2. (a) Which three prophets were outstanding during the critical years before Jerusalem’s destruction? (b) Significantly, how is Ezekiel addressed, and what does his name mean? (c) During what years did Ezekiel prophesy, and what is known of his life and his death?

² During these critical years leading down to the destruction of Jerusalem, Jehovah did not deprive himself or the Israelites of the services of a prophet. Jeremiah was stationed in Jerusalem itself, Daniel was in the court of Babylon, and Ezekiel was the prophet to the Jewish exiles in Babylonia. Ezekiel was both priest and prophet, a distinction likewise enjoyed by Jeremiah and later by Zechariah. (Ezek. 1:3) Throughout his book he is addressed over 90 times as “son of man,” a point of significance when studying his prophecy because, in the Christian Greek Scriptures, Jesus is similarly referred to as “Son of man” nearly 80 times. (Ezek. 2:1; Matt. 8:20) His name Ezekiel (Hebrew, Yechez·qeʼlʹ) means “God Strengthens.” It was in the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile, 613 B.C.E., that Ezekiel was commissioned by Jehovah as prophet. We read of him still at his work in the 27th year of the exile, 22 years later. (Ezek. 1:1, 2; 29:17) He was married, but his wife died on the day that Nebuchadnezzar began his final siege of Jerusalem. (24:2, 18) The date and manner of his own death are unknown.

8. What does Ezekiel see in his initial vision?

⁸ Jehovah commissions Ezekiel as watchman (1:1–3:27). In his initial vision, in 613 B.C.E., Ezekiel sees a violent wind from the north, together with a cloud mass and quivering fire. Out of it come four winged living creatures, with faces of a man, a lion, a bull, and an eagle. They have the appearance of burning coals, and each is accompanied, as it were, by a wheel in the midst of a wheel of fearful height, with rims full of eyes. They move in any direction in constant unity. Above the heads of the living creatures is the likeness of an expanse, and above the expanse is a throne on which is “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah.”​—1:28.