What type of literature is ezekiel

The people were tempted to achieve this by divine-human synergetic actions. But this attempt was proved to be failure. Since it dealt with time after Ezekiel, it would be out of the scope of this article. Boadt, Lawrence. Brownlee, William H. Ezekiel Wace: Word Books, Davis, Ellen f.

Decatur: Almond, Eichrodt, Walther. Ezekiel: A Commentary. Cosslett Quin. Philadelphia: Westminster, Mays and P. Achtemeier ed. Philadelphia: Fortress, Hayes, J. Koch, Klaus.

The Prophet. Lang, Bernard. Monotheism and the prophetic minority. Sheffield: Almond, Lemke, Werner E. Levensen, Jon D. Theology of the Program of Restoration of Ezekiel Montana: Scholars Press, McKeating, Henry. Sheffield: JSOT, Newsome, J. The Hebrew Prophets. Atlanta: John Knox, Tang, Samuel Y.

A Commentary on Ezekiel I. Chinese ed. Hong Kong: Tien Dao, A Commentary on Ezekiel II. Wever, J. New Series. Greenwood: Attic, Wilson, R. Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel. Zimmerli, Walther. Ezekiel 1. In the pre-exilic time, there were drastic changes in the political and religious aspects of Judah.

After the unexpected death of king Josiah, Judah suffered the loss of a great leader and independance. Soon it was under the Babylonian control.

The opportunism of the kings after Josiah, pulled the nation into disaster. Finally, Jerusalem was leveled in Other prophets, eg. Jeremiah, had struggled to prevent the calamity, but was in vain. However, they did influence Ezekiel a lot; which could be seen in his preaching styles, content, and the use of previous traditions in ch. Responsing to the needs of the exile, the sovereignty of God is emphasized in this book.

It is one of the dominant themes. The dumbness of the prophets, commissing scene, and the glory of Yahweh are some hints on this theme. Especially, the fall of Jerusalem is explained as the judgment of Yahweh, rahter than His failure to protect His own place. The issue at stake is " how does the nation survive? He redraws the Israelite history as a rebellious history against Yahweh, but hints that they may have hope if they repent Ezek. During this waiting time, Ezekiel has proclaimed the judgments on other nations revealing the sovereignty of Yahweh over all nations.

Furthermore the fall of the holy city frustrates the exilic people and Ezekiel announces the glorious future of Israel predestined by the grace of God to comfort them. Attempts to achieve this by divine-human cooperation have found to be failure. This may open the door for the apocalyptic explanations of these prophecy. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources.

Study Guide. Previous Next. Genre Prophecy Ezekiel's a prophet. His brand of prophecy includes all of the following hallmarks: The Performative Prophet.

The Israelite prophets love to practice what they preach and bring their metaphor to life, but Ezekiel puts them all to shame. He groans, he builds brick models of the siege of Israel, he destroys his own hair in various ways—he's all about that performance. The Prophet Possessed. Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah have very normal, tea-time conversations with God, in which everyone gets to share their thoughts and feelings and it is committed to paper.

Not so in Ezekiel—he gets jerked around by the Spirit of the Lord, and is often forced into silence, or moved bodily in some sort of trance. He's God's guy, body and soul. The Prophet's Proverbs. In his commentary , Walther Zimmerli expressed the view of an emerging consensus that the book was mostly authored by the prophet, but also contained additions from a school that preserved the prophet's distinctive characteristics. Most scholars now agree that the book exhibits some redactional activity.

Excavated near the Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon, this clay tablet is one of several dating to King Nebuchadrezzar's reign — B. The text is a ration record for King Jehoiachin and his family cf. Size: 3. Photograph by Olaf M. Ezekiel provides fourteen dated superscriptions, more than any other prophetic book , 2 ; ; ; ; ; , 17 ; ; ; , 17 ; ; This precise dating may reflect Priestly influences, which overall prefer exactness especially in the chronology of important festival days see Lev 23 ; Num 28— Similarly Ezekiel notes the chronology of the exile.

The opening superscription VV. Scholars agree that the date of would be the spring March of B. The latest date provided would be around B. Difficulties abound in confirming these dates since biblical dating reflects calendars that differ in following lunar or solar cycles, whether the New Year begins in fall or spring, and methods of calculating regnal years. Correlation of the dates in Ezekiel with other biblical and nonbiblical sources is generally uncertain or contradictory. Moreover, the dates in Ezekiel and elsewhere in the OT may be later redactions and therefore historically unreliable.

For example, the date in is identical to 2 Kings and Jeremiah It may have been added later to Ezekiel to correlate the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem. It is impossible, however, to reconcile that with other dates in the text ; There is no consensus among scholars on these issues. Many commentaries and studies attempt reconstructions of the historical events that may be associated with these dates but the lack of evidence and sources means that such reconstructions are tentative see Freedy and Redford Despite these difficulties the dates locate Ezekiel's prophetic activity in the period of Israel's history called the Exile or Diaspora.

