The Book of Ezekiel and its Influence

Johannes Tromp, Henk Jan de Jonge

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780754655831
• eBook ISBN: 9781351893800
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Ancient History

The Book of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel (6th century B.C.E.) is a book of forceful language and impressive images. Its message is often clear, sometimes mysterious. The book had great impact in Jewish and early Christian literature as well as in western art. This book deals with the intentions of the book of Ezekiel, but also focuses on its use by subsequent writers, editors or artists. It traces Ezekiel's influence in Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God, in Paul, the Gospels, and Revelation, and also shows that Ezekiel's imagery, via Jewish mysticism, influenced the visionary art of William Blake. Presenting contributions from leading biblical scholars in Oxford and Leiden, based on their unique collaborative research, this book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars working in the field of biblical studies, including those studying the Hebrew Bible, its early versions, 'inter-testamental' Judaism, New Testament and Early Christianity, and the reception of Biblical literature in later centuries.

Chapter 1
Ezekiel as a Literary Figure and the Quest for the Historical Prophet

Matthijs J. de Jong

Introduction: The Book of Ezekiel

Without the Israelite prophets there would have been no prophetic books. Behind the biblical prophetic books as literary works stands prophecy as a socio-historical phenomenon. Prophetic books resulted from prophetic practice. However, the precise relationship between the books as literary products on the one hand, and the activity of the historical prophets on the other, is difficult to determine. Whereas most of the traditions that ultimately led to the prophetic books may have started as the result of prophetic activity, their development became a literary enterprise with its own dynamics, in which, at least in some cases, no prophetic activity was involved any more.

The traditional understanding of prophecy has been personal, i.e., the historical prophet and his preaching were the main focus of exegesis. The prophetic books were considered as essentially containing the message of the historical prophet, expanded with all kinds of later material, such as contributions by epigones or disciples, and new applications and interpretations of the prophet’s message. The historical prophets, with their supposed biography and preaching, functioned as the main point of reference for the interpretation of the prophetic books.

The rise and development of redaction criticism has however more and more shifted the exegetical pitch from the life and preaching of the historical prophets, to the books as textual products, especially in their (semi-)final forms. In recent decades, the connection between the prophetic figures and the prophetic literature has become increasingly ambiguous. Since it can no longer be taken for granted that the prophetic books contain essentially the preaching of the prophets after whom they are named, the question as to what extent the prophetic books do relate to prophetic activity has to be answered anew in each individual case. The aim of this contribution is to propose an answer to this question with regard to the book of Ezekiel.

The Message of the Book

It is broadly held that the book of Ezekiel by and large is a product of the late exilic period, written in Babylonia for a community in exile. Unlike most of the prophetic books, the book of Ezekiel contains a coherent message. The following outline is based on the study by Thomas Renz of the rhetorical function of the book of Ezekiel.¹

The purpose of the book is to focus the exilic community on Yahweh both as the one who justly visited judgement on ‘Old Israel’ and as the one who would bring about the promised salvation. The book aims to demonstrate that both the destruction of ‘Old Israel’ and the creation of ‘New Israel’ result from Yahweh’s initiative. Furthermore, the readers are urged to dissociate themselves from their past and to associate themselves with the book’s portrayal of the new Israel, i.e., they are urged to repent. Yahweh’s initiative and human responsibility represent the two main themes of the book. It is Yahweh, as the only ground for, and guarantee of, restoration, who takes the initiative; yet those that fail to repent will be excluded from the process of restoration.²

The book exhorts the readers to acknowledge the following propositions: Yahweh himself visited judgement on Jerusalem; this judgement led to total annihilation in 586 BCE; the destruction was inevitable because of Jerusalem’s grave sins (her rebelliousness against Yahweh); and therefore the punishment was justified. This acknowledgement however implies for the readers – the exilic community – that their own past was equally characterized by rebellion against Yahweh, for the exilic community belongs to the long history of rebellion against Yahweh.³ The book argues furthermore that Yahweh’s standards apply to all: to Judah and Jerusalem, to the foreign nations, and to the exilic community.⁴ Identification with Jerusalem’s just punishment thus forces the readers to acknowledge that they themselves deserve punishment too. This urges them to repent, that is, to abandon their rebelliousness against Yahweh. They must dissociate themselves from Israel’s history of unfaithfulness, in order to take part in Israel’s future. Those who repent are fit for restoration. Yahweh will give them a loyal heart and a new spirit.

Since according to the book the destruction of 586 BCE was a total annihilation, the new Israel is not a surviving remnant, but a new beginning, a resurrected people. There is no continuity between ‘Old Israel’ and ‘New Israel’. The abiding factor is Yahweh’s concern for his name, which made him destroy Jerusalem and which will make him create a new Israel. Readers should not seek their identity in their past, but in the incentive behind Yahweh’s actions: Yahweh’s concern for his name. In this way, the book addresses the readers as being in an intermediate stage, between the Israel of the past to which an end had been made in Jerusalem, and the Israel of the future, based on the exilic community but to be centred in Jerusalem, where restoration will take place and where Yahweh will assume the kingship over his people.

