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Science Coronavirus Coverage How antivirals may change the course of the pandemic. Travel A road trip in Burgundy reveals far more than fine wine. Any cause for celebration was ripped from this young priest-to-be when he was carried off into exile during the first Babylonian attack. Five years into exile, we find him sitting on the bank of an irrigation canal near the Israelite refugee camp outside of Babylon. Not only will he not get to carry out his priestly duties in the temple something he would have waited his whole life for , but he will have to act as a mouthpiece of Yahweh , warning Israel of impending doom.
He is to preach judgment against the Israelite exiles, predicting the fall of Jerusalem and their beloved temple. This would be devastating news for our young priest trainee.
Only a vision as glorious as Yahweh himself would sustain a priest-turned-prophet through such an agonizing call. As Ezekiel sits by the Chebar canal, the heavens open and Ezekiel sees something like a violent storm cloud approaching from the north, the place of the divine presence and the city of the great king see Ps Immediately Ezekiel realizes that this is no ordinary cloud. The vision is so terrifyingly glorious that he uses unique words for it.
Inside it he sees four strange creatures with wings outstretched touching one another. The wings made such a loud noise when they moved that it was like the sound of rushing waters or the roar of an approaching army. These creatures had a humanlike resemblance, but each had four faces: the faces of a human, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.
Though the imagery is pretty bizarre for modern readers, it was common in ancient eastern culture to combine various beings to form complex deities. Thus, in part, Ezekiel recognizes that something supernatural is approaching.
Then he sees four wheels for each one of the living creatures and when they move they could go in any of their four directions.
Somehow they could do the impossible—go straight in any direction without ever turning. Pretty sweet, huh? And above the expanse was a dazzling platform. On that platform was a throne and sitting on that throne was a humanlike creature, glowing and shrouded in fire. Ezekiel describes it as the likeness of a throne with the appearance of sapphire. This is another direct allusion from the Torah in Exodus 24 when Moses and the elders go up on the mountain and behold God in his glory.
Revised Nov. Image by Used under license from Veer. Based on a work at www. You are free to share to copy, distribute and transmit the work , and remix to adapt the work for non-commercial use only, under the condition that you must attribute the work to the Theology of Work Project, Inc.
Your browser does not support JavaScript. Please note, our website requires JavaScript to be supported. Please contact us or click here to learn more about how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Follow us:. Listen Now. The book of Ezekiel takes its title from the priest of the same name, son to a man named Buzi.
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