A. Ezekiel's birth, deportation, & inauguration into the ministry, 622-592 BC.
The dates for these events in the prophet's life are arrived at on the basis of certain assumptions about Eze 1:1-3:
In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was upon him.
Two dates are provided here for Ezekiel's inauguration vision: "the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day" and "the fifth of the month . . . the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin." We assume that the latter dates the day of his vision during the exile. Jehoiachin was exiled in 597 BC. The fifth year would place the day in 592 BC. Unlike the latter date, the former—"the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day"—is not qualified. It is reasonable, however, to assume that the thirtieth year is the year Ezekiel began his ministry as a priest as all priest did (Num 4:3). This places Ezekiel birth, therefore, to 622 BC.
By dating his inauguration vision to the fifth year of Jehoiachin's exile, and by the fact that Ezekiel's presence among the exiles in Babylon, we can assume that he was deported together with the king in what is now called "the first deportation" of 597 BC.
©ALBERITH
161110lch