Beyond the Grave - Institute for Biblical Research

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134 Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 became a living being; this is how these dry bones will come to life. Fourth, this miraculous act of God will result in Yahweh's people recognizing his person and the power of his word. In fact, this is Yahweh's primary objective in the event. THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS Having gathered the data that reflect Ezekiel's understanding of the afterlife, several major questions remain. First, what is the doctrinal value of his picture of the netherworld? Does it represent the beliefs of the Israelites, or has the prophet simply created a metaphor for rhetorical effect? Several considerations seem to support the latter view. First, since Ezekiel's picture is heavily influenced by ancient burial practices (see the inferior location of the realm of the dead, the stratification, the reclining posture, the burial objects), it seems natural that he would describe the netherworid as an extension of the grave, a massive communal mausoleum in which the departed continue to exist as "living corpses." Second, all of Ezekiel's images of the netherworid are found in judgment oracles against foreign nations. 118 The fact that such pic- tures are absent in prophecies condemnatory of his own people may suggest they were uniquely relevant for non-Israelites, perhaps be- cause of their distinctive perceptions of the afterlife. Third, Ezekiel regularly borrows images from outside Israel to craft his own oracles, without thereby giving assent to their reality. 119 Not only do several features of his netherworid recall Canaanite and Egyptian models (the three-tiered universe, the designations for the realm of the dead, the presence of "heroes" and kings in the netherworld), the incorporation of local coloring in 32:17-32 (the arrangement of the tombs of lesser individuals around 118. The same is true of the closest extra-Ezekielan analogue, Isaiah's taunt of the "King of Babylon" in 14:9-11, 15-20. The links between this text and Ezek 32:17- 32 are obvious: (1) The designations for the netherworid (Sheol, the Pit); (2) The phys- ical stratification of Sheol (cf. the references to yarkĕtê bôr, "the farthest recesses of the Pit"); (3) The social ordering of its residents, with the more wicked inhabitants (like the "King of Babylon" in Isaiah), who were never afforded an honorable burial, being confined to the farthest recesses of the Pit; (4) The state of the dead (a shadowy exis- tence, as "living corpses," lying on their beds, but fully conscious of their relative po- sitions). On the date of Isaiah 14 see S. Erlandsson, The Burden of Babylon: A Study of Isaiah 13:2-14:23 (ConBOT 4; Lund: CWK Gleerup, 1970), esp. 160-66. 119. Cf. the iconographic features of his inaugural vision (1:4-28); the description of the king of Tyre's hybris and fall (28:1-10); the comparison of the king of Egypt to a sea monster (tannîm, 29:3-5; 32:2-8).
BLOCK: Ezekiel's Vision of Death and Afterlife 135 that of the king) is quite appropriate for the principal subject of the oracle. Fourth, the intention of this oracle is not doctrinal, but rhetorical—inspire hope in the hearts of the prophet's fellow exiles by announcing the eventual demise of their foreign enemies. The cari- catured and contrary-to-fact features in the prophecy (e.g., Egypt, Sidon, Edom lie among the uncircumcised) suggest that it should be interpreted as a literary cartoon rather than a literary photograph. Fifth, the doctrinal value of related texts is not always clear. Like our text, the nearest prophetic analogue, Isaiah 14, concerns a foreign nation. Comments on the netherworld in the book of Job and in the Psalter represent human responses to reality from the lips of per- sons experiencing intense trauma, rather than didactic expressions of belief or divine affirmations of reality. Nor is the issue resolved when Jesus takes up the metaphor in Luke 16:19-31. The Old Testa- ment background helps to explain the distinct fates of Lazarus and the rich man in the afterlife. But with his reference to the impenetra- ble gulf between "Abraham's Bosom" and "Hades,” 120 Jesus has not only taken the stratification in Sheol one step farther; if Abraham's Bosom is actually to be located in the netherworld he has also found a place there for the righteous. However, as in the prophetic utter- ances, Jesus' discussion of the afterlife occurs in story form in a po- lemic against his opponents. It is tempting to conclude, therefore, that the Israelites had no doctrine of the netherworld; they just told stories about it. 121 How- ever, the doctrinal implications of oracles like this should not be dis- counted too quickly. Admittedly Ezekiel's prophecy deals with a foreign nation, but to base the claim that the Israelites shared none of these views on their absence in oracles concerning their own judgment is to argue from silence. Moreover, although the oracles against the foreign nations by definition dealt primarily with Israel's enemies, they were intended first of all for the prophet's own people's con- sumption. His primary audience consisted of fellow Israelites in exile 120. The New Testament use of "Hades" is inconsistent. On the one hand, it iden- tifies the location of the ungodly in the netherworld at their decease (as in Luke 16:23; cf. 1 Pet 3:19), in contrast to Abraham's Bosom (Luke 16:23), Paradise (23:23), the presence of the Lord (2 Cor 5:8), union with Christ (Phil 1:23), the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22). On the other hand, Acts 2:27, 31 seems to envision Hades as the place of assem- bly for all souls. This inconsistency of usage is also evident in Josephus. Hades is the place of both the righteous and the wicked in Ant 18.14 and Wars 2.163; of the tempo- rary sojourn of the wicked only in Wars 3.375. Cf. J. Jeremias, TDNT 1.146-49. 121. According to G. von Rad, "Apart from isolated questionings (e.g., Job xiv.13-22), it [the realm of the dead] was not a subject of real interest to faith. Poetic fancy alone took it up now and then (Isa xiv. 9ff.; Ezek xxxii.20ff.)" (Old Testament The- ology [2 vols.; New York: Harper & Row, 1962/1965] 2.350).
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