Ezekiel the Prophet

For the third time this week, the Church honors the memory of one of the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. Ezekiel was born in the Land of Israel to his father Buzi, a priest, and it was there that he began his career as a prophet. Then, in the year 3327 (434 BCE), Jerusalem was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Jewish king Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) along with ten thousand captives, including the king’s family, the nobility of the land and the leaders of the army. Among the captives was the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel spent the rest of his life in Babylonia, where he envisioned most of his prophecies. Ezekiel’s prophecies are unique in that they were experienced in Babylonia, although as a rule the Divine spirit does not rest in the Diaspora. Nevertheless, since Ezekiel had already begun to prophesy in the Land of Israel, he continued to do so after leaving it. Perhaps since he did not dwell in the Land of Israel, Ezekiel did not commit his prophecies to writing. Instead, the Men of the Great Assembly—a group of 120 Jewish prophets and sages who lived c. 3400 (360 BCE)—accepted the task of compiling the Book of Ezekiel. His most familiar oracle is that of dry bones which were scattered on a field of combat being brought back to life through the Spirit of God.

Ezekiel passed away sometime before the year 3364 (397 BCE), and was buried in Babylonia. In 3364 Nebuchadnezzar died, and his son Evil-Merodach, who assumed the Chaldean throne, released the Jewish king Jehoiachin from prison. Jehoiachin, accompanied by a large entourage of Jews, visited Ezekiel’s gravesite and built a magnificent tomb upon the site, which also served as a synagogue. Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the tomb in c. 4930 (1170), recounted that Jews would journey there from Baghdad every year to pray during the High Holidays, and on Yom Kippur they would read from a Torah scroll written by Ezekiel’s own hand. Ezekiel’s gravesite is believed to be in Al Kifl, Iraq, although this is not conclusive.