And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
This eighth chapter begins a new stage of Ezekiel's prophecies, and continues to the end of the eleventh chapter. The connected visions from Ezekiel 3:12 to the end of Ezekiel 7:1-27 comprehended Judah and Israel; but the visions Ezekiel 8:1-18; Ezekiel 9:1-11; Ezekiel 10:1-22; Ezekiel 11:1-25 refer immediately to Jerusalem and the remnant of Judah under Zedekiah, as distinguished from the Babylonian exiles.
In the sixth year - namely, of the captivity of Jehoiachin, as in Ezekiel 1:2 the "fifth year" is specified. The lying on his sides 390 and 40 days (Ezekiel 4:5-6) had by this time been completed at least in vision. That event was naturally a memorable epoch to the exiles; and the computation of years from it was to humble the Jews, as well as to show their perversity in not having repented, though so long and severely chastened.
The elders of Judah - namely, those carried away with Jehoiachin, and now at the Chebar.
Sat before me - to hear the word of God from me, in the absence of the temple and other public places, of Sabbath worship, during the exile (Ezekiel 33:30-31). It was so ordered that they were present at the giving of the prophecy, and so left without an excuse.
The hand of the Lord God fell there upon me - God's mighty operation fell, like a thunderbolt, upon me (in Ezekiel 1:3 it is less forcible: "The hand of the Lord was upon him"); whatever, therefore, he is to utter is not his own, because he has put off the mere man, while the power of God reigns in him (Calvin).