Have you ever had a vision?

March 27, 2017

The splendor of Yahweh (Ezek 1:28-1:28)

“Like the bow

In a cloud

On a rainy day,

Such was the appearance

Of all the splendor

All around.

There was the appearance

Of the likeness

Of the glory

Of Yahweh.

When I saw it,

I fell upon my face.

I heard the voice

Of someone speaking.”

Ezekiel seemed to think that this vision was like a rainbow in the sky on a rainy day. With such great splendor all around him, there appeared to be the glory of Yahweh. This glory of Yahweh referred to his presence, but outside the Temple of Jerusalem. When Ezekiel saw all this, he fell upon his face to the ground. Then, finally, after all this description of the vision, he heard the voice of someone speaking. Now this colorful vision of Ezekiel will have the traditional oral communication, as opposed to this visual delight.

March 25, 2017

The time and place of Ezekiel’s first vision (Ezek 1:1-1:3)

“In the thirtieth year,

In the fourth month,

On the fifth day

Of the month,

As I was among the exiles

By the river Chebar,

The heavens

Were opened.

I saw visions

Of God.

This was the fifth day

Of the month

Of the fifth year

Of the exile

Of King Jehoiachin.

The word of Yahweh

Came to

The priest Ezekiel,

The son of Buzi,

In the land

Of the Chaldeans

By the river Chebar.

The hand

Of Yahweh

Was on me there.”

The dating is very precise here. This is the 30th year, probably from his birth around 623 BCE during the reign of King Josiah. Ezekiel writes in the first person singular. He said that he was among the exiles at the Chebar River, a small canal near Erech that ran into the Euphrates River in northern Babylon. On the 5th day of the 4th month the heavens opened to provide visions of God to him.  Once again, there is precise information about the date, as this was the 5th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin that had occurred in 598 BCE. Thus this year would have been 593 BCE. Ezekiel’s father was Buzi, a Jerusalem priest, so that he was from a family of priests. The word of Yahweh came to Ezekiel in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. Yahweh put his hand on him. Thus the opening scene is set with this 30 year old exiled Jerusalem priest by a river bank with the rest of the exiles, when a heavenly vision appeared to him.

October 13, 2016

The vision of Jeremiah (Jer 1:11-1:13)

“The word of Yahweh

Came to me.

Saying.

‘Jeremiah!

What do you see?’

I said.

‘I see a branch of an almond tree.’

Then Yahweh said to me.

‘You have seen well.

I am watching over my word

To perform it.’

The word of Yahweh

Came to me

A second time.

Saying.

‘What do you see?’

I said.

‘I see a boiling pot,

Tilted away from the north.’”

Jeremiah had a vision as the word of God came upon him. Yahweh asked him what he saw. Jeremiah responded that he saw the branch of an almond tree. Then Yahweh said that he had a good vision, since he was watching Jeremiah and how he reacted to his word. Then Yahweh asked him a second time, what he saw. This time he said that he saw a boiling pot titled away from the north towards the south.

July 4, 2016

Another title (Isa 2:1-2:1)

“The word

That Isaiah

son of Amoz

Saw

Concerning Judah.

He saw

What was concerning Jerusalem.”

This title almost repeats what was said at the beginning of chapter 1 about the visions of Isaiah. Thus we have another series of oracles of Isaiah during the next few chapters. This time, the word or the vision is clearly about Judah and Jerusalem since there is no ambiguity. He saw the word in a vision.