The Prophet Among Ruins: How Ezekiel Turned the Sky and the Earth Upside DownHe was a priest who saw his temple burning. He was an exile living among foreign rivers. But he became a voice that spoke on behalf of God during the darkest times in the history of Israel. Ezekiel is one of the most strange, terrifying, and great prophets of the Old Testament. His book is not just a collection of prophecies. It is a psychedelic drama, a political manifesto, an architectural drawing, and at the same time, a poem of hope written in blood and ash. His prophecies still sound like a challenge, a warning, and a promise. But to understand them, you need to dive into a world where the sky opens up, and dry bones come to life.Who is Ezekiel: a priest without a templeEzekiel lived in the sixth century BCE, during a turning point when the Jewish Kingdom was crumbling under the Babylonian attack. In 597 BCE, before the final destruction of Jerusalem, he was carried off into captivity with the first wave of exiles. He settled near the river Chebar (between the Tigris and Euphrates), far from his homeland. There, among foreign fields and gods, he received his calling. At the age of thirty, on what he calls \"the fifth day of the fourth month,\" he had a vision. It was not a quiet inner voice, but a storm, fire, brightness, and living beings with four faces.From that moment on, Ezekiel becomes \"the son of man\" — that is how he calls himself ninety-three times in his book. This highlights his complete dependence on God, his role as a messenger who speaks not from himself. He is not just a prophet, he is a sentinel of Israel. His task is to warn the people about sin and destruction, even if they do not listen. And he fulfills this task with terrifying literalness: he lies on his side for 390 days, symbolically bearing the sins of the House of Israel, eating unclean bread, cutting his hair, and dividing it into three parts, symbolizing the fate of the nation. His life becomes the book of ... Read more