by
“Beyond points of
agreement, one profound issue of disagreement is highlighted, which leads to
the suggestion that the silence between Ezekiel and Jeremiah
covers over a great
ideological disagreement between the two … prophets …”.
Commentators have much puzzled over the fact that
two great prophets of Israel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who were contemporaries, never
appear to have referred the one to the other.
This has led to articles like, for instance, Dr.
Dalit Rom-Shiloni’s “Ezekiel and Jeremiah: What Might Stand Behind the
Silence?”:
https://humanities1.tau.ac.il/segel/dromshil/files/2012/10/Rom-Shiloni.HeBAI-2-2012203-30.pdf
Dr. Rom-Shiloni introduces her paper as follows:
This paper
brings up a long standing question in the study of Ezekiel and his (or, the
book’s) relationship to Jeremiah. The silence between the prophets is but a key
opening the door to a large hall filled with a great variety of historical and
literary-textual connections. Having reexamined the long list of suggested
parallel phrases and passages (from R. Smend [1880] to R. Kasher [2004]) from
the methodological standpoint of intertextuality and allusion, the study
reveals the complicated relationships between the books in their different
layers. Beyond points of agreement, one profound issue of disagreement is
highlighted, which leads to the suggestion that the silence between Ezekiel and
Jeremiah covers over a great ideological disagreement between the two
contemporary prophets of YHWH. Hence, the silence between the prophets and
their books is a highly eloquent one.
Further on,
Dr. Rom-Shiloni will suggest why it might be expected that there would have
been communication between Jeremiah and Ezekiel (pp. 205-206):
The expectation that some kind of contact existed between Ezekiel and
Jeremiah is based on the following indications: A. Each of them recognizes
their time as a period of intensive prophetic activity, marked by fierce
polemics over both status and message (Jer 14:13–16; 23:9–40; 27–29; Ezek 13).
Jeremiah mentions by name some prophets who were active in Babylon (Jer 29:21,
24) yet says nothing about that one prophet, Ezekiel.
Is it reading
too much into the text to wonder whether, when he quotes the Jehoiachin Exiles’
saying: נבאים יהוה לנו הקים בבלה” The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon” (Jer 29:15),
Jeremiah is referring obliquely to (and putting down) Ezekiel? …. Indeed,
according to Ezekiel’s own call narrative, he was called to his prophetic
mission on the Kebar River in Babylon (Ezek 1:1).
B. Jeremiah and Ezekiel have quite similar personal backgrounds, as
members of priestly families commissioned to prophesy (Ezek 1:3; Jer 1:1).
Scholars have noted the differences in their descent, and even claimed a
rivalry between their priestly families, since Ezekiel was of Jerusalemite,
perhaps even of Zadokite, origin and Jeremiah was of the priests of Anatoth
(Jer 1:1), who are said to have descended from Abiathar. …. Whatever the
relations between their clans, we may assume some basic resemblance in their
education and in their intellectual and spiritual formation.
C. The likelihood of connection between the prophets may also stem from
the socio-political situation of the Judean communities from the early sixth
century B.C.E. and onwards. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel express in their
individual prophecies the highly tense and even hostile relationship between
the two Judean communities, the community left behind in Jerusalem and the
Jehoiachin Exiles in Babylon (Jer 22:24–30; 32:6–15; Ezek 11:1–13, 14–21;
33:23–29). Both this personal data and the antagonism between the communities
in Babylon and Jerusalem suggest the strong possibility that Jeremiah and
Ezekiel would not only have known of each other by name, but also would have
been aware of each other’s prophetic activity. ….
And, with
that, Dr. Rom-Shiloni returns to her former query (p. 206): “If so, what are we
to make of the silence of each in relation to the other?”
Her
suggestion being:
I want to
propose that we investigate this silence itself as another datum in the
struggle between the two Judean communities, in Babylon and in Judah, a
conflict that we can trace back to the prophets themselves and follow on
through the editorial strands of their books.
….
Specifying the significance of the prophets’ silence in this way suggests
that the relation between them should be addressed at the historical,
sociological, and literary levels.
The most basic questions that address the historical context of these
prophetic personages are: Did Ezekiel know Jeremiah? Did he hear him or read
his prophecies in Jerusalem prior to 598 B.C.E.? Did he come to read his
scrolls only when Ezekiel arrived in Babylon? ….
I, however,
would like to suggest quite a different approach to the problem.
Ezekiel
may have been Jeremiah’s own son
“Some even say that [Ezekiel] was the son of
Jeremiah, who was also
called “Buz” because he was despised—"buz"—by
the Jews …”.
Jewish
Encyclopedia
“Did Ezekiel
know Jeremiah?” Yes, I say, Ezekiel did know Jeremiah, and vice versa. Ezekiel may actually have been Jeremiah’s
son, as according to rabbinic tradition. The pair does indeed meet in the OT,
in the Book of Jeremiah, as I am going to be arguing.
