Ezekiel

God will strengthen. A priest of the family of Zadok, and one of the captives carried away by Nebuchadnezzar along with Jehoiachin. He settled at Tel Abib on the Chebar and prophesied during a period of 22 years, 592–570 B.C. The book of Ezekiel has four main divisions: (1) 1–24, prophecies of judgment against Jerusalem and the nation; (2) 25–32, prophecies against Israel’s enemies; (3) 33–39, prophecies of restoration; (4) 40–48, visions of the reconstruction of the temple and its worship. Ezek. 1–39 is similar in manner and contents to other prophetic writings; Ezek. 40–48 is unique in prophecy.

Among the notable teachings of Ezekiel are Ezek. 3 and 18, which show the significance of a prophet’s warning and the individual responsibility of every person for the consequences of his own behavior; Ezek. 37, which depicts the valley of dry bones, each bone coming together, bone to his bone, in the Resurrection, the restoration of Israel, and the uniting of the stick (record) or Ephraim with the stick of Judah; and Ezek. 47–48, the description of the latter-day temple in Jerusalem, the river running from the temple into the Dead Sea to heal it, and the building of a city “foursquare.” Ezekiel was a man of many visions and spoke much about the future restoration of Israel and the glory of the millennial reign of the Lord. The authenticity of his writings is specifically confirmed by latter-day revelation, as in D&C 29:21.