Reading for October 30th

 INTRODUCTION TO EZKIEL'S PROPHECY

In 1.1-3.15: The introduction includes a superscription in 1.1-3, which identifies the prophet and his historical context, and an account of his inaugural vision in 1.4-3.15, in which God commissions him to speak. Compare the call narratives of Moses (Ex 3) or Isaiah (Isa 6). 

Read Ezekiel 1.1-3. In 1.1-3: Superscription. See Isa 1.1; Jer 1.3. In verse 1: Some understand the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year after the prophet's call, the thirtieth year after Josiah's reform, the year of Jehoiachin's exile, or the date of the book's composition. It probably refers to Ezekiel's age at the time of his call. Ezekiel is a priest (1.3), and the age of priestly service begins at thirty (Num 4.3, compare Num 8.23-25) and concludes at fifty. Apart from th reference to the twenty-seventh year in 29.17, the dated oracles of the book extend from the fifth (1.2) to the twenty-fifth year of the Exile (40.1), so that the book correlates Ezekiel's prophetic oracles with the 20 years of active priestly service. The river Chebar: A canal by Nippur, a Babylonian city. In verse 2: The fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin: 593 BCE. In verse 3: Buzi is otherwise unknown. Had he not been exiled, Ezekiel would have served as a Zadokite priest in the Temple. Comments or Questions..