After Josiah was killed in battle at Megiddo, his son Jehoahaz was made king in Jerusalem for three months before Pharaoh Neco dethroned him and placed his brother on the throne. During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and required tribute about 601 B.C. After 3 years, Jehoiakim rebelled and the Babylonians returned to Judah and took him prisoner to Babylon where he soon died. His son, Jehoaichin was crowned the next king, but he only served 3 months when the Babylonians again returned, dethroned him, and led about 18,000 of the upper class as captives to Babylon; at that time the Babylonians made Zedekiah king of their puppet state. Among the captives led to Babylon in 597 B.C. were Ezekiel, Daniel, and Daniel’s three friends.
In Ezekiel 1:1-3, we see God’s call of the prophet in the 5th year of Jehoiachin’s captivity probably dating to July 31, 593 B.C. However, because of changes in the calendars over 2,500 years, we should not base hard facts on these dates; they could be off by a year or two, but Ezekiel does say he was between 29 and 30 years old (in my 30th year).
Ezekiel’s mission was to convince the Israelites their ordeal would last many years. They were encouraged to settle down, find work, get married, and have children. Ezekiel was shown visions of what was going on in Jerusalem even through its destruction. God’s message to Ezekiel personally was about his responsibility.
Key verses: “Whenever you receive a message from Me, warn people immediately. If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death, but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed Me’.” Ezekiel 3:17-19 NLT.