When was the book of Ezekiel written?
Answered from the commentary of Arno Clemens Gaebelein, The Bible Treasury, Arend Remmers and 6 others
Ezekiel was written in the Babylonian captivity by the prophet himself, among the captives by the river Chebar, and over a span of about twenty-two years in the early sixth century B.C.. He was carried away with King Jehoiachin in the second deportation, about 597 B.C., some say 599 and some about 600, eleven years before Jerusalem was destroyed. From that captivity he habitually dates his prophecies. His ministry opens in the fifth year of it, according to Ezekiel 1:2, which is reckoned as 595, 594 or 593 B.C.. The last dated message falls in the twenty-seventh year, about 571 B.C. (Ezekiel 29:17), so he prophesied for at least twenty-two years. One dictionary entry says he laboured among the captives for only about two years, and one table places the book about 557 B.C., but these stand alone.
The book falls on either side of the fall of Jerusalem in 588 B.C.. The prophecies of judgment were given while the city still stood under Zedekiah, and the messages of restoration came after the news of its fall reached him in the twelfth year (Ezekiel 33:21). The temple vision is dated the twenty-fifth year (Ezekiel 40:1). Thirteen exact dates are given, and all but a few of the messages stand in chronological order. For that reason the book is taken to have been written down in that order, and even its critics grant that Ezekiel himself wrote and arranged it.
The authors do not agree on the "thirtieth year" of Ezekiel 1:1. Several reckon it from the era of Nabopolassar, which began in 625 B.C., and this makes it 595 B.C., agreeing with the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity. Others take it as the prophet's own age, the age at which a priest entered his office. One author says plainly that he cannot speak with confidence on the point.
Verses: Ezekiel 1:1, Ezekiel 1:2, Ezekiel 1:3, Ezekiel 29:17, Ezekiel 40:1, Ezekiel 8:1, Ezekiel 20:1, Ezekiel 24:1, Ezekiel 26:1, Ezekiel 29:1, Ezekiel 30:20, Ezekiel 31:1, Ezekiel 32:1, Ezekiel 32:17, Ezekiel 33:21, 2 Kings 24:10, 2 Kings 24:11, 2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 24:13, 2 Kings 24:14, 2 Kings 24:15, 2 Kings 25:8, 2 Kings 25:9, 2 Kings 25:10
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
Ezekiel started his prophetic ministry in the 5th year of the captivity (chap. 1:2), which is the year 593 BC. At that time Daniel, the prophet, whom Ezekiel probably knew, had already been a prisoner for around 12 years in the palace of the king of Babylon (compare Ez. 14:14.20; 28:3).
The last dated message of Ezekiel was given in the 27th year of the captivity, that is the year 571 BC (Ez. 29:17). Ezekiel therefore prophesied in Babylon for at least 22 years.
In his book Ezekiel gives 13 exact dates for his prophecies. Their chronological order is: Ez. 1:1; 8:1; 20:1; 24:1; 29:1; 26:1; 30:20; 31:1; 33:21; 32:1.17; 40:1; 29:17. All but three messages are therefore given in chronological order and have probably been written down accordingly.
Josephus states that Ezekiel was a youth when carried away captive, but whether such was the case we have no certain means of being assured, and the general character of his writings would scarcely bear out the supposition. He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel, and his prophecy would appear to open about the fifth year of his captivity, B.C. 594. This we learn from Ezek. 1:2. You will remember that Jehoiachin, king of Judah, was carried into captivity in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar, along with a great many of his subjects. Thus the record stands. "And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin, the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin, to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon" (2 Kings 24:11-16).
The thirtieth year of Ezek. 1:1 is doubtless the year of the Babylonian kingdom which was founded by Nabo-polassar in B.C. 625: the thirtieth year would be 595, which agrees with the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity.
Ezekiel.
