Ezekiel

Ezekiel son of Buzi was a priest who was among the Jews deported to Babylon in 597 BCE, before the final destruction of Jerusalem. His prophetic ministry began "by the river of Chebar" in Babylon (Ezekiel 1:1) with an extraordinary vision of four living creatures, wheels within wheels, and the glory of God (Ezekiel 1). God called him "son of man" — a title used 93 times in the book — and commissioned him as "a watchman unto the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 3:17). Ezekiel communicated God's messages through dramatic symbolic acts: he lay on his side for 390 days to represent the years of Israel's sin (Ezekiel 4:5), shaved his head and divided the hair to symbolize Jerusalem's fate (Ezekiel 5:1-4), and was forbidden to mourn publicly when his wife died, as a sign to Israel (Ezekiel 24:16-18). His vision of the valley of dry bones — where dead bones reassembled, received flesh, and came alive — became the defining image of national resurrection and hope (Ezekiel 37:1-14). The final chapters (40-48) describe a detailed vision of a future restored Temple.