A VISION OF GOD’S JUDGMENT ON 8:1 - 12:20

49 Ecstatic vision of Jerusalem

1In the sixth year, in the sixth month, To this point we have been following step on the fifth day of the month, as I by step the contents of Ezekiel’s initial vi- sat in my house, with the elders of sion, along with supplementary material Judah sitting before me, the hand of linked to it by later editors. Here we move the Lord YHWH fell upon me there. to a second vision. Comparison with 1:2 2I looked, and there was a figure that indicates that this takes place the follow- had the appearance of fire; below ing year, 592, six years after the capture of what appeared to be its loins down Jerusalem and the exiling of King , was fire, and from the loins up was but still five years before the destruction of like the appearance of brightness, the city and temple (587). like gleaming amber. 3It stretched Verse one tells us that Ezekiel has been ac- out the form of a hand, and took cepted as a by the elders who are me by a lock of my head; and the looking to him for the word of God, much spirit lifted me up between earth as we find them doing in the legends that and heaven, and brought me in a surround the figure of Elisha (see 2Kings vision from God to Jerusalem, to the 4:38; 6:1; 6:32). The vision of the figure in entrance of the gateway of the inner verse 2 recalls the same figure in Ezekiel’s court that faces north, to the seat of initial vision (1:27). In the first vision we the image of jealousy, which pro- heard of the hand being ‘upon’ Ezekiel (1:3; vokes to jealousy. 4And the glory of 3:14; 3:22). This time the hand takes hold the God of was there, like the of him and (in his ecstasy) he is carried by vision that I had seen in the valley. the spirit to Jerusalem (verse 3). 5Then God said to me, “Son of man, He is aware of ‘the glory of the God of lift up your eyes now in the direc- Israel’(verse 4) there and God instructs tion of the north.” So I lifted up my him to look north from the temple gate, eyes toward the north, and there, where he sees a statue with its own altar, north of the gate was an altar. The indicating idolatrous cult. Such an image image of jealousy itself stood in the stands as a rival to YHWH, who is aroused entrance. to jealousy (and so to anger, and consequent 6He said to me, “Son of man, do you punishment). The following from Jeremiah see what they are doing, the great (11:13) is relevant: abominations that the house of Your gods have become as many as Israel are committing here, to drive your towns, O Judah; and as many as me far from my sanctuary? Yet you the streets of Jerusalem are the altars will see still greater abominations.” you have set up to shame, altars to 7And he brought me to the entrance make offerings to Baal. of the court; I looked, and there was God invites Ezekiel to look more closely a hole in the wall. 8Then he said to at the idolatry that is taking place right me, “Son of man, dig through the next to YHWH’s temple. With the capture wall”; and when I dug through the of the city in 598, people thought YHWH wall, there was an entrance. 9He had abandoned them. They were looking said to me, “Go in, and see the vile to other gods to protect them. abominations that they are commit- Verse 6 prepares us for a second example ting here.” of idolatry. 50 Ezekiel 8:10-18

