Ezekiel יחזקאל
The prophet of exile: the vision of the Chariot, the valley of dry bones and the plan of the future Temple.
Yechezkel is the first prophet to speak outside the Land, by the river Kvar in Babylonia, among those deported with king Yehoyachin. His book opens with the vision of the Chariot—a text so difficult that the Mishna forbids expounding it in public and permits transmitting it to a single student, and only if he "understands of his own knowledge".
He prophesies by act as well as word: lying on his side for three hundred and ninety days, baking bread in public view, refusing to mourn his wife—every action a sign. Before the destruction he is harsh; afterwards he speaks only comfort.
His best-known vision is the valley of dry bones that grow sinew and flesh and stand up: "these bones are the whole house of Israel"—the enduring image of resurrection and national revival.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Yechezkel 1–48 — the Merkavah, the dry bones, and the plan of the Temple
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Mishnah Chagigah 2:1 — the restriction on expounding the Merkavah in public
- Chagigah 13a — Chananyah ben Chizkiyah saved the book from being hidden away
- Sanhedrin 92b — the dispute: are the dry bones a parable or an event
- Bava Batra 15a — the book was written down by the men of the Great Assembly
Basis: tradition.