Yirmiyahu
Yirmiyahu’s story is one of intense personal and national pain. He never married, having been instructed by God not to build a family of his own in light of the impending destruction. His energies were rather focused on persuading the Jewish people to repent, an exercise in which he was painfully unsuccessful.
Yirmiyahu first began to prophesize in the years following the reign of Menasheh and his idolatrous inroads. He continued to do so for the rest of his life, cajoling the people to seek atonement. His later years coincided with the rise of Babylonia as a world power and its extended exile of the Jewish people. His messages are clearly marked with a conviction that Judah was under God’s judgment and that Babylon was His appointed messenger to exile the Jews.
His message stressed spiritual and moral improvement, not military prowess or political savvy. Yirmiyahu said that only repentance could save the people from destruction. When his message went left unheeded, he realized that destruction was inevitable. He thus counseled submission to Babylonia, opposing any talk of revolt.
Such talk, of course did little to enhance Yirmiyahu’s popularity among the Jewish people. Both the populace and the monarchs opposed him. He was later forbidden entrance to the Temple and even imprisoned. Throughout, Yirmiyahu displayed remarkable resilience and fortitude in his heavenly mission.
The people of his time grossly misunderstood his motives. He was perceived as a prophet of doom, who took pleasure in predicting pain and destruction. Of course, the exact opposite was true. Yirmiyahu wanted desperately for the Jews to heed his cry and to change their ways. When his foreboding prophecies came to pass, he refused to indulge in personal vindication. Rather, he voluntarily escorted his exiled brethren as far as the Euphrates, and mourned their loss.
Yirmiyahu is the author of Eicha (Lamentations), which is read on the night of Tisha B’Av. After Jerusalem’s fall, the Babylonians allowed him to remain with the new governor, Gedaliah, at Mizpah. Following Gedaliah’s murder, he was forcibly taken to Egypt by those who feared Babylonian reprisals.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Yirmiyahu was his ability to inspire hope and religious observance even for those in exile. He taught that one must meet despair and overcome it, making the best of adversity. He foretold that this Babylonian exile would last for only 70 years, after which the Jewish people would be allowed to return to their homeland. In the days prior to the Temple’s destruction, he purchased land for future settlement.
As the exiles were brought into captivity, he encouraged them to set up markers for their eventual return, even though no exiles had ever returned. It was he who coined the famous words that inspire such hope and joy – “od yishama…b’arei Yehuda” – “[the sound of rejoicing] will again be heard…in the cities of Judah.”
Yirmiyahu taught the exiles that they were able to reach God even in their new surroundings, far from their homeland. God was too great to be restricted to the Temple alone.
A great historical irony is embodied in Yirmiyahu. His enemies met their terrible fate and have vanished from history. Yirmiyahu, as persecuted and denounced as he was during his lifetime, lives on in the hearts and prayers of the Jewish people.
Yechezkel
The message of Yechezkel has special meaning for the Jewish community in exile. His was the first and only communication from among the primary prophets to be relayed exclusively outside the land of Israel.
As one of the earlier exiles, Yechezkel was brought to Babylon. There, he began to prophesy even before the Temple’s destruction. Like his fellow prophet Yirmiyahu, he initially focused on Divine retribution. The Jews would receive their just and promised punishment for having violated their covenant with God. Their only hope for averting His wrath was through complete and sincere repentance.
