foreseen by Jehovah God as rejoicing over the downfall of Jerusalem. After arrival of the news that Jerusalem had fallen, the prophet sounds the glorious note of restoration, which is the predominant theme throughout the remainder of the book.—Ezek. 33:20, 21.

The book of Ezekiel reveals that Babylon’s false religion had been introduced into the precincts of Jehovah’s temple, particularly in the form of worshiping the Babylonian god Tammuz. (Ezek. 8:13, 14) Besides such detestable false worship at Jehovah’s temple itself, the apostate Jews filled the land of Judah with violence. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that in his vision Ezekiel hears the call for Jehovah’s executioners to come with their weapons for smashing and to stand beside the altar in the inner courtyard of the temple. Jehovah then gives them orders to go through the midst of unfaithful Jerusalem and kill off everybody not marked as a worshiper of Jehovah: “Old man, young man and virgin and little child and women you should kill off—to a ruination. But to any man upon whom there is the mark do not go near, and from my sanctuary you should start.” (9:6) Ezekiel reports that Jehovah’s executioners started by killing first the sun-worshiping apostates at the temple porch. The temple was also bloodied by their killing off the seventy elderly men inside who were worshiping the idolatrous carvings on the wall and all those women who were sitting at the gate, weeping for the Babylonish god Tammuz. (8:7–9:8) The vision of Ezekiel was but a preview of what was about to befall Jerusalem when Jehovah made her drink the cup of wine of His rage out of His hand by means of His executional servant, King Nebuchadnezzar (Nebuchadrezzar), and his armies.—Jer. 25:9, 15-18.

Ezekiel’s prophecies of restoration must have been of comfort to the exiled Jews. In 593 B.C.E., in the twenty-fifth year of his exile, Ezekiel had his remarkable vision of a new temple of Jehovah, the pattern of which came from Jehovah God himself, and of an adjacent city called Jehovah-shammah, meaning “Jehovah Himself Is There.” (40:1–48:35) In the midst of a land of pagan idolatry it strengthened hope in the repentant Jewish exiles of again worshiping the true God, Jehovah, at his temple.

Ezekiel’s prophecy emphasizes the theme of the Bible, the sanctification of Jehovah’s name by the Kingdom. It points out that while God would permit a long period of vacancy on the throne of David, God had not abandoned his covenant with David for a kingdom. The Kingdom would be given to the one who had the legal right. Ezekiel thereby pointed the Jews, as did Daniel, to the hope of the Messiah. (Ezek. 21:27; 37:22, 24, 25) Jehovah caused Ezekiel to say more than sixty times that people “will have to know that I am Jehovah.” Ezekiel magnifies the memorial name of God by using the expression ʼAdho·nayʹ Y^eho·wihʹ, “Lord Jehovah,” 215 times.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS

I. Jehovah commissions Ezekiel as watchman (1:1–3:27)

II. Warning prophecies against unfaithful Judah and Jerusalem (4:1–24:27)

A. Enacting the siege of Jerusalem (4:1–7:27)

1. Ezekiel lies before a brick 390 days on his left side, 40 days on his right, while subsisting on meager diet (4:1-17)

2. Ezekiel portrays result of siege by shaving off hair and beard, burning a third in the fire, striking a third with the sword and scattering a third to wind (5:1-17)

3. Prophecy against the mountains of Israel, that its high places will be brought to ruin and its idolatry will cease (6:1-14)

4. “A unique calamity” coming upon Jerusalem, so that silver and gold will be unable to deliver anyone (7:1-27)

B. Ezekiel’s vision of apostate Judah (8:1–11:25)

1. In 612 B.C.E. Ezekiel transported by means of a vision to Jerusalem where he is given a view of detestable things at Jehovah’s temple (8:1-18)

2. Man in linen with recorder’s inkhorn to mark foreheads of men sighing over detestable things being done in city; marked persons spared, unmarked ones slaughtered by divine command (9:1-11)

3. Ezekiel again sees glory of Jehovah, rising above cherubs, and fiery coals scattered over city of Jerusalem (10:1-22)

4. Princes to bring Israel to ruin by misleading people; illustration of Jerusalem as a cooking pot. Pelatiah dies; restoration foretold; Ezekiel is returned in vision to Chaldea (11:1-25)

