The Prophet
A younger contemporary of Jeremiah, Ezekiel prophesied both before and after the fall of Jerusalem (587/86 B.c.). Whereas Jeremiah spoke from within Judah, and toward the end of his career from Egypt, Ezekiel delivered his oracles from Babylon, where he received his prophetic call several years after entering exile with the wave of Judahites deported by Nebuchadnezzar in 597. Ezekiel's career began over 125 years after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. His oracles targeted both his exilic companions and, probably by letter, the Hebrew community that remained in Jerusalem/Judah.
The Prophet
We know of Ezekiel from the biblical record only, and the book that bears his name gives little personal information about the prophet. He came from a priestly family and evidently figured among the elite of Jerusalem, since the first Babylonian deportation targeted the upper echelons of Judahite society (2 Kgs. 24:10-16). The sudden death of Ezekiel's wife (24:15-17) indicates that he was married, at least for a time. That the exiled Hebrew elders approached Ezekiel for consultations reveals their high regard for his prophetic credentials, despite his bizarre behavior. Judging from the prophet's assignment of very specific dates to many of his oracles, his career spanned at least a 22-year period, from 593 to 571.
Content
The book of Ezekiel represents a collection of independent oracles arranged for the most part in chronological order. Two recurring, introductory phrases alert the reader to the nature of the revelations that follow. "The hand of the Lord came upon me" introduces visionary revelations, four of which predominate: (1) Ezekiel's
prophetic call and his description of the cherubdriven chariot of God (chs. 1-3); (2) God's departure from the temple and Jerusalem (chs. 8-u); (3) the valley of dry bones (ch. 37); and (4) the restored temple and new Jerusalem (chs. 40-48). The more common phrase, "The word of the Lord came to me," introduces divinely communicated messages that Ezekiel must pass on to a particular audience, at times through shocking language and images. But Ezekiel also engages in a dozen attention-getting prophetic enactments - more than any of his fellow prophets.
The message of Ezekiel represents the two sides of one coin. First, the persistent religious and social sins of Judah and Jerusalem make inevitable their further punishment by God. The initial deportation by Babylon raised the theological question for the now geographically separated Judahites, "Which group constitutes the prophesied `remnant' that will enjoy restoration by God - the exiles, or those whom God seemed to favor by allowing them to remain in the promised land?" Ezekiel answers that the exiles are favored, and time is running out for the unrepentant, overconfident escapees of the first judgment. The other, hopeful side of Ezekiel's message promises postjudgment restoration through the renewal of God's covenantal relationship with his people and their return to Canaan (see "Exile and Return" [281-83]).
Literary Form
The structure of the book reflects the above themes. In chapters 1-24, oracles of judgment against Jerusalem/Judah predominate. Chapters 34-48 carry primarily promises of restoration. Chapters 25-32 bridge these two sections with oracles against the pagan nations and share with chapters 1-24 the theme of judgment, which, when directed against the enemies of God's people, indirectly promises hope for the Hebrews. The pivotal chapter 33 reports the fall of Jerusalem - the climax of God's judgment against his people - and thus inaugurates the shift in Ezekiel's prophetic emphasis.
The literary style of Ezekiel lays the foundation for apocalyptic (end times) literature, which the New Testament book of Revelation develops fully (see "The Beginnings of Apocalyptic Literature" [443-441).
Authorship
Scholars generally agree that most of the early Old Testament prophets first transmitted their oracles orally. Only later did they and/or their disciples commit the revelations to writing. But Ezekiel seems to have communicated his oracles in written form from the beginning. Their complexity and length and the book's largely prosaic style support such an assumption, as does the text's picture of the prophet sequestered in his own home and struck dumb till the fall of Jerusalem. The autobiographical character of the book argues in favor of Ezekiel as the primary author, though he and/or his disciples probably edited the work (cf. 1:2-3). Ezekiel's flamboyant language gives color to the images and allegories of which he makes liberal use.
1 Ezekiel's Vision of God
The first three verses of Ezekiel provide most of the personal information we know about the prophet. A priest and son of a man named Buzi, Ezekiel lived among the exiles deported to Babylon after the surrender of King Jehoiachin in 597 (2 Kgs. 24:io-16). The "thirtieth year" (v. 1) may signify Ezekiel's age at the time of his visionary prophetic call, recorded in chapters 1-3. By relating this occasion to the year of Jehoiachin's exile, the editorial comments in vv 2-3 clarify the year in question as 594/93. The river Chebar probably signifies the great canal that splits from the Euphrates River at a point north of Babylon and flows southeast past the city of Nippur, where some of the exiles settled (cf. 3:15).
Verse 4 begins a detailed description of Ezekiel's bizarre vision, sparked by the empower ing "hand of the Lord" N. 3; cf. Judg. 3:10). The prophet does his best to paint a verbal picture of the surreal revelation, and his language ("appearance;' "as if," "[seemed] like/likeness") draws the reader into Ezekiel's own attempt to comprehend the images he sees. An ancient Hebrew would have understood that the initial picture of a storm - with wind, cloud, and lightning flashes - signified the presence of God (Exodus 19; Rev. 4:5), but by first elaborating the supporting characters and continuing to detail the heavenly set, Ezekiel builds suspense for the dramatic entrance of the focal point of his vision: God enthroned, whose recognition by Ezekiel culminates in sudden prostration by the prophetic inductee (vv. 26-28).
The four figures positioned below the throne of God display a highly embellished human form with angelic and animal features, and Ezekiel later identifies the beings as cherubim - guardians of holy places (cf. io:i5ff.; Exod. 25:1822). The creatures stand wingtip to wingtip to form a square and uphold a platform, from the middle of which comes a fiery glow. The strange scene includes four eye-covered wheels-withinwheels (each pair set at right angles to each other), which allow the four-headed beings to dart in any of the four directions of the compass without turning, and which increase their ability to see everything at once. The awesome sound produced by their flapping wings is silenced by a "voice from above" - the voice of a radiant, enthroned, human-looking being, the glimpse of whose glory prompts Ezekiel to fall on his face, probably for fear of dying from having seen God, seated on his throne-chariot (cf. Isa. 6:5; Exod. 3:6).
Ancient Near Easterners associated deities with specific earthly homelands. Yahweh's temple-house in Jerusalem established his identity as the national God of Judah. So Ezekiel 1 leaves the reader wondering whether Yahweh's visionary appearance in Babylon portends good or ill for the exiles and the Hebrews who remain in Canaan. God's activity in Mesopotamia demonstrates the geographical limitlessness of his power, and Ezekiel will cite frequently his vision of God as proof of his prophetic call outside the borders of the promised land.
2-3 Ezekiel's Prophetic Commissioning
God addresses the prostrate Ezekiel as "son of man," which in his day simply meant "human being" but which in Daniel would take on messianic overtones (Dan. 7:13-14; cf. Matt. 8:20). The spirit facilitates the incapacitated Ezekiel's obedience to God's command, and this divine control becomes a model for a life in which Ezekiel embodies the message he proclaims in word and deed (2:1-2; cf. 3:23-24, 26-27).
God commissions Ezekiel to prophesy to a "rebellious people" (2:3), who, he knows in advance, will not heed his warnings (cf. Isaiah 6; Jeremiah 1). Ezekiel 2:6 foreshadows their hostile reaction to his message, but Ezekiel receives God's promise of strength and protection equal to their opposition (3:8-9). In this oracle, the anticipated rejection of Ezekiel's message overshadows its content, a warning against wickedness (3:17-21). Ezekiel's exilic audience probably viewed their judgment as a done deal, so for them the prophet's admonitions lacked urgency. The Hebrews left in Judah may have thought they had escaped God's judgment and so failed to take Ezekiel's warnings seriously.
Ezekiel repeatedly uses the double title "Lord God" (2:4) to communicate simultaneously God's personal relationship with the Hebrews (Lord) and his sovereign power (God). Ezekiel's first divinely commanded task consists in eating a scroll, unusual in that it contains writing not just on the inner surface but on both sides (perhaps to indicate completeness). By consuming the scroll, Ezekiel essentially becomes its message, and despite its bitter words of lament, mourning, and woe, the scroll satisfies his sweet tooth - perhaps an indication of the personal fulfillment generated by his prophetic role.