Structure and Argument

In addition to its coherent message, the book of Ezekiel is characterized by a well-ordered structure. It is generally held that the book consists of three major blocks: (I) chapters 1–24, reflecting on the fall of Jerusalem, (II) chapters 25–32, prophecies concerning the other nations, and (III) chapters 33–48, focusing on restoration. As a rhetorical unit, the book consists of two main parts, chapters 1–33 and chapters 348.⁵ The first part, chapters 1–33, focuses on the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. Whereas chapters 1–24 reflect on the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, the turning point of the book is in chapter 33, where the news of the fall of Jerusalem is reported. Chapters 24 (the siege of Jerusalem has begun) and 33 (the fall of Jerusalem is reported) include a section that deals with the other nations (chapters 25–32) – this section makes clear that Yahweh governs all the actions of Nebuchadnezzar. After chapter 33, the turning point of the book, the second part (chapters 34–48) focuses on Yahweh’s promise of restoration.⁶

The structure of the book reveals a particular argument. The first part of the book (chapters 1–33) aims at dissociating the community from rebelliousness against Yahweh.⁷ The exiles must define themselves not by the past, but by the future promised by Yahweh. They are alienated from their past when they learn to see the fall of Jerusalem as Yahweh’s just punishment and when they learn to see Yahweh’s involvement in the other activities of Nebuchadnezzar as well. Since Yahweh indiscriminately punishes all pride that rises against him, the exiles must repent. The second part (chapters 34 18) aims at centring the community on Yahweh’s kingship by projecting the Israel of the future as the result of a spiritual transformation brought about by Yahweh.⁸

The point I want to stress is that the argument of the book makes sense as a whole. Its two aspects, destruction and restoration, are inseparable. Furthermore, the argument as a whole makes sense after 586 BCE. It is to be seen as an explanation of the events in a broader context of Yahweh’s actions in history. The book is not the documentation of the message of a prophet who correctly predicted the fall of Jerusalem. Rather, it is a meaningful composition which forces the readers to take a specific stance towards the events of 586 BCE, and which seeks to prepare them for the assertion of Yahweh’s kingship as the beginning and end of Israel’s transformation.⁹

Ezekiel the Prophet

The question addressed here is the following: the prophet Ezekiel appears in the book, but is he also behind it? As we have seen, the book can be read as a coherent unity.¹⁰ If the exegetical task is to understand and to explain the book, there is little reason to assume a historical prophet. Remarkably, scholars seem to regard the assumption of a historical prophet behind the book as self-evident. Even Renz, whose study shows that the book is a coherent rhetorical composition, does not call into question the existence of a historical Ezekiel.¹¹ The main reason for this, it seems, is the a priori assumption that behind every prophetic book there is a historical prophet. Part of the exegetical task then would be to determine the relation between the historical prophet and his preaching on the one hand, and the book that has been developed out of it on the other.

However, this a priori assumption, in my opinion, is incorrect. In the case of each prophetic book it is a matter of discussion to what extent we need to assume a historical prophet figuring behind it, in order to be able to understand and to explain the book. In some cases it seems quite clear that the book as a textual product cannot be sufficiently explained without such an assumption. For example, any plausible exegesis of First Isaiah has to assume that the Isaiah tradition is based on the activity of a historical prophet, since this tradition evidently started with prophetic sayings related to events from the late eighth century BCE. For Ezekiel however this may be questioned. The book can be explained as a literary composition that makes sense in itself, without the assumption of a historical prophet.¹²

Surely it is possible that there was a priest called Ezekiel among the exiles of 597 BCE who played some role of importance among the first generation of exiles. Ezekiel may not be a completely fictitious figure.¹³ The point here is...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Contributors
• Introduction
• 1 Ezekiel as a Literary Figure and the Quest for the Historical Prophet
• 2 Ezekiel 40–42: The Earliest ‘Heavenly Ascent’ Narrative?
• 3 The Septuagint of Ezekiel and the Profane Leader
• 4 Moses’ Vision of the Divine Throne in the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian
• 5 ‘Can These Bones Live?’ Ezekiel 37:1–14 and Eschatological Resurrection
• 6 Sodom in Q 10:12 and Ezekiel 16:48-52
• 7 The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Book of Ezekiel
• 8 ‘A Letter Written on Tablets of Human Hearts’: Ezekiel’s Influence on 2 Corinthians 3:3
• 9 The Influence of Ezekiel 37 on 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1
• 10 The So-Called Bridal Bath at Ezekiel 16:9 and Ephesians 5:26
• 11 Exile, Prophet, Visionary: Ezekiel‘s Influence on the Book of Revelation
• 12 The Gog and Magog Tradition in Revelation 20:8
• 13 Ezekiel’s Merkavah in the Work of William Blake and Christian Art
• Index of Biblical References
• Index of References to Other Sources
• Index of Modern Authors Cited