Ezekiel and Jeremiah: What Might Stand Behind the Silence?

This paper brings up a long standing question in the study of Ezekiel and his (or, the book's) relationship to Jeremiah. The silence between the prophets is but a key opening the door to a large hall filled with a great variety of historical and literarytextual connections. Having reexamined the long list of suggested parallel phrases and passages (from R. Smend [1880] to R. Kasher [2004]) from the methodological standpoint of intertextuality and allusion, the study reveals the complicated relationships between the books in their different layers. Beyond points of agreement, one profound issue of disagreement is highlighted, which leads to the suggestion that the silence between Ezekiel and Jeremiah covers over a great ideological disagreement between the two contemporary prophets of YHWH. Hence, the silence between the prophets and their books is a highly eloquent one.