Yimiyahu and Yechezkel: Thoughts

Since finishing Yechezkel a few days ago, I've found myself thinking a bit about the contrast between him and Yirmiyahu. Both were priests, but boy did they live different lives. 

Yirmiyahu does not want to be a prophet. In fact, prophecy is essentially forced upon him time and again. There are days in which he bows in acceptance and others in which he buckles. Yirmiyahu is described in the gemara as a prophet who is "entirely destruction". The plain meaning of the phrase is that all of his prophecies have to do with destruction. However, in a deeper sense, there is something destroyed about Yirmiyahu himself. Something fragmented.

Yechezkel is different. Though there's mention of Yechezkel being appalled at some of the things Hashem commands him to do, there's not a hint that he was not interested in prophecy. He accepts it willingly. Yechezkel is really the classic prophet. He gravitates to the leadership role thrusted upon him. He is a natural teacher. He is respected and looked up to in the community. Yes, he lives through some personal strife - but nothing in the range of Yirmiyahu. The strife seems to be there more to connect him with his community, so it's more minimal than that of Yirmiyahu. We see that his book describes a complete prophetic journey: From newbie prophet who sees the exile of the Shechinah to master prophet who sees the return of the Shechinah (see here).

Both of them mirror their respective communities: Yirmiyahu mirrors the Judeans in Judea and Yechezkel  the Judeans in Babylon. 

Yirmiyahu was seeing a deeply fragmented people. The people in Judea were split into different factions that practically warred among themselves. Yechezkel, on the other hand, was privy to the sort of unity one seems to, on the face of things, only find when Am Yisrael are in exile. In exile, Jews realize they must stick together.

It's interesting that they were both priests. Both were born into leadership positions - the priests were leaders. However, it is evident that the priests failed, both during the First Temple era and during the Second Temple era. Perhaps it was due to this failure that the priests were the ones that had to bear the weight of being prophets during the time of the destruction.