Ezekiel maps & timelines

Geographic Context

Ezekiel prophesied not in the land of Judah but in Babylon, among the exiles settled by the Chebar canal in the settlement of Tel-abib, in the heart of the Babylonian Empire on the Euphrates. From this place of exile his visions reach back to Jerusalem, carried there in the Spirit to witness the temple’s abominations and the departure of God’s glory, and out across the nations under judgment: Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia nearby; the wealthy Phoenician port of Tyre and its neighbor Sidon on the Mediterranean coast; and mighty Egypt along the Nile to the southwest.

The book’s final and greatest vision, of the new temple, is set on “a very high mountain” in the land of Israel, an idealized Zion. There the geography becomes symbolic: a life-giving river flows east from the temple down to the Dead Sea, and the land is apportioned in orderly strips to the tribes around a central holy district, with the city of God’s presence at its heart. Ezekiel’s map thus runs from the rivers of Babylon to the restored mountain of God.

The closing vision is also the most heavily measured passage in the Bible, and it is drawn to scale on its own page: see the temple Ezekiel measured, where every figure in chapters 40 to 48 is given in cubits, reeds, feet and miles at once, and the whole vision zoomable, which puts the house, the temple compound and the holy district on one grid at the sizes the text gives them.

Where Ezekiel sat, and where his visions went

The temple he is shown

The closing vision is measured rather than described, so it is drawn rather than pictured. This is the compound of chapters 40 to 42: a square 500 cubits on a side, its wall six cubits thick and pierced by three gates, the inner court with the altar at its centre, and the house on the west.

Timeline of Major Events

• 597 BC - Ezekiel is deported to Babylon with King Jehoiachin.
• 593 BC - Ezekiel’s call by the Chebar canal, in the fifth year of exile.
• 593-588 BC - Oracles of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem before the fall.
• 586 BC - Jerusalem falls; a fugitive brings the news, and Ezekiel’s message turns to hope.
• 586-585 BC - Oracles against the nations and promises of restoration (the Shepherd, the new heart, the dry bones).
• 573 BC - The vision of the new temple, in the twenty-fifth year of exile.
• 571 BC - Ezekiel’s last dated prophecy.