C. More prophecies in Babylon concerning Jerusalem (12:1–19:14)

1. Exile of King Zedekiah and of Judah foretold by symbolic actions, no postponement of judgment (12:1-28)

2. Stupid prophets who foretold peace exposed (13:1-23)

3. Jerusalem so wicked that not even presence of Noah, Daniel and Job could save it; doom certain (14:1-23)

4. Inhabitants of Jerusalem like a worthless vine, not good enough to be used as timber or even a peg—only as fuel for a fire (15:1-8)

5. Allegory of unfaithful wife, how Jerusalem repays Jehovah’s love by giving her favors to pagan gods, prostituting herself, being worse than Sodom and Samaria; Jerusalem to be destroyed by her illicit lovers (16:1-63)

6. The eagle-vine riddle, foretelling Jerusalem’s turning to Egypt for help, with disastrous consequences; tender twig to become majestic cedar (17:1-24)

7. Exiles in Babylon reproved for saying, “Fathers are the ones that eat unripe grapes, but it is the teeth of the sons that get set on edge”; God sets matters straight by saying: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die” (18:1-32)

8. Judah’s chieftains likened to young lions; snared by Egypt and Babylon (19:1-14)

D. Denunciations against Israel (20:1–23:49)

1. Review of long history of Israel’s detestable activities; continual rebellion despite Jehovah’s mercies; but restoration due (20:1-49)

2. God’s sword unsheathed to bring ruin upon Jerusalem; David’s throne to “become no one’s until he comes who has the legal right” (21:1-32)

3. Further recounting of Jerusalem’s sins; house of Israel has become as scummy dross to be liquefied “with fire” of Jehovah’s fury (22:1-31)

4. Parable of two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah, who prostitute themselves; one is Samaria, other is Jerusalem. Jerusalem to be destroyed by her illegitimate lovers (23:1-49)

E. The final siege of Jerusalem commences (24:1-27)

1. In 609 B.C.E. Jehovah announces to Ezekiel that king of Babylon has besieged Jerusalem (24:1, 2)

2. Jerusalem likened to widemouthed cooking pot; meat represents inhabitants; city full of bloodshed and immorality (24:3-14)

3. Ezekiel’s wife dies on day siege of Jerusalem begins; Ezekiel not to mourn, as a sign that they must not mourn at Jerusalem’s destruction, since it is a judgment from Jehovah (24:15-27)

III. Prophecies against surrounding nations that, Jehovah foresees, will rejoice over Jerusalem’s downfall (25:1–32:32)

A. Prophecies against Ammon, Moab, Edom and Philistia; to suffer same fate as Jerusalem (25:1-17)

B. Prophecies against Tyre (26:1–28:26)

1. Tyre to be besieged by King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon (26:1-21)

2. Dirge over Tyre, pictured as a pretty ship, bearing the wares and treasures of nations; to be sunk in the depths of the waters (27:1-36)

3. Overthrow of Tyre’s proud king, and of Sidon; Israel to be restored (28:1-26)

C. Warnings against Egypt (29:1–32:32)

1. Nebuchadrezzar to invade and plunder Egypt, as payment from Jehovah for destroying mainland city of Tyre; Egypt to become “lower than the other kingdoms,” no more lifting itself up over other nations (29:1-21)

2. Egypt’s supporters also due for desolation; Egyptians to be scattered among nations (30:1-26)

3. Pharaoh warned by Assyria’s treelike fall (31:1-18)

4. Dirge over Pharaoh’s being silenced; Egypt desolated by Babylon; lament over Egypt’s burial with uncircumcised (32:1-32)

IV. Prophecies of restoration and deliverance of God’s people (33:1–48:35)

A. Watchman to the exiles; restoration foretold (33:1–37:28)

1. God reviews Ezekiel’s duties as watchman to warn the wicked; escapee from Jerusalem arrives to tell captives that “the city has been struck down” (33:1-33)

2. Bad shepherds rebuked; Jehovah to gather scattered sheep and raise over them one shepherd, ‘even his servant David’ (34:1-31)

3. Edom to become a sheer desolate waste (35:1-15)

4. Restoration for Israel; its land to be teeming with inhabitants and to become “like the garden of Eden” (36:1-38)

5. Israel represented in vision of valley of dry bones; miraculously they come to life, becoming “a very, very great military force.” God to unify his people under one shepherd in a covenant of peace (37:1-28)

B. The attack by God of Magog on restored Israel

1. Prosperity of God’s people induces Gog of Magog to attack, anticipating a big spoil; result is war as God fights for his people (38:1-23)

