When terrible news arrives - who will be there to warn ahead of time, to console us, to offer new paths for how to keep going?
Is this the prophet’s role? And who would that be today?
Ezekiel, exiled priest turned prophet, transitions in this dramatic chapter - both his role and his message evolve.
He will no longer be ranting against the other nations - but rather focus on the national tragedy of his nation - now that what he had been warning of has occurred --- the worse case scenario has been confirmed.
And he will become more popular -- but not for long, and not for the message that he wants to deliver. In some ways, this chapter confirms what we already know -- people- then and now -- have a very ambivalent relationship with those chosen or nominated to be societal watchdogs and keepers of morality.
Often, those voices will be ignored or ridiculed - until it’s just too late. This is what happens in this chapter, in which terrible moment happens - the refugees arrive with the news:
וַיְהִ֞י בִּשְׁתֵּ֧י עֶשְׂרֵ֣ה שָׁנָ֗ה בָּעֲשִׂרִ֛י בַּֽחֲמִשָּׁ֥ה לַחֹ֖דֶשׁ לְגָלוּתֵ֑נוּ בָּא־אֵלַ֨י הַפָּלִ֧יט מִירוּשָׁלַ֛͏ִם לֵאמֹ֖ר הֻכְּתָ֥ה הָעִֽיר׃
In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a refugee came to me from Jerusalem and reported, “The city has fallen.”
Ezekiel 33:21
According to most scholars, this date - twelve years since the first wave of exiles, marks five months since the burning of the temple and the destruction of Jerusalem. Did it take that long for the refugee to make it to Tel Aviv in Babylon? It’s possible. Perhaps it took that long for official word to arrive, confirmed, and for the exiles in Babylon to internalize the scope of the shock.
For Ezekiel, who begins this chapter by describing his role as that of the local watchman, with shofar as alarm clock in hand - this event is literally a wake up call.
Whatever he has not yet said out loud until now - must be said -- he is given no more choices:
וְיַד־יְהֹוָה֩ הָיְתָ֨ה אֵלַ֜י בָּעֶ֗רֶב לִפְנֵי֙ בּ֣וֹא הַפָּלִ֔יט וַיִּפְתַּ֣ח אֶת־פִּ֔י עַד־בּ֥וֹא אֵלַ֖י בַּבֹּ֑קֶר וַיִּפָּ֣תַח פִּ֔י וְלֹ֥א נֶאֱלַ֖מְתִּי עֽוֹד
YHWH’s hand had come upon me the evening before the refugee arrived, opening my mouth before he came to me in the morning; thus my mouth was opened and I was no longer speechless.
Ezekiel 33:22
What’s happening here? Why is the night before the arrival of the bad news that he had been expecting and warning against for so many years - the one on which his mouth opens up?
Had he not been speaking up this whole time?
Perhaps there is another, deeper sense of urgency when the calamity finally happens. No more small talk. Ezekiel knows that this new reality requires him to up his game in some way - that for those who had been hearing him but maybe looked away he will be needed now in a more urgent way that will offer the people some sense and some future direction.
What he’s being told, quite brutally, by God, and what he’s telling us - right now - is that there are times in which keeping silent is not an option.
The responsibility is to speak up, no matter the price.
Robert Alter suggests:
“As elsewhere, Ezekiel represents his prophetic experience as a kind of bodily seizure by God in which he is virtually a passive instrument. One suspects that, more than the other prophets, he underwent extreme ecstatic states. He seems to imply here that prior to the night before the arrival of the fugitive, he had been plunged in a condition of muteness. By his own account, he had certainly prophesied several times in the period before and after the final conquest of the kingdom of Judah. It may be the case that he alternated between times of ecstatic prophecy and times of total silence.”
Whatever he’s about to say, however, -- it won’t, tragically, do much.
Ezekiel will become popular in the aftermath of the destruction - his warnings turned out to be true, and so he has gained some trust, as the exiles need clarity and direction.
But though his mouth will open and his words will be heard - they won’t be followed, and they won’t be taken seriously at all.
YHWH warns him that “To them you are just a singer of bawdy songs, who has a sweet voice and plays skillfully; they hear your words, but will not obey them.”
How has Ezekiel become no more than entertainment when his message is so much more than that?
That’s probably exactly why. He keeps telling the people that they have agency - and they can still repent from their immoral ways, get back to center, re-choose god and love. But as so often happens they prefer distraction and the narratives they know too well - blame the past, blame the others -- but not take on the blame themselves, and not commit to change, for better.
When will they ever learn? When will we?
When will more prophets have the courage to speak up the unpopular and painful truths? On this night we wrap up Hanukkah, one more night of lights to proclaim history and hope, and maybe also one more night to use our visions and our words for good.
How can we overcome the factors that divide us, the fear that paralyzes us, and speak up for a world that deserves moral solutions, tough compromises and a brave new path to peace - so that Jerusalem will not again become a heap of broken hopes?
Go Below the Bible Belt. Link in bio. subscribe.Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.
#Ezekiel #Ezekiel33 #ProphetEzekiel #יחזקאל #יחזקאלבןבוזי #BookofEzekiel #Prophets #Neviim #Hebrewbible #Tanach #929 #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929 #watchman #breakingthesilence #speechlessnomore #unpopulartruth #speakup #silenceisdeath #publicprotest #Trauma #empathy #grief #stoptheviolence #peace #prayforpeace #nomorewar #hope #hanukkah2023