THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Major Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books in the Old Testament, following Isaiah and Jeremiah.[1] According to the book itself, it records seven visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during the 22 years from 593 to 571 BCE. The visions, and the book, are structured around three themes: (1) judgment on Israel (chapters 1–24); (2) judgment on the nations (chapters 25–32); (3) and future blessings for Israel (chapters 33–48).[2] Structure Ezekiel has the broad three-fold structure found in a number of the prophetic books: oracles of woe against the prophets own people, followed by oracles against Israels neighbours, ending in prophecies of hope and salvation: Prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem, chapters 1–24 Prophecies against the foreign nations, chapters 25–32 Prophecies of hope and salvation, chapters 33–48[3] Summary The book opens with a vision of YHAWAH (יהוה), one of the Names of YAHAWAH; moves on to anticipate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, explains this as YAHAWAHs punishment, and closes with the promise of a new beginning and a new Temple.[4] Inaugural vision (Ezekiel 1:1–3:27): YAHAWAH approaches Ezekiel as the divine warrior, riding in his battle chariot. The chariot is drawn by four living creatures each having four faces (of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle), and four wings. Beside each living creature is a wheel within a wheel, with tall and awesome rims full of eyes all around. YAHAWAH commissions Ezekiel to be a prophet and a watchman in Israel: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites. (2:3) Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah (Ezekiel 4:1–24:27) and on the nations (Ezekiel 25:1–32:32): YAHAWAH warns of the certain destruction of Jerusalem and the devastation of the nations that have troubled his people, the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and Philistines, the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, and Egypt. Building a new city (Ezekiel 33:1–48:35): The Jew exile will come to an end, a new city and new Temple will be built, and the Israelites will be gathered and blessed as never before. The throne vision, in which Ezekiel sees YAHAWAH enthroned in the Temple among the heavenly host (Ezekiel 1:4–28); The first temple vision, in which Ezekiel sees YAHAWAH leave the Temple because of the abominations being practiced there (meaning the worship of idols other than YHWH, the official YAHAWAH of Judah (Ezekiel 8:1–16); Images of Israel, in which Israel is seen as a harlot bride, among other things (Ezekiel 15–19); The valley of dry bones, in which the prophet sees the dead rise again (Ezekiel 37:1–14); The destruction of Gog and Magog, in which he sees Israels enemies destroyed and a new age of peace established (Ezekiel 38–39); The final temple vision, in which Ezekiel sees a new commonwealth centered around a new temple in Jerusalem, sometimes called the Third Temple, to which Gods Shekinah (Divine Presence) has returned (Ezekiel 40–48) Composition Life and times of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel describes itself as the words of the Ezekiel ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city of Babylon between 593 and 571 BCE. Most scholars today accept the basic authenticity of the book, but see in it significant additions by a school of later followers of the original prophet.[6] While the book exhibits considerable unity and probably reflects much of the historic Ezekiel, it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.[7] According to the book that bears his name, Ezekiel ben-Buzi was born into a priestly family of Jerusalem c.623 BCE, during the reign of the reforming king Josiah. Prior to this time, Judah had been a vassal of the Assyrian empire, but the rapid decline of Assyria after c.630 led Josiah to assert his independence and institute a religious reform stressing loyalty to Yahawah, the national YAHAWAH of Israel. Josiah was killed in 609 and Judah became a vassal of the new regional power, the Neo-Babylonian empire. In 597, following a rebellion against Babylon, Ezekiel was among the large group of Judeans taken into captivity by the Babylonians. He appears to have spent the rest of his life in Mesopotamia. A further deportation of Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon occurred in 586 when a second unsuccessful rebellion resulted in the destruction of the city and its Temple and the exile of the remaining elements of the royal court, including the last scribes and priests. The various dates given in the book suggest that Ezekiel was 25 when he went into exile, 30 when he received his prophetic call, and 52 at the time of the last vision c.571.[8] Textual history The Jew scriptures were translated into Greek in the two centuries immediately before the birth of HA-MASHAYACH. The Greek version of these books is called the Septuagint. The Jewish Bible in Hebrew is called the MasArAtic text (meaning passing down after a Hebrew word Masarah; for Jew scholars , curated and commented on the text). The Greek (Septuagint) version of Ezekiel differs considerably from the Hebrew (Masaretic) version – it is shorter and possibly represents an early interpretation of the book we have today (according to the masaretic tradition) – while other ancient manuscript fragments differ from both.[9] Critical history The first half of the 20th century saw several attempts to deny the authorship and authenticity of the book, with scholars such as C.C. Torrey (1863-1956) and Morton Smith placing it variously in the 3rd century BCE and in the 8th/7th. The pendulum swung back in the post-war period, with an increasing acceptance of the books essential unity and historical placement in the Exile. The most influential modern scholarly work on Ezekiel, Walther Zimmerlis two-volume commentary, appeared in German in 1969 and in English in 1979 and 1983. Zimmerli traces the process by which Ezekiels oracles were delivered orally and transformed into a written text by the prophet and his followers through a process of ongoing re-writing and re-interpretation. He isolates the oracles and speeches behind the present text, and traces Ezekiels interaction with a mass of mythological, legendary and literary material as he developed his insights into Yahawahs purposes during the period of destruction and exile.[10] https://youtube/watch?v=8yn6ilVp3H8
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:03:02 +0000
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