Saint Ezekiel

This Prophet was in Jerusalem when Nebuchadnez zar, King of B Nabuchodonosor King of Babylon whose tyranny drove the Jews into exile. abylon, c ame to b Babylone City where the king converted and where the bodies were first deposited. esiege that great city, and when Jeconiah, or otherwise Jehoiachin, King of Judah, surrendered voluntarily to this foreign prince, following the order of God; thus he was among the first captives of the kingdom of Judah who were transferred from Jerusalem to Babylon with King Jeconiah. He was then only twenty-four years old. Five years later, God communicated to him the gift of prophecy, the light of which he manifested during the twenty-seven years of his captivity. He was chosen by God to go to that land of exile, not as a criminal, nor as having participated in the disorders and frequent infidelities of the Jews; but he went there, on the contrary, because he was a great friend of God and had always been very faithful to Him, and because God, wishing to chastise His people and not abandon them entirely, willed that this Prophet accompany them to console them, to announce His will to them, to remonstrate against their disorders, and to exhort them, during the time of their captivity, to recognize the justice of God who, in removing them from their country, required that they weep for their sins to finally draw mercy upon themselves; such was therefore the office of Ezekiel among the Jewish people in Babylon.

It is easy to see from this that this Prophet had orders to do, in those f oreign Jérémie Prophet honored on the same day as Isaac in the Egyptian and Ethiopian traditions. lands, what Jeremiah was doing in the city of Jerusalem; for Jeremiah remained always in that city while it was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, under the reign of Zedekiah; and, after the destruction of that city, he remained still among those of the Jews who were not taken captive to Babylon, so that these people, always rebellious to the will of God, would have constantly before their eyes a faithful witness of the truth, who reproached them for the impiety of their conduct and represented to them the equity of the judgments of Him who punished them to make them return to their duty. What is truly admirable, and what is a great proof of the divinity of Him who sent these two great Prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, is that one being in Chaldea and the other in Judea, they nevertheless both predicted, at the same time, the same things, and represented equally to Israel all the misfortunes that threatened Jerusalem.

Ezekiel makes known to us in his book a thing that is particular to him; it is that, although he was a captive in Babylon, he was nevertheless as if present in Jerusalem, the spirit of God making him see what was happening there, as if he had been there in person with Jeremiah; so that he announced to the people the disorders of that great city, of which God alone could give him knowledge; and the Jews of Babylon were marvelously strengthened in their faith, although at the same time confounded, when, subsequently, they compared the predictions of Jeremiah with those of Ezekiel, and noted such a perfect conformity between them; for Saint Jerome remarks that, at that time, the prophecies of these great men were sent from one side to the other: those of Ezekiel to Jerusalem, and those of Jeremiah to Babylon.

The holy Prophet of whom we speak here was, if we are to believe the most learned, a man of great erudition and a very elevated spirit. Hence it is that many, according to the opinion of Clement of Alexandria, have taken him for Pythagoras, an d that Saint saint Jérôme Father of the Church and biographical source for Amand. Jerome himself calls him the Ocean of the Holy Scriptures and the labyrinth of the mysteries of God. So that, without speaking of the gift of prophecy, which he possessed eminently, and which raised him above all that was greatest, he has even been compared to the greatest men of antiquity for his beautiful thoughts, his noble comparisons, and the profound knowledge he had of all things. The character of his style, as Saint Jerome remarks, is neither too sublime nor too lowly, but holds the middle ground. One notices in his works a great evenness; for, although the other Prophets sometimes use animated reproaches to rebuke sinners, one can say of Ezekiel that he always walks with an even step, and that he sustains the force of his discourse more by the grandeur of the ideas he represents, such as God makes him see them, than by strong and recherché expressions. If it is a thing common to him with several Prophets to speak in enigmas and to use figurative expressions, he has this particularity that he almost never expresses himself in any other way, and that he thereby keeps his reader always in suspense and in admiration, to make him more attentive to the truths he announces to him, and to press him more to ask humbly of God the understanding of his enigmas full of mysteries.

But, whatever noble idea one tries to give of the merit of this incomparable personage, one will never have a more perfect knowledge of his true qualities and the grandeur of his ministry than by reading attentively, in silence, the very book of his prophecies, which contains as many new mysteries as it does chapters, and even verses. It is true that it contains things very difficult, and even impenetrable to those who wish to understand them by the lights of reason alone; thus Saint Jerome says that it was a tradition among the Hebrews that it was only permitted to read these mysteries after having reached the age necessary to exercise priestly functions, that is to say, the age of thirty years; but nevertheless, God only commanded this Prophet to eat the book that He made him write so that, being nourished and satiated by it, he could also nourish others, by announcing to them and making them understand all that was inspired in him; God, moreover, complains of the indifference the Jews had in applying themselves to understand what was said to them; is this not for us an exhortation to penetrate as much as we can the profound wisdom hidden under the veils of the enigmas that our Prophet uses in his book?