But, because
of the fact that the prophet Ezekiel is there referred to by another name, the
connection is by no means obvious.
That is
alright, because the prophet Jeremiah himself is presented in the OT under
different names. For, according to my biblico-historical reconstructions,
“Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory
of Benjamin” (Jeremiah 1:1), was actually the High Priest:
Jeremiah
was both prophet and high priest
(1) Jeremiah was both prophet and high priest
And Jeremiah:
-
was King
Hezekiah’s chief official, Eliakim
son of Hilkiah, over the
Tabernacle, i.e., High Priest (2 Kings 18:18; cf. Isaiah 22:15, Vulgate).
-
He was the
High Priest, Eliachim (Douay), or Joakim, in the Book of Judith.
-
He was the
otherwise unknown “Jehoiakim
the high
priest, the son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum”, of Baruch 1:7.
None of this,
admittedly, helps us with forging any cogent link between the High Priest of
Jerusalem, “Jeremiah son of Hilkiah”, and the priest-prophet Ezekiel (1:3): “…
Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi …”.
And,
geographically, while Jeremiah is primarily to be found in Jerusalem, Ezekiel
seems to have lived some distance away, as may be apparent from the fact that
news of the Fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians took about a day to reach him
(Ezekiel 33:21).
But it needs
also to be noted that Jeremiah was not always in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah
sometimes away from Jerusalem
The Book of
Judith specifically makes mention of the fact that the High Priest, Joakim
(that is, Jeremiah) “was in Jerusalem at the time” (4:6) of Holofernes’
invasion, implying that he was not always located there (vv. 6-7):
The high priest Joakim, who
was in Jerusalem at the time, wrote to the
people of Bethulia and Betomesthaim, which faces Esdraelon opposite the plain
near Dothan, ordering them to seize the mountain passes, since by them
Judea could be invaded, and it would be easy to stop any who tried to enter,
for the approach was narrow, wide enough for only two at a time to pass.
Previously I
have thought that Jeremiah – {who seems to have had some strategic military
involvement as Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and as the High Priest Joakim} - as we
have just read from Judith 4 - may also have been the Akhimiti (Eli-achim?)
whom Sargon II of Assyria established as governor of Ashdod (Lachish) after
that city had rebelled against the Assyrians (Isaiah 20:1):
As
Ashduddu (Ashdod) is to Lachish, so, likewise, is Eshnunna to Lagash
(1) As Ashduddu (Ashdod) is to Lachish, so, likewise, is Eshnunna to
Lagash
That would
explain some of Jeremiah’s absence; an absence which is felt most keenly when
Jeremiah is nowhere to be found, either being consulted by King Josiah, or
being involved in the delegation to the prophetess Huldah (that is, Judith),
upon his father, Hilkiah’s, finding of the Book of the Law in the Temple.
Where was
Jeremiah at this crucial moment in time?
Why did king
Josiah, upon the finding of the Book of the Law, send his chief ministers to
consult, not the male prophets, Jeremiah and Zephaniah, but a mysterious female
prophetess named Huldah (חֻלְדָּה)? (2 Kings 22:8-20).
The situation
becomes even more extraordinary in the context of my revision which merges the
era of king Josiah with that of king Hezekiah, showing that the king’s servant
“Asaiah” of Josiah is to be identified with the great Isaiah himself.
For more on
this revision of the Judean kingship, see e.g. my article:
Damien
F. Mackey’s A Tale of Two Theses
(1) Damien F. Mackey's A Tale of Two Theses
We also know
that, on at least one occasion, Jeremiah went (was delegated to go) away to the
River Euphrates (Jeremiah 13:1-7).
I think that
the key to Jeremiah’s absence from Jerusalem - or to some of it, at least - is
to be found in his chapter 16, which some over-interpret as the Lord forbidding
him to marry.
No, all that he
is told is not to marry within ill-fated Judah, “in this place” (16:1-4):
The Lord gave me another message. He
said, ‘Do not get married or have children in this place. For this is
what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and
about their mothers and fathers: They will die from terrible diseases. No
one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground
like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food
for the vultures and wild animals’.
I am
presuming that one like Jeremiah, in line to becoming High Priest, would have
been expected to marry.
So, where
would be the logical place beyond Judah for the presumably young Jeremiah to
have gone in order to find for himself a worthy wife?
To Aram, of
course, as had his great patriarchal predecessors.
And, has that
any connection with his venture to the River Euphrates and the linen loin cloth
incident?
Whatever
about that, my suggestion is that Jeremiah went to the land of the Buzites,
closely connected with Aram (Genesis 22:20-21): “Some time later Abraham was
told, ‘Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother
Nahor: Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of
Aram) …’.”
