Ezekial 1b

Time and place.  Why the emphasis in these first three verses on the Chebar River and the 5th day of the 4th month in the 30th year (v1) and the 5th day of the month in the 5th year of Jehiochin's reign?   In trying to investigate this, I see that the Chebar River is important throughout the book.  Yet we do not even know what the 30th year refers to or for sure where the Chebar R was located.  So why did our God prompt Ezekiel to record this so specifically?

Perhaps the reason is that our God enters our time and space at specific times and places.  If God  is going to reveal Himself, He does not come in some nebulous, airy emptiness.  He comes to His people in the reality in which we live.  The reality for Ezekiel's people was captivity in Babylon.  Doubtless, each day they counted the days since they had been taken captive.  Each day they mentally measured the distance from home in Israel. I think of a prisoner of war in severe isolation making marks on the wall each day to remember exactly what day the people back home are keeping and thinking about what life must be like for the people he or she loves.  So, for example, the prisoner realizes that Christmas Day has come and pictures the presents under the tree, the manger scene, the food and lights, and all the beauty and trappings of the special day.  Surely, in a similar way, the Jewish people in Babylon thought that God was not in Babylon.  That the light and beauty of His Presence could not penetrate there in their place and their time. 

But God not only showed up in Babylon, He showed up by the River Chebar, where they were sent by the Babylonians to live at Telabib (chapter 3).  He showed up in the place of their captivity in the time of their despair.  And He did not just show up.  He showed up in a splendor and glory and majesty and power that perhaps had not been seen since their ancient ancestors had fled from Him in terror on Mount Sinai or certainly since His Shekinah glory had descended on the temple in Jerusalem nearly 400 years earlier. 

Lord, God, I need You to show up in my time and my place.  I need Your revelation.  Speak to me through Your Word as I listen and long to learn.  Help me to see absolutely everything You are wanting to reveal to me about Yourself as I study this book.