POLYCHRONIUS

(Hypothesis) |See Bardenhewer's (1897) German|:

At this time there were also false prophets, who deceived the people, not only in Judaea but also in Babylon. And the [Jewish] people, as they inclined toward impiety, were "trained" more extensively by the deceit of the false prophets; and they absolutely considered what was said by the prophets false. So then, not only in Judaea were there those who wished to turn the [Jewish] people aside [from the right path]—for Jeremiah would have sufficed to exhort these—but also in Babylon there were false prophets saying the same things things as those in the Land of Promise. In resistance to them, Ezekiel also presented to those in Babylon what was fitting. For because those who lived in Judaea and those who had gone off into exile were being reared by each other toward wickedness, of necessity prophets were put forward in both lands, reproving the wickedness of the exiles and guiding the masses into piety. You see, in the exile too they were not unaware of what was said by Jeremiah; and those in Judaea knew what was being prophesied by Ezekiel—indeed, it is clear that they interacted with each other by means of letters. Jeremiah, at least, says: "These words of the book, which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the elders of the emigrants, and to the priests, and to the false prophets, and to the whole people, [as] a letter to Babylon."

And the same prophet reveals that Shemaiah the Elamite wrote from Babylon to those in Judaea, proclaiming that they should not fear the things threatened, and placing blame on Zephaniah, because while he held priestly office he had not imprisoned Jeremiah, who was making threats about capture [by the Babylonians] to the masses. It was in such difficult times that the blessed Ezekiel arose, quite strangely, also engaged in the form of prophecy. For the other prophets, it is clear, made predictions of the capture with words alone—except that rarely, they used the other modes of prophecy—whereas Ezekiel acted quite differently from Isaiah, Hosea, Obadiah, and all those who lived in those days, predicting terrible things with threats and exhortations alone. Ezekiel, therefore, made his prediction in large part by means of type and experience. For his depiction of the city on a brick and his giving it an encirclement, constructing battlements, surrounding it with a palisade, and putting encampments on display, is a "prophecy by type." And [a "prophecy] by experience" was his lying down on his side for 190 days, and making bread with barley, beans, lentils, millet, and one-seeded wheat, and indeed his preparing bread using pieces of cow-dung. It belonged to the same kind [of prophecy] to have his head shaved, to burn some of his hairs with fire, cut others with a sword and send forth still others on the breath of the wind —albeit this does appear to be a sort of mixed form. It also belonged to experience to lose his wife, and indeed also to show that his reason ranked higher than his misfortune, and not to weep, nor to carry out any of the customary [behavior], and all that sort of thing. For because God wanted to chasten the people from their ways , he confirmed the words by means of the experiences of the prophets. When things were going to happen at a later time, the words were sufficient; but when the evils were imminent, and those who heard [the words] having "trimmed" their ears to impiety, this mode of prophecy was necessary, since it provided the truth of the things predicted in an indisputable fashion.