Not acting here as an interpreter, we shall not enter into a particular explanation of the difficulties contained in this work. We shall content ourselves with noting that the entire book of the prophecy of Ezekiel can be divided into three main parts, by analogy with the prophecy of Jeremiah, which has a great relationship with that of the Prophet of whom we speak.

In the first part, which contains the first twenty-four chapters, Ezekiel speaks mainly of the impious and the infidelities of the Jews, of the captivity to which they must be reduced being led to Babylon, of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple; and this Prophet occupies himself with rebuking the Israelites in an infinite number of ways, because the spirit of God makes him know that if he does not rebuke his people, if he does not warn them, they will die in their iniquity, but He will require their blood from him; and that if, on the contrary, the Prophet announces the truth to the impious, and they do not convert, the impious will die in their iniquity, but the Prophet will have delivered his soul. This is therefore what is contained in the first part of the book of which we speak, and it is also the same subject that is treated in the first twenty-seven chapters of Jeremiah, which compose the first part of that Prophet's book.

The second part of the book of Ezekiel contains nine chapters, namely: from the twenty-fifth to the thirty-fourth, in which this Prophet speaks of the misfortunes that must also happen to other peoples, such as the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, the Idumeans, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and several other infidel peoples; and this is also what composes the second part of the prophecy of Jeremiah, which is spoken of from the twenty-seventh chapter to the thirtieth.

Finally, the third part of the book of Ezekiel is contained in the last fourteen chapters, in which he predicts the future freedom of the Israelites in their country, the reign of Jesus Christ, the sovereign shepherd, the baptism of Christians, the vocation of the Gentiles, the resurrection of the dead, and the destruction of Gog and Magog; from which he takes the subject to console the Israelites, announcing to them in advance that their great and holy city, which was burned, and the temple, which was destroyed, will finally be restored and returned to a very beautiful state; and this is also the same subject of which Jeremiah speaks in the last part of his prophecy, that is to say from the thirtieth chapter to the thirty-fourth.

God, wishing that all things should serve as a figure to make known to His people what was to happen to them, so that they might correct themselves and prevent the misfortunes that threatened them, also willed that the prophet Ezekiel himself be deprived of what he held most dear on earth. His wife died at that time, four or five years after he had begun to prophesy in Babylon, and he received an order from God to make no funeral lamentation on this occasion, not to weep, not to let any tear fall upon his face, and to do nothing, in a word, of what was nevertheless commonly done for other dead: which was yet another figure of the house of Israel, which was to be deprived of what it held most dear, through exile and the slaughter of women and children, without daring to show any grief for it.

As for the time at which this Prophet began his prophecy, he marks it himself with great exactitude, naming not only the year, but also the month and the day, saying that it was in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month. It was therefore in the thirtieth year, counting, according to Saint Jerome, from the time when (the book of the law, which had been lost, having been found in the temple) King Josiah and all the people renewed the ancient covenant with the Lord. Now, this same year coincided with the fifth of the captivity of Jeconiah, who, as noted above, had surrendered voluntarily with his mother to Nebuchadnezzar, following the order that God had given him, and who was transferred to Babylon with Ezekiel, Daniel, and several others. It is also easy to judge the span of time that this Prophet spent publishing the secrets of his prophecy; for it is estimated that it was for twenty-two years, inasmuch as he began, as we have said above, in the fifth year of the transmigration of Jeconiah, or Jehoiachin, and finished in the twenty-fifth of the reign of the same king, as it appears from the text of the fortieth chapter, which already gives twenty years; and as this Prophet also makes mention, in chapter xxix, v. 17, of another vision that he had in the twenty-seventh year, that is to say two years after the twenty-five, there is reason to assert that he performed the office of prophet for the space of at least two years; we say at least, because we only mark here what is found in the text of Scripture.