The exiles constitute the immediate audience to which Ezekiel must communicate the words on the scroll, and the spirit transports him to a community of Hebrews at the ancient Mesopotamian town of Tel-abib ("mound of the deluge," 3:14-15). Evidently filled with righteous anger at the anticipated rejection of his prophetic message, the stunned prophet sits idly for a week, after which God appoints him a "watchman" to his people (3:17; cf. 33:1-9). Like
the lookouts stationed atop an ancient city's thick defense wall, Ezekiel must warn of impending attack; but the assailant in view is God himself, and the people's only defense consists in repentance and righteousness (cf. 18:19-29). Any failure by Ezekiel to reprimand the wicked brings down on him guilt for their death in sin. That 3:17-21 excludes the case of a wicked person who repents demonstrates that Ezekiel's ineffectiveness is a foregone conclusion, but still he must warn them.
Immediately after receiving this public commission, however, Ezekiel finds himself ordered to become a recluse, tied up and imprisoned at home by his opponents. Further, God vows to strike Ezekiel dumb. According to 24:27, the Lord did not "open" Ezekiel's mouth until the fall of Jerusalem seven years later, though the prophet begins issuing reproving oracles in chapter 4. Apparently he was unable to speak of anything but the fate of Judah and Jerusalem in that interval.
Colossal statue of a winged lion, Northwest Palace of Assurbanipal II, Nimrud. (British Museum)
Worshippers of Other Gods (Part 1)
The Old Testament contains a large body of material concerning non-Israelite religions. In fact, the Bible records that the ancestors of the Israelites worshipped many gods until Abraham (Josh. 24:2; Gen. 35:2), and the worship of other deities was outlawed only at the time of Moses (Exod. 20:3; 22:20). Israelites continued to worship pagan deities and perform pagan practices though condemned for doing so by the prophets. Because of this, the writer of Kings believed that the calamity that befell Israel and Judah was partly because of their clinging to pagan practices (e.g., 2 Kgs. 17:7-23).
Non-Israelite religions were not categorized separately in the Bible but were seen collectively as "religions of the nations" and were summarily condemned. Many deities of Syro-Palestinian origin are mentioned by name, including Asherah, apparently the name of both a goddess and a sacred pole (mentioned over 40 times; e.g., Deut. 16:21), Baal (the most frequently mentioned pagan deity; e.g., Judg. 2:13; 2 Kgs. 10:18-28), Milcom of Ammon (1 Kgs. 11:5, 33; 2 Kgs. 23:13; possibly the same as Molech), Chemosh of Moab (Num. 21:29; Jer. 48:46; also known from fragmentary Moabite inscriptions), and Dagon of Philistia (cf.1 Sam. 5:1-7). Egyptian deities are sparsely mentioned, although in Exodus Pharaoh is described as a god of Egypt. Other Egyptian gods, such as Ptah, Amon, Bes, and Hathor, appear only indirectly in the Bible
as part of personal or geographical names. Mesopotamian deities are also rarely mentioned, including Marduk (probably the Merodach of Jer. 5o:2; called Bel in Jer. 51:44), and Nabu (Nebo; Isa. 46:1). Like some Egyptian gods, many Mesopotamian deities are represented in personal and geographic names (e.g., Sin the moon-god in the name of Sennacherib, king of Assyria; 2 Kings 18-19).
Many religious practices are described and condemned, including magic and divination (Deut. 18:10-14), cultic rites, worshipping on hills and under trees (2 Kgs. 16:4; Hos. 4:13), and child sacrifice (2 Kgs. 16:3). Though pagan magic was viewed negatively (Lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6, 27; Exod. 22:18), many Canaanite magical practices were observed during the divided monarchy, and a number of kings and queens practiced sorcery and divination (2 Kgs. 9:22; 21:6). The biblical writers did not equate magic with the worship of pagan deities, however, but seemed to acknowledge the reality of magical power (cf.1 Samuel 28). Magic was considered evil because it unlocked divine secrets. The Israelites appear to have imitated some Canaanite magical practices, including the use of common items such as clothing (2 Kgs. 2:13-14), staffs (Exod. 7:9), hands (2 Kgs. 5:11), and hair (Judg. 16:17). But these materials probably only served as vehicles of expression to authenticate the prophet as a messenger of God. Many Israelite cultic and sacrificial rites
must have appeared on the surface similar to Canaanite practices. For example, Jehu of Israel tricked local Baal worshippers into thinking he was devoted to Baal by correctly performing their sacrificial rituals (2 Kgs.10:18-27).
Canaanite fertility figures, probably the goddess Astarte; limestone and clay tablets, ca. 1400 B.C. (Richard Cleave, Pictorial Archive)
Archaeological investigations since the early 19th century have uncovered a vast body of illuminating information on the religions of the ancient Near East. In Israel, the discovery of a number of figurines of nude females (probably of the Canaanite goddess Astarte) probably attest that at least some Israelites worshipped this deity in addition to Yahweh. Seal impressions that probably represent other deities and personal names with the element "Baal" found on ostraca from Samaria show evidence of Baal worship in the north. An 8th-century-B.c. inscription from Kuntillet `Ajrud in northern Sinai refers to Yahweh of Samaria and an "asherah" (the Canaanite goddess Asherah or her image, a sacred tree). It may imply a popular level of polytheism involving Yahweh.
Much of Israelite religious architecture, hymnology, and language appears to compare closely to its Canaanite counterparts. Solomon's temple, built by Phoenician architects, has many structural similarities to the bit hilani temples found throughout northern Palestine and Syria in the late 2nd and early 1st millennia. A number of Israelite psalms have counterparts in the body of Canaanite hymnic material found in the coastal city of Ugarit (ca. 1400-1200), whose many myths and epics also illuminate our understanding of the Canaanite pantheon. Most striking is the
survival of Ugaritic themes in Psalm 29, suggesting that it may have had a foreign origin. Religious materials found at Emar, a loth-lath century Bronze Age city on the Euphrates River, are similar enough to many Israelite rituals, religious calendars, and covenant formulas as to imply that the latter were not unique. For example, the Emar festivals have various requirements that compare to regulations in the book of Leviticus. Since the Israelites spoke the language of Canaan" (Isa. 19:18), it is not surprising that recent studies conclude that biblical Hebrew is a dialect of Canaanite. Texts from Ugarit and elsewhere have cast new light on many obscure religious terms in the Bible. Furthermore, the massive corpus of cuneiform inscriptions discovered (in the hundreds of thousands) has provided a wealth of information concerning religious beliefs found in SyroMesopotamia, Anatolia, and Iran. Just as significant are the Egyptian funerary monuments and papyri that have illumined their religious practices.
Bronze statue of Reshef, Canaanite god of pestilence; Syrian style, ca. 1400 B.C. (Richard Cleave, Pictorial Archive)
It is difficult to generalize about the diverse religions of the "nations" of the ancient Near East, but they share a number of common features that distinguish them from the monotheistic religion of Israel. In general, they deified both animate and inanimate objects, had a belief in spirits and demons, and used incantations and magic. They believed that a primordial, chaotic realm existed prior to the gods, which was either darkness, water, spirit, or the sky. The gods were dependent upon this realm yet limited by it. Thus, not only were the gods not the source of all being, they were not eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, or omnipresent. According to one
Egyptian myth, Aten emerged out of the waters of Nun, the primeval ocean. In the Babylonian Creation Epic, the gods were created from the mingling of the primordial abyss and bitter waters. Marduk, the hero of the myth, fashioned the cosmos from preexistent matter but did not create it. Tiamat, a being shaped from the primordial mass, fought with her divine children. Many other myths show the tension between the gods and other forces of the universe. For example, Baal fought with Yamm ("Sea") in the Canaanite version. Since the gods originated in the world, there was no fixed boundary between them and the world of mortals.
The gods of the nations were portrayed primarily as having human characteristics (for a similar portrait of the God of Israel, cf. Genesis 18) and acted like superhuman creatures. They were male and female, desired to mate with each other, and had dysfunctional families. Similar to the gods of ancient Greece, they had reason, emotions, and even morals (and the lack thereof) like humans, only on a grander scale. They also inhabited and had jurisdiction over specific regions and lands, and only occasionally did they violate the space of another deity.
Even the gods needed to employ magical objects to obtain their own desires. They could acquire wisdom (i.e., they did not possess all-knowing power). The gods of Mesopotamia all desired to control the operable forces of the universe, personalized as the concept of Fate. Whoever possessed the Mesopotamian tablets of Fate had supreme authority in heaven.
