Ezekiel’s Early Life. 

        If our interpretation of 1:1 is correct (see below), Ezekiel was born in 622 B.C. This means that he was over twenty years younger than Jeremiah, and that he was an infant in arms, when Josiah’s reformation was sweeping the outward signs of idolatry out of Judah.

        We have no information about his father, Buzi, beyond that he was of priestly family. The respect, however, ac­corded to Ezekiel by the elders of the people in exile (8:1; 14:1; 20:1), and his being considered important enough to be taken into exile with Jehoiachin (cf. IIKings 24:14) suggest that his was among the more important of the priestly families.

        We are not told definitely in the Old Testament at what age the priest was to start his duties; there is no definite infor­mation on the subject in the Talmud with regard to New Testament times. There is, however, an intrinsic probability that it was thirty (cf Num. 4:3, and perhaps Luke 3:23, though this may link rather with IISam. 5:4). Since, however, a meticulous observance of every detail of the ritual was ex­pected of the priest, a long period of preparation was normal for the young men of priestly family. It is quite clear from his prophecies that Ezekiel, unlike Jeremiah, had early steeped himself in the priestly traditions, and had learnt all the details of his holy duties to which he looked forward. His whole course of life was rudely interrupted when, at the age of twenty-five (597 B.C.), he was taken as captive to Babylonia by Nebu­chadnezzar; cut off from every hope of becoming an active priest, it must have seemed to the young man that life had lost all meaning. We must never forget that when the epi­gram declares, “Jeremiah was a prophet who happened to be a priest; Ezekiel was a priest who happened to be a prophet,” it is stating a real truth, even though expressed with typical epigrammatic exaggeration.

        At first Ezekiel may have nourished hopes of an early return to the temple in Jerusalem (Jer. 29:8f), but Jeremiah’s letter and the fate of Ahab and Zedekiah (Jer. 29:21ff) will have shown him that there was no hope that he would ever serve the Lord as priest in His temple. The greater, then, must have been his spiritual distress when he became thirty and realized with renewed force how the sin of his people had cut him off from his spiritual heritage (This interpretation of “the thirtieth year” is widely denied, but those who do so have nothing adequate to offer in its place. The one objection of weight is that a birthday could hardly be so referred to; apart from a few cases of royalty, the Bible ignores birthdays and is concerned merely with birthyears.).

        It was under such circumstances that God revealed Him­self to Ezekiel (1:1) and showed him that he was to fulfil his priestly vocation by acting as His prophet.