The biblical account of these events is found in 2 Kings 24—25 see also Jer —34 ; 2 Chr — Babylonia replaced Assyria as the world's great superpower in the last two decades of the seventh century B. Nebuchadnezzar quickly consolidated his power over Western Asia after he became king in B. At some point, Judah's King Jehoiakim — B. Babylonian policy was to form docile, compliant colonies by systematically deporting the leading citizens from their home territories in order to inhibit rebellion.

Nebuchadnezzar placed Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah, on the throne 2 Kgs Judah's history in the following decade is turbulent and complex. There are hints of resistance to Babylonian hegemony, including a rebellion by Zedekiah 2 Kgs ; see Ezek —9.

In response, during Zedekiah's ninth year, Nebuchadnezzar again laid siege to Jerusalem 2 Kgs —3 ; see Ezek —2. In the city was burned, the Temple was destroyed, and more of the city's inhabitants were exiled 2 Kgs — The identification of Ezekiel's location throughout the book places Ezekiel in exile in Babylonia. Both the time and place accentuate that Ezekiel's life and prophetic work occurred in the context of the Judean exile.

The Babylonian exiles were his primary audience and his message dealt with the concerns raised by this defining event. Although recognizing that the final form of Ezekiel includes redacted material there is no consensus regarding how to distinguish material original to the prophet from later additions.

There have been arguments for viewing prose, the use of Priestly case law and language, deuteronomistic influences, repetition, and inconsistencies in grammar and theology as signs of later editorial activity Joyce, pp. It has also been argued that these characteristics were original to the prophet Greenberg , The difficulty in distinguishing layers of growth in the book is attributable to the fact that the book exhibits a great deal of literary coherence.

Even material that many argue is secondary incorporates language and themes of the original material. Recent commentaries Darr , Odell , Joyce, Bowen adapt a synchronic or holistic approach to the text.

They generally attempt to understand Ezekiel in its final form privileging the Hebrew text , while acknowledging redactional activity. Despite the apparent literary integrity, there are some suggestions of development. A number of brief, hopeful oracles intrude into the predominantly judgmental oracles of chapters 4—24 —21 ; —63 ; —24 ; — The material describing the glory and cherubim in chapter 10 breaks the continuity of action.

Ezekiel intrudes between and ; —5 interrupt and 6 , and the description of the glory in —17 shows a number of differences with the description in chapter 1. The manifest of Tyre's cargo in —25A may have been adapted from a trade document. The oracles against the foreign nations chs. One could read chapter 33 immediately after chapter 24 with no sense of disruption.

The latest dated oracle —21 disrupts the otherwise chronological order of the dates. The texts most often considered to be later additions are chapters 38—39 and 40— Chapters 38—39 share affinity with other proto-apocalyptic literature Isa 24—17 ; Zech 9—14 and are placed in different order in the existing manuscripts. In addition to considering chapters 40—48 as secondary, there is also considerable debate about their own literary history.

Despite this possible internal development the evidence supports stabilization of the content during the exilic period. The book shows no awareness of disputes arising from the return to the homeland or to problems in rebuilding the Temple that are evident in the postexilic literature of Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah 56—66 , Haggai, and Zechariah. One difference is a number of omissions. Whether these differences reflect later editorial activity, were introduced by the translators, or are evidence that the translators worked with a Hebrew text different from the MT remain largely unresolved questions.

The complete scroll of Ezekiel found at Qumran, which would help to give more definitive answers to these questions, was unfortunately glued together and remains unrolled.

Among other proposed structures, two are noteworthy. Talmudic tradition divides the book in half into prophecies of doom chs. A more literary approach organizes the structure on the basis of the three visions of God's glory chs. The call narrative is sometimes extended through chapter 5.

Beyond the major divisions in the book, there are no larger organizational structures, but there are a number of key patterns. Short poetic chapters 15 , 17 , 19 intersperse long narrative chapters 16 , 18 , There are three lengthy historical recitals that describe the history of Judah's faithlessness chs.

The theme of prophetic opponents links the oracles in — Brief prophecies of salvation appear among the Prophecies of Judgment, anticipating the Prophecies of Salvation see —21 ; —63 ; —24 ; — Certain literary genres are repeated.

Ezekiel performs a number of sign-acts, a kind of pantomime or performance art that visually represent the message to the audience — ; 12;1—7 , 17—20 ; —18 ; — Metaphor and allegory are frequent literary genres chs. Arguments with the people occur throughout in the form of disputations ; ; , 15 ; , 27 ; , 19 , 25 , 29 ; Lamentation, a form of funeral song, occurs throughout.

In a book whose focus is the death of kings and kingdoms, the use of lamentation is understandable. The call narrative functions to authorize the prophet. Ezekiel's is longer than any other prophet. It incorporates elements from two distinct types of call narrative, those where the prophet stands in the heavenly council 1 Kgs —23 ; Isa —13 and those where a person is commissioned to a particular task Exod —12 ; Judg —18 ; Jer — The prophecies of judgment chs.

