Sefer Yechezkel - An Introduction Based on Dr. Tova Ganzel's book Ezekiel: From Destruction to Restoration December 8, 2023

The Book of Yechezkel covers a fateful period of some 22 years in the history of the Jewish People: beginning with year five of the exile of King Yehoyakhin (593 B.C.E.), and ending fifteen years after the Destruction of the First Temple (571 B.C.E.). It was a momentous age, unprecedented in many ways. The Jewish nation was split between two centers – Judah and Babylon – with each group maintaining a separate identity. The Destruction of the Temple and the exile that followed created the unprecedented challenge of preserving the nation's identity in the absence of a Temple and cut off from its land.
The sefer is unique among the books of Tanakh - it is the only one that describes what is happening to the Jews during the years of churban bayit rishon, but from an external and internal perspective simultaneously. Yechezkel speaks to us from Bavel; not from Yerushalaim. We hear the immediacy of the nation's painful cries and grief, but the echo of distance and disconnect. [MO: It is very hard for me to not think about this time in late 2023, when I see the difference in how those of us in Medinat Yisrael and those in the diaspora are speaking about the current war.]

Although the navi was not present in Yerushalaim, he is not unaware of the events occurring there; he observes them from afar. His prophecies are harsh (particularly in the beginning of the sefer). Yet, these prophecies also convey the message that the bond between HaShem and the Jewish people is an eternal bond.
Yechezkel's words are the only clear example of prophecy conveyed in Babylon after the Destruction and prior to Cyrus's declaration and the return to the Land around 35 years later. The independent status of the Jewish community in Babylon during this time is discernible in several ways, including the king of Babylon’s treatment of Yehoyakhin.

And the Jews apparently maintained this status throughout the Second Temple Period (Esther 2:5-6).

The Book of Yechezkel is essential in understanding both the Destruction and Exile and their lasting influence on the Diaspora Jewish identity to this day.

The Book of Yechezkel is organized chronologically, with chapters 1-24 dating before the Destruction and chapters 33-48 to the years after it. At its center (chapters 25-32) is a collection of prophecies directed towards other nations; these are placed together because of their content, rather than out of chronological considerations. The last explicit (?) date is 29:17

Historical Context
The prophet Yechezkel is not mentioned by name in the other Books of Tanakh. Nevertheless, the account provided in Sefer Melakhim supplies us with the historical context within which Sefer Yechezkel was written.

Before becoming king, he led the Babylonian army against the Egyptians in the battle of Carchemish.

The account of the battle in the Babylonian Chronicle reads as follows:
The king of Akkad^[e] stayed home (while) Nebuchadnezzar, his eldest son (and) crown prince mustered [the army of Akkad]. He took his army's lead and marched to Carchemish, which is on the bank of the Euphrates. He crossed the river at Carchemish. [...] They did battle together. The army of Egypt retreated before him. He inflicted a [defeat] upon them (and) finished them off completely. In the district of Hamath the army of Akkad overtook the remainder of the army of [Egypt which] managed to escape [from] the defeat and which was not overcome. They inflicted a defeat upon them (so that) a single (Egyptian) man [did not return] home. At that time Nebuchadnezzar conquered all of Ha[ma]th. (See Nebuchadnezzar the Warrior: Remarks on his Military Achievements, by Israel Ephʿal in Israel Exploration Journal Vol. 53, No. 2 (2003), pp. 178-191 (14 pages) (https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927044).

A few months after the battle of Carchemish, Neb's father died and he returned to Babylonia to be coronated. In 604 BCE, Neb's army conquered Ashkelon. In 601 BCE, he fought against the king of Egypt. So, Yehoiakim decided to rebel.

We know how Neb dealt with defeated kings.

In 597 BCE, Neb laid siege to Yerushalaim in response to the rebellion, but it seems that Yehoiakim died before then. His son, Yehoiachin ascended the throne and then 3 months later surrendered to Neb.

The Babylonian historical record breaks off in the eleventh year of Neb's reign, so we are unsure of the exact timing of Yehoiachin's rebellion - perhaps in 595 BCE. (See Yechezkel Ch. 17 and Jeremiah Ch. 27) Neb again laid seige to Yerushalaim (beginning on 10th of Tevet in ninth year of Tzidkiyahu and lasting until the 9th of Av in the eleventh year of his reign - in the summer of 586 BCE).

Sefer Melachim does provide us with the perspective of what was happening from Yerushalaim.