The elders, not being priests, were 10So I went in and looked; there, por- not in the temple sanctuary but in trayed on the wall all around, were all the northern part of the palace court. kinds of creeping things, and loathsome The number 70 demonstrates that animals, and all the idols of the house of this is not a random group, but the Israel. official representatives of Israel (see 11Before them stood seventy of the elders Exodus 24 and Numbers 11). The of the house of Israel, with son animals mentioned in verse 10 are of standing among them. Each all ‘unclean’(see Leviticus 11; see had his censer in his hand, and the fra- also Deuteronomy 4:16-18). Verse 12 grant cloud of incense was ascending. seems to indicate that the idolatry that 12Then he said to me, “Son of man, have was displayed in the public court was you seen what the elders of the house of also being carried out by the populace Israel are doing in the dark, each in his in their homes. room of images? For they say, ‘YHWH does not see us, YHWH has forsaken the land.’” 13He said also to me, “You will see Verse 14 reveals a third example of still greater abominations that they are idolatry. This is the only time that committing.” the Sumerian-Babylonian vegetation 14Then he brought me to the entrance of god, Tammuz, is mentioned in the the north gate of the house of YHWH; . He was the god of the women were sitting there wailing for dying summer vegetation. The dying Tammuz. 15Then he said to me, “Have you of this young deity was mourned – as seen this, son of man? You will see still we see here. greater abominations than these.” 16 Verse 16 reveals the fourth and worst And he brought me into the inner court sacrilege, happening in YHWH’s of the house of YHWH; there, at the en- temple adjacent to the altar used for trance of the temple of YHWH, between burning sacrificial offerings. Priests the porch and the altar, were about (though the word is avoided) are twenty-five men, with their backs to the bowed in worship towards the rising temple of YHWH, and their faces toward sun, their backs to the sanctuary of the east, prostrating themselves to the 17 YHWH. Is Jeremiah 2:27 relevant sun toward the east. Then he said to me, here? “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it They have turned their backs to not bad enough that the house of Judah me, and not their faces. commits the abominations done here? Must they fill the land with violence, and Failure to give proper worship to provoke my anger still further? See, they God is recognised as the key to the are putting the branch to their nose! complete breakdown of social or- 18Therefore I will act in wrath; my eye der (see ‘violence’ of verse 17; see will not spare, nor will I have pity; and 7:23). They are goading YHWH to though they cry in my hearing with a fury, and YHWH will punish them loud voice, I will not listen to them.” mercilessly.

51 The destroying angels 1Then he cried in my hearing with a Chapter 8 listed the behaviour that de- loud voice, saying, “Draw near, you manded that God ‘act in wrath’(8:18). The executioners of the city, each with sins of Jerusalem could not be allowed to his destroying weapon in his hand.” go unchecked. 2Six men came from the direction of Here in chapter 9 God summons the destroy- the upper gate which faces north, ing angels (seven of them) to effect divine each with his weapon for slaughter; punishment. The idea is traditional. One among them was a man clothed in thinks of the destroying angel in (Exo- linen, with an inkhorn at his side. dus 12:23), and the destroying angel that They went in and stood beside the (in one tradition) struck down the Assyrian bronze altar. army of Sennacherib, in order to break the 3 Now the glory of the God of Israel siege of Jerusalem (2Kings 19:35). had gone up from the on which it rested to the threshold of The seventh figure is wearing priestly garb, the house. and is also a scribe. The word translated YHWH called to the man clothed in ‘inkhorn’(tRsñ®q) is a loan word from Egypt. linen, who had the inkhorn at his He is commanded to put a mark on the fore- side; 4and said to him, “Go through heads of those who disapprove of the sinful the city, through Jerusalem, and put behaviour that is all around them. This mark a mark on the foreheads of those with indicate that they belong to YHWH. who sigh and groan over all the One thinks of the marks that protected the abominations that are committed in Israelites from the destroying angel on the it.” eve of the Passover (Exodus 21:6). After chapter 8 it is good to discover that not all 5To the others he said in my hearing, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were involved “Pass through the city after him, and in idolatrous cult. kill; your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. 6Cut down In 8:4 we were told that the ‘glory of the old men, young men and young God of Israel’ was present in the temple. women, little children and women, Here, just before the instruction given to but touch no one who has the mark. the priest-scribe we are told that ‘the glory And begin at my sanctuary.” So they of the God of Israel’ had left the sanctu- began with the elders who were in ary and vanished! Nothing could be more front of the house. 7Then he said to ominous! them, “Defile the house, and fill the The other six destroying angels are now courts with the slain. Go!” So they ordered to cut down all who had aroused went out and killed in the city. God’s jealousy, starting in the sanctuary.