MARK W. CHAVALAS
4-5 Ezekiel Enacts the Fate of Jerusalem
Ezekiel must have looked like a child playing war, when at God's command he set up a model siege of Jerusalem with stray building materials (a sun-dried mudbrick) and common kitchen utensils (an iron plate, used for baking bread). The prophetic enactment also involves Ezekiel's lying on his left side and then his right to symbolize his bearing the sin of first the northern kingdom (Israel) and then the southern kingdom (Judah; 4:4-6). The numbers of days that Ezekiel must lie down (390 for Israel; 40 for Judah) remains impossible to correlate exactly with periods in the histories of the kingdoms. In verse 5, the Septuagint reads 190, perhaps because the Greek translators wanted to approximate the 184-year period between the fall of the northern capital of Samaria (722/21) and the return of the exiles (538). Elsewhere in the Old Testament, the number 40 often represents one generation.
Ezekiel's diet also reflected the desperate conditions of the coming siege of Jerusalem. His daily ration of bread - made from a mix of whatever grains he could find - came to just eight ounces (4:10), washed down with about two-and-a-half cups of water. The prophet protests that God has gone too far in commanding him to fuel his bread-baking fire with human dung, which would make him, a priest, ritually unclean.
In the ancient Near East, military victors shamed defeated kings by shaving their heads. To symbolize the coming humiliation of Jerusalem and the mourning of her inhabitants, Ezekiel shaves his head and beard. His shorn locks represent the Hebrews still living in and around Jerusalem, one-third of whom the Babylonian army will kill outside the city; one-third of whom will die of disease and famine inside the former capital; and one-third of whom will scatter to pagan nations, where they will continue to suffer death and divine affliction. Only a meager remnant (the few "hairs" bound to the edges of Ezekiel's robes; 5:3) will survive God's anger over Jerusalem's idolatry and excessive wickedness.
6-7 Judah's Imminent End
Ezekiel's prophetic medium changes from deed to word, and his audience broadens from Jerusalem to all Judah. In addressing the "mountains of Israel" (6:2ff.), Ezekiel condemns the outdoor Canaanite shrines ("high places"), where the Hebrews practiced a mixture of covenantal Yahwism and pagan religious rites. God's slaying of the transgressors "in front of" their idols will demonstrate the powerlessness of false gods and the sovereignty of the Lord. The corpses encircling the smashed altars will defile the surrounding ground. To witness to God's supremacy, he will allow a remnant of Judahites to survive the deadly judgment. These exiled few will finally acknowledge their sinfulness. In the meantime, God will reduce the promised land to a barrenness even more desolate than the scarcely vegetated, sparsely populated southern wilderness (the Negev). The geographic references encompass the entire south-north extent of Canaan proper, the "four corners of the land" (7:2).
In chapter 7, repetition and redundancy intensify the sense of Judah's imminent end. The kingdom will soon reap the fruits of its pride and violence (7:10-11, 27). The reference to buyers and sellers (vv. 12-13) relates to Mosaic law regarding landed inheritance rights (cf. Leviticus 25). Fugitives of the divine judgment will don traditional mourning attire (sackcloth) and shave their heads to signify their shame. With food unavailable for buying, money will prove of no use in satisfying one's basic needs. Humiliated survivors will continue suffering disaster after disaster. Religious and civil leaders will become incapacitated. By these means will God enfeeble the Judahites for the "chain" of captivity (7:23).
8-11 Grounds for Desertion
Ezekiel's second vision of God occurs in September 592 (8:1).
8 Pagan Worship at the Temple In this revelation, a radiant being with a human appearance (God) grabs the prophet by the hair and transports him from his house to the northern gate of the temple court (cf. 1:26-28). As in his first vision, Ezekiel sees the glory of God outside the temple building. Here the Lord takes him on a tour of the sanctuary precincts that moves him ever closer to the temple itself, so that he witnesses God's grounds for deserting it. First the prophet sees that a pagan idol (possibly the Canaanite goddess Asherah) greets entrants to the grounds of God's house. But both here and with the production of each new piece of evidence, God tells Ezekiel that much more is to come. Next God shows his prophet a peephole to a secret room, into which Ezekiel digs his way. There he observes 7o Hebrew elders surreptitiously engaged in animal worship under the leadership of a member of the otherwise upright family of Shaphan. Carvings of "detestable" creatures adorn the walls of the darkened room (v io). Ezekiel's audience would have known of Tammuz (v 14), the Mesopotamian fertility god who died at year's end and rose again each spring. Here the prophet observes Hebrew women publicly mourning the false deity's death in case he actually did control reproductive and agricultural processes. The most flagrant snubbing of God, however, takes place at the entrance to the temple itself. With backs turned to the ultimate symbol of his presence among his people, 25 men bow in worship of the rising sun. The people's public and private disregard of God indicates that the recently enacted religious reforms of Josiah did not take deep or abiding root among the people as a whole (cf. 2 Kings 22). Social sins abound along with the people's religious degeneration (v. 17), and the pervasive depravity invites God's unpitying judgment.
9 The Jerusalemites Judged God's case against Jerusalem proven, with Ezekiel as witness the visionary punishment begins. At God's summons, armed men approach from the north, from which direction came Babylon and earlier enemies of Israel. One of the contingent, clothed in traditional priestly linen, distinguishes with an ink mark the Jerusalemites who regret the city's covenantal transgressions, and the accompanying executioners kill everyone else (cf. Exod. 12:12-13; Rev. 7:3;13:16-17). In Ezekiel's vision, judgment starts at the temple, whose courts the corpses of evil elders defile. Ezekiel protests to God the comprehensiveness of the killing, but to no avail.
10-11 God Abandons the Temple and Exits Jerusalem Again Ezekiel sees the wheeling cherubim that appeared in his first vision (see ch. 1), but now their context becomes clear. They form a chariot-throne to carry the glory of God out of the temple before the destruction of Jerusalem by fire. To ignite the conflagration, God commissions the linen-clad scribe from the north to scatter over the city blazing coals taken from the midst of the cherubim. As elsewhere, a cloud represents God's glory (10:3-4; e.g., Exod. 40:34-38).
In Ezekiel's visionary exit from the temple precincts, he recognizes two leaders, against whom God commands that he prophesy for their misleading counsel. Evidently, they failed to take seriously the warnings concerning Jerusalem's inevitable judgment, for they forecast good times soon to come (cf. 13:10). Apparently, the leaders hedged their bets on the impregnability of Jerusalem, the protective "pot" of its "fleshly" inhabitants (11:3, 7,11).
But the fortifications of Jerusalem cannot prevent God's judgment against the leaders (cf. 13:5). The immediate death of Pelatiah, one of Ezekiel's addressees, demonstrates the authenticity of the prophecy. Ezekiel repeats his concern that by destroying the Jerusalemites, God will eradicate the "remnant" of Hebrew heirs to the promised land. God responds that the exiles in Babylon are the true remnant - not the Jerusalemites (11:15-17). Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the new "heart" that God will give the restored remnant corresponds to Jeremiah's preview of the new covenant that will succeed the judgment of exile in Babylon (vv. 17-21; cf. Jer. 31:27-40). The visionary withdrawal of God from Jerusalem and the return of Ezekiel to Babylonia end the revelation, which the prophet details to the people in exile.
12 Enacting the Imminent Judgment of Judah
Even though the rebellious Hebrews persist as blind seers and deaf hearers (v. 2; cf. Isa. 6:9-10; Matt. 13:13-17), Ezekiel must continue prophesying to them - now by publicly acting out the coming deportation of Hebrews still in Jerusalem and the Babylonian-appointed puppet Zedekiah. Ezekiel calls Zedekiah the "prince" (vv. 10, 12) and reserves "king" for the exiled Jehoiachin, whose surrender to Nebuchadnezzar agreed with prophetic counsel (2 Kgs. 24:10-12). Ezekiel's enactment parallels Zedekiah's attempted escape when the Babylonian army breached the walls of Jerusalem - out the back door, under cover of darkness; he was blinded by his Babylonian captors and entered exile (2 Kgs. 25:1-7). The concluding oracle is a warning to the complacent, who, embracing the optimistic words of false prophets (v 24), regard judgment as far in the future (VV. 22, 27) and so discount the prophecies of doom: God will delay judgment no longer (vv. 17-28).
13 Prophesying against False Prophets
Ezekiel now condemns the false prophets themselves for misleading the people with lies that have lulled them into a false sense of security. Like scavenging foxes, the charlatans prey off the desperation of the defeated Judahite people. Most vexing for God is the deceitful prophets' attributing to him their self-inspired misinformation. The account likens their advice to slapdash building repairs, where unsubstantial, plaster-patched walls are made to look good with a coat of whitewash but fail to make adequate battle fortifications (vv. toff.). These cosmetic efforts also represent the soothing words of the false prophets that will fail to withstand the divinely generated storm to come. These prophetic rivals have failed to warn the people of the coming judgment and the need to build protective "walls" through repentance. The oracle strips the impostors of their social status, ostracizes them from the Hebrew community, and bans them from the future restoration to Canaan (v. 9).
