Prophet Ezekiel: the ancient “fool” and his mysterious visionstranslated

How hot it is to walk through the desert! How tired your legs are, how thirsty! And the path is long. An endless, from horizon to horizon, line of people, and with them, loaded camels, donkeys, and horses, stretches across bare rocks and sand.

For several weeks now, the soldiers of King Nebuchadnezzar have been leading bound Jewish captives from Jerusalem to Babylon, the capital of the vast Babylonian kingdom. And somewhere among this crowd an unusual person is moving. The prophet whom God Himself chose for a great mission…

Babylonian captivity

The Babylonian kingdom was located east of Judea, and was inhabited by the warlike and proud people of the Chaldeans. Many states had to pay tribute to the Chaldeans, and if you refuse, expect severe punishment from them. This is how one day, about six centuries before the birth of Christ, it happened to the Jews. They refused to give a ransom to Babylon, and immediately the formidable king Nebuchadnezzar attacked their land. How much destruction there was in Jerusalem and throughout the country, how many victims! And in the end, the king of Judah Jehoiachin, along with his family and some of the most noble and skilled people of Judah, were taken captive by the Chaldean warriors to be sent to Babylon.

And now the Jews, under the supervision of Babylonian guards, wandered along the hot road...