52 :8-11

A genuine prophet was expected to make 8While they were killing, and I was intercession for the people. Ezekiel fulfils left alone, I fell prostrate on my face that role here. However, things have gone and cried out, “Ah Lord YHWH! will too far. Nothing can stop the carrying out of you destroy all who remain of Israel God’s command to destroy all involved in as you pour out your wrath upon ‘bloodshed’ and ‘perversity’(verse 9). Jerusalem?” 9 In verse 10 YHWH responds to Ezekiel by He said to me, “The guilt of the declaring that he will not show mercy. At house of Israel and Judah is exceed- the same time it is made clear that those ingly great; the land is full of blood- to be punished have brought this upon shed and the city full of perversity; themselves. for they say, ‘YHWH has forsaken the land, and YHWH does not see.’ 10As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity, but I will bring down their deeds upon their heads.” We are reassured in verse 11 that the priest- 11Then the man clothed in linen, scribe has carried out God’s command. The with the inkhorn at his side, innocent will be spared. brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”

53 The destroying angels

1Then I looked, and above the dome that was Throughout chapter ten we over the heads of the cherubim there appeared find many connections with the something like a sapphire, in form resembling vision recorded in chapter one. a throne. Verse 1 picks up the details of 2He said to the man clothed in linen, “Go 1:26. Here the creatures who within the wheelwork underneath the cherub; carry God’s throne are identi- fill your hands with burning coals from among fied as (see 1Kings the cherubs, and scatter them over the city.” He 6:23-28). The Akkadian kāribu went in as I looked on. were gods of a lower rank who 3Now the cherubs were standing on the south guarded the sanctuary and side of the house when the man went in; and a presented people’s prayers cloud filled the inner court. to the temple god (Akkadian karābu means ‘to pray’, or ‘to 4 Then the glory of YHWH rose up from the bless’). cherub to the threshold of the house; the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was Verse 2 makes no mention of full of the brightness of the glory of YHWH. the inkhorn. YHWH is address- ing the man as priest, not as 5 The sound of the cherubs’ wings could be scribe. The fire that is going heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of to reduce the city to ash is 6 God Almighty when he speaks. When he com- fire taken from the sanctuary manded the man clothed in linen, “Take fire (see 1:13). The fire is holy. from within the wheelwork, from among the The destruction of the city is cherubs,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. from God. 7And a cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubs to the fire that was among We are reminded in verse 4 of the cherubs, took some of it and put it into the YHWH’s departure from his hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it throne in the sanctuary (see and went out. 8The cherubs appeared to have 9:3). The cloud speaks of his the form of a human hand under their wings. mysterious presence in the temple and the courtyard (see 9 I looked, and there were four wheels beside 1Kings 8:10-11). the cherubs, one beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like gleaming Verse 5 repeats the imagery of beryl. 10And as for their appearance, the four 1:25, even to the repetition of looked alike, something like a wheel within ‘God Almighty’(yäå;dAv_lEa). 11 a wheel. When they moved, they moved in Verse 8 repeats 1:8 and verses any of the four directions without veering as 9-12 repeat 1:15-18. they moved; but in whatever direction the front wheel faced, the others followed without veering as they moved. 12Their entire body, their rims, their spokes, their wings, and the wheels—the wheels of the four of them—were full of eyes all around. 13As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing “the wheelwork.”

54 :14-22

The connections with chapter 1 continue. 14Each one had four faces: the first Verse 14 repeats 1:6, 10, and verses 16-17 face was that of the cherub, the repeat 1:19-21. second face was that of a human, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle. 15The cherubs rose up. These were the creatures that I saw by the Chebar canal. 16When the cherubs moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the cherubs lifted up their wings to rise up from the earth, the wheels at their side did not veer. 17When they stopped, the others stopped, and when they rose up, the others rose up with them; for the spirit of the creatures was in them. In his vision, Ezekiel has already seen the 18Then the glory of YHWH went out glory of YHWH rise up from the throne and from the threshold of the house and go to the sanctuary threshold (see 9:3 and stopped above the cherubs. 19The 10:4). Now he sees the glory and the mobile cherub lifted up their wings and throne supported by the cherubs abandon rose up from the earth in my sight the sanctuary altogether and go to the east as they went out with the wheels gate of the temple. beside them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of YHWH; and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. 20These were the creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel at the Chebar canal; I realised now that they were cherubs. 21Each had four faces, each four wings, and underneath their wings something like human hands. 22As for what their faces were like, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the Chebar canal. Each one moved straight ahead.