Ezekiel also condemns female diviners (vv. 18-23), whose main goal appears to have consisted in controlling the lives of others, possibly through the use of amulets or magical charms. That meager amounts of barley and bread sufficed as payment for the diviners' services testifies to the economic weakness of Judah at this time (v. 19).
14 Inescapable Punishment for Unfaithful Idolaters
The request by the Hebrew elders in exile that Ezekiel mediate a divine consultation demonstrates their recognition of his status as a prophet of God (cf. 20:1). But the only word God gives to the inquirers is a command to forsake their idolatry, lest he make examples of them. The prophet who mediates for them should also beware, for the guilt of his patrons also extends to him.
Four hypothetical situations emphasize God's certain punishment of the society that proves unfaithful to him (vv. 13-20). To dispel the notion that a community's righteous few ensure its sinful majority against divine devastation, the oracle cites the prophetic warnings of famine, ravage by wild beasts, war, and disease as judgments from which association with even the most revered of ancient Near Eastern heroes cannot provide escape. Ezekiel mentions three non-Israelites as examples of righteousness: Noah, Job, who remained faithful in the midst of great suffering, and Daniel, probably the wise ruler in the Ugaritic tale of Aqhat, but almost certainly not the biblical Daniel. Thus Ezekiel asserts that God reserves deliverance for the righteous and exacts punishment on the wicked, regardless of ethnicity.
Far from the exception to this divine rule, the Jerusalemites will become its prime example. God will spare a wicked few, not out of mercy, but as evidence of the appropriateness of his punishment through their persistently sinful conduct.
15 The Jerusalemites: Fuel for the Fire
The vine is often a positive symbol of life and fruitfulness (e.g., John 15:1-8). Here, however, Ezekiel emphasizes the inadequacy of vine wood as the raw material for useful items, and the charred remains of vine wood partially burnt as fuel are only fit for further consumption in the fire. The religiously unfaithful inhabitants of Jerusalem are like this wood. Some Jerusalemites have already "come out of the fire" (those exiled to Babylon in 597), but another fire will burn up the rest - a portent of the coming conflagration in 587/86.
16 Exposing Jerusalem as Total Adulteress
Having raised the issue of unfaithfulness, Ezekiel now details the evidence against adulterous Jerusalem, personified from infancy to adulthood. To intensify the audacity of her infidelity, Ezekiel rehearses the history of divine favor that boosted the city to preeminence.
The reference to Jerusalem's Canaanite parentage (v. 3) claims historical roots, for both the Hittites and the Amorites controlled Jerusalem at times before its conquest by the Hebrews. But the prophet also has the idolatrous religious ancestry of Jerusalem in view. Ezekiel likens Jerusalem to an unwanted newborn, not only neglected by midwife (v 4) but discarded by parents and left to die through exposure N. 5). God saved the rejected infant and caused her to thrive. When she reached sexual maturity, he committed himself to her in marriage by "covering" her with his "skirt" (cf. Ruth 3:9), which here symbolizes God's establishment of the covenant with the Hebrews at Sinai. God cleaned up his bride, lavished her with fine clothes and jewelry, and fed her delicacies, so that she became internationally famous for her beauty. But instead of responding in gratitude to her beneficent husband, she used her wedding gifts as bribes to seduce strangers - not out of material need, but purely from promiscuous desire. Jerusalem's unhidden harlotry refers to her covenantal transgressions in both the religious and political realms: indiscriminate idolatry, which included child sacrifice in imitation of her own rejection by parents (vv. 20-21) and the making of political alliances with foreign nations, forbidden in the covenant (Deut. 7:1-2). The city's brazen behavior makes even the pagan Philistines blush (v 27). Mosaic law prescribed the death penalty for adulterers at the hands of the entire community (Deut. 22:22-24; cf. John 8:1-1i). Here the spurning lovers of Jerusalem will execute her sentence - a presage of the merciless assault by Babylon in 587/86 (vv. 36-44).
Ezekiel accuses wicked Jerusalem of making her notoriously evil "sisters" look good (vv. 44
52). This charge speaks volumes, for the Bible has nothing good to say about Samaria, the corrupt capital of the northern kingdom conquered by the Assyrians in 722/21, or Sodom, destroyed by God in Genesis 19.
Surprisingly, words of promised restoration for the city and her sisters close out the chapter. Their utter unfaithfulness stands in stark contrast to the determined covenantal faithfulness of God (v. 6o). His gracious favor toward the undeservedly forgiven cities will surely silence them forever as he returns to them good for their evil (vv. 53-63).
17 The Allegory of the Eagles and the Vine
In this allegory, a great eagle (Nebuchadnezzar) plucks from Lebanon (Jerusalem) the topmost twig of a mighty cedar tree (King Jehoiachin, head of the Davidic royal family). The eagle removes the twig to a region known for its commerce (Babylonia, whose river system facilitated extensive trade). Back in Lebanon/Jerusalem, the eagle plants in fertile soil some of the native seed (Zedekiah, put in power over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar). The seed sprouts and flourishes, though as a low vine oriented toward the eagle (i.e., as a puppet to Babylonia). But along comes another eagle (the resurgent Egypt), whose nurture the vine solicits (Zedekiah's appeal for Egyptian aid in his treaty-breaking rebellion against Babylon; 2 Kgs. 24:20). The rhetorical questions in verses 9 and 1o leave no doubt as to the future of the vine: the first eagle will uproot it completely (the flight, capture, and deportation of Zedekiah in 587/86), so that it withers with the striking of the east wind (a mighty act of God).
But not even the mighty eagle Nebuchadnezzar will get the last word. God vows that he himself will take a sprig from the topmost branch of the cedar (i.e., a royal descendant of David) and cause it to flourish on "the mountain height of Israel" (i.e., revitalize the Davidic covenant in Jerusalem).
18 Reward and Punishment: Equity and the Individual
Ezekiel refutes the notion that people bear the punishment for the sins of their ancestors (cf. 33:10-20; Jer. 31:29ff.). The prophet's fellow exiles in Babylon were evidently citing the popular proverb of verse 2 to blame their situation on the wickedness of their forefathers. Ezekiel found precedent in Deuteronomic law forbidding fathers and sons to "stand in" for each other when either received the death sentence (Dent. 24:16). Against the current theology of his day, he asserts that God rewards and punishes people on the basis of their own behavior. Ezekiel's fellow Hebrews have only their sinful selves to blame for their exile in Babylon, and the prophet ends the chapter by charging them to repent (vv. 30-32).
Verse 4 repeatedly uses "soul" to mean simply "life" or "person;" not a disembodied, spiritual component of one's "being." Accordingly, the reward of life and punishment of death refer respectively to physical existence and demise in the present world, not the afterlife. Throughout the Old Testament, long life symbolizes God's blessing, while untimely death signifies divine punishment. While Ezekiel makes it clear that God takes no pleasure in the death of human beings (v. 32), elsewhere he emphasizes the necessity of extreme punishment to allay God's righteous anger (e.g., 16:42).
Ezekiel refers to specific covenantal laws in defining the righteous person and the sinner (vv. 5-18). These regulations deal with theology and worship (esp. Exod. 20:1-17), ritual purity (Leviticus), and social justice (Deuteronomy). Many of the laws that comprise the prophet's legal litmus test derive from the book of Leviticus - not surprisingly, in view of Ezekiel's training as a priest.
Verses 19-29 anticipate the protest that God takes an unfair approach in rewarding the sinner who has only recently turned righteous and punishing one who had always done right but has now turned bad (cf. Matt. 20:1-16). Ezekiel defends God's absolute justice, which exceeds human ideas of fairness.
19 Mourning the Dying Davidic Monarchy
This allegorical lament mourns the imminent demise of the Davidic monarchy. In verses 1-9, the mother lioness represents Judah, for which the lion served as tribal symbol (Gen. 49:9). The
cubs are the pool of royal heirs to the throne. Ezekiel exaggerates the ferocity and power of the two Judahite kings to whom he specifically alludes: Jehoahaz (vv. 3-4), whom the Egyptian pharaoh Neco captured and deported to Egypt in 609 (2 Kgs. 23:30-34), and Jehoiachin (vv. 5-9), whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled to Babylon in 597 (2 Kgs. 24:10-15).
