The Hand of the Lord
In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither. Eze 40:1
In the five... This was about 12 years before the release of Jehoiachin (Jer. 52:31).
hand of the... This means that he was strengthened by divine power for his mission, which at the easiest point would be difficult and hard on him (Eze. 3:14, 3:22; 1:3; 8:1; 33:22; 37:1; 40:1).
On that very day God took Ezekiel back to Jerusalem in a vision (cf. Eze. 8:1-3). Jerusalem was then vastly different from what it was before. Ezekiel was led on a “tour” of the future temple which he recorded in remarkable detail. This tour was given by a man, probably an angel, whose appearance was like bronze. This is the twenty fifth year of the captivity in Babylon or 573 B.C. The 10th day was the start of preparations for Passover.
The city spoken of here, that was smitten, was of course, Jerusalem. The hand of the Lord took Ezekiel to the place of his vision.
Chapters 33-39 dealt with the new life Israel will experience when she is gathered back into her land and restored to fellowship with God. The last nine chapters of the book explain how Israel’s new order will be established. A new temple will be built as a sign of God’s presence among His people (chaps. 40-43), and a new service of worship will be established so the people will have access to their God (chaps. 44-46). Then a new division of the land will be made for the people (chaps. 47-48).
A New Temple
God had promised to rebuild His sanctuary among His people (Eze. 37:26-28); chapters 44-46 give the plans for the temple to be rebuilt.
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