55 The fate of the city officials

1The spirit lifted me up and brought me to We are introduced to royal ad- the east gate of the house of YHWH, which visers left in Jerusalem when faces east. There, at the entrance of the gate- Jeconiah and the others were way, were twenty-five men; among them I exiled to . These include saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur, and Pelatiah son two officials whom Ezekiel rec- of Benaiah, officials of the people. ognises. 2He said to me, “Son of man, these are the The ‘wicked counsel’(verse 2) men who devise iniquity and who give given by them consist in telling wicked counsel in this city; 3they say, ‘Do not the inhabitants of the city not to build houses; this city is the pot, and we are bother building. The implication the meat.’ 4Therefore prophesy against them; seems to be that they can take for prophesy, son of man.” themselves the houses of those 5Then the spirit of YHWH fell upon me, and exiled. After all they are the choic- he said to me, “Say, Thus says YHWH: This est meat in the pot. They are the is what you think, O house of Israel; I know ones now who control the city, so the things that come into your mind. 6You they can do what they like. have killed many in this city, and have filled In his vision Ezekiel is instructed its streets with the slain. 7Therefore thus says to accuse the city officials of the Lord YHWH: The slain whom you have being responsible for the death placed within it are the meat, and this city is of the inhabitants (verse 6). This the pot; but you shall be taken out of it. 8You is something ‘foreseen’ in earlier have feared the sword; and I will bring the sections of the vision. The fate of sword upon you, says the Lord YHWH. 9I will the leaders will be worse. They take you out of it and give you over to the will be removed from the city and hands of foreigners, and execute judgments slain outside (see 2Kings 25:20- upon you. 10You shall fall by the sword; I 21 for the scene in the Babylonian will judge you at the border of Israel. And camp at Riblah - mentioned in you shall know that I am YHWH. 6:14). 11This city shall not be your pot, and you When they suffer the consequenc- shall not be the meat inside it; I will judge es of their evil scheming, they will 12 you at the border of Israel. Then you shall ‘know that I am YHWH’(verses know that I am YHWH, whose statutes you 9 and 12; see 6:7, 10, 13, 14; have not followed, and whose ordinances 7:4, 27). Instead of behaving as you have not kept, but you have acted ac- God’s chosen people, they have cording to the ordinances of the nations that followed the example of the are around you.” surrounding nations (verse 12; 13Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah see 5:7). son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my The sudden death of one of the face, cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah officials is a sign that the threat Lord YHWH! will you make a full end of the is already working. All will be remnant of Israel?” destroyed, as YHWH has threat- ened.

56 :14-21

Verse 15 makes explicit what was implied 14Then the word of YHWH came to in verse 3. The officials in Jerusalem have me: 15Son of man, your brethren, been telling the people, including those your own kin, your fellow exiles, the whose responsibility it is to ensure that whole house of Israel, all of them, ancestral property returns to those who have are those of whom the inhabitants temporarily lost it (‘your own kin’, hD;lUa◊g of Jerusalem have said, “They have y∞Ev◊nAa gone far from YHWH; to us this land ), that the exiles ‘have gone far from is given for a possession.” YHWH’, which demonstrates that the exiles 16 have lost YHWH’s favour. It is all right for Therefore say: Thus says the Lord those left behind to take possession of their YHWH: Though I removed them property. far away among the nations, and though I scattered them among the YHWH contradicts this view. It is YHWH countries, yet I have been a sanctu- who has ‘scattered’ the exiles (verse 16), ary to them in a little way in the but ‘in a little way’ he has remained with countries where they have gone. them there. Furthermore, he will bring them 17Therefore say: Thus says the Lord home and it will be to them that he will give YHWH: I will gather you from the ‘the land of Israel’(verse 17). Note that the peoples, and assemble you out of exiles were called ‘the house of Israel’ in the countries where you have been verse 15. When they return they will cleanse scattered, and I will give you the the city of its defilement (verse 18). land of Israel. 18When they come This will become possible because God will there, they will remove from it all its give the scattered exiles ‘a new heart’. They detestable things and all its abomi- will think differently, decide differently nations. and behave differently. He will give them 19I will give them one heart, and ‘a new spirit’. Their communion with God put a new spirit within them; I will will be renewed. The fruit of this renewal remove the heart of stone from their will be that they will keep their covenant flesh and give them a heart of flesh, obligations by being attentive to God’s will 20so that they may follow my statutes and obeying God’s commandments. and keep my ordinances and obey There follows for the first time in Ezekiel them. Then they shall be my people, the traditional covenant formula: ‘they shall and I will be their God. be my people and I will be their God’(verse 21 But as for those whose heart goes 20). after their detestable things and The text returns to those still in the city. their abominations, I will bring They have not ‘removed the detestable their deeds upon their own heads, things’(verse 18), and so must suffer the says the Lord YHWH. consequences of their ‘heart of stone’.

