Ezekiel 8:1-4

THIRD “VISION OF GOD” (IN JERUSALEM), Ezekiel 8:1-4.

The dates at which the “word of the Lord” came to Ezekiel are not always given; but when the vision of God’s glory appears the time is carefully mentioned (Ezekiel 1:1; Ezekiel 3:16; Ezekiel 3:22, etc.). This date shows that a little more than a year has passed since he for the first time looked upon the glorious manifestation of Jehovah. He has now finished his symbolical representation of the siege of Jerusalem and the years of captivity (Ezekiel 4:5). He is now sitting in his house instead of lying upon his side. The heaviest task of his life, so far, has been accomplished and once more there is granted him the vision of glory to comfort him for his past trials and prepare him for the fearful vision of his people’s guilt, which was so closely to accompany it. And now the “elders of Judah” visit him. The prophet’s picture-sermon has not been without its influence. The elders, some of them at least (Ezekiel 14:1), now look upon the silent prophet as a true seer of Jehovah, and sit before him waiting for a revelation from the prophet’s Lord.