In verses 10-14 the imagery changes. The mother "vine" signifies the mountaintop capital of Jerusalem. The "east wind," often associated with events of divine origin (cf. 17:10), represents the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, the tearing off of whose "branches" recalls the deportation of the city's leading citizens (2 Kgs. 24:15-16). The replanting of the vine in a "dry and thirsty land" refers to Judah's exile in Babylonia (v. 13). The imagery describes not the land of the exile - a fertile region of Mesopotamia, veined with rivers and their tributaries - but its theological significance for the relocated Judahites, whose divine ousting from the promised land symbolizes their parched relationship with God. The "branch" from which goes out a destructive, spreading "fire" symbolizes Judah's last king, Zedekiah, whose rebellion against the superpower Babylon ended in the demise of the Davidic monarchy (v. 14).
20:1-44 God Breaks Communication with the Hebrew Elders
This oracle dates to July/August 591, during the seventh year of the Babylonian exile (v. 1). God again rejects the attempt of the Hebrew elders to consult him through Ezekiel (cf. ch. 14). The prophet's theologically interpretive rehearsal here of Israel's history explains God's response, spelled out in verses 30-31: The elders have personally perpetuated the rebellion and covenantal disobedience of their ancestors and thus have relinquished the privilege of communicating with God, who tolerates no rivals. The elders have embraced religious diversity, but the God of the Hebrews requires exclusive devotion (Exod. 20:3-5).
Ezekiel cites three cycles of divine charity toward the Hebrews, their response of disbelief and disobedience, and God's forgoing of their deserved destruction to prevent the defamation of his name among the heathen nations. Ezekiel first accuses the pre-exodus Hebrews of failing to heed God's prohibition against worshipping the gods of Egypt. He then convicts the exodus generation of transgressions against the covenant established at Sinai and, finally, charges the second generation of wilderness wanderers with sinning just like their parents. The Old Testament historical narratives do not indicate that God contemplated destroying the Hebrews for these instances of disobedience. The book of Exodus, however, does record two occasions on which Moses' appeals thwart God's determination to wipe out his chosen people: after their worship of the golden calf at Sinai (Exod. 32:1-14) and following their refusal to invade the promised land (Num. 14:1-20). Ezekiel has apparently applied this motif to the entire history of the Hebrew people, who continued to provoke God after they settled in Canaan. Yet they cannot escape the punishment of exile, decreed by God before the wayward Hebrews set foot in the promised land (v 23) but earned by each generation of sinners, including the elders whom Ezekiel is addressing (vv. 30-31).
God's requirement that the Hebrews dedicate their firstborn offspring to God probably provides the background for verses 25-26 (cf. Exod. 22:29). Idolaters who burned their children as sacrifices to the Canaanite god Molech may have distorted this Mosaic law to justify their participation in the abominable rite. Exodus 13:11-13 and 34:20, however, stipulate the substitution of animals as "redemptive" sacrifices for human firstborn.
The Hebrews may determine to emulate the pagan nations by worshipping idols of wood and stone N. 32), but God will prevent the ultimate success of their religious treachery against him. The exile will serve as a purging, wilderness experience to rout out the rebels and prepare the faithful for re-entry into the promised land (vv 33-42) - a process pictured in the imagery of the shepherd's using his staff to sort out sheep for the slaughter N. 37). Thus the oracle ends on a hopeful note for restoration of the repentant, but a note tempered by the deep sense of shame felt by this reformed remnant, who regret their iniquitous past N. 43).
20:45-21:32 The Sword of Judgment Unsheathed
Chapter 21 interprets the allegorical oracle in 20:45-49, whose characterization of Canaan's barren southland (="Tetuan, "Negev") as forested seems to puzzle even the prophet (20:49). Here the "South" probably represents the entire southern kingdom, whose total destruction will render it as bleak as its southernmost territory (cf. Babylonia in 19:13).
The fire that burns becomes the sword that slays - an omen of the decimation of Jerusalem and its population by the Babylonian army in 587/86. The text makes clear, however, that the judgment originates with God. In executing the divine plan, the "slayer" will use God's sword, ready for the indiscriminate slaughter of the righteous along with the wicked (21:4).
God calls on Ezekiel to go around moaning and groaning so that people, by asking him what's wrong, will unwittingly inquire about the oracle (21:6-7). When relating the coming devastation, the prophet must "cry out and wail," hit his thigh to mimic testing the sword (21:1213), and clap his hands in symbolic initiation of the attack, which God also summons with a handclap (21:14, 17). God also instructs Ezekiel to draw (presumably in the dirt) two divergent roads and erect a signpost marking one road as the way to Rabbah, Transjordanian capital of the Ammonites (modern Amman, Jordan), and the other as the way to Jerusalem. The roads represent approach routes for the invading Babylonian army (21:19). Verse 21 pictures the king of Babylon using divination techniques to decide which destination to choose. Jerusalem comes up the winner (more appropriately, the loser) for breaking her treaty with Babylon under the soon-to-be-deposed puppet-king Zedekiah (21:23, 25-26). Verse 22 portrays the Babylonian army building earthen ramps for easier access of the attacking soldiers and their war machinery to the hilltop city's perimeter defense wall and entrance gates.
The chapter ends with an oracle against the Ammonites, who also embraced optimistic prophecies that gave them a false sense of security (21:29). Nebuchadnezzar did not attack the Ammonites during his 587/86 rampage against Jerusalem, but the oracle warns of their future in oblivion (21:32).
22 The Indictment and Sentencing of Jerusalem
Here Ezekiel charges the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from the general populace up to religious and civil leaders, with sins against fellow humans and God. These transgressions, which have rendered the Hebrews "unclean" with regard to the covenant, include various kinds of social injustices, sexual sins, idolatry, and unethical business practices prohibited by Mosaic law. The eating of meat at mountain shrines (v. 9) refers to making a ritual meal of food sacrificed to idols. Verses 6-7 condemn Israel's rulers for their abuse of power; verse 26 highlights the failure of the priests to teach the Law to the laity; and verse 28 charges the prophets with fraud (cf. 13:8-16).
God vows to use the scattering of the Hebrews in exile as a means of purging his people of their uncleanness (v. 15), but first he will "smelt" them in the fiery destruction of Jerusalem. God's announcement that all the city's inhabitants have become junk "dross," however, forebodes grim prospects for recovering any refined "silver" (a surviving remnant) to banish in the first place (vv. 17-22). God himself had tried in vain to find even one righteous person to shield his people from his own destructive wrath N. 30).
23 The Sinful Sisters Condemned
Ezekiel again uses graphic sexual imagery to portray the Hebrews' transgression of their covenant with God, especially through idolatry and the establishment of alliances with foreign nations. The oracle begins by introducing two sisters born from the united "mother" kingdom, which split after the death of Solomon (1 Kings 12). God marries both sisters (v. 4), and Samaria - the long defunct capital of the northern kingdom - becomes the measuring stick for the transgressions of her younger "sister" Jerusalem (cf. 16:44-63). But Jerusalem's iniquities far exceed the scale. The prophecy characterizes both cities as promiscuous adulteresses, whose religious harlotries extend back to the Hebrews'
days in Egypt (vv. 3, 8) and, in Jerusalem's case, carry forward to the present. Samaria's illicit treaty-making with Assyria led to her downfall in the 722/21 conquest of the northern kingdom (vv. 5-10). Now Jerusalem, who failed to learn from her sister's self-destructive, politically lustful folly, will collapse under the attack of her current lover, Chaldea/Babylonia, and cohorts Pekod, Shoa, and Koa (probably tribes on Babylonia's eastern border). Jerusalem will drink from the same "cup" of judgment as Samaria by suffering mutilation, humiliation, and slaughter (vv. 25-34). A closing indictment castigates the sister cities for simultaneously engaging in abominable pagan religious rites and worship at the temple. Ezekiel portrays the cities' multiple alliances with foreign nations as carefully planned orgies, participation in which earns the death sentence prescribed for adultery (vv. 40-47; Lev. 20:10).
