Although there are some insights of Ezekiel’s prophecies in the previous chapter, let’s now look what Jewish sources say about him.

"Ezekiel was the only prophet to prophesy outside the Land of Israel. Ezekiel saw the entire history of Israel as one continuous breach of the Covenant, for which the destruction of the Temple was the just and predicted punishment. From the prophet's call until the start of Jerusalem's siege the prophecies are condemnatory. During the siege years and briefly thereafter the prophecies condemn Israel's neighbors who were involved in Judah's revolt but failed to support her. However, although the Book of Ezekiel starts on a note of doom, it continues with consolation, and the news of Jerusalem's fall is followed by consolatory prophecies of its restoration. Ezekiel is transported in a vision to the future Jerusalem and describes the future Temple in detail. He also gives a blueprint for the reorganization of the priesthood and the allocation of the Land of Israel to the respective tribes. Among the most striking prophecies in the Bible is Ezekiel's vision in Babylonia, of the valley of dry bones which become miraculously reconstructed and come to life. Such a message must have been of great encouragement to the depressed exiles of Judah."

"Ezekiel the prophet foretold in fiery language the fall of Jerusalem, and predicted its ultimate restoration. The passion and force of his prophecies, as well as their substance, make him one of the most significant of the biblical prophets.

Ezekiel wrote from Babylon in the period 593--571 B.C.E. (because he was a priest he had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar along with other Jerusalem leaders in 597) but the subject of his prophecies was Jerusalem. Most of the Book of Ezekiel is couched in the form of a first-person report, by the prophet, of God's communications to him or the visions he was shown, and the Book is divided clearly into two parts. The first 24 chapters were written before the fall of Jerusalem in 586, and predicted that calamity. During this time Ezekiel was locked in gloomy unsociability, communicating only with God, and pondering the imminent destruction. As Ezekiel saw it, the entire history of Israel was one continuous breach of the convenant with God, for which the fall of Jerusalem was the just and promised punishment. Ezekiel also felt that this punishment alone would not cause the people of Israel to repent, and thus he predicted exile as well."

"When a fugitive arrived in Babylon in 586 bringing news of the final fall of Jerusalem, Ezekiel was jolted out of his recluse-like existence, and he began to address himself to the people of Israel. This second part of the Book of Ezekiel is meant to console the people and predicts that God will ultimately restore and glorify Israel, and give its people a new moral and spiritual nature to insure future faithfulness. Ezekiel predicts doom for foreign nations and the revival of the "dry bones" of Israel. Ezekiel's visions and the angelic actors in them inaugurated a literary category that flourished in post-exilic prophecy and apocalyptic literature." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Ezekiel gives us the imagery of water and salt as he envisions living water coming from the Latter-day Tempe to cover the waters of the Dead Sea. Both salt and water are necessary for life.

In Judaism, salt is used to prepare meat so that there is no blood left in it. All sacrifices had to be prepared with salt. In praying before a meal, bread is broken and salt is poured with the thoughts that even if we only had bread and salt we would be grateful.

"Because salt is one of the most basic commodities and essential for human life, it is often used in the Bible as meaning food generally. Cleansing and hygienic powers are also attributed to salt . . ."

"In the dietary laws, too, salt is important. Before meat can be cooked, the blood must be removed, which is done by sprinkling coarse salt on it and leaving it for an hour. Salt has the property of attracting liquids and when, at the end of the hour, the meat is thoroughly washed, it is blood-free and ready for cooking."

"Salt is plentiful in Erez Israel and indeed the Dead Sea is known in Hebrew as the Salt Sea. (Sea and lake are the same words in ancient Hebrew, yam - so, Mormons, take note, there is another "Salt Lake!) It is in that region of the country that Lot's wife was transformed into a pillar of salt when, in defiance of the angel's instructions, she looked back on the destruction of Sodom."

"Bread with salt was regarded as the poor man's food but sufficient for the humble student of the Torah, and it has remained a custom to sprinkle a little salt on bread partaken at the beginning of meals. In Jerusalem it is the custom to greet official guests of the City Council with bread and salt as they enter the city's limits." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Yet, an overabundance of anything can lead to an imbalance and thereby cancel out the proper value. Too much salt is actually harmful. Laughter is very healthy, and yet we are instructed to curb loud laughter. Shouting for joy has a quality of happiness and dignity.