57 YHWH leaves the city

22Then the cherubs lifted up their Twice we have heard that Ezekiel in his wings, with the wheels beside them; vision saw the glory of YHWH rise from and the glory of the God of Israel throne in the sanctuary and go to the temple was above them. 23And the glory of threshold (see 9:3 and 10:4). Then he saw YHWH ascended from the middle of the throne with the presence move and stop the city, and stopped on the moun- at the east gate of the temple (10:19). Now tain east of the city. the divine presence leaves the city, crosses 24The spirit lifted me up and the Kidron valley and stops on the Mount brought me in a vision by the spirit of Olives to the east of the city. of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Here the ecstasy ends and Ezekiel finds Then the vision that I had seen left himself where he has been all the time – with me. the exiles in Chaldea. He tells his fellow 25 And I told the exiles all the things exiles what he has seen in his vision and that YHWH had shown me. what YHWH has instructed him to say.

58 :1-7

The sign-action described in 12:1-16 is 1The word of YHWH came to me: included here to be read in the light of the 2Son of man, you are living in the vision just described. Those whom Ezekiel midst of a rebellious house, who is addressing in exile stand for the whole have eyes to see but would not see, nation when they are described as a ‘rebel- who have ears to hear but would lious house’(verse 2). They refuse to see and not hear; 3for they are a rebellious hear, and so Ezekiel is instructed not only house. to speak from YHWH to them, but to act out Therefore, son of man, prepare for what the prophetic word is describing. yourself an exile’s pack, and go People’s refusal to see and hear was dem- away by day in their sight; you shall onstrated by Zedekiah’s failure to learn the go like an exile from your place to lesson of the capture of Jerusalem in 598 and another place in their sight. Perhaps the exile of hostages. Ezekiel would have they will understand, though they known about Zedekiah’s failed attempt to are a rebellious house. 4You shall organise an anti-Babylonian alliance in 594 bring out your things by day in their (see Introduction page 24). sight, as an exile’s pack; and you Ezekiel’s dramatising of the preparation of shall go out yourself at evening in baggage for the journey into exile would their sight, as those do who go into 5 have vividly reminded his fellow exiles exile. Dig through the wall in their of what they went through in 598. He is sight, and carry the baggage through 6 saying it is going to happen again to those it. In their sight you shall lift the who were left behind in Jerusalem. The pack on your shoulder, and carry it digging through the wall speaks of breaches out in the dark; you shall cover your made in the wall by a besieging army (see face, so that you may not see the 2Kings 25:4). land; for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel. 7I did just as I was commanded. I brought out my things by day, as an exile’s pack, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my own hands; I brought it out in the dark, carrying it on my shoulder in their sight.

59 Zedekiah 587BC

8In the morning the word of YHWH Verses 10-16 appear to be a ‘clarifying came to me: 9Son of man, has not the interpretation’ based on what happened to house of Israel, the rebellious house, Jerusalem and its governor, Zedekiah, in said to you, “What are you do- 587. The following account is from 2Kings ing?” 10Say to them, “Thus says the 25:3-12: Lord YHWH: This oracle concerns On the ninth day of the fourth month the prince in Jerusalem and all the the famine became so severe in the house of Israel in it.” 11Say, “I am a city that there was no food for the sign for you: as I have done, so shall people of the land. Then a breach was it be done to them; they shall go into made in the city wall; the king with all exile, into captivity.” the soