Ezekiel’s ministry was difficult, very difficult. He was the person called to serve the discouraged Jews who had survived the war with Babylon and had been exiled to the pagan capital. The time in which he lived were some of the most chaotic days of political and moral upheaval in history.Ezekiel prophesied between 593 and 571 b.c. during some of the most ominous days of Judah’s and Israel’s history. He was exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 b.c. with the second group of exiles taken from Judea. He was called to ministry in the fifth year of the captivity of King Jehoiachin, when he was around 30 years of age (1:1,2).This would place his call in the year 593 b.c.The Hebrew name, Ezekiel (Yehezke’l), means “God strengthens” or “Strengthened by God.” Ezekiel lived and ministered in the area of Tel-Abib on the river Kebar (also Chebar), south of Babylon and near the ancient site of Nippur.He was among approximately 10,000 deportees resettled in Babylon. These exiles lived more as colonists than captives.