2. Hordes of Gog of Magog destroyed; bones buried to cleanse land (39:1-20)

3. Israel to bear humiliation, then be restored; God’s spirit to be poured out on them (39:21-29)

C. Ezekiel’s visionary temple and city (40:1–48:35)

1. Exiles encouraged by Ezekiel’s vision of temple on very high mountain; an angel shows Ezekiel details of temple, measuring the walls, gates, guard chambers, dining rooms and temple itself (40:1–46:24)

2. Miraculous stream of water flows from Jehovah’s house into Dead Sea, where fish come to life and a fishing industry springs up on shores of Salt Sea; trees provide food and healing for people (47:1-12)

3. Land assignments and the city called “Jehovah Himself Is There” (47:13–48:35)

See the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pp. 132-137.

EZEM

(Eʹzem) [bone].

A Judean site given to the tribe of Simeon as an enclave city. (Josh. 15:21, 29; 19:1, 3; 1 Chron. 4:24, 28, 29) Some geographers identify it with Umm el-ʽAzem, about seventeen and a half miles (28.2 kilometers) SE of Beer-sheba.

EZER

(Eʹzer) [help].

1. One of the Horite sheiks in the land of Seir. (Gen. 36:20, 21, 30) The Horites were later dispossessed and annihilated by the sons of Esau. (Deut. 2:22) The name Ezer in this case means “treasure,” due to a difference in the spelling in the original Hebrew. At 1 Chronicles 1:38 it has been misprinted “Ezar” in many modern editions of the Authorized Version, although it was correct in the edition of 1611 as well as other early editions.

2. Likely a son of Ephraim who was killed along with his brother Elead by the men of Gath “because they came down to take their livestock.”—1 Chron. 7:20, 21; see EPHRAIM No. 1.

3. The “father” of Hushah, which was perhaps a town of Judah, and a son of Hur of the tribe of Judah.—1 Chron. 4:1, 4.

4. The chief one of the eleven valiant Gadites who separated themselves to David in the wilderness while he was still under restriction because of Saul. Being the head, Ezer was evidently the greatest and therefore ‘equal to a thousand.’—1 Chron. 12:1, 8, 9, 14.

5. The son of Jeshua, a prince of Mizpah, who shared in repairing a section of the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah in 455 B.C.E.—Neh. 3:19.

6. One of the priests in the procession arranged by Nehemiah at the inauguration of the rebuilt wall of Jerusalem in 455 B.C.E.—Neh. 12:31, 41, 42.

EZION-GEBER

(Eʹzi·on-geʹber).

A place first mentioned as an Israelite campsite toward the close of the nation’s forty years in the wilderness. The next campsite was at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. (Num. 33:35, 36) From Kadesh the request was made to the king of Edom for authorization to pass through his land, but this was denied. (Num. 20:14-22) As Moses later recounted: “So we passed on away from our brothers, the sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir, from the way of the Arabah, from Elath and from Ezion-geber.” (Deut. 2:8) Both Elath (Eloth) and Ezion-geber are shown elsewhere to have been situated on the Red Sea, evidently at the head of the Gulf of Aqabah, the NE arm of the Red Sea.—1 Ki. 9:26; 2 Chron. 8:17.

In harmony with Deuteronomy 2:8, the earlier account at Numbers 21:4 describes the Israelites as “trekking from Mount Hor [where Aaron died] by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom.” Some scholars suggest that the Israelites, after leaving Mount Hor, traveled to the southern end of the Dead Sea and went up the torrent valley of Zered (the boundary between Edom and Moab). Many commentators, however, hold that the foregoing texts require a more circuitous route in avoidance of Edom’s heartland, a route that led them back “by the way of the Red Sea,” and hence to the region of Ezion-geber. They suggest that the route followed took the Israelites S toward the Gulf of Aqabah, and that, upon reaching a point N of Ezion-geber, they likely turned to the NE through the Wadi Yatm, thereby skirting the southern extremity of Edom’s southern mountain range.

DURING SOLOMON’S REIGN

The next mention of Ezion-geber comes over four hundred years later, in the reign of Solomon (1037-997 B.C.E.). At this location on the gulf, Solomon had a fleet of ships constructed and launched, manned by a Phoenician-Judean crew. Phoenician King Hiram of Tyre, also very active in the shipping business, cooperated with Solomon in this enterprise. (1 Ki. 9:26-28; 10:11) About a century later King Jehoshaphat (936-911 B.C.E.) endeavored to revive this shipping industry based at Ezion-geber, but failed, as