Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I [was] among the captives by the river of Chebar, [that] the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
The Book of the prophet Ezekiel.] The book of Ezekiel, so the Hebrews call it, and forbid any to read the beginning and ending of it till he be thirty years of age, because it is so abstruse and mysterious. Nazianzen a calleth this prophet, the beholder of great things, and the interpreter of visions and mysteries. Another b calleth him the hieroglyphic prophet. A third, Jeremiah veiled, a band shut up, and you know not what is in it, &c. c Contemporary he was to Jeremiah, though in another country, and a great confirmer of what he had foretold, but could not be credited. To him, therefore, as to many others, Ezekiel became, according to the import of his name, "The strength of God," who mightily enabled him, as Lavater well notes, with a stout and undaunted spirit, to reprove both people and princes, and to threaten them more terribly and vehemently than Jeremiah had done before him. But, in the substance of their prophecies, there is no small conformity. Ferunt Ezechielem servum Ieremiae prius extitisse, saith Nazianzen. d Some have affirmed that Ezekiel had sometimes been Jeremiah's servant, as was afterwards Baruch.
Ver. 1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year,] scil., Since the book of the law was found, and that famous passover kept in King Josiah's days, 2 Kings 22:1,20 ; 2Ki 23:1-30 since the eighteenth year of his reign. 2Ki 23:23 So elsewhere, they began their account from some memorable mercy or remarkable accident; as from the promise made to Abraham, the birth of Isaac, the departure out of Egypt, the division of the kingdom into that of Israel and the other of Judah, &c.
In the fifth day of the month.] Which was the Sabbath day say some, Compare Ezekiel 3:16. Then was this holy prophet in the Spirit, as was afterwards also John the divine upon the Christian Sabbath. Rev 1:10
As I was among the captives.] In Chaldea. That rule of the Rabbis, therefore, holdeth not - viz., that the Holy Ghost never spake to the prophets but only in the Holy Land.
By the river of the Chebar.] Which was rivus vel ramentum Euphratis, a part or channel of Euphrates. There sat the poor captives, Psa 137:1 and there this prophet received this vision here, and his vocation in the next chapter. It is observed, that by the sides of rivers various prophets had visions of God; by a river side it was that Paul and his company met to preach and pray. Act 16:13 And of Archbishop Ussher, e that most reverend man of God, it is recorded, that to a certain place by a water side he frequently resorted, when as yet he was but very young, sorrowfully to recount his sins, and with floods of tears to pour them out in confession to God.
That the heavens were opened.] Not by a division of the firmament, saith Jerome, but by the faith of the believer. The like befell Stephen the proto martyr, when the stones were buzzing about his ears; Act 7:55-60 and, if we may believe the monkish writers, Wulsin, Bishop of Salisbury, when he lay dying. f
And I saw visions of God,] i.e., Offered by God, or excellent visions. Ut montes Dei, cedri Dei, civitas Dei. Ezekiel was not only a priest and a prophet, but a seer also. Abraham was the like. John 8:56 Gen 20:7 This was no small honour.
a In Apolog.
b A Lapide.
c Ezechiel scripturarum et Oceanus, et mysteriorum Dei labyrinthus. - Jerome. Many, both writers and readers, have passed over this prophet as dark, difficult, and less useful. - Greenhill, Praef.
d Orat. 47.
e His life and death by Dr Bernard.
f Speed, 335.