We learn from Ezekiel 1: 1 that he was a priest who had been exiled to Babylonia and was living by a river which has been identified as a large irrigation canal which took water from the river Euphrates to Nippur, a city to the south-east of the great city of Babylon. He was married but his wife died in exile (Ezekiel 24: 18). His book shows that he was very familiar with Jerusalem, where he had lived before he was exiled. The centre of his life in Jerusalem had been the Temple and its worship. After his exile he continued to be intensely concerned with what was happening in Jerusalem although he was so far distant from it. He was particularly concerned with what happened to the Temple, and he never forgot that he belonged to the priesthood. He received a number of extraordinary visions after his call to be a prophet and the descriptions of these visions bring us into contact with a man who experienced states of ecstasy and trance. The descriptions of his visions are full of symbol¬ism which is intended to express spiritual truth which goes beyond simple human language. We have to look for the spiritual truth in his visions behind sometimes fantastic imagery.