerusalem followed the ways of the foreign nations around them. They were the daughter of the nations they imitated.
  7. 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).
  8. 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

  1. Babylon was the eagle that carried Judah away to a foreign land.
  2. Egypt was the country Judah turned to for help against Babylon.
  3. Judah was the branch.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

  1. The righteous will have life.
  2. The unrighteous will die for their sins. The soul who sins shall die.
  3. The one who turns from unrighteousness will be forgiven of his sins, and he will live.
  4. If the righteous turns to unrighteousness none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will die.
  5. 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.
  6. God has no pleasure in a lost soul.

CHAPTER 19

  1. Israel was like a lion, strong and powerful.
  2. Israel was captured by Assyria and Judah by Babylon and became weak and helpless.

CHAPTER 20

  1. God rejected the elders of Israel.
  2. The elders fell to a habit of iniquity and idol worship causing them to fall from God.
  3. 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.
  4. By obeying God as He led them, Israel would become a holy and blessed people.
  5. The Sabbath served as a sign and a remembrance that Israel knew God and served Him.
  6. 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

  1. Babylon is the sword against Judah.
  2. Jesus is the heir to the thrown.
  3. 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

  1. Israel was like dross (the impurities) from silver that was being purified.
  2. 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
  3. 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

  1. Samaria (Israel) and Jerusalem (Judah) were harlots to God.
  2. Judah continued in their sins and even committed worse harlotry than Israel.

CHAPTER 24

  1. Babylon made siege on Jerusalem in the ninth year and tenth month of King Zedekiah (2 Kings 25:1).
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. Ammon rejoiced when Israel was taken captive, when the sanctuary was profaned, and when Judah was taken into captivity.
  2. Moab mocked God saying Judah was like all the other nations around them (their God was not able to save them).
  3. Because Edom took vengeance on the house of Judah God is going to stretch out His hand against them.
  4. The Philistines were constantly taking vengeance on Israel out of a spite heart.

CHAPTER 26

  1. Babylon would strike Tyre. Tyre became greedy and believed they could profit materially and economically from Israel’s downfall.
  2. The coastlands traded with Tyre and they became like Tyre. If the leader fell, so would the followers.

CHAPTER 27

  1. The nations followed the ways of Tyre in greed and materialism.

CHAPTER 28

  1. 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.
  2. 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

  1. 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.)
  2. All the people and possessions of Egypt would be laid waste.
  3. Since Babylon didn’t profit from Tyre, Egypt would be Babylon's reward for working for the Lord.

CHAPTER 30

  1. Egypt would be totally weakened, never to become a powerful kingdom again (Ezekiel 29:14-15).
  2. Babylon would plunder Egypt.

CHAPTER 31

  1. Egypt is compared to the nation of Assyria.
  2. The trees are the other nations under God’s control.
  3. Assyria fell because they were prideful.
  4. 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

  1. Those nations and people who did not know God or follow His ways are the uncircumcised that go down to the pit.
  2. Assyria, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, Edom, and the Sidonians will go to the pit of hell.
  3. Pharaoh of Egpyt and his army will go down to the pit with the nations already there.

CHAPTER 33

  1. A watchman is one who knows God's and is expected to warn those who are in sin.
  2. 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)
  3. If a righteous person falls to sin he will die because of his iniquity. His former righteousness will not save him.
  4. 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).
  5. 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.
  6. 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)
  7. 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.
  8. 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

  1. The shepherds are the priests of Israel - responsible for leading and teaching the people in the ways of God.
  2. They shepherds were not strengthening the faith of the weak or establishing the faith of God in any people.
  3. 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.
  4. a. The servant of David (Jesus) is the shepherd. b. God would be their God.
  5. The leaders and all the people of the land will produce fruits of righteousness.

CHAPTER 35

  1. Mount Seir was in Edom.
  2. 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

  1. God speaks to the land of Israel, which is to receive the people of Israel once again.
  2. 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.
  3. God will save Israel to save His great name that had been profaned in the nations.
  4. 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

  1. The house of Israel was dead, lost, and with no hope. They were useless to God. 
  2. God would join Judah and Israel together as one nation again.
  3. The prince shall be God’s servant David (who we know is Jesus).
  4. The land of Jacob is a place of peace, sanctification, protection, and residence of the Lord for His people.

CHAPTER 38

  1. Gog appeared splendid and impressionable, and with power.
  2. The land of Gog would come against God's people.
  3. 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

  1. After the defeat of Gog Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.
  2. The followers of God will have power over sin and darkness and over their enemies.
  3. The Gentile nations will understand the history of Israel, their fall and rise.
  4. God’s Holy Spirit will be poured out.

CHAPTER 40

  1. Ezekiel sees in a vision the rebuilding of the temple of God.

CHAPTER 41

  1. The walls of the temple had cherubim and palm trees carved in it all around.
  2. 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

  1. The east gate would be closed to people because God had come through that way, and it was holy.
  2. The Levites would not come before God as priests to minister before the Holy of Holies.
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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

  1. The people will enter from one gate and go out the opposite gate..

CHAPTER 47

  1. The water is the living water of God (His word) going out to all people.
  2. The multitude is the people who will come to the living water of God.

 

CHAPTER 48

  1. The land will be divided among the twelve tribes of Israel.