As the things that Ezekiel had to announce to the Israelites, on behalf of heaven, were of extreme importance, he omits nothing that can contribute to validating the truth of the vision he had, so much so that to the circumstances of time he adds exactly those of place, when he says that he was then in the midst of the captives, near the river Chebar, which pours its waters into the Euphrates, not far from Circesium. This holy man undoubtedl y considered, fleuve Chobar Site of Ezekiel's visions in Babylonia. in the rapid course of the waters of this river, the rapidity of the perpetual flow of all the things of this world that pass and disappear in a moment. King David, as Saint Jerome also remarks, had already predicted, by a movement of the spirit of God, that the Hebrew people were to sit on the banks of the rivers of this kingdom, when, in his sacred Psalms, he had put these words in their mouths: "We sat down, and we wept by the rivers of Babylon. — Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus".

It is good to remark here, for our instruction, that it was not at the beginning of Ezekiel's captivity that God showed Himself to him, but in the fifth year of which we have spoken, that is to say after he had suffered much, and that the other captives, also crushed by their sufferings, seemed to be more in a state to listen to what the Lord had to say to them through the mouth of this holy Prophet. When, therefore, he was in the midst of the captives, the heavens were opened to him: this teaches us that it is in tribulations and adversity that God grants the greatest favors: when we find ourselves in the harshest captivity and in the dependence of all things, it is then, if we know how to make good use of it, that we must expect from heaven our greatest lights and the secrets of procuring for ourselves the most perfect freedom.

We must not forget to say a word about the age that the Prophet of whom we speak might have had when he began to prophesy. Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory, and the Hebrews believe that it was at the age of thirty, to imitate, says Origen, the conduct of Jesus Christ Himself, of whom he was the figure, and who, as well as Saint John the Baptist, his precursor, only began to preach at that age; but one cannot assert anything very certain about this, especially since if we believe the historian Josephus, Ezekiel was very young when he was taken captive to Babylon, and it is certain, as we have pointed out, that it was only five years after having lived in that foreign country that he began to perform the office of prophet.

After having explained all these circumstances, which can help to understand the book of the prophecy of Ezekiel, we could now report here the beautiful praises that the Fathers of the Church give him, reflecting on the character of his spirit and on the depth of the mysteries contained in his book. Besides the quality of Prophet, which is justly attributed to him for having predicted to the Jews an infinity of things long before they happened, Saint Gregory, in book XXVI of his Morals saint Grégoire Pope and Doctor of the Church, cited for his writings on purgatorial punishments and apparitions. , chap. 5, assures that he is the glory and honor of all Masters and all Doctors; and, writing on the predictions he made, he says that he is the perfect model of all preachers. It is true that he makes himself terrible, formidable, and even harsh, to use the term of this Father; but it is, he adds, because he had orders to announce extremely harsh things to those who were hardened in evil. This same Father nevertheless points out very judiciously that Ezekiel, as the Scripture says, wept bitterly for the space of seven days, being in the midst of all the people, before undertaking to speak to them of anything and to rebuke them for anything whatsoever, observing exactly during all this time of silence what they were doing; he gave a beautiful example to all pastors and all preachers, who will never speak usefully or justly until they have long kept silence, until they have shed a great abundance of tears over the evils they see, and observed with great exactitude all that is happening: "Because," says Saint Gregory, "only he knows how to speak as he should, who has known how to be silent as much as he ought. Let those, therefore," continues this holy Doctor, "who wish to be excellent preachers, imitate those who preach only powerful things capable of penetrating hearts and leading them to penance, and who omit nothing in order to gain a perfect knowledge of faults before accusing and rebuking anyone for them." — Illos imitari delectus prædicator debet, qui et acuta prædicant, et quæ loquuntur observant.

The mission of the holy personage of whom we speak was so elevated, his visions so sublime, his way of living and making his predictions known so extraordinary, that he is called, by the Holy Spirit Himself, the prodigy of his time and "a sign altogether extraordinary given to the house of Israel, to predict to it all that would happen to it"; and all those who read this prophecy with attention will easily agree with this truth; hence it is that Saint Gregory of Nazianzus calls him the Prophet of sublime things, the interpreter of great mysteries, the very subtle prophet worthy of all admiration.

It will not, however, be useless to reflect here, with Saint Jerome, on the profound humility of this great man, in the midst of his most sublime visions and the most eminent qualities attributed to him; for he confesses himself that, having had these great revelations, he threw his face to the ground, in view of his nothingness, and to adore God as Abraham had done, when the Lord having spoken to him, he prostrated himself immediately to annihilate himself in His presence; a beautiful example for all those who receive the greatest favors from heaven, and who are favored with the most secret divine communications.