In the year 597 BCE, Neb exiled the elite of the population of Yehuda. These exiles included Yechezkel son of Buzi, a Kohen and a prophet. Yehoyakhin’s exile was a pivotal event for Yechezkel. The entire chronology of the Book is counted according to the years of the exile of Yehoyakhin (1:2; 8:1; 20:1; 24:1; 26:1; 30:20; 31:1), as is the date of the prophecy foretelling the Destruction of the Temple (33:41), as well as the prophecies that were revealed post-Destruction (29:17; 32:1,17; 40:1). This exile dealt a heavy national blow to the lifestyle and status of the inhabitants of Judah. Without the king and his family, the men of valor, the craftsmen, and all the treasures of God's House and of the king's house, the land was left destitute.
Neb probably considered this exile, in which he removed one king (Yehoyakhin) and replaced him with another (Tzidkiyahu), to be more significant in asserting Babylonia’s authority over Judah than the exile that followed the Destruction of the Temple eleven years later. The appointment of Gedalia after the conquest of Jerusalem and the Destruction of the Temple indicates that, in Neb's eyes, the fate of the inhabitants of Jerusalem had been sealed earlier. But the locals saw things differently. To them, as long as the Temple was standing nothing had really changed. The events of the past, in particular the campaign of Sancheriv, still echoed in their ears. They expected that another miracle would save them in the final moments of the siege, and firmly believed that the Temple was indestructible.
The "people of Your redemption" vs. "the inhabitants of Jerusalem"
Yechezkel addressed his prophecy to the exiles who had been carried away with him in the exile of Yehoyakhin to Babylon. The purpose of Yechezkel's prophecies – in the years preceding the Destruction – was to inform the people that God had departed from His Temple in Jerusalem and a new reality had begun. The sefer abounds with discussions of the new reality and the dilemmas it raises, including how does Divine retribution relate to the individual (chapters 14, 18, 33)? What is the proper attitude towards Babylonia (chapter 17)? What is the status of the covenant between the nation of Israel and God, now that it has been violated by the nation and the Temple is destroyed (especially chapters 20, 36)? The prophetic response to these questions lays the foundation for understanding the future redemption of Israel (chapters 34-39), the vision of the future Temple (chapters 40-48), and the prophecies to the nations (chapters 25-32).
Although most of the prophecies to the exiles of Yehoyakhin relate to what is happening in the Land in those years, some of the prophecies in the Book paint a picture of God's view of the Babylonian exiles, in particular how their identity is distinct from that of the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the same years. In chapter 11 Yechezkel quotes the "inhabitants of Jerusalem," who say that the exiles have distanced themselves from God and from His Land, and that they are not counted among the inheritors of the land and those close to God:

HaShem's response, however, conveyed through the prophet, is that while those taken in captivity are currently in exile, God is with them there, as a "miniature Temple":

This dialogue – featuring both the claim of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and reassurance to the exiles – demonstrates the exiles’ uncertainty regarding their identity in relation to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and their questioning of God's place in their midst. Their concern is unsurprising considering that the ten tribes who had been exiled some 150 years previously (some already in the year 732 B.C.E., and the majority in the years 722-720 B.C.E.) had lost their Jewish identity. Thus, Yechezkel's prophetic message (like that of Yirmiyahu in chapter 29:1-9) to the exiles is a new one and requires a change of historical perspective. For the first time, the prophets affirm the Jewish identity of the exiles: they remain part of God’s nation, even though the Jews still living in their homeland have a different view, and maintain that God's place is still in the Temple in their midst.
Surprisingly, this view of the inhabitants of the land does not change even after the Destruction, as we learn from a different dialogue that Yechezkel quotes in his prophecies:

Even after the burning of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity led away by Nevuzaradan (Melakhim II 25), when only a tiny number of the "poor of the land" are left in Jerusalem, they maintain their view that they are numerous in comparison with the solitary Avraham. Therefore those who remain in the land will inherit the land, they claim, not those who have been taken into captivity to Babylon. The prophet dismisses this view:

Those who have remained in the land have not learned the lessons of the Destruction, points out the prophet. They continue to sin. The sins Yechezkel lists here are unconnected to the Temple, which is destroyed. He goes on to reject the claim of those remaining in the land; not only are they not destined to inherit the land, but it will instead become completely desolate (which indeed is what happened after the murder of Gedalia):

The dwelling places of those remaining in the land described here is typical of a population left after the destruction of the city: they live in the open fields, in strongholds, and in caves. But if this prophecy brought some comfort to the captives in Babylonia, Yechezkel concludes that it is not only the remnants in the land who have not changed their deeds following the Destruction, but also those exiled with Yehoyakhin:

The Destruction establishes Yechezkel’s authenticity as a prophet who bears God's word. But even though the people come to hear God's word from him, their behavior remains unchanged even after they find out that the Temple has been burned and Jerusalem destroyed.
Both groups, the inhabitants in the land and those exiled to Babylonia, despite their differences, have this in common: neither changed its behavior during these years. Perhaps, then, we can suggest that Yechezkel's prophetic mission during these years was not to call upon the people to mend their ways and repent, but rather to explain the significance of the events in Jerusalem, and thereby to prepare the ground for the prophecies of rebuilding which came after the Destruction, as well as the vision of the future Temple.
"The language of this prophet is exceedingly wondrous and esoteric, and brief"
A literalist ("peshat") reading of the prophecies of Yechezkel raises many difficulties, and R. Eliezer of Beaugency notes this from his Introduction to the Book until his commentary on the concluding chapters dealing with the Temple (40-48).
Eliezer was born at Beaugency, capital of a canton in the department of Loiret. A student of Rashbam, Eliezer was one of the most distinguished representatives of Rashbam's school and of the exegesis of northern France. His chief concern was to find the connection between successive verses and the sequence of thought, a method that is also characteristic of the system of interpretation employed by Rashbam as well as Joseph Kara. Not concerned with grammatical observations or daring criticisms, he reached very happy results in explaining certain figurative passages in accordance with the metaphors employed in the context. He often used French terms to express his thoughts more clearly. His interpretation is entirely free from midrashic admixture. He was particularly interested in dating the Biblical prophecies and identifying the events mentioned in them.
Dr. Ganzel tries to understand the plain meaning of Sefer Yechezkel, walking in the footsteps of this important work. Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency's Introduction to Sefer Yechezkel begins with the difficulty of interpreting the words of the prophet:
"Son of man, see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears and set your heart to the language of this prophet, for it is wondrous, esoteric, and brief. Even to our Sages, of blessed memory, his words appeared to contradict teachings of the Torah, so esoteric and concise were they…"
After pointing out the difficulty of studying Sefer Yechezkel in general, R. Eliezer of Beaugency then goes on to address the first specific problem that arises (as addressed also by the other commentaries), namely the date with which the Book begins:
"And it was in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], on the fifth of the month…" (1:1)
First, there is no indication of the point from which the prophet counts these thirty years. Second, the next verse gives a different date, counting from the exile of Yehoyakhin, but the relationship between the two counts is unclear:
"On the fifth of the month, which was in the fifth year of the exile of king Yehoyakhin…" (ibid. 2)
R. Eliezer of Beaugency writes, in his introduction:
"Note that that at the start his words, he does not explain how he calculates 'thirty years.' And although the words of Targum [Yonatan] are straightforward, explaining that this is [thirty years] since Chilkiyahu the Kohen found the Sefer Torah, nevertheless this is not the [customary] way of the Scriptures [to count]. Nevertheless, we have no other way of explaining it, although we do not know why he saw fit to count from that point. Looking at the Book as a whole, we might suggest the following: we find no prophet rebuking his own generation about Torah and the commandments the way that he does. Most of what he says is like Torah speech, he almost repeats the entire Torah for them. Note that this is true in many matters. Since the Book of Torah was revealed to them in his days, and he was in the exile where there were no kohanim or prophets as there were in the Land, he told them off in accordance with the Sefer Torah that had been found. It was as though he was teaching them a new Torah, for it had been forgotten in the days of Menashe. And since his prophecies and his words concerned the words of the Sefer Torah that had been found, therefore he counted [the years] from the time of its discovery, for the whole essence of his Book is dependent upon it."
In his Introduction, R. Eliezer of Beaugency accepts the solution proposed by the Targun Yonatan – that the prophet refers in the first verse to the thirty years that had passed since the discovery of the Sefer Torah, during the reign of Yoshiyahu – even while acknowledging that “this is not the [customary] way of the Writings [to count].” It would seem that there is more to the reason for his acceptance of this explanation of the counting of the years. In this way he emphasizes that in his generation Yechezkel was a unique prophet, insofar as he rebukes the people "with regard to Torah and the commandments," and "repeats for them the entire Torah" which had been forgotten.
It would seem that in proposing this interpretation, R. Eliezer of Beaugency seeks to solve two fundamental difficulties that arise in the study of Sefer Yechezkel in general. First, how is it possible that during such fateful years for the Jewish People, Yechezkel almost entirely avoids any call to the people to repent? Second, we know of no prophet other than Yechezkel who gives the people statutes and laws. Moreover, the statutes that he sees in his Divine visions appear to contradict laws of the Torah. How can this be? By adopting the explanation of "the thirtieth year" as referring to the discovery of the Sefer Torah in the days of Yoshiyahu, R. Eliezer of Beaugency emphasizes that most of Yechezkel’s speech “is like Torah speech,” and although it might seem at times that he is "teaching them a new Torah," in fact "the whole essence of his Book is dependent upon it." In other words, despite the discrepancies between the perceptions familiar to us from the Torah and those arising from a study of Sefer Yechezkel, we need not entertain any doubt or fear: the prophecy of Yechezkel in its entirety rests upon the Torah, as emphasized at the very outset in the noting of the date of the prophecy in relation to the discovery of the Sefer Torah in the days of Yoshiyahu.