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130 Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 Given Ezekiel's denunciation of so many pagan features in Judah's religious life, his silence on mortuary cult practices in his judgment oracles (chapters 1-24) is striking. Only once in the entire book, in 43:7-9, is there any allusion to the veneration of the dead. 101 Here Ezekiel refers to a series of past abominable practices, including "the corpses of their kings at their death," 102 and calls upon the Israelites to put away their idolatry and the "corpses of their kings." There is some dispute among scholars about the meaning of pigrê malkêhem, 103 but it seems best to associate Ezek- iel's pĕgārîm with the pagan practices referred to in Lev 26:30. Here pigrê gillûlêkem refers not to the corpses themselves, but to some element of the cult of the dead. Appealing to the Ugaritic usage of the same root, pgr, D. Neiman proposed that in both these texts the pĕgārîm were memorial stelae to the gods erected in honor of the which see Heider, 389. (4) 2 Chr 16:12 has the diseased Asa seeking (dāraš) aid from the Rephaim instead of Yahweh. So also Pope, UF 19 (1987) 461. Neither R. B. Dillard, 2 Chronicles (WBC 15; Waco: Word, 1987) 126-27, nor H. G. M. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles (NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982) 276-77, considers this possibility. (5) Ps 16:3-4 speaks of pouring out libations of blood to the "saints who are in the earth" (qĕdôšî ’ăšer bā’āres) and to the "mighty ones" (’addîrîm). So Pope, UF 19 (1987) 462-63, approving of Spronk, 249. For additional possible allusions to the mortuary cult see Bloch-Smith, Judahite Burial Practices, 99-102. For a recent caution on some of these texts see W. T. Pitard, "Post-Funeral Offerings to the Dead in Canaan and Israel" (Paper delivered to the Society of Biblical Literature in Kansas City, 24 November 1991; cf. AARSBLA [1991] 76-77). 100. Cf. Bloch-Smith, Judahite Burial Practices; Lewis, Cults of the Dead; etc. 101. The prohibition on "eating the bread of men" in 24:17, 22 is not to be associ- ated with mortuary cult rituals but customary mourning rites. 102. Thus NRSV, repointing MT's bāmôtām, "on their high places," as bĕmôtām, "in their death," with most moderns. On the textual problems see Zimmerli, Ezekiel 2, 402; Allen, Ezekiel 20-48, 243. 103. The use of pĕgārîm in 6:5 to denote corpses of idolaters strewn about their idols accords with the common Old Testament usage and corresponds to the meaning of the Akkadian cognate, pagrum (AHW, 809), leading many to see here an allusion to royal graves located in the vicinity of the Temple precinct. Cf. J. B. Taylor, Ezekiel: An Introduction and Commentary (TOTC; Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity, 1969) 265; J. W. Wevers, Ezekiel (NCB; London: Thomas Nelson, 1969) 312; A. Cody, Ezekiel (Old Testa- ment Message 11; Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1984) 219; R. H. Alexander, "Ezekiel," The Expositor's Bible Commentary (ed. F. C. Gaebelein; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986) 969; Spronk, Beatific Afterlife, 250. However, this interpretation is weakened by the ab- sence of archaeological evidence for such tombs near enough to the Temple grounds to have been considered defiling, and the fact that most of Judah's kings were buried "in the city of David," some distance removed from the Temple. Cf. J. J. Simons, Jerusalem in the Old Testament: Researches and Theories (Leiden: Brill, 1952) 194-225; K. Galling, "Die Nekropole von Jerusalem," PJ 32 (1936) 73-101. The apostate kings, Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:18; 2 Chr 33:20) and Amon (2 Kgs 21:26), who were interred "in the garden of Uzza," apparently on the palace grounds, and Josiah, who was buried in his own tomb (2 Kgs 23:30), were exceptions. Cf. Bloch-Smith, Judahite Burial Practices, 95-96.
BLOCK: Ezekiel's Vision of Death and Afterlife 131 kings. 104 More recently scholars have removed the divine connec- tion and seen here stelae erected in memory of the dead, 105 or spe- cial offerings involved in the cult of the dead, in which case they would be related to the pagru-offering found in Akkadian texts. 106 In either case, Ezekiel is attacking some sort of Israelite royal ancestor cult, 107 comparable perhaps to the cult of the dead at Ugarit, which was designed to ensure the positive influence of the deceased on the fortunes of the living. If this interpretation is correct, in keeping with orthodox Yah- wism, Ezekiel is calling for the strict maintenance of the boundaries between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. 108 Although the deceased retained consciousness, memory, emotion, awareness of their relationship to others in Sheol, and even a measure of form, 109 mortuary cult activity is forbidden. Undoubtedly he would also have repudiated any necromantic consultation of the dead as well. EZEKIEL'S VISION OF LIFE AFTER DEATH So far we have been focusing on the realm of the dead and the state of the deceased within that sphere. But does the absolute severance 104. David Neiman, "PGR: A Canaanite Cult-object in the Old Testament," JBL 67 (1948) 55-60. Cf. the pillar set up by Absalom for himself in the King's Valley in 2 Sam 18:18. 105. Cf. K. Galling, "Erwägungen zum Stelenheiligtum von Hazor," ZDPV 75 (1959) 11; W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (5th ed.; Garden City: Doubleday, 1968) 201-2 n. 29, "mortuary stelae"; J. Lust, "Exegesis and Theology in the Septuagint of Ezekiel: The Longer 'Pluses' and Ezek 43:1-9," in VI Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (ed. C. E. Cox; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987) 217. For a fuller discussion see T. J. Lewis, Cults of the Dead in An- cient Israel and Ugarit (HSM 5/39; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989) 72-79. 106. Cf. the identification of Dagan as b’l pagrê in the Mari texts, on which see J. F. Healey, "The Underworld Character of the God Dagan," JNSL 5 (1977) 43-51; J. H. Ebach, "PGR = (Toten-)Opfer? Ein Vorschlag zum Verständnis von Ez. 43,7.9," UF 3 (1971) 365-68; Heider, Cult of Molek, 392-94; KB 3 , 861-62. 107. Most commentators interpret mĕlākîm in its usual sense, "kings," in which case Ezekiel's ban is on some sort of royal ancestor cult. However, some have seen in the expression a reference to the rephaim, which in Canaanite usage could apply to deceased and divinized kings. This sense of mĕlākîm is admittedly rare in the Old Tes- tament (cf. Isa 24:21, on which see Heider, Cult of Molek, 392), but it accords with the usage of mlkm in the Ugaritic texts. Cf. M. Dietrich and 0. Loretz, who conclude that like the mlkm, the rp’ym belong to the beneficent spirits of the dead worshiped by the living ("Neue Studien zu den Ritualtexten aus Ugarit," UF 13 [19811 69-74). See also J. F. Healey, "MLKM/RP’UM and the KISPUM," 89-91; P. Xella, "Aspekte religiöser Vorstellungen in Syrien nach den Ebla- und Ugarit-Texten," UF 15 (1983) 288, who finds a singular Eblaite counterpart in ilib. 108. This principle also informed Israel's strict taboos on contact with corpses. See Lang, "Life After Death," 149-51. 109. Cf. the notion of a "living corpse" in Egypt, as discussed by S. Morenz, Egyptian Religion (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1973) 198-204.
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