Of the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, two were priests, namely, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who with Daniel were for a considerable time contemporary. Those three were pre-eminently the prophets of the captivity; Jeremiah ministering amongst the poor left in the land after the final capture of Jerusalem, and afterward continuing his mission amongst them in Egypt; Ezekiel prophesied in Mesopotamia amongst the “dispersed of Judah” located there by the Babylonian conqueror, where also considerable numbers of the “outcasts of Israel” had been transported at an earlier time by the Assyrians; while Daniel who was of the seed royal of Judah, exercised his prophetic ministry in the court of the Gentiles. Thus the witness of the Lord and His testimony to His people were most complete.
Of the personal history of Isaiah we know nothing; of Ezekiel very little; of Daniel we know a good deal; of Jeremiah much of personal biography and of his inner and outer life is revealed to us, but this is so presented as to form an integral part of his mission, being remarkably interwoven with his prophecies.
Of the style of these prophets we may also speak, for be it carefully noted that the Spirit of God takes up the human mind in all its varied peculiarities, occupies it with Himself, and uses the individual man in revealing and publishing the truths of divine revelation; thus the masterly mind of Paul is used in writing the Epistle to the Romans, the most orderly and powerfully written of all the Pauline epistles, and one which has engaged the scholarly attainments and trained intellect of the Christian through all ages; while on the other hand the loving heart of John is as surely reflected in the writings bearing his name, and which have been the source of consolation to the spiritual and godly ever since they were penned. We would, however, take this opportunity of pressing upon all, that while a cultivated mind and scholarly attainments have their due place (and surely we are much indebted to the critical labours of scholars in settling the text of Scripture, and in helping much as to the framework of the truth), yet the Holy Spirit is alone the power by which the mind of God can be understood and received (1 Cor. 2:11-16); the Corinthians were naturally a learned people, but spiritually only babes. The truth is, that individual character, style, and peculiarity, is in exact keeping with the fullest inspiration. Jeremiah, to whom we have more than once referred, is an illustration of what is strictly human, with what is as strictly divine; thus the oft recurring expression: “Thus saith the Lord” establishing the truths of inspiration and Divine authority is in perfect accord with the human element, so markedly manifested in the book of the prophet Jeremiah. The style of Isaiah is stately and grand; his rich, full and commanding descriptive powers are finely illustrated in describing the glory of Jerusalem in chapter 60 of his prophecy; Jeremiah is tender, sensitive, solemn, and pungent in his appeals to the conscience. The tears and utterances of the prophet afford a striking example of the combination of fearless exposure of sin and its condemnation, solemn dealing with the conscience, with intense love and feeling for the people. Ezekiel is full of imagery, symbol, and representation, thus his prophecies afford abundant material for the seer of the New Testament in the writing of the Revelation. The style is vigorous, forcible, and rapid. “The holy energy, indignant zeal for God, and the moral authority of the prophet in reproving Israel are strikingly apparent.” Daniel writes as the historian. The precision and exactness of details as in chapter 11, combined with the comprehensive narration of the Gentile — past, present, and future, as in chapters 2-7, has made this book invaluable to the historian and prophetic student. The characteristic and broad features of the empires which successively assumed the sovereignty of the world are wonderfully compressed into a very few words (Dan. 7:4-8), and which many pages of the learned historians fail to convey with equal exactness.
Ezekiel was carried captive to Babylon at the close of the brief reign, of but three months, of Jehoichin (or Jeconiah); the second to last king of Judah. The principal people of the land, besides the treasures of the temple and the wealth of the king’s house, were embraced in this second recorded captivity (2 Kings 24). Seven years previously Jehoiakim, with Daniel and other members of the royal family and a part of the temple vessels, had been deported to the Babylonian court. The third captivity (2 Kings 25), eleven years after the second, completed the ruin of Judah. Ezekiel with his family resided at Tel Abib, on the banks of the Chebar, a considerable distance from the metropolis of the Chaldean empire. Ezekiel’s forced exile lasted 27 years (ch. 29:17) at least, but we are not safe in affirming that he wore the prophetic mantle more than 22 years, as it was in the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity that he began to prophesy (ch. 1:2).