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In the opening chapters of the book, Ezekiel is shown a series of visions depicting the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem and then the slaughter in the capture of the city. His first charge from God is to refute the empty promises of false prophets who were assuring the exiles that Babylon would be defeated and they would soon go home. Įzekiel’s prophetic career begins in Babylonian exile eleven years before the final destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s call should dispel any notion that calls from God are generally calls away from secular professions and into church ministry. It is fitting that the vision in which he received his call includes political symbols such as chariot wheels (Ezek. Although Ezekiel’s original profession was the priesthood, God called him to a prophetic career that was primarily political, not religious. Direct calls to a particular kind of work are rare in the Bible, and Ezekiel’s is one of the most dramatic. 1:4-2:8) and concludes with God's command to become a prophet. Like Isaiah’s call (Isaiah 6:1-8), Ezekiel’s begins with a vision of God (Ezek. In exile in Babylon, Ezekiel receives a dramatic call from God. For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" On the willows there we hung up our harps. In Babylon, the Jewish community of exile was preoccupied with two questions: "Has God been unjust to us?" and "What did we do to deserve this?" The desolation of these exiled Jews is captured well in Psalm 137:1-4: "By the rivers of Babylon - there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. However, his priesthood had been violently interrupted when he was taken as a captive to Babylon in the first deportation of Jews from Jerusalem in 605 B.C. As a priest, he also served as a moral and spiritual guide to the people, teaching them God's law and adjudicating disputes (Leviticus 10:11, Deuteronomy 17:8-10, 33:10). As such, his day-to-day work had previously lain in slaughtering, butchering and roasting the sacrificial animals brought by worshipers to the temple in Jerusalem. When we meet Ezekiel, as a descendant of Jacob's son Levi, he is by profession a priest (Ezek. Let us begin, as the Book of Ezekiel does, with God’s call to Ezekiel to become a prophet. In addition, the dramatic call of Ezekiel to become a prophet gives us one example of how God calls someone to a particular kind of work.Įzekiel’s Call to Be a Prophet (Ezekiel 1-17) Back to Table of Contents Back to Table of Contents His words touch on finance and debt, economic development, honesty, allocation of capital, workplace evaluations, fair return on investment, economic opportunism, success and failure, whistleblowing, teamwork, executive compensation and corporate governance. Our focus is on workplace practices, and Ezekiel has much to say about the workplace. Israel’s unrighteous ways encompassed every sphere of life: marriage and sexuality, worship and idolatry, commerce and government. When they question why God has allowed them to suffer this way, Ezekiel speaks God’s answer: because of your unjust ways of living (Ezekiel 18:1-17).

The Book of Ezekiel gives a compelling account of how the Jewish people suffer a severely diminished life of deprivation and oppression - and even death - as captives in the conquering empire of Babylon. This does not contradict the teaching that salvation comes only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1), but to point out that life with God begins with belief in Christ, but comes to completion in righteous living in every sphere of life.

Living with God is also a matter of living life righteously, whether in the marketplace, at home, in church or in society. Living with God is not just a matter of worship and personal devotion. Introduction to Ezekiel Back to Table of Contents Back to Table of Contents
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Learning From the Psalms How to Pray Through Your Work.Beyond Rank and Power: What Philemon Tells Us About Leadership.Evangelism - Sharing the Gospel at Work.10 Key Points About Work in the Bible That Every Christian Should Know.
