Yechezkel: Coming full circle
Tonight, the 27th of Tammuz, is my birthday. As it happens, my second name is Yechezkel. A short time before my bar-mitzvah, I discovered that the only place in Tanach in which "Harel" appears is the Book of Yechezkel. My parents were not aware of this when they named me. My second name comes from my great-grandfather, but - I suppose we could say it's the hashgacha/providence that is given to parents when they name their children.
Again, as it happens, I have, at long-last, finished learning the Book of Yechezkel. As such, I thought I would write down my thoughts about the book.
I will first say that for a little over two years now I've been planning to learn Yechezkel, but haven't gotten around to it. The reason I was particularly interested in Yechezkel was because of a dream I had around the time. I've only had a handful of truly significant dreams in my life. This one, I felt, was one of those. In the dream, I heard one of the most serious people in my yeshiva explain that Yechezkel was the greatest prophet of all, because the relationship between all of the prophets and Hashem was like that of a master and his servant, while the relationship between Yechezkel and Hashem was like that of a father and son.
I thought that was very interesting, but upon skimming Yechezkel, I couldn't find anything that hinted to the meaning of this dream.
I've now finished a more thorough study of Yechezkel, and I can now say that I'm still not entirely sure what the dream meant...it might be nonsense, or it might be a mystery for another day. Meanwhile, my thoughts about the book:
I titled this post "Coming full circle", because that's essentially how the book is built: Yechezkel starts out as a novice prophet, with the famous Merkava prophecy. Why do I say novice? Because all prophets had this vision. The Merkava is a key tool for a prophet to be able to properly interpret his prophecies. The gemara in Chagigah 13b says:
"Rava said: All that Ezekiel saw, the prophet Isaiah saw as well, but the latter did not find it necessary to describe his vision in such detail. To what may Ezekiel be compared? To a villager who saw the king and is excited by all the extravagances of the king’s palace and everything it contains, as he is unaccustomed to them. And to what may Isaiah be compared? To a city dweller who saw the king."
We find that Yechezkel was not familiar with the workings of prophecy. He was a newbie. But that's what's special about his book: We find in it the full journey of a prophet, practically step-by-step (except for the prologue, the part about how to attain prophecy), from novice to grandmaster:
Yechezkel starts with seeing the Merkava. Then he's commanded to do a series of symbolic acts. Notably, Hashem does not force Yechezkel to eat human excrement, when Yechezkel exclaims that he is unable to defile himself such.
Shortly afterwards, Yechezkel starts becoming popular among the exiled populace, like the more successful prophets before him, such as Shmuel and Yesha'ayahu (vastly different from what Yirmiyahu, his contemporary in Judea, had to endure).
Later, Hashem takes him on a spiritual trip to Yerushalayim, to see the bad spiritual state of Am Yisrael in Judea. He points out the various sins, rather than telling Yechezkel to simply figure out what's wrong for himself. Unfortunately, Yechezkel is made to witness one of the prophecies of the Shechinah leaving Eretz Yisrael, certainly a traumatic experience - but on the other hand, he doesn't actually live through the destruction, seeing as he was already exiled at the time (Asher Weiser in his commentary opined that he was exiled during the time of Yehoyakim - along with other Judean youths, such as Daniel, Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah).
Then he receives a long series of visions - most of the book - of the punishments that are to befall both Yisrael and other nations because of their sins. What's different about these prophecies and those of other prophets - in particular, those of Yirmiyahu - is that in Yechezkel's prophecies, the punishments aren't an end unto themselves. No seemingly senseless destruction, merely as punishment for sins. The real end goal is clearly defined at the end of each segment: To bring about the knowledge of Hashem: "And they shall know that I am the LORD." (according to the search here, this phrase appears no less than 38 (!!!) times in the book).
After circa 15 years in exile, he is informed by Hashem that his wife will die in a plague, which then happens. That's sad, but Hashem continues taking him by the hand and guiding him through his prophetic journey. In fact, arguably, this moment is significant to his prophetic journey: One cannot properly understand the hardships Yisrael are going through without going through hardships yourself.
A short time later, Hashem announces to him that the Babylonian Exile is coming, and that he must assume his role a fully-fledged prophet and he must lead them. While tragic in the grand scheme of things (the exile, that is) , it's a powerful moment in Yechezkel's life. Imagine receiving such an honorable and important role from none other than the Master of the Universe!
And then he gets his penultimate bunch of prophecies: The Vision of the Dry Bones, and Gog and Magog storming Eretz Yisrael. Yechzkel gets to see the end times and Hashem's mighty victory over the people of Magog. He sees the full, final geulah!
Lastly, the Beit Hamikdash prophecies. This is commonly interpreted to refer to the Third Temple, although Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun opined that this was really more of a critical report of all of the flaws of the First Temple era and what needs to be fixed. Moreover, prior to building each temple, the prophets at the time received (and will receive) prophecies from Hashem directing them how to build it. That's why the Mishkan and the two Temples are so vastly different from one another.
Whatever the case may be, this is where Yechezkel comes full circle: While wandering around the Temple with the figure who's measuring everything, he sees the Shechinah returning to the Temple! Two other prophets received prophecies of the exile of the Shechinah, Amos and Yeshayahu, but neither - as far as I'm aware - received a prophecy of its return. This is clearly a call-back to his early days. It's a powerful moment indeed.
I'd like to think that a father-son relationship may be echoed in how Hashem takes Yechezkel and guides him by the hand, as a father would to his son, although I feel unsure about this interpretation. Anyway, those are my general thoughts about the book.
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