Ezekiel 40:1

Ezekiel dated the vision that comprises the final portion of the book as coming to him on April 19, 573 B.C., more than 12 years after his immediately preceding messages (cf. Ezekiel 33:21-22). [Note: Parker and Dubberstein, p. 28.] This is the final dated prophecy in the book but not the last one that Ezekiel received chronologically (cf. Ezekiel 29:17 to Ezekiel 30:19). Ezekiel located this prophecy in time using two points of reference, in relation to the beginning of the Exile and in relation to the fall of Jerusalem. Perhaps he dated it so precisely since what this vision describes has been hard for many readers to accept at face value. Nevertheless the prophet affirmed that the Lord did indeed give it to him at this specific time.

If this vision came to Ezekiel on the tenth day of the first month of Israel’s religious calendar, their month Nisan, as seems likely, it arrived just before the Jews began preparing for Passover. The Jews had a religious calendar that began with Nisan (March-April; Exodus 12:2) and a civil calendar, introduced later in Israel’s history, that began six months later with Tishri (September-October). We do not know if the exiles observed the Passover, but they certainly would have been thinking about it. If the vision came to Ezekiel in the first month of their civil calendar, on October 22, it would have come on the day of Atonement and the day the year of jubilee was proclaimed. [Note: Allen, Ezekiel 20-48, pp. 229, 235.] That day too would have been a fitting time for the reception of this vision. The subject of this vision would have encouraged the exiles that Yahweh would fulfill His purposes for their nation as they contemplated its history and His promises.