At the beginning of his book, Yehezkel describes how "the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God." Chapter 1, described by Chazal as the "ma'aseh merkava" is one of the most difficult chapters to understand in all of Tanakh.
This Divine vision, which appears at the very outset of the book, holds the key to understanding one of the central prophetic messages of the book. The recollection of this vision accompanies Yehezkel's prophecy throughout the rest of the book. In these visions, God's glory is borne in a chariot, which indicates motion. The upshot of all these visions is that God's glory has departed from the Temple.
Even in Yehezkel's pre-Destruction prophecies the glory of God has already departed from the Temple and the Divine Presence is no longer within the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, during the six first years of Yehezkel's prophecy – from the time he began to prophesy until the destruction of the Temple – there is no call to the nation as a whole to mend its ways and to repent. The fate of Jerusalem has already been sealed; the Temple is defiled and desecrated, and the city will not be purified until God has poured out His wrath in its midst.
Where is God's glory is to be found during the years of the Destruction? Does God's glory wander with the people to Babylon, or does it remain in the Land of Israel, outside Jerusalem, waiting for the people to return?
Yehezkel emphasizes that even though this is the first time that God's glory has departed – indeed the Temple lies in ruins – nevertheless the same Divine vision will return and once again dwell in the future Temple. The nation need not fear that the departure of God's glory from the Temple means the departure of His glory from the nation.
God’s Presence in the Temple cannot be assumed to be unconditional; God will not allow His Presence to dwell there if the nation causes the Temple to be defiled. But even though the nation refuses to accept the message of the prophets and fails to repent, even after the destruction of the Temple, God will never abandon His people.