"And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance . . ." DC 59:15

"Remember the great and last promise which I have made unto you; cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you." DC 88:69

 

"And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest." Matthew 21:9

The word Hosanna comes from two Hebrew words. The first part "Ho" is a derived, shortened version of the unmentionable name of the Lord, "Jehovah." The second part refers to salvation. In other words, "Hosanna" is a happy acclaim of "The Lord who saves" or "Salvation is of the Lord!" Hosanna is a praise much like Hallelujah, which literally means "Praise the Lord." Hallel is praise and Ya is another form of Jehovah.

"Praise the Lord with timbrels and dance" we are told in one of the Psalms. The founder of the Hasidic movement, Israel ben Eliezer Ba'al Shem Tov, taught his followers that the "danses of a Jew before his Creator are prayers," and with the rise of Hasidism in Eastern Europe in the 18th century, dancing assumed great importance for the Jewish masses." (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)

Another name for the Lord is Water, Living Water. The name for heaven in Hebrew is "Shamayim." It means, "from the waters!" Water comes from heaven and so does the Lord. There are many images of water used in the scriptures that can be connected to him. For example, water coming from the Temple to heal the Dead Sea is a metaphor of the Lord coming from his abode, heaven (the Temple after all, is his house - a part of heaven on earth) and heal all the imbalances of the world.

The most imbalanced water in the world is the Dead Sea. It is 27% salt and minerals. The oceans and as well as the Mediterranean are approximately 3.5% to 3.8% salt. The salinity of the Great Salt Lake got to about 22 % in its time and now is diluted to about 10%. The Great Salt Lake averages between five and fifteen feet deep. The Dead Sea reaches a depth of thirteen hundred feet.

Every week when I go to te Dead Sea, I insist that everyone put their fingers in the water and touch their tongue. The grimaces are "once in a lifetime!" That is the appropriate time to read Ezekiel’s prophecy of water coming out of the temple and healing the Dead Sea! Yet, it will still be given to salt and all manners of fish will be in it like the waters of the Great Sea (the Mediterranean), still salty but with new health.

"And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many." (Ezekiel 47:10)

The call to go to the temple includes the phrase, "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." (Psalms 24-1-3) Since the Jews feel they don’t have a temple, they have used the meal table as a substitute "altar." It is appropriate to wash hands before every prayer at the beginning and ending of each meal time. That is why kosher hotels have a basin and naturally flowing water at the entrances of each dining room. There are large cups in public restrooms and other public fountains (like the Western Wall) so that a Jew can fill the cup and then let the water flow naturally over his hands before he prays.

The Lord’s house is where his glory and honor dwells, (Psalms 26:8). The ark holding the torah scroll is a reminder of the ark in the temple that held the tablets, the word of the Lord. Once, as I was leading my guest to the Western (Wailing) Wall, I observed a young Bar Mitzvah lad anxious to open the ark to retrieve the scroll so he could get on with his presentation to the congregation. His grandfather stopped him and said, "Inside represents the essence and the presence of the Lord, be polite, first you knock, then pull the curtain aside and then you take the scroll."

As David wrote the Psalm indicating that the Lord is his light, (Psalms 27:1) he must have known that the ark contained a special menorah, a light with seven candles or wicks. That symbol is now the official seal of the State of Israel. It is a chiasmus, the first and the last are connected at the base. Likewise, the second and six, third and fifth are connected, the center light is the main light. Could that have represented the Lord? After all, he should be the center of our attention.

The center of the Lord’s house was curtained because of its sacredness, a courtyard where we could converse with the Lord. As mentioned previously, the Children of Israel lived in a "camp" that was divided into three sections, the people, the Levites and the Lord. We long for the time when we can return to "dwell in thy courts," (Psalms 65:4) and be "shielded," safe from the imbalance of the world around us. (Psalms 84)

Also mentioned previously is the expectation that the entire city of Jerusalem will become the "City of the Lord." May our feet "stand within thy gates." (Psalms 122, 134)