Lives of Scripture

Jaazaniah, son of Azzur, appears alongside Pelatiah son of Benaiah as one of twenty-five leading men Ezekiel saw in his temple vision, standing at the east gate of the LORD's house (Ezekiel 11:1). God identified them to Ezekiel as "the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city," men who told the frightened remnant in Jerusalem, in effect, that the city was a safe pot and they the meat within it, secure from the judgment already falling on those exiled (11:2-3). Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy against them, pronouncing that the sword outside the city, not the walls themselves, would determine their end, and that they would be judged at the border of Israel (11:5-11). As Ezekiel prophesied, Pelatiah son of Benaiah -- one of the twenty-five standing alongside Jaazaniah -- suddenly died, and Ezekiel fell on his face crying out in fear for the rest of the remnant (11:13). Jaazaniah himself is not recorded as dying in the vision, but his inclusion by name among these condemned counselors marks him as one Ezekiel singles out for giving Jerusalem's leadership false confidence at the very moment true repentance was needed.