Ezekiel Ezekiel, a priest and prophet, was born around 623 BC. He was probably raised in Jerusalem, and he was married (24:16-18). He went into exile in Babylon with Jehoiachin in 597 BC, where he lived by the Kebar River. He was called to be a prophet in Babylon on July 31, 593 BC (1:1). All that we know of his personal life is from the book named after him. Ezekiel often reinforced his prophetic words with strange actions, such as illustrating his message about the dire lack of food in the final siege of Jerusalem by eating food cooked over dung (4:12). Another time, he lay motionless for 430 days, one day for each year of Israel’s and Judah’s sin (4:4-7). When Ezekiel’s wife died suddenly, he was forbidden to mourn her in public (24:16-18); her death was a solemn warning of what would happen in Judah (24:15-27). Ezekiel’s strange actions were designed to grab people’s attention. At first, Ezekiel’s messages were rejected, but his prophecies were later vindicated as they began to come true and the nation was purged of idolatry. His teaching emphasized holiness, purity, resurrection, and the ritual law. His message of hope encouraged the exiles to remain faithful during t...

False Prophets The Bible tells of many individuals who set themselves up as prophets on their own authority. They had no true calling from God but nonetheless claimed to speak for him. Often it was hard for people to discern the difference between true and false prophets, especially since false prophets usually told them what they wanted to hear (see, e.g., 1 Kgs 22:10-14; Jer 28:1-4). Because of this difficulty, and the Lord’s merciful delay in bringing judgment upon his rebellious people, many people doubted that God’s word through his true prophets would ever be fulfilled (see Isa 5:19). Others denied that anything would happen within their lifetimes. Might not the punishment that had so often been delayed be delayed a little longer? Ezekiel prophesied that in the coming judgment upon Jerusalem, false prophets would be cut off so that people would no longer be confused about who the true prophets were (Ezek 13:8-9). There would also be no more delay to God’s judgment—the Lord was coming very soon to fulfill the words he had spoken (13:11). Everyone would see which words God had really spoken and which words the false prophets had conjured out of their own imaginations....