Sometimes in a marriage relationship there comes a moment of truth—a time when a couple face overwhelming pressures that have the potential to destroy their union. Israel confronted such pressures during its sixty-year Exile in Babylon, a period that threatened Israel's covenant with Yahweh.
Under foreign rule, the Jews fought to keep their religious traditions alive. They continued to worship Yahweh, despite the fact that they weren't in their beloved Temple in Jerusalem. And, as was usually the case throughout Jewish history, Israel's religious reformers kept the people's faith alive by insisting that they remain true to the covenant with Yahweh.
Perhaps the most unusual of these reformers was a man named Ezekiel, who served— probably as a priest—in the Temple at Jerusalem. After being taken to Babylon in the deportation of 598-597 B.C., Ezekiel beheld a vision of Yahweh seated on a throne on top of a magnificent chariot. Awed by this vision, Ezekiel agreed to deliver Yahweh's message to the Jews—a message that turned out to be one of lamentation and woe for the imminent doom of his homeland.
