Yehezkel's Scroll

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1. Yehezkel’s Prophetic Mission

   Dr. Tova Ganzel

   Yehezkel is told at the outset that he is being sent to the nation to convey God’s word, for them to know that a prophet was among them before the Destruction. But the people dwelling in Jerusalem – like those in Babylon – will not change their ways. The role of the prophet is not to bring about repentance but rather to convey God’s word and thereby justify the imminent punishment. Therefore when he is commanded to eat the scroll, he is ambivalent. Just as the scroll contains lamentations, with no hint of redemption, so too Yehezkel’s prophecy includes, initially, only the coming of the Destruction.

   Nonetheless, there is a message that the prophet addresses to each individual in his generation: the Temple is going to be destroyed, and the nation will be exiled from its land, but every person bears personal responsibility for his own fate, because even at this most bitter time there will be those who will die and those who will be saved. Every individual is responsible for his own actions. Yehezkel must therefore carry out his mission even if the nation’s fate is already sealed.

2. Yehezkel's Silence: Symbolic Actions and Their Meaning

   Dr. Tova Ganzel

   Among the many symbolic actions that God commands Yehezkel to perform as part of his prophecy, one is to bind himself up with cords and remain silent. Up until now the prophet has been commanded to go and prophesy to the people.  Now it seems that before he has a chance to say anything, he receives another prophecy that contradicts everything that has come before: he must shut himself in his house and refrain from reproving the nation, until he is instructed otherwise.

   For how long was Yehezkel shut inside his house? If he was silent until the survivor came to inform him of the destruction of Jerusalem, to who were the many prophecies he received conveyed throughout these years?

   Many possibilities are suggested, but all of them give rise to the same message: despite the skepticism of the exiles dwelling with Yehezkel, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem is imminent, and the prophet’s message will have no effect on the people.