The number seven suggests completeness. The bulk of the oracles are against Tyre — and Egypt chs. Such oracles are included in the other major prophets Isa 13—23 ; Jer 46—51 [LXX — ] and in some of the minor prophets Joel —21 ; Amos — ; Zeph —15 ; Zech —8. The books of Jonah, Obadiah, and Nahum deal exclusively with a foreign nation.

There is no scholarly agreement on the origin or the role of these prophecies. In Ezekiel, each nation is condemned for its treatment of Judah and Jerusalem.

After the announcement of Jerusalem's destruction in chapter 33 , chapters 34—48 consist of announcements of God's work in the future to restore God's people. The lack of dates in these chapters except in indicates that these events have yet to happen. Salvation is envisioned in a yet unknown future time. The book of Ezekiel is a theological interpretation of history. Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple were destroyed by the Babylonian army, ending the Davidic monarchy, and resulting in the deportation and exile of the elite population.

A theological interpretation asks what God's role was in these events. The exile raised profound existential and theological issues. What did we do to deserve this? If God's promises to Abraham of a land for his descendants , Moses of a covenant relationship between God and the people , and David of a king to rule were eternal, then how could God allow this to happen? Is God untrustworthy? Or weak? Ezekiel's answers to these questions are firmly grounded in the Mosaic covenant. Ezekiel interprets exile as divine punishment through the use of covenant language to describe the sins the people have committed especially from Leviticus and Deuteronomy and the punishments for covenant violation especially from Lev 26 and Deut In other words, because the people violated God's covenant, therefore God punished them by destroying Jerusalem and the Temple and exiling the people, all at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar's army.

For detailed analysis of Ezekiel's use of Priestly and Deuteronomic language see Kohn Ezekiel is therefore concerned with demonstrating the various ways the people have broken the covenant. The primary violations are against God in the form of religious and political apostasy.

Idolatry appears to be the essential sin. These include: illicit worship practices both outside and within Jerusalem chs. The religious and political leadership of Jerusalem are held accountable for the failure of the people to keep the covenant —12 ; —13 ; — ; —21 ; — God's response to these sins is divine judgment, which comes through pestilence and famine, and especially through the sword, one of the most frequently occurring words in the book —17 ; —23 ; —8 ; —43 ; —14 ; — [Heb.

One of the key aspects of this punishment is exile; the people will be scattered among the nations e. In quoting opponents, the book admits that there were other possible explanations of the exile.

One explanation is that the people were essentially collateral damage, suffering for someone else's sins Ezek ; compare Exod ; ; Num ; Deut ; — This argument is made elsewhere in the Bible where the sins of Manasseh are held to be the cause of the exile 2 Kgs —27 ; —4 ; Jer Ezekiel counters by arguing that individuals ch. Another rationale was that God's ways were unfair Ezek —29 ; —20 ; compare Eccl —17 ; — But the judgment is not God's final word to the people.

After this punishment God will gather and restore the people to the land where they will worship in a new Temple. This restoration is most often depicted as reversing or transforming previous oracles of destruction.

Trustworthy leadership —16 replaces untrustworthy kings and leaders chs. Instead of being scattered among the nations e. The destroyed mountains, hills, and valleys of Israel ch. In place of broken covenants ch. The people who had become unclean chs. The people who had a heart problem ; ; ; ; will be given a new heart This expression is known as the recognition formula or proof saying. Israel seems to lack a fundamental knowledge of the LORD. The saying occurs in the context of an action that God takes either to Israel's detriment or for Israel's benefit.

This formula emphasizes that the book is theological interpretation of history: Israel is to know that it is really God acting in these historical events. In addition to the covenant paradigm, Ezekiel employs two other major paradigms for explaining the exile. One paradigm is that of Assyrian and Babylonian conventions. The common belief throughout Western Asia was that a city's or nation's patron deity protected it from all enemies.

This belief was manifested in Israel in the view of Jerusalem's inviolability Isa ; Ps , 13 , God's choice of Jerusalem as the place where God's name would dwell Deut —14 ; —6 implied that God would protect and defend that place Ps , 13—18 ; Isa —35 ; If the people sinned, however, the angered deity could abandon the city or nation, leaving it vulnerable to attack and destruction.

Ezekiel incorporates this belief with the idea of God's moveable glory to theologically explain Jerusalem's destruction. The Mesopotamian imagery of four living creatures —10 ; and cherubim —5 are attached to wheels —21 ; — This glory moves from the cherub on the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies to the threshold of the Temple ; , from the threshold to the east gate —19 , and from the middle of the city to a hill east of the city —23 and then presumably to Babylonia where it appears to Ezekiel in his visions.

It is significant that the glory later returns from the east, enters and fills the restored Temple —5. The LORD's departure and return frame the book.