Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], on the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
A priest deported to Babylon sits among captives beside a foreign river, records a date and a place, and then says heaven opened over him. The verse raises two questions: which "thirtieth year" he counts from, and why God chose that ruined setting to show Himself.
Writers do not agree on what the thirty years count from. One reading takes the figure personally, as the age of the prophet himself, and finds meaning in it:
The thirtieth year is, as most take it, the prophet's own age. That was the age when a priest entered his office. It was also the age at which Christ, the true Priest Himself, chose to begin His public ministry.
Others tie it to the reigning empire rather than to the man, dating it from the founding of Babylon's kingdom:
The thirtieth year of Ezekiel 1:1 is surely the thirtieth year of the Babylonian kingdom. Nabopolassar founded that kingdom in 625 B.C., so the thirtieth year would be 595 B.C. That agrees with the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity.
The verse fixes a moment without telling us where the count began.
Chebar was a river in a foreign land, where Israel's captives were held. That location is itself part of the message, because the glory that once rested in the temple is now seen far away from it:
Ezekiel is among the captives at the river Chebar. There he sees the glory of the Lord, the glory that rested on the cherubim, those mighty agents of divine power. These are the real cherubim, not the golden models made for the temple. Far from the land, out by the distant Chebar, a prophet whose own name does not carry God's covenant name sees visions of God outside Israel.
The phrase "the heavens were opened" is not common Old Testament language. It belongs to Ezekiel alone, and here its tone is severe, not tender:
The circumstances in which Ezekiel was called to prophesy were new and strange. It was not in Judah, nor in Israel, but among the captives by the river Chebar. So the Lord chose to send His word to him with marks of unusual power. Of no one else in the Old Testament does Scripture say that the heavens opened and he saw visions of God. But here the heavens opened in judgment on Israel's wickedness. They did not yet open to show the Father's delight in the Son of God on earth, and still less for the Christian to see the Son of Man in heaven.
Nothing in Ezekiel's situation suggested favour. He was a captive with no way out, and that is where heaven opened:
Man had hemmed the prophet in on earth, with no way out. But heaven had not hemmed him in, and he knew it. Man may place any restriction on him. Still, he must learn this: heaven always stays open to the man who is ready to move on earth under heaven's direction.
Another writer draws the same lesson from the darkness itself. God did not lift the judgment, yet He gave sight to the man who bowed under it:
The judgment is not removed. Yet this is what we find here: a man bows under it and accepts God's judgment, and over his head the heavens open and he sees "visions of God." How blessed to know, by the voice of nature itself, that it is night and not day that opens the heavens.
One writer counts four gifts in these opening verses and takes their order as a pattern for anyone God sends:
Ezekiel mentions four things: the heavens were opened — he saw visions of God — the word of the Lord came to him — the hand of the Lord was upon him. Notice the order: an opened heaven, a vision, the call, and power from God for the work. That is still the order for the servants of the Lord.
Each piece met a different need in the man:
The "opened heavens" would secure his attention to the movements of God. The "visions of God" would strengthen his faith despite the conditions around him. "The word of the LORD" would teach his mind, so he could pass what he learned on to others. "The hand of the LORD" being consciously upon him would encourage his heart in view of much conscious weakness within and strong opposition without.
- Dated — Commentators differ on "the thirtieth year". Some read it as the prophet's own age, the age when a priest entered office. Others read it as the thirtieth year of Babylon's kingdom.
- Displaced — The vision came outside the land, by a foreign river, where a captive saw the glory that had rested on the cherubim.
- Opened — Scripture says the heavens opened for Ezekiel alone. Here they open in judgment on Israel's wickedness.
- Unhemmed — Man could fence the prophet in on earth; heaven stayed open to him, and night rather than day is what opens it.
- Ordered — Opened heaven, vision, word, then the hand upon him. Each met a need: attention, faith, mind, heart. God made the man ready before He sent him.
On the fifth of the month, (it was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,)
This verse dates God's word by a captive king, not by a king on his throne. That calendar says a great deal about where Israel stood with God. Ezekiel was one of the exiles, and the word came to him in a foreign land, five years into a captivity that was not yet over.
Ezekiel could have counted the years by the king still reigning in Jerusalem. He does not. One writer treats this as a settled habit, and a key to reading him:
Ezekiel had been carried into captivity with king Jehoiachin. At least, he was one of those made captive at that time. He regularly dates his prophecies from that period. This is an important thing to notice if we are to understand the revelations made to him. For himself there is no longer any question of dates or of kings, of Judah or of Israel. The people of God are in captivity among the Gentiles.
The fifth year counts from an event with a date. One writer sets out when it happened and who was taken.
He was a contemporary of Jeremiah and Daniel, and his prophecy seems to open about the fifth year of his captivity, B.C. 594. This we learn from Ezekiel 1:2. You will remember Jehoiachin, king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar carried him into captivity in his eighth year, along with a great many of his subjects.
The chapter opens with a "thirtieth year" and then gives this second date. One reference work links the two:
The thirtieth year of Ezekiel 1:1 is doubtless the year of the Babylonian kingdom which Nabopolassar founded in B.C. 625: the thirtieth year would be 595, which agrees with the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity.
The date names a king, and his name carried a promise. One writer sees his removal as God clearing away a false confidence.
This fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity shows us Israel's present relationship to God. That relationship is marked by the taking away of the man whose name falsely promised "establishment by Jehovah." ... The false confidence must be taken away before God can come in for blessing. And when His "judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9). These are principles of God's very nature which no grace He shows can ever change. Grace itself can only reign through righteousness.
The gap between the deportation and this vision was not empty time. Those still in Judah could have learned from what happened to the people already taken away.
The fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity is not without special reason either. There had been plenty of time for those left behind in the land to repent of their empty hopes, as well as of their rebelliousness and their idolatry. They had had the warning of their brothers removed from the land: had they taken it to heart?
They had not.
The prophet is in exile, so God's throne appears to him outside the land. Where it appears says something about how God now deals with His people.
This throne of the supreme and sovereign Lord God is seen in Chaldea — in the place where the prophet then was — among the Gentiles. It is no longer seen at Jerusalem in connection with the land... So the voice of God speaks to Ezekiel as to a "son of man." That title suited the testimony of a God who spoke outside of His people. He was no longer among them. Instead He was judging them from the throne of His sovereignty.
- Captivity as calendar. Ezekiel dates his prophecies from Jehoiachin's deportation, not from any reigning king. For him the question of kings, of Judah or Israel, is over. The people of God are in captivity among the Gentiles.
- Captivity as fact. The fifth year points back to a real deportation. Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive in his eighth year, and Ezekiel went into exile with him.
- Captivity as exposure. The king's name promised establishment by the Lord. His removal shows that false confidence must go before God can come in for blessing. Grace itself reigns only through righteousness.
- Captivity as delay. Five years gave those left in the land time to repent of their empty hopes and their idolatry. They had watched their brothers taken away, and still they did not.
- Captivity as vantage point. The prophet sits in Chaldea, so God's throne appears there, outside Jerusalem. He speaks to a "son of man" — no longer among His people, but judging them from His sovereignty.