1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.
The reference in 3 to Ezekiel's genealogy is also significant. He was of a priestly family, and from what we can gather from among the higher echelons of the priestly tradition, and doubtless, by heredity, destined for high office. We know from other parts of the Old Testament that priests began to officiate in the sanctuary at the age of thirty. Ezekiel had come to this age (1), but there was no Temple in which to worship, let alone to serve, for he was a captive by the river Chebar, and the Temple was in Jerusalem. So that, by reason of the captivity and the sins of his people, and through no fault of his own, he was denied his true patrimony. But this is the wonderful thing: what the tragic circumstances of his time robbed him of, and made impossible for him, God fulfilled in another and better way: he became, not a priest, but a prophet. This, surely, is the significance of the reference to his thirtieth year. It is as if Ezekiel were saying 'Here am I in Babylon: by my birth into the family of Buzi I was destined to be a priest in the sanctuary of the Lord, and instead I am languishing by the rivers of Babylon. But God has come to me and said, "I have something different - and better - for you: you are to be My mouthpiece to your fellow exiles, you are going to be a prophet for Me".'