24 The Final Siege Begins; Ezekiel's Wife Dies
God instructs the exiled Ezekiel to record the date on which he receives this oracle (usually understood as January 15, 588), for back home in Judah the forewarned judgment of Jerusalem has begun with the second and final Babylonian siege of the city (cf. 2 Kgs. 25:1; Jer. 52:4). The prophet re-employs negatively the imagery of Jerusalem as a "pot" that protects the inhabitants, its "fleshly" contents (vv. 3-13; cf. 11:3). The rebellious Jerusalemites have permanently stained their "pot" through sins (= "blood") for which they have failed to make atonement (placing blood on the "bare rock" rather than pouring it "on the ground, to cover it with earth," V. 7). Now the opportunity for ritual atonement has passed (v. 8), and the time for judgment has arrived. God will purify the city and her citizens by completely boiling Jerusalem's "flesh," burning up her "bones," and then melting by fire the rusted pot itself. The Babylonians' bloody conquest and fiery destruction of Jerusalem took place after an i8-month siege.
Ezekiel then receives an ominous but ambiguous divine word foretelling his imminent loss of someone he holds dear (v. 16). But God forbids the prophet to engage in normal mourning behavior (v. 17). Ezekiel communicates this prophecy to the people, and that evening his wife dies. The bereaved but obedient prophet's unusual public reaction to his loss leads the exiles to ask, "What does this mean for us?" whereupon Ezekiel prophesies the demise back home of what they cherish most: the temple and the kin left behind after the first deportation in 597. The reason for the people's failure to mourn these tragedies may lie in the deservedness of the punishment.
The destruction of Jerusalem in 587/86 constitutes the peak of Judah's punishment, and the "opening" of the prophet's mouth (v 27; cf. 3:26; 33:21-22) on this day of judgment will mark the watershed event, which starts the Hebrews on the road to restoration.
25-32 The Nations Condemned
Cf. Amos i-2; Isaiah 13-23; Jeremiah 46-51.
The Babylonians are besieging Jerusalem; Ezekiel is newly widowed as a sign of the city's imminent destruction; and the prophet's prospects of regaining his speech hinge on the occurrence of that tragedy. But the text now rails against the pagan nations, from whom God also demands good moral conduct.
25 Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia Cf. Jeremiah 47-49.
Oracles against the three major Transjordanian regions begin with the northernmost, Ammon. By reacting to the downfall of Judah with ungodly rejoicing (cf. 18:30-32), the Ammonites invite their own punishment. Even their capital at Rabbah (modern Amman, Jordan) will become pastureland for the infiltrating "sons of the east" (nomadic tribes; V. 4). Moving south, Moab and Seir (the mountainous area of northern Edom, often named to represent the entire region) receive the same sentence for failing to recognize the uniqueness of Judah (and therefore of her God) among the nations. God also vows vengeance on Edom (land of Esau's descendants, doomed to perpetual conflict with the chosen line of Jacob; Gen. 25:23) and Philistia (the coastal region on Canaan's south-central coast, dominated by seafaring enemies of Israel) for taking their own vengeance against Judah (cf. Jer. 49:7-22; Obad. 1-14). The opportunistic Edomites invaded southern Judah following the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem (c£ ch. 35).
26-28 Tyre and Sidon Cf. Isaiah 23.
Three oracles condemn the prominent port city of Tyre, on the Phoenician coast roughly halfway between modern Beirut and Haifa (26:1-28:19). In the days of Israel's united monarchy (loth century), Tyre's King Hiram supplied Solomon with timber and skilled craftsmen for the construction of the Jerusalem temple and palace complex (1 Kings 5-7).
Tyre gained political power in the ancient Near East, not through military conquests but by dominating the world of commerce. The city boasted two harbors: one on the coast of the mainland, and the other at the offshore island on which the main city sat (26:5-6). The Phoenician inhabitants used their seafaring knowledge to trade a wide range of goods throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond. When Tyre's trading partners learn of her fall, they tremble, probably for fear of their own financial ruin (26:15-18). Because most of the major land routes ran through Canaan, the already rich Tyre recognized the economic opportunity opened to her by the fall of Jerusalem (26:2).
But Tyre's self-serving response to the political demise of Judah earns God's judgment (26:2). Ezekiel communicates the bad news in March/April 587/86, shortly after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and just before Nebuchadnezzar, whom Ezekiel now names for the first time, comes knocking (26:1, 7). The siege of Tyre lasted 13 years, and the Babylonian assault was difficult (cf. 29:18), in part because of their target's island location. Nebuchadnezzar's army never did succeed in invading Tyre, though the standoff finally ended with her agreement by treaty to pay tribute to Babylon.
Chapter 27 metaphorically pictures Tyre as a magnificent vessel built of the best materials, sailed by a select crew, maintained by premiere repairmen, and loaded with the finest goods, but doomed to sink in the sea. The extensive geographical spread of Tyre's suppliers and trading partners testifies to the cosmopolitan nature of this ancient commercial hub: Senir (Canaan's Mount Hermon, 27:5); Bashan (northern Transjordan, v. 6); Elishah (probably Cyprus, vv. 6-7); Sidon, Arvad, and Gebal (Greek "Byblos"; port cities on the Phoenician coast, north of Tyre, vv. 8-9). Persia, Lud (Lydia), and Put (Libya), from where Tyre drew its warriors, represent the whole of the ancient Near Eastern world, from well east of Tyre to the western extent of Mediterranean Eurasia to the North African coast west of Egypt (27:10). The place names in 27:12-25 represent Spain (Tarshish), Greece (Javan), Asia Minor (Tubal, Meshech), Armenia (Beth-togarmah), Arabia (Kedar and Dedan in the north; Uzal, Sheba, Canneh, and Eden in the south), neighboring Syria (Damascus) and Canaan (Judah, Israel), and Assyria (Haran, Asshur). The chapter closes with a lament describing the rituals carried out by Tyre's partners to mourn the sinking of the Mediterranean mother ship (27:30-32).
The long oracle in chapter 28 laments the rulers of Tyre, whose skill produced wealth leading to the overzealous pride that invited divine judgment (28:2-7). (On "Daniel" in 28:3, see 14:14.) Many of the metaphors here find general parallels in Genesis 2-3: the aspiration to achieve equality with God (v. 2); the initial Edenlike existence (v. 13); the cherub-guardian at the garden N. 14); original moral innocence N. 15); and expulsion as punishment for sin (v. 16). "Stones of fire" (vv 14, 16) recall the fiery coals that ignite Jerusalem in the vision at 10:2. Since the Tyrians practiced circumcision, the rulers' sentencing to the "death of the uncircumcised" portended a humiliating end (28:10).
In the 9th century, King Omri of the northern kingdom of Israel forged an alliance with Phoenicia by arranging for his successor-son Ahab to marry the Baal-worshipping Sidonian princess Jezebel. Ezekiel attaches to the oracle against Tyre a word condemning her sister-city Sidon for "pricking" Israel with painful scorn (28:20-26). The oracles against Phoenicia result in a promise to the exiled Hebrews: God will restore them to the land of their inheritance, where they will pursue peacetime activities (building houses and planting vineyards) and enjoy political security (28:25-26).
29-32 Egypt Cf. Isaiah 19-20; and 46.
Ezekiel utters against Egypt his largest group of oracles directed at non-Hebrew nations. This kingdom that enslaved the Hebrews centuries before proved itself a fickle (and covenantally illegitimate) ally of Israel and Judah in their struggles against Assyria and Babylon. But Egypt's greater sin lay in opposing these nations that God appointed as instruments of his judgment against the wayward chosen people. The recurrent phrase, "Then they shall know that I am the Lord," makes clear the reason for God's punitive acts. The oracles in these chapters do not appear in chronological order, and only one lacks a date.
29:1-16 Pharaoh a Fish out of Water This oracle, dated to January 587, targets Pharaoh Hophra, who responded to the Judahite king Zedekiah's appeal for aid against the besieging Babylonians. Undoubtedly, Hophra considered Judah a crucial buffer that shielded Egypt from direct attack by Babylon. The pharaoh's attempt to save Jerusalem resulted in a short-lived reprieve for Judah's capital while Nebuchadnezzar's army withdrew to halt the advancing Egyptian relief forces. But the Babylonian siege resumed with a vengeance. Thus Ezekiel likens Egypt to a weak "reed," which when leaned on for support not only snaps but also results in injury to the leaner (vv. 6-7). Hophra's offense lay in considering himself divine (as did all the Egyptian pharaohs), as signified by his claim to have created the life-supporting Nile River (v 3). Pharaoh may consider himself an invincible river "monster" (the Nile crocodile?), but God will fish him out and fling him into the waterless wilderness, where he will become carrion for birds of prey and scavenging beasts (vv. 3-5). Furthermore, God will devastate Hophra's entire kingdom, from north to south (Migdol, in the Nile Delta, to Syene/Aswan, on the border with Cush/Ethiopia; v. 10) and scatter its population in other countries. After it has lain desolate for 40 years (= one generation), God will repatriate the exiled Egyptians to "Pathros" (southern Egypt, v. 14). But the anemic nation of Egyptian returnees will never again embody for Israel a politically tempting ally (v. 16).
