John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 8:1

"And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me." — Ezekiel 8:1 (ASV)

There is no doubt that a prophetic vision is narrated here, because the Prophet was not carried to Jerusalem, nor had he changed his place, nor were the elders of Judah before him. Instead, it seemed to him that he was seized by the Spirit of God, so that he might perceive the pollutions by which the Jews had profaned the temple.

For he says, that he was at home when this vision occurred to him, though he could have been walking in the field. Therefore, he does not describe the event as having physically occurred, but simply teaches how God appeared and adds the circumstances. By elders of Judah I do not mean captives, but those who were then living in Jerusalem, so that they would be witnesses of this prophecy, and thus, any excuse or claim of misunderstanding was removed from them.

He also states the time at which this vision happened, namely the sixth year, which he counts from the exile of Jechoniah, as we saw in the first chapter. Hence, an interval of a year and two months had elapsed since the first vision which was then unfolded, and the present one which is now to be discussed.

Therefore, since fourteen months had passed, God appeared again to his Prophet. This detail about the time is by no means unnecessary, because this shows the great stubbornness of the people. The Prophet, as I have said, counts the years from the king's exile. But they were accustomed to count from the jubilee year; however, he now renews the grief for that slaughter, when the king was treated shamefully as a wretched captive and was tormented like a slave by the enemy.

Therefore, since the Prophet humbles the Jews by this calculation of years, it becomes clear how hardened their stubbornness was, as they did not become wise even though they were so severely disciplined. But we will see that they were seized with an astonishing madness, so that they cast aside the worship of God, heaped up new idolatries on every side, and infected the temple with their abominations.

We saw in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:17 and Jeremiah 44:17-19) that the worship of God was overthrown in the city of Jerusalem and in the temple itself. For they poured out libations to the workmanship of heaven—though others translate this as the queen of heaven, we have shown that those passages should be understood as referring to all the stars.

Therefore, since they offered incense to the workmanship of heaven, they then took idols for themselves and polluted themselves with the superstitions of all the nations.

Our Prophet shows that they were not affected by any awareness of their punishment, but instead, they became worse from the time God began to raise his hand against them. For it was just as if he had begun to show himself from heaven as the avenger of their superstitions.

Thus, we have a reason why the Prophet here mentions years and months, and even the fifth day of the month: namely, that the Jews might be more strongly convicted of their stubbornness, since no punishments recalled them to the right path, but they wrestled against God with diabolical stubbornness.

He says, the hand of God fell; by hand I do not simply understand prophecy, as some do, but strength. For the meaning seems too restricted if we say God’s prophecy fell—that phrase is too stark. Instead, this is properly said of the power of God. It is just as if the prophet professed that he did not bring forward anything of his own, because he set aside, as it were, his human self while God's power reigned in him. Thus, the power of God is opposed to all human faculties.