According to a great number of interpreters, Ezekiel deserved to be honored with the title of martyr. We have nothing very evident regarding the manner of his death; but the work attributed to Saint Epiphanius on the life and death of the Prophets; Saint Isidore, Bishop of Seville; the author of the Imperfect Work on Saint Matthew, and above all the Roman Martyrology on this day, state that he was killed in Babylon by the judge of the people of Israel because he reproved him for his idolatry; and the Martyrology adds that he was then buried in the sepulcher of Shem and Arphaxad, who were the ancestors of Abraham. Saint Athanasius, in his book on the Incarnation of the Word, says that "this Prophet died for the sake of the people, because he announced to the people the troublesome things that were to happen to them." The author of the Imperfect Work that we have just cited says that this worthy Prophet, being condemned to die, was led to a place where there was a great quantity of stones, and that there he was stoned. Andrichomius, in his book which he calls the Theater of the Holy Land, believes that he was condemned to be quartered; but one sees no ancient author who makes mention of this type of death.

One still sees today Kiffel Presumed site of the prophet's tomb. in a place named Kiffel the tomb of the Prophet. The chief of the tribes who inhabit this country leads travelers into a large hall, supported all around by columns. At the back of this hall, a large box contains a copy of the five books of Moses, written on a single scroll. On the south side, a small room contains the tomb of Ezekiel. The dome of this chamber is gilded and continuously illuminated by a large quantity of lamps that never go out.

Saint Isidore and Saint Epiphanius report several miracles said to have been performed by this Prophet, such as having made the Jews pass on dry ground through the middle of the river Chebar, much as Moses once made the Israelites pass through the Red Sea; having obtained from God a very abundant quantity of fish to feed a great number of Jews who were extremely pressed by hunger; and having suddenly brought forth an infinity of venomous snakes to punish a portion of the people who had committed great faults; but there is no mention of these wonders in the book of our Prophet, nor in any other of the Holy Scripture: we therefore leave the judgment of them to the discreet reader.

The most beautiful page of Ezekiel is his vision of the Last Judgment: the terrible grandeur of this vision, which transports us to the hour when the lands and the oceans will give up their dead, has no equal in any literature. "The hand of Jehovah," says the Prophet, "rested upon me and transported me, in a divine vision, into the middle of a plain covered with bones. After the Spirit had made me traverse this lugubrious field, in which I contemplated bones without number, whitened by time: Son of man, asked Jehovah, will these dried remains live again? — Lord, I answered, you know. — And the voice resumed: Address the word to them; tell them: Arid bones, listen to the order of Jehovah. Here is what the Eternal has said: My breath will penetrate you and you will live; I will spread over you nerves like a network, I will make flesh grow which I will cover with a new skin; I will inspire in you the spirit of life, and you will resurrect. — I took the word and I reproduced the divine order. At my voice, a sonorous rattling resounded among the bones agitated in all directions. The bones drew near to the bones, according to the juxtaposition of their attachments. Before my eyes, they were covered with their nervous network, with flesh and a new skin. But they did not yet have the spirit of life; and Jehovah said to me: Son of man, address yourself to the Spirit, tell him: Here is the word of Adonai the Lord: Spirit, come from the four winds of heaven, breathe upon these dead, and let them live again. — My voice repeated the divine order. Immediately, the spirit of life penetrated these lying corpses; they resurrected, and standing on their feet before me they appeared to me as an innumerable army. Jehovah then said to me: Son of man, these dried bones are the figure of the house of Israel. They have said in their exile: Our bones have whitened on foreign soil, our hope has vanished, and we are dead forever. Go make them hear your prophecy: tell them: Here is the word of Adonai Jehovah: O my people, I will break the stone of your sepulcher, I will make you come out of the tomb, to bring you back to the land of Israel. You will know, on this day of your resurrection, when you shake off the dust of the grave, to find freedom and life, that I am Jehovah your God. My breath will pass over you, I will return you to rest on the native soil, and you will say: Adonai, the Lord, had promised it, and he has accomplished these wonders."

Raphael painted the vision of the mysterious chariot drawn by four animals representing the four evangelists; Ezekiel is found on the famous doors of the church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, in Rome, with a cartouche bearing these words in Latin: The Lord led me by the way of the northern gate. This gate designates the entry of the infidel nations into the Church; he is also represented dressed as a Jewish high priest, holding a small fortress or fortified tower with a closed gate, a symbol of the virginity of Mary announced by Ezekiel in these terms: "I saw a closed gate in the house of the Lord," ch. XLIV, v. 1; finally, he is found standing in the middle of the valley of Josaphat, surrounded by the dead who lift the lids of their tombs and come back to life at the breath of God.

The Greeks and the Russians have chosen July 21 to honor the memory of Ezekiel.