EZEKIEL

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EZEKIEL
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Structure of Ezekiel

• Opening vision
• Symbolic actions
• Vision of the Temple/vision of destruction
• Oracles of Judgment (12-24, The word of the Lord
  came to me)
• Oracles against nations (25-32)
• Oracles of restoration (33-48 dry bones, vision
  of New Jerusalem)

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Opening Vision of Ezekiel

• Opening vision Storm theophany, with God riding
  a chariot
• Ezekiel sees the appearance of the likeness of
  the glory of the Lord (kavod/kabod)
• Departure of Gods kavod on the
  throne-chariot/Ezekiel also transported.

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Themes in Ezekiel

• 1. God on wheels
• 2. Raising the question of the status of the
  Temple
• 3. Each generations responsibility for its own
  mistakes
• 4. Turn and live
• 5. Symbolic acts/ bearing the iniquity

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1. God on Wheels

• Glory of Yahweh -- phrase had been used to mean
  Gods divine presence in the temple in Jerusalem
• Ezekiel Vision of divine chariot. God leaves
  the Temple. Glory of Yahweh is mobile.

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2. Rethinking Status of Temple

• If God can be mobile, then what is the status of
  the Temple?
• Vision in chapter 8 of the Temple being the site
  of abominations.
• Ezekiels priestly lineage

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3. Each generations responsibility for its
mistakes

• Judeans trying to blame past generations -- The
  fathers have eaten sour grapes and the childrens
  teeth are set on edge. (182)
• Ezekiel emphasizes that each generation is
  responsible for its own messes.

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Personal responsibility for Ezekiel is not the
same as American individualism
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4. Turn and Live

• If each generation bears the blame for its own
  predicament, the bright side is that each
  generation - even each individual person - has
  the capacity to turn and live, to come back to
  God.

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5. Symbolic Acts/Bearing the Iniquity

• Bearing the iniquity -- reflect Ezekiels
  priestly lineage. Scapegoat and priest in
  different ways bear the iniquity of the people.
• Does not mean that Ezekiel actually brings about
  forgiveness.
• Symbolic acts -- similarities to Hosea?
• Appropriate to try to describe this with the
  modern category of mental illness?

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ISRAELS RESTORATION AND THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD

• III Isaiah,
• Ezra-Nehemiah
• Chroniclers History

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Terms

• Post-exilic Time after the Hebrew exile, when
  Cyrus of Persia invited the exiled Jews back
  home. Not all returned, and not all had left.
• In a sense, we are still living in the
  post-exilic time there is still a Jewish
  diaspora.
• First Temple/Second Temple periods.

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Historical ages of Hebrew history

• Primeval history
• Ancestral history
• Age of Judges
• Monarchy/First Temple Period
• Exile
• Post-Exilic Period
• Second Temple Period

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Exile Ends

• Persian Empire, led by Cyrus, gains control.
  Edict of Cyrus issued, recorded in Ezra.
• Many Jews return
• Some had never left, and some do not return.
• Israel is now Yehud, a subprovince.

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Restoration of the Temple

• Series of attempts to restore the Temple, but
  finally accomplished under Zerubbabel (536 BCE)
• Raised a number of theological issues

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Theological Problems Related to Exile and Return
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1. Status of the Temple?

• Renaissance of system of Temple sacrifice.
• However, Jews were still largely scattered.
  Tensions between III Isaiah and Jerusalem
  priesthood.
• Also, we have a Temple with no monarchy, no
  Davidic line.

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(Status of Temple)

• Temple as house of prayer Isaiah 567 -- These
  I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them
  joyful in my house of prayer their burnt
  offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted
  on my altar for my house shall be called a house
  of prayer for all peoples.

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(Status of Temple)

• III Isaiah seems to be critical of Temple
  building/worship
• Is. 661-2 Heaven is my throne and the earth is
  my footstool what is the house that you would
  build for me?
• Passage continues, The one who slaughters an ox
  also kills a man. (Issues of interpretation/trans
  lation.)

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2. Who are the recipients of the promise?

• Descendents of Abraham? (Ancestral history)
• Those living in the boundaries of is particular
  sovereign nation? (Monarchy)
• Post-exilic possibilities Those who had been
  exiled and returned? But what about those who had
  not returned, or not left?

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(Who bears the promise?)

• Majority report, according to Ezra Exile/return
  are normative for the community. Promise is
  uniquely held by the congregation of the exiles
  in Ezra 108 following.)

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(Who bears the promise?)

• But, the preference for the congregation of the
  exiles balanced by the idea that Torah living
  can happen anywhere. (E.g. Ezra 7, in which
  Artaxerxes authorizes Ezra to go to Jerusalem and
  institute a religious and civil order based on
  the torah of of the God of heaven.)

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3. How should Israel organize itself politically?

• Cant have kingship because Yehud is a
  subprovince of Persia.
• Settle on a combination of priestly/populist
  rule. (Ezra 1014, decisions on intermarriage)

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Need for Chroniclers History?

• Why retell the history?
• Community has undergone a radical shift in its
  self-understanding.
• Deuteronomists History isnt adequate on its own.

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Chroniclers History themes

• Emphasis upon the Temple
• Jehosaphat held up distributes the book of the
  Torah of the Lord
• Emphasis upon ritual and piety
• David and Solomon idealized David concerned with
  organizing the Levitic priesthood Solomon is a
  model of piety.

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Common Post-Exilic Themes

• Torah life is possible at a great distance from
  the Temple
• But restoration of the Temple is supremely
  important center of worship, of priestly ritual.
  
• Temple and Torah somewhat in tension.
• Individual responsibility.

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Importance of OT for Christian Theological Study

• Jesus life and mission took place against the OT
  horizon.
• Jesus articulated his mission in these terms.
• The NT story picks up many of the themes were
  leaving off here political organization of
  Israel, Torah/Temple tensions, etc.