Ezekiel 10 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application

Ezekiel 10 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• We are given a specific date for the vision seen by Ezekiel in chapter 10, the 6th year, in the 6th month. This likely refers to the 6th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin, which dates this chapter to approximately 591 BC, a year after Ezekiel was called as a prophet.

• Below is a list of kings of Judah and dates for their reign:

  • Amon (642-640 BC)

  • Josiah (640-609 BC)

  • Jehoahaz (also known as Shallum, 609 BC)

  • Jehoiakim (initially known as Eliakim, 609-598 BC)

  • Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah or Coniah, 598-597 BC)

  • Zedekiah (His reign ended when Babylon conquered Judah, (597-586 BC)

WHAT WE STUDIED PREVIOUSLY

• Ezekiel 1 – Ezekiel has a vision of 4 living creatures, 4 wheels, and God’s throne.

• Ezekiel 2 – God commissions Ezekiel to be a prophet to his rebellious countrymen.

• Ezekiel 3 – The end of the heavenly vision. Ezekiel eats the scroll of God’s words, and God calls him to be a watchman over the people of Judah.

• Ezekiel 4 – Ezekiel prophesies with an object lesson in the street by laying on his side for 430 days, eating rations of bread, and creating a siege scene with a brick that represents Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 5 – After the 430 days, Ezekiel cut off his hair divided it up into 3 parts and used it as a symbol for what would happen to the people of Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 6 – Ezekiel prophesies against the idol worshipers in Judah, telling them their bodies will be thrown at the feet of their powerless gods.

• Ezekiel 7 – The Lord announces that the day of Judah’s judgement and doom is near.

• Ezekiel 8 – Ezekiel saw a vision of the Temple in Jerusalem. God guided him through the courts and gates of the Temple and showed him the secret idolatries that filled God’s house.

• Ezekiel 9 – God sends a man with a writing case to mark the foreheads of those who hated the idolatries of Judah. Afterwards, God sends 6 executioners to kill everyone in Jerusalem who didn’t have the mark.

OUTLINE:

• GOD’S GLORY PREPARES TO LEAVE THE TEMPLE (10:1-7):

  • Ezekiel’s vision continues which began in chapter 8…

  • Ezekiel looked and saw the appearance of a throne above the 4 living creatures (the 4 cherubim, 10:1).

  • The 4 living creatures and their wheels were on the south side of the Temple.

  • Ezekiel saw a cloud fill the inner court of the Temple and the glory of God leave the inner chamber (the Most Holy Place) and move towards the door.

  • Since the Temple had been built, God’s glory had representatively dwelt between the golden cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place, so God’s departure from that place was a sign of Him withdrawing from His house in preparation to bring destruction.

  • Ezekiel could hear the wings of the living creatures “like the voice of God Almighty” (10:5).

  • God commanded the man with the writing case (9:2) to go in between the “whirling wheels” underneath the cherubim and gather burning coals to scatter over the city.

  • When he approached, one of the cherubim reached into the fire and handed him some coals, then he went out to complete his assignment.  

• GOD’S GLORY LEAVES THE TEMPLE (10:8-22):

  • The majority of the rest of the chapter is another description of the throne of God, the 4 living creatures, and the whirling wheels that Ezekiel described in chapter 1. These were the chariot throne of God, and they stood at the ready to carry away the glory of God.

  • In verse 18, Ezekiel wrote that the glory of the Lord left the door of the Temple and moved to the throne above the 4 living creatures.

  • The throne, the living creatures, and the wheels rose off the earth and moved to the east gate of the Temple complex.

CHERUBIM IN THE BIBLE:

• Ezekiel describes the heavenly beings under God’s throne as “living creatures” in chapter 1, but they are given the name “cherubim” in Ezekiel 10.

• Ezekiel is not the only book that mentions Cherubim.

• God placed cherubim outside the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve were exiled from it.

• There were images of 2 cherubim in gold on the Ark of the Covenant. God is often referred to in the Old Testament as being “enthroned above the cherubim (2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chronicles 13:6) because His glory sat above the Ark of the Covenant.

• Images of Cherubim were woven into the curtains of the Tabernacle.