And there, in
the course of time, he became the father of the wise young Elihu of the
Book of Job (32:2): “… Elihu son of Barakel [Barachel] the Buzite, of the
family of Ram …”.
“Ram” here
thought to indicate Aram.
Jeremiah
certainly knew of Buz (25:23): “… Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who
are in distant places …”.
And this, Buz,
may be our sought-after connection with the priest-prophet, Ezekiel, likewise a
Buzite, apparently living some distance away from Judah.
Comparisons
between Elihu and Ezekiel, for one, are common.
See for
example my article:
Elihu
a contemporary of the prophet Ezekiel
(2) Elihu a
contemporary of the prophet Ezekiel
In that
article I will also note that: “The prophet Zechariah has certain likenesses to
the mysterious prophet Ezekiel”.
The textual
likenesses are so numerous, in fact, that one feels much inclined to factor in
the priest-prophet Zechariah as being, too, the priest-prophet Ezekiel.
And, if
Ezekiel is also Elihu, then we may have a patronymic connection between Elihu’s
ancestor, Barachel, and Zechariah’s Berechiah (Zechariah 1:1).
The
Jeremiah connection
In an
outstanding, but perhaps not so well known, chapter 35 of Jeremiah, sometimes
labelled “Rechabites” (Rekabites), we read of an upright young Rechabite,
Jaazaniah, who is the son of a Jeremiah (vv. 1-11):
This
is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of
Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: ‘Go to the
Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of
the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink’.
So
I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his
brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites. I brought
them into the House of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of
Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which
was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. Then I set
bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, ‘Drink
some wine’.
But
they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab son
of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever
drink wine. Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards;
you must never have any of these things, but must always live in
tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are
nomads’. We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of
Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have
ever drunk wine or built houses to live in or had vineyards,
fields or crops. We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything
our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. But when Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to
escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies’. So we have remained in
Jerusalem.”
The Rechabite Jaazaniah and his clan
not only lived outside of Judah, but they may have been Buzites, for he was a
“son of Habazziniah” (meaning the-Buz-ite?).
Jaazaniah, moreover, was the “son of
Jeremiah”. Our Jeremiah, I believe.
This, then, may have been the prophet Jeremiah’s
family on his non-Jewish wife’s side, which would explain how Jeremiah could be
both a High Priest connected to Anathoth, but also be related to the Buzites.
The Lord highly praises these
Rechabites for their fidelity, and as an example to Judah and Jerusalem,
declaring (vv. 12-18):
Then
the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: ‘This is what
the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the
people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a
lesson and obey my words?’ declares the Lord. ‘Jehonadab son of
Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept.
To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s
command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not
obeyed me. Again and again I sent all my servants the
prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked
ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them.
Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.”
But you have not paid attention or listened to me. The descendants of
Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave
them, but these people have not obeyed me’.
“Therefore
this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen!
I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every
disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not
listen; I called to them, but they did not answer’.”
Then
Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what
the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the
command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his
instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ Therefore this is what
the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab
will never fail to have a descendant to serve me’.”
The last verse can also be translated
as (35:19): ‘Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab
the son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before me’, suggesting
a Levitical priest.
They were to be the offspring of a High
Priest.
As Jaazaniah immediately refused to
take the forbidden wine, so will (his potential counterpart) Ezekiel recoil
from the Lord’s strange request for him (Ezekiel 4:12-14): “And you shall eat
it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” And
the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread
unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them”.
(Verse 14): “Then I said, ‘Ah
Lord God! behold, I have never defiled myself; from my youth up till now I
have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has foul flesh
come into my mouth’.”
Cf. Zechariah 9:6-7.
Jaazaniah the Rechabite, was, I
suggest, a Buzite son of Jeremiah, and likely the priest-prophet Ezekiel/Elihu
(Zechariah).
Unlike with Jeremiah, the names differ
- the connecting thread throughout being Buz.
Conclusion
Thus, I
think, we can finally answer Dr. Dalit Rom-Shiloni’s vital questions:
“If so, what
are we to make of the silence of each in relation to the other?”
Did Ezekiel
know Jeremiah?
Ezekiel, if
he were Jeremiah’s very son, certainly knew Jeremiah, and vice versa.
But they would
have lived, for the most part, geographically well apart.
A
note on Zechariah. If
Zechariah were also Ezekiel/Elihu (Jaazaniah), as I suspect, then he, as the
final martyr in Jerusalem before Jesus Christ (Matthew 23:35), really did
fulfil Jeremiah 35:19: ‘… shall never lack a man
to stand before me’.
Again, if Zechariah were also
Ezekiel/Elihu, then he was reunited with his old friend, Job, as Haggai:
Haggai as Job late in his life?
(4) Haggai as Job late in his life?
as late as
the early reign of Darius the Persian (cf. Zechariah 1:1; Haggai 1:1).
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