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Book of Ezekiel

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The Visionary Ezekiel Temple plan drawn by the 19th century French architect and Bible scholar Charles Chipiez.

The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve. (The order is somewhat different in the Christian Old Testament). It derives its name from, and records the visions of, the 6th century BC priest and prophet Ezekiel.

According to the book, the prophet, exiled in Babylon, experienced a series of seven visions during the 22 years from 593 to 571 BC, a period which spans the final destruction of Jerusalem in 586. The visions, and the book, are structured around three themes: (1) judgment on Israel (chapters 1-24); (2) judgment on the nations (chapters 25-32); and future blessings for Israel (chapters 33-48).[1]

The frequent use of vivid, symbolic language has much in common with the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.[2]

Contents

[edit] Composition

Main article: Ezekiel

The Book of Ezekiel describes itself as the words of the Ezekiel ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city of Babylon between 593 and 571 BC.[3] The various manuscripts, however, differ markedly from each other, and it is clear that the book has been subjected to extensive editing.[4] While Ezekiel himself may have been responsible for some of this revision, there is general agreement that the book as we have it today is the product of a highly-educated priestly circle that owed allegiance to the historical Ezekiel and was closely associated with the Temple.[5]

[edit] Historical background

Monument to Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem; the quote is Ezekiel 37:14.

Ezekiel was born into a priestly family of Jerusalem c.623 BCE, during the reign of the reforming king Josiah. Prior to this time, Judah had been a vassal of the Assyrian empire, but the rapid decline of Assyria after c.630 led Josiah to assert his independence and institute a religious reform stressing loyalty to Yahweh, the national god. Josiah was killed in 609 and Judah became a vassal of the new regional power, the Babylonian empire. In 597, following a rebellion against Babylon, Ezekiel was among the large group of Judeans taken into captivity by the Babylonians. He appears to have spent the rest of his life in Mesopotamia. A further deportation of Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon occurred in 586 when a second unsuccessful rebellion resulted in the destruction of the city and its Temple and the exile of the remaining elements of the royal court, including the last scribes and priests. The various dates given in the book suggest that Ezekiel was 25 when he went into exile, 30 when he received his prophetic "call", and 52 at the time of the last vision c.571.[6]

[edit] Content

The book opens with a vision of Yahweh, the God of Israel, moves on to anticipate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, explains this as Yahweh's punishment, and closes with the promise of a new beginning and a new Temple.[7]

  1. Inaugural vision (Ezekiel 1:1–3:27): Yahweh approaches Ezekiel as the divine warrior, riding in his battle chariot. The chariot is drawn by four living creatures each having four faces (of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle), and four wings. Beside each "living creature" is a "wheel within a wheel," with "tall and awesome" rims full of eyes all around. Yahweh commissions Ezekial to be a prophet and a "watchman" in Israel: "Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites." (2:3)
  2. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah (Ezekiel 4:1–24:27) and on the nations (Ezekiel 25:1–32:32): Yahweh warns of the certain destruction of Jerusalem and the devastation of the nations that have troubled his people, the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and Philistines, the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, and Egypt.
  3. Building a new city (Ezekiel 33:1–48:35): The Jewish exile will come to an end, a new city and new Temple will be built, and the Israelites will be gathered and blessed as never before.
The Vision of The Valley of The Dry Bones by Gustave Doré, 1866, is based on Ezekiel 37.

[edit] The "Glory of YHWH"

The phrase “glory of YHWH,” found in Ezekiel, describes the presence of the God of Israel which filled the Temple. The “glory of YHWH” was also revealed in the form of light-filled cloud which accompanied the Israelites during the Exodus to the Promised Land. This same divine presence is on the move again; this time accompanying the Babylonian exile.

In Ezekiel’s vision, Ezekiel sees the "glory of YHWH" leaving the Temple, from the Holy of Holies to the gate, and moving toward Babylon (Eze. 9-11). This refers to YHWH going into exile with his people leaving Jerusalem.

In his vision of the new Temple, Ezekiel sees the glory of God entering the Temple and filling the Temple (Eze. 43.2-5). Upon the return from Babylonia and the restoration of the Temple, YHWH will once again dwell in the new Temple as he had in the Temple built by Solomon.[8]

[edit] Influence

Ezekiel's literary influence can be seen in the later apocalyptic writings of Daniel and Zechariah. He is specifically mentioned by Ben Sirah (a writer of the Hellenistic period who listed the "great sages" of Israel) and 4 Maccabees (1st century CE), and by the 1st century CE historian Josephus, who says that the prophet wrote two books. He may have had in mind the Apocryphon of Ezekiel, a 1st century BCE text that expands on the doctrine of resurrection. Ezekiel appears briefly in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but his influence there was profound, most notably in the Temple Scroll with its temple plans, and the defence of the Zadokite priesthood in the Damascus Document.[9]

In Revelation 21-23, as in the closing visions of Ezekiel, the prophet is transported to a high mountain, where a heavenly messenger measures the symmetrical new Jerusalem, complete with high walls and twelve gates, the dwelling-place of God, producing a state of perfect well-being for his people.[10] Other references to this book are also found in the New Testament. (Compare Epistle to the Romans 2:24 with Ezek. 36:22; Rom. 10:5, Galatians 3:12 with Ezek. 20:11; 2 Peter 3:4 with Ezek. 12:22.)

[edit] See also

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ David L. Petersen, "The prophetic literature: an introduction" (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002) p.140
  2. ^ Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison and Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Rev. Ed. of: Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary.; Includes Index. (Nashville: T. Nelson, 1995).
  3. ^ Joseph Blenkinsopp, "A History of Prophecy in Israel" (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996) p.167
  4. ^ Joseph Blenkinsopp, "A History of Prophecy in Israel" (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996) p.166
  5. ^ Joseph Blenkinsopp, "A History of Prophecy in Israel" (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996) pp.167-168
  6. ^ Joel F. Drinkard Jr, Ezekiel, in Watson E. Mills and Richard F. Wilson (eds), "The Prophets" (Mercer University Press, 1995) pp.160-161
  7. ^ Paul L. Redditt, "Introduction to the Prophets" (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008) p. 148
  8. ^ Michael D. Coogan, A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament (New York: Oxford, 2009), 321-322.
  9. ^ Block (1997), p.43
  10. ^ Block (1998), p.502

[edit] Further reading

[edit] General

[edit] Commentaries on Ezekiel

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Book of Ezekiel
Preceded by
Jeremiah		 Hebrew Bible Succeeded by
The Twelve Prophets
Preceded by
Lamentations		 Protestant
Old Testament		 Succeeded by
Daniel
Preceded by
Baruch		 Roman Catholic
Old Testament
Preceded by
Letter of Jeremiah		 E. Orthodox
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