I’ve been reading Ezekiel lately, and every time I sit down with it that old spiritual comes into my head. I learned it in my Brownie troop away back when. “Ezekiel saw two wheels a-rollin’, way in the middle of the air. A wheel within a wheel a-rollin’, away in the middle of the air.” The song neglects to mention the four-headed beastie that used the wheels for feet. It had eyes all over its body. It never needed to turn because for it, every direction was straight. It was like the north pole in that way. This thing was a cherubim, and it is where God hid out when he talked to Ezekiel. Poor Ezekiel. Up until God appeared, he was an up-and-comer who hung with the elders at the city gate. In his writing, he took care to get the details right, but never added flourishes or special effects. He called it like he saw it, the original straight shooter. No ifs, ands, or buts with Ezekiel.
Other prophets get dreams, voices, or angels that resemble really good-looking humans. Ezekiel gets cherubim. And that’s just the beginning! One of his first assignments is to lay on his side, in his underwear, for several months. He must eat food cooked over an excrement fire. And when he finishes? He gets to turn over to the other side and do it all again. He also gets to draw a picture on the back of a pan and prop it against the wall. Once he’s got all that taken care of, God tells him to pack up all his belongings, heave them up on his back, and dig a hole through the city wall. Then he must climb through the hole as if he is departing on a long journey. God points out, perhaps unnecessarily, that people are going to ask him why he is acting so weird, and that’s when he gets to come at them with the gloom and doom: war, famine, exile. Ezekiel is not too happy about all this. God blesses him with a hardheadedness equal to that of the people he must prophesy to. Lucky! The most stubborn man in the city!

I find it funny that good citizen Ezekiel, who likely just wanted a good job and a calm, god-fearing life working his way up the ladder, got one of the most crazy and eye-catching jobs in the bible. His prophetic performance art could put to shame any number of avant-garde artists in, say, New York City. I’ve read this book before, but it’s been awhile. WHAT will he do next?