Ezekiel

Ezekiel is presented in the Hebrew Bible as the son of Buzi, a member of a priestly lineage called by God while living among Judean exiles by the Kebar Canal (Tel Abib near Nippur). His prophetic ministry begins with a divine encounter described as occurring in his 'thirtieth year' (commonly dated to 593 BC) and continues with a corpus of oracles and visions composed over roughly twenty-two years during the Babylonian captivity. Later religious traditions (rabbinic expansions and Christian commemoration) re‑contextualize him within liturgical and hagiographic frameworks but preserve his identity as an inspired human intermediary rather than a deity or spirit-being.

As a historical and literary figure Ezekiel appears as a human priest-prophet, son of Buzi, resident among the exiles by the Kebar Canal. In his visionary material (as narrated in the Book of Ezekiel) he reports seeing the 'glory of the LORD' and a divine chariot-throne (merkabah) drawn by four living creatures; each creature is described as having four faces (a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle) and four wings. These multi-faced, multi-winged beings and the chariot-throne are elements of Ezekiel's visions and symbolic language rather than transformations of Ezekiel himself.

Ezekiel's distinguishing capacities in the sources are his prophetic and visionary faculties: he receives, records, and interprets a sustained series of revelations concerning Jerusalem's destruction, the experience of exile, divine judgment, and future restoration (including eschatological scenes such as Gog and Magog and a life-giving river flowing from a future temple). His prophetic role includes delivering oracles, performing symbolic enactments commanded by God (for example, the shaving and division of hair in Ezekiel 5 as a sign-act of judgment), and serving as a 'watchman' or messenger to the exilic community. Rabbinic and Christian traditions attribute further interpretive and commemorative roles to him but do not present supernatural powers beyond his documented visionary calling.