29:17-21 Wages for Nebuchadnezzar Ezekiel received this latest of his recorded words from God on the Hebrew New Year's Day of 571. The Babylonian siege of Tyre had ended three years earlier, and this oracle publicizes Nebuchadnezzar's belated but forthcoming wages for doing God's work of judgment in Phoenicia: the conquest and plunder of Egypt. In verse 21, Ezekiel prophesies the simultaneous renewal of Israel's political strength, symbolized by the "horn."
30:1-19 Comprehensive Devastation in Store for Egypt and Her Allies This undated group of short laments elaborates the devastation of Egypt by the Babylonians and adds words of doom for Egypt's allies. Verse 5 names doomed nations to her south (Ethiopia/Cush), west (Put/Libya), north across the Mediterranean (Lud/Lydia), and east (Arabia). The ships bound for Ethiopia bearing God's messengers of doom travel upstream on the Nile (v. 9). Egypt's desolation "from Migdol to Syene/Aswan" covers the kingdom's north-south extent (v. 6). The cities named in verses 14-19 lie in the Delta region, except for Pathros and Thebes, in Upper (southern) Egypt.
30:20-26 A Broken-armed Pharaoh When Ezekiel uttered this oracle (April 587), Jerusalem had endured over a year of siege by the Babylonians. Pharaoh Hophra had failed to expel Nebuchadnezzar from neighboring Canaan. A brokenarmed pharaoh is a metaphor for the defenselessness of the Egyptians against a divinely strengthened Babylonian conqueror.
31 The Example of Felled Assyria In June 587, Ezekiel delivers an extended allegory in which the fate of Assyria is an example of the future awaiting Egypt. Some English versions emend the Hebrew text of verse 3 to read "cypress" instead of Assyria, with "cypress" representing Egypt. This emendation renders the oracle more directly against Egypt but does not change the essential message to Pharaoh.
The allegory likens Assyria - the Mesopotamian superpower defeated by Babylon - to a vibrant and incomparable cedar of Lebanon that sustained and protected the nations over which it ruled. But Assyria's haughty pride prompted God to fell her, and now she and her allies, the formerly jealous "trees of Eden;" lie in the "Pit" ("Sheol;' the realm of the dead). The oracle closes with a taunting challenge that Pharaoh declare to which tree of Eden Egypt compares. But however great and glorious Egypt might be, she will share the fate of her predecessors to the Pit. Her consignment to lie unburied among the uncircumcised and murdered adds further insult (v. 18).
32:1-16 An Anticipatory Lament for Pharaoh When Ezekiel utters this lament for Pharaoh in March 585, Jerusalem has fallen and the Babylonians are besieging Tyre (chs. 26-28). This oracle anticipates the death of Pharaoh when Nebuchadnezzar focuses on Egypt. Again Ezekiel likens the Egyptian ruler to a sea monster that God will catch in a fishnet and abandon on land for birds and beasts to devour (cf. 29:1-16). The darkness that covers Egypt recalls the sign mediated by Moses prior to the exodus (vv. 7-8; cf. Exod. 10:21-23).
32:17-32 Egypt Condemned to the Nether World This oracle, also delivered in 585, parallels the allegory of Assyria (ch. 31) in condemning Egypt to the netherworld, where the kingdom will share a burial chamber with fellow oppressors who have already died a disgraceful death by murder. Awaiting Egypt are Assyria (defeated by Babylon), Elam (northeast of Babylon), Meshech and Tubal (minor kingdoms on Assyria's northern frontier), Edom (southeast of Canaan), the "princes/chiefs of the north" (presumably, city-states north of Canaan), and Sidon (the Phoenician port north of Tyre). Keeping company in death with the "uncircumcised" promises further humiliation.
33-37 Jerusalem Falls and Restoration Begins
The fall of Jerusalem inaugurates a new prophetic perspective for Ezekiel - one that emphasizes the promised restoration of the exiles to Canaan and God's renewal of their broken relationship with him.
33:1-20 Righteousness and the Watchman These verses draw together two themes presented earlier in the book: Ezekiel's duties as "watchman" for the "house of Israel" (vv. 1-9; cf. 3:17-21) and the righteousness of God's judgments (vv. 10-20; cf. 18:5-29).
33:21-33 Ezekiel Hears of Jerusalem's Fall When Ezekiel receives word of the fall of Jerusalem, he regains his speech (vv 21-22; cf. 3:26-27; 24:27). The Hebrew survivors in Judah took their escape from the Babylonian sword as a sign that they constituted the remnant entitled to inherit the land God promised to Abraham - a misconception countered earlier in Ezekiel (11:1517). But the prophet warns that their continued disobedience of the covenantal contract - by violating food laws, practicing idolatry, doing violence, and sinning sexually - cancels their legitimacy as rightful heirs. The judgment of the Judahites is not over yet.
At the same time, the urgent need for all Hebrews to repent still hasn't hit the true remnant - Ezekiel's fellow exiles in Babylon. They relish hearing prophetic pronouncements but fail to heed them (cf.12:2; Isa. 6:9-10).
34 Culling a Remnant-within-the-Remnant Invoking the imagery of the shepherd and sheep, Ezekiel charges the Hebrew leaders with selfishness and with neglect and oppression of the people. Now God will step in to do their job by searching out the "lost sheep" and gathering them back to their own land, where he will provide sustenance, rest, and healing. But the great responsibility of the shepherds does not absolve the sheep of responsibility toward one another, and God will separate the good from the bad. A new David will shepherd this surviving remnant-within-the-remnant, and God will establish with them a new covenant that ensures harmonious relationships with God and creation (= shalom, "peace").
35:1-36:15 Contrasting the Fates of Edom and Israel Cf. Isa. 34:5-15; Jer. 49:7-22; Obadiah.
Chapter 35, which condemns Edom (represented by the Seir mountain range), forms a literary unit with 36:1-15, which prophesies contrasting blessing for the promised land (the "mountains of Israel"). Ezekiel cites several incriminating sins for which Seir and all Edom deserve judgment: everlasting "enmity" with the chosen line of Jacob (cf. Gen. 25:23); taking
advantage of their cousins' plight N. 5); attempting to seize land in Israel and Judah N. 10; 36:5); and rejoicing over their desolation (v. i5). Now having lived by the sword, Edom's inhabitants will die by the sword, and "the whole earth" will rejoice over Edom's desolation (v. 14; cf. 25:12-14).
Ezekiel's hopeful prophecy for Israel affirms the legitimacy of her punishment N. 3) but promises that she will get the last laugh on Edom and the other opportunistic nations that sought to overtake Canaan N. 5). God will turn the tables on them by restoring the vibrancy of the promised land. Crops will be more abundant than ever. God's people will return as permanent heirs to the land, where they will multiply and rebuild and populate the now decimated cities. And God will treat his people even better than he did before judging them (v. 11). The promise that the mountains will no longer bereave the nation of its children no doubt reflects the wartime perishing of many Hebrews in the mountainous regions that dominate much of Canaan's geography (vv. 12-14; cf. 39:1-4).
36:16-38 God Restores to Vindicate His Name Ezekiel explicitly applies to the Hebrew people the promises contained in 36:1-15. The prophet's introductory focus on their persistent and thorough sinfulness intensifies the gracious nature of God's future restorative acts. Yet here the emphasis lies not on God's grace (ill-deserved favor) but on his motivation for acting graciously toward his people, namely, the vindication of his name. The foreign nations of Ezekiel's day viewed the exile of the Hebrews as proof of the impotence of their God. God therefore determines to bring them home and restore their fortunes as a witness to his sovereignty. The promise of a "new heart" echoes Jeremiah's description of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). Here God's gift of his spirit will enable the people to keep the covenant and thus ensure their enjoyment of the covenantal blessings, described largely in terms of renewed natural abundance and fertility. But the future, enabling gift does not cancel the people's immediate responsibility to repent. The offering of sacrifices surged during these times, as Hebrew pilgrims from all over Canaan flocked to the Jerusalem temple for communal celebration.