The correctness of this statement is abundantly proved by the writings of Ezekiel, who was himself a captive. He had been carried away eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem, began to prophesy in the fifth year of the captivity, and continued to prophesy at least until the sixteenth year after the city had been destroyed. (Ezek. 1:1-2, and Ezek. 29:17.) Concerning the genuineness of these writings modern criticism raises no doubts. Its estimate of Ezekiel's style and genius is not very flattering, but it pronounces that the prominent and unequivocal peculiarities of the man are stamped on every page from the beginning to the end that the book was written, and its parts arranged in their present order by Ezekiel himself. If, therefore, he was acquainted with the Pentateuch, or Law, it must be that which Ezra and his companions brought with them from their exile, even if we had no details to prove their identity. That he was thus acquainted with a law, judgments, and statutes, acknowledged by the people as divine, to which therefore he could refer in order to convince them of sin, and on which, as upon an infallible authority, he could found his reproofs, is certain beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Son of Buzi; a priest and one of the four great prophets. He was carried into captivity with Jehoiachin, about B.C. 600, eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and laboured among the captives about two years. He faithfully fulfilled his duties, sternly rebuking at times, and yet holding out gracious encouragements. His prophecy is full of symbo and imagery: he not only stated some of his parables, but acted them, that they might be seen as well as heard. His style is vigorous and rapid. Ezekiel's personal history is further referred to under his prophecy.
We have traced the distinctive character of Jeremiah as compared with Isaiah, and the special design by each. Ezekiel (= strengthened of God), who was a priest like Jeremiah, has his characteristic differences. Here rationalism seems less irreverent. As Christ is not so openly predicted, they are more indifferent to question and deny the truth. If the orthodox were decided in confessing the millennial city and sanctuary in his concluding chapters, we should hear of their opposition and vapid theories to get rid of divine truths. For Christendom it is all ideal enough; and the neo-critics can leave the visions of their coming glory undisturbed. Real and pronounced faith in others would soon awaken their enmity. But alas! when the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?
Now as Jeremiah prophesied long after Isaiah in the closing throes of the expiring monarchy of Judah, his mournful mission and messages from Jehovah lay up to the last in the land, till he was carried away by the unbelieving leaders of the remnant into Egypt. But Ezekiel was carried into captivity with Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar, and given his place with others at Tel-Abib on the river Chebar. It was in the "thirtieth year" (he does not say of what epoch, but it would seem of Nabopolassar's era), the fifth of the Jewish king's captivity, that he saw the vision of Ezek. 1. It was the throne of the Lord Jehovah in unsparing majesty seen in Chaldea and judging Jerusalem and His sanctuary there. What a solemn change, not reigning, but vengeance on His house and city!
Banks of the Chebar, Mesopotamia, about 557 B.C.
We do not agree with those who consider this book a difficult one to understand; in our judgment it is the reverse. The first twenty-four chapters contain chronologically-arranged prophecies bearing upon the Chaldean invasion of Judea and capture and sack of Jerusalem, 588 B.C. Then you have the destruction of those nations who participated in the attack or rejoiced in the ruin of Judah (Ezek. 25 — 32). Lastly, Israel herself and her future great enemy Gog, or the northern power (Russia), are judged, while particulars of the millennial temple and throne, and details of an interesting kind, occupy the closing chapters of the book (Ezek. 33 — 48). We know nothing certain of the death of the prophet; probably he died or was martyred in Egypt.
The thirtieth year of Ezek. 1: 1 is doubtless the year of the Babylonian kingdom which was founded by Nabo-polassar in B.C. 625: the thirtieth year would be 595, which agrees with the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity.
Our earlier meditation concerned an old man, John, on the isle of Patmos, and the visions given to him, recorded in the Book of Revelation, were not only an encouragement for him but for ourselves also. He, like ourselves, was told of things which "must shortly come to pass." The present study concerns a young man, also in difficult circumstances. It seems he was one of the captives carried away by Nebuchadnezzar in the deportation of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:11-16) and was thus contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel. His prophecy begins in the 5th year of this captivity and therefore precedes the final sack of Jerusalem under Zedekiah which came about 12 years later. His service was to show why it was necessary to deal severely with Israel for their sins, and it is evident that his condemnations are much more severe than Jeremiah's. On the other hand his prophecies of future glory as seen in Ezekiel 40-48 are also much more complete than Jeremiah's. To fulfil this ministry he was granted this most amazing vision in the opening chapter. His name means "the strength of God," and how he needed (and we also need) that kind of strength!
Verses
- Ezekiel 1:1–31Now 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. 2On the fifth of the month, (it was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,) 3the word of Jehovah came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Jehovah was there upon him.
- Ezekiel 29:17And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first [month], on the first of the month, [that] the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
- Ezekiel 40:1In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, on that same day the hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me thither.
- Ezekiel 8:1And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], on the fifth of the month, that [as] I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me.
- Ezekiel 20:1And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth [month], the tenth of the month, [that] certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Jehovah, and they sat before me.
- Ezekiel 24:1And in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,