Ezekiel and the Earlier Captivity

GOLDEN TEXT: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” —Ezekiel 18:30

II KINGS 24:8-16; EZEKIEL 1:2,3; 18:30-32

MANY in Palestine were taken into captivity in Babylon prior to the fall of the kingdom of Judah. Ezekiel was one of these, and in the early chapters of his book he calls upon the people of his nation to repent, peradventure they might not be completely destroyed. Our Golden Text suggests this possibility.

Ezekiel addresses the “house of Israel.” After the division of the kingdom in the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, for identification purposes the northern, or ten-tribe segment of the nation, was called the kingdom of Israel; and the southern, or two tribes, the kingdom or house of Judah. But now the northern kingdom had fallen with many of the rebellious ten tribes held captive in Assyria, so Ezekiel uses the title, “house of Israel,” to describe the tottering kingdom of Judah since the remnants of all twelve tribes still in Palestine were under its jurisdiction. He refers to Zedekiah, the last two-tribe king as a “prince of Israel,” and not merely of Judah.—Ezek. 21:25-27

The fall of the kingdom of Judah was progressive. Josiah was the last of Judah’s good kings. His son Jehoahaz, “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” He was the last king enthroned by the “people of the land.” (II Kings 23:30-32) Pharaoh-nechoh, of Egypt, in an attack on Assyria, passed through Palestine. It was in an attempt to prevent this that Josiah lost his life. (II Kings 23:29) This left the Egyptians in control of Palestine, and Pharaoh-nechoh put the people’s king, Jehoahaz, “in bands,” and appointed Jehoiakim king in his place.

Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon wrested control of Palestine from the Egyptians, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he rebelled, and “the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the Word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.”—II Kings 24:1,2

Apparently the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites were operating under the direction of Nebuchadnezzar. But it was the Lord who sent them against Judah. This viewpoint is explained in Isaiah 10:5,6, where the Lord says that he would send the Assyrian against his people, to be the “rod” of his “anger.” Thus the Lord can, and does at times, use the wrath of men to accomplish his purposes, even though they imagine that they are advancing their own cause.—Isa. 10:7

The assault against Judah resulting from Jehoiakim’s rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar was a severe blow, but the kingdom was not overthrown. Jehoiakim was taken captive to Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar—not the people, as in former days—appointed a new king, Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, to occupy the throne of Judah. He also, like his father, was merely a puppet king. The strength of Judah to resist enemies had gone. However, there was still an outward pretence of independence, so Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and forced the full surrender of Jehoiachin, together with his mother, servants, and wives.

At this time also he took captive all the mighty men of Judah’s army, besides skilled workmen of various sorts. The golden vessels of the temple were also seized and taken to Babylon. From the figures mentioned in verses 14 and 16 of our lesson, there were at least eighteen thousand important prisoners taken when Jehoiachin was dethroned.

Thus, by one assault after another the kingdom of Judah was being weakened. It was four years and three months after Jehoiachin was dethroned and taken captive to Babylon that Ezekiel began to prophesy. (Ezek. 1:2) He was evidently one of the captives taken to Babylon when Jehoiachin was made a prisoner, for he says, “I was among the captives by the river of Chebar.”—ch. 1:1

Ezekiel was commissioned to speak to the Israelites in captivity, a nation that had “rebelled against” the Lord, and were now being punished. He was to condemn their sin, and warn them of further punishment, “whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.” The Lord wanted his people to know that even in their distress there “was a prophet among them.”—Ezek. 2:1-5

Ezekiel’s task was not a pleasant one, but necessary. The Lord was not then completely destroying his people as a nation, for his plan was for them again to be restored to Palestine, and he used Ezekiel and others to keep alive at least a spark of devotion to him that when the time should come they would want to return to the land which he gave to their fathers.

QUESTIONS

Where was Ezekiel living when he began to prophesy?

Why was it proper for Ezekiel to refer to the Jewish captives in Babylon as the house of “Israel”?

Relate some of the events in the progressive fall of the kingdom of Judah.

What was God’s purpose in sending prophets to the Israelites while they were in captivity in Babylon?

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