37 A Resurrected Nation In this allegorical vision, the spirit transports Ezekiel to a valley strewn with dry, disjointed bones. After taking the prophet on a tour of the area, God asks him whether the bones can ever live again. When Ezekiel cannot answer, God instructs him to tell the bones that they will indeed come to life. The bones respond to the prophecy in two stages: first they reassemble and reconstitute fleshly bodies, and then life enters the bodies through "breath" blown from the "four winds" The vision ends with the rising to its feet of a vast army of resurrected bodies. Verses 11-14 interpret the revelation. The bones represent the "whole house of Israel" (v. 11) - the exiles of both the northern and southern kingdoms. The revival of their hope involves divine removal from the "grave" of exile (= return to the "land of Israel") and imbuement with God's "spirit" - in Hebrew, the same word as "breath" and "wind."
"0 dry bones, hear the word of the Lord" (Ezek. 37:4); carved wood panel from the Church of St. Nicholas in Deptford, U.K.
But restoration does not stop there. A second,
enacted oracle prophesies the reunification of the southern and northern kingdoms, which developed separate monarchies after the death of Solomon. Ezekiel writes on separate sticks to represent Judah and Israel ("Ephraim, its most prominent tribe and name of one of Joseph's heirs to God's promise to Abraham; Gen. 48:1-5). Publicly, Ezekiel joins the sticks end to end to signify their restoration as a united nation. Further, he prophesies the rise of a new Davidic monarch to administer the eternal "covenant of peace" (cf. Isaiah 11) in a kingdom that enjoys God's renewed residence in its midst (cf. 10:1-5,18-19).
38-39 Curses Bequeathed to Gog
In Ezekiel's prophecy against Gog - unknown historically but presented here as ruler of kingdoms in Asia Minor - God once again brings against his people invaders from lands north of Canaan (38:15). But he does so not to judge the Hebrews, as in the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests; rather, his purpose is to justify his name further among the nations by vanquishing the formidable but foredoomed combatants (38:15-16, 23; cf. 36:22-23). When God inspires Gog and his allies (38:5-6) to attack the restored Hebrew community, they are living in peace and security, as evidenced by the lack of defense walls surrounding their cities (38:8,11). The Hebrews' spirit-empowered adherence to the new covenant ensures both their avoidance of forbidden alliances with foreign nations and divine protection as a promised blessing. So God arranges the defeat of unwitting Gog, whose stormy end Ezekiel describes in terms that echo the fate of the false prophets of preexilic days (cf. 13:11-13). Revelation 20:8 uses Gog and Magog to represent the multinational army of Satan, who leads them in a similarly doomed final attack on the faithful.
Chapter 39 further emphasizes Gog's inheritance of the judgment suffered by the formerly wayward chosen people. God vows to slay Gog's army on the "mountains of Israel" and give the invaders as food to predatory birds and beasts (39:4; cf. 14:15-16, 21; 36:12-14). Their feasting on the slain celebrates the slaughter as a sacrifice from God (39:17-20). Wholly depending on God for protection, the Hebrews will use as firewood the weapons confiscated from the fallen army, and the supply will last for seven years. It will take seven months to bury all the bodies, not to honor the foes but to "cleanse" the land from ritual defilement through contact with corpses. The number seven represents completeness and perfection. A summary of God's restorative acts toward his people closes the chapter (39:25-29).
40-48 Ezekiel's Vision of Jerusalem Restored
This longest and (except for 29:17-21) latest of prophetic visions in Ezekiel takes place in 573, over a dozen years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The oracle contains a mixture of symbolic description and practical directions for life centered on the worship of God in the rebuilt holy city, to which he and his people return. The challenge for the modern reader is to appreciate their abundant technical tedium as an integral part of the overall theological climax to which they bring the book.
40-42 Blueprint for a New Temple In a vision, God transports Ezekiel to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where a guide takes him on an architectural tour of a new temple complex. The guide instructs Ezekiel to concentrate on everything he sees and hears so that he can accurately report the details to his fellow exiles. In general, the tour proceeds from the perimeter of the complex to its center, all the way to the holy of holies, and back to the outside wall. The guide, outfitted with ancient versions of a tape measure and yardstick, takes detailed measurements of the architectural features. The purpose of this task consists in marking the boundaries between the sacred and the secular in anticipation of God's renewed residence there (cf. 43:79). The resulting blueprint differs significantly from those of the first and second (postexilic) temples (cf.1 Kings 6-7; see also "The Temple"), and Ezekiel's own followers began early on to assign eschatological significance to the prophet's visionary description (cf. Rev. 21:1-22:5).
43 God Returns to the Temple Ezekiel gazes eastward to witness the approach of God's glory, which he beheld in previous visions (chs.1,1o) and which now re-enters and fills the temple. Once inside, God announces that he has come back to stay, and he charges Ezekiel with describing the temple to his fellows. After dictating the dimensions of a new altar, measured in "long cubits" (ca. 21 in.) and "spans" (ca. 8.75 in.), God gives instructions for its consecration by the priestly descendants of the Levite Zadok, whom Solomon appointed high priest.
44-46 Regulating Activities at the Temple These chapters weave together chastising reminders of the Hebrews' sinful history and regulations for activities at the new temple. The rules ban unconverted foreigners (44:7) from entry into God's house. The oracle blames the Levites' former religious waywardness for their relegation to menial work in the service of the temple and their prohibition from performing priestly duties. As reward for faithfulness, however, the Zadokite Levites inherit the honor of ministering as priests before God. Actually, the law of Moses established the functional distinction between Levites and priests (a Levitical subclass) at the outset of the Hebrews' covenantal relationship with God: only Levites in the lineage of Aaron, such as Zadok, could become priests. The sin offering required of priests defiled through contact with a corpse cleansed them from ritual impurity (44:25-27). Such contact constituted a covenantal transgression but not an act of immorality.
Chapter 45 addresses real estate allotments for the Hebrews' religious and civil leaders. The tribe of Levi did not receive a landed inheritance in Canaan (44:28), but Mosaic law required each of the other tribes to reserve certain of their cities exclusively for the Levites (Num. 35:1-8). This arrangement maintained a priestly presence throughout the kingdom. The Lord's own territorial allotment in restored Jerusalem provides living space for the landless Levites - the heirs of God himself (45:1-6). The designation of real estate for the Hebrew royalty is intended not so much to provide as to restrict. Not only must the civil leaders refrain from taking the property of commoners (45:7-9), but they must also use accurately calibrated weights and measures to collect taxes and supply the offerings for corporate sacrifices according to the festal calendar (45:10-46:15). The required return to the royal family of property bequeathed to servants maintains the long-term integrity of the family estate and accords with Mosaic law regarding the "year of jubilee" (46:16-18; cf. Lev. 25:10).
The continued requirement of sin offerings under the promised new covenant, in which God's spirit ensures the Hebrews' obedience, takes into account the inevitability of involuntary infractions of the Mosaic covenant (45:1725; cf. Lev. 4:1-5:13).
47:1-12 The Life-Giving River After Ezekiel and his guide return to the central sanctuary, they wade almost waist high into an unfordable river flowing from beneath the temple. The river flows east to the Arabah, the rift valley in which the Dead Sea lies. The sea's excessively salty water, which supports neither plants nor creatures, turns fresh. Its new power to sustain marine life as varied as that of the "Great" Mediterranean Sea attracts anglers from "Engedi to En-eglaim;' on opposite sides of the Dead Sea and so representing its entirety.
47:13-48:35 The Division of Land The territory reapportioned to the tribes of Israel included land bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, the "Eastern" or Dead Sea and Jordan River on
the east, borders in modern Syria on the north, and the Brook of Egypt (whose fingers run deep into the Sinai Peninsula) on the south. Since the division of the land excludes the descendants of Levi, the splitting of Joseph's allotment between the descendants of his sons Ephraim and Manasseh boosts the number of tribal territories back to 12. Mosaic law provides for the incorporation into Hebrew society of foreign converts to Yahwism. The policy continues here with the entitlement of "aliens" to landed inheritances within the tribal allotments. Land given to the royal family surrounds the centrally located territory set aside for the Lord and extended to the priests and Levites. The overall picture of apportionment differs significantly from the original design laid out in Joshua 13-21. Here each tribe receives an equal allotment, and all tribes remain west of the Jordan (contrast Numbers 32).
The last six verses of chapter 48 return us to the holy city. Each of the 12 gates in its perimeter wall bears the name of a Hebrew tribe, including Levi and, therefore, Joseph (instead of Ephraim and Manasseh). The hopeful crescendo of chapters 40-48 reaches its climax in the final verse of the book, where Jerusalem receives for eternity a new name, "The Lord is there;" which is itself prophetic.