JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

ezekiel
of days equivalent to the years of their punishment; (c) he is
to consume scant rations of a loaf of mixed grains and water
to show the siege-famine; (d) he is to bake a cake (ʿugah, in
direct contact with fuel or ashes, see *Bread) on human excrement
(later exchanged for cattle dung) to symbolize the
“unclean” food of exiles (cf. Hos. 9:3f.); (e) he is, finally, to
shave his head and dispose of the hair in thirds to symbolize
the annihilation of the population (cf. Isa. 7:20; Zech 13:8f.).
Act (d) is intrusive and belongs thematically with the acts of
chapter 12; it was attracted to this section by the food prescription
of 4:10ff.
Prophecies Directed Against the Mountains (= the
land; vs. 1) of Israel and Their Heathen Cult Installations
(chs. 6 and 7; cf. Lev. 6:30) AND AGAINST THE POP-
ULATION. Chapter seven proclaims that “the end has come”
(Amos 8:2; Gen. 6:13) for all classes of the populace.
A VISIONARY TRANSPORTATION TO JERUSALEM (chs. 8–11).
In a trance-vision, the prophet is taken to see the abominations
in the Temple (ch. 8) and the destruction of Jerusalem
by heavenly executioners (9:1–10:7). While he prophesies
against a cabal of 25 leading men, one Pelatiah drops dead.
A thematically associated denunciation of the Jerusalemites’
design to supplant the exiles and a promise of the latter’s restoration
follows. In the course of the vision, the stages of the
departure of God’s Majesty from the Temple and the city are
recounted (10:18f. (referring to vs. 4?); 11:22f.). The historical
implications of this vision are discussed below.
DRAMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE EXILE OF JUDAH
AND ITS KING (12:1–16). After the event, the original references
to the king’s disguise in verses 6 and 12 were interpretatively
adjusted to conform with the blinding of King Zedekiah
(II Kings 25:7). Verses 17–20 order the prophet to represent,
as he eats, the fright of the Jerusalemites.
ON PROPHECY (12:21–14:11). Two denunciations of the popular
dismissal of doom prophecies precede a long diatribe
against false prophets of weal (= Jer. 23:25ff.), and sorceresses.
Another oracle declares God inaccessible to the heathenish Israelites
for normal oracular consultation (under the dispensation
of wrath, only one-way communications from God to
man obtained).
NO SALVATION THROUGH VICARIOUS MERIT (14:12–23;
against Gen. 18:24, etc.). The legendary worthies Noah, Daniel
(apparently akin to the Ugaritic righteous ruler Dnil; Pritchard,
Texts, 149ff.; COS I, 343–56), and Job could save themselves
alone – not even their own children – from God’s judgment.
(This theme is related to the intercessory function of
prophecy (cf. 13:5 with 22:30) and is thus linked to the preceding
oracles.) Yet with Jerusalem, an exception will be made:
some unworthies will escape with their children to Babylonia
to justify God’s dooming the city to Ezekiel’s hearers who
will thus be able to see for themselves what a depraved lot the
Jerusalemites are.
THREE PARABLES (chs. 15–17). Chapter 15 contains the parable
of the vine wood. Not the useful vine (Hos. 10:1; Jer.
2:21; Ps. 80:9, 15) but the useless vine wood is the fit image of
Israel – good only for fuel, and hence consigned to destruction.
Chapter 16 contains the parable of the nymphomaniacal
adulteress. This lurid, even pornographic, parable, immoderate
in its language and its historical judgments, combines
these elements: the image of marriage for the covenant relation
of God and Israel (Hos. 1–3; Jer. 2:2; 3:1); Jerusalem’s Jebusite
origin – used to argue the genetic depravity of Israel; the view
that political alliances (whether voluntary or coerced) are
equivalent to apostasy – both expressing reliance on powers
other than God. At verse 44, the figure is skewed and
loses its form. Jerusalem is unfavorably compared to her
“sisters” Samaria and Sodom. Undeserving as she is, God
will, out of faithfulness to His ancient covenant, yet redeem
her and let her rule her sisters. Then she will be ashamed of
her past.
It is likely that verses 44ff. are secondary; but to consider
them post-fall because of the concluding promise of restoration
is to miss the prevailingly condemnatory context of the
promise. Contrast the reversed proportions of the same elements
in the restoration prophecy of 36:16 –7.
Chapter 17 concerns the parable of the two eagles (Nebuchadnezzar
and Psammetichus II, see below), a cedar (Jehoiachin),
and a vine (Zedekiah): a denunciation of Zedekiah
for seeking Egyptian aid to rebel against, and thus break his
vassal oath to, Nebuchadnezzar. An oath by YHWH is inviolable
even if coerced (II Chron. 36:13). A consolatory appendix
(vss. 22ff.) predicting the replanting of a sprig of the cedar,
and in no way part of the denunciation, evidently stems from
the last period of the prophet.
GOD’S ABSOLUTE JUSTICE (ch. 18). In this chapter Ezekiel
maintains that there will be no vicarious suffering of one
generation for another’s sins (vss. 1–20), or condemnation of
a presently good man for his wicked past (21–28); hence to
repent is to live in God’s grace. The argument was provoked
by the current epigram (Jer. 31:28): “Fathers have eaten unripe
grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge?,” charging God
with punishing the innocent descendants of wicked forefathers
(cf. indeed II Kings 23:26; 24:3f.; Jer. 15:4; Lam. 5:7), an
“inequitable” procedure (vss. 25, 29). The prophet is at pains
to deny any “vertical” bequeathal of guilt, either between generations
(as in Ex. 20:5), or within a single generation. Thus
only the guilty are punished, and even they may be reconciled
with God by repentance.
The presentation is systematic and couched in casuistic-legal
terms – the idiom of abstract expression familiar to
the priest-prophet (cf. 14; 33:1–20). For the sake of symmetry,
the argument is carried beyond the immediate issue to
its obverse – the denial too of “vertical” bequeathal of merit.
The form shows theology comprehended as law – specifically,
God’s rule of justice brought into line with Deuteronomy
638 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6