Ezekiel the Prophet

Ezekiel is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet. In Judaism and Christianity, he is also viewed as the 6th-century BCE author of the Book of Ezekiel that reveals prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem, the restoration to the land of Israel, and what some call the Millennial Temple visions, or the Third Temple. The author of the Book of Ezekiel presents himself as Ezekiel, the son of Buzzi, born into a priestly (Kohen) lineage. Apart from identifying himself, the author gives a date for the first divine encounter which he presents: "in the thirtieth year". If this is a reference to Ezekiel's age at the time, he was born around 622 BCE, about the time of Josiah's reforms. His "thirtieth year" is given as 5 years after the exile of Judah's king Jehoiachin by the Babylonians. Josephus claims that at the request of Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylonian armies exiled three thousand Jews from Judah, after deposing King Jehoiachin in 598 BCE. At Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel was put to death by a judge of the people of Israel because he reproved him for worshipping idols.  He was buried in the sepulcher of Sem and Arphaxad, ancestors of Abraham. Many people were in the habit of going to his tomb to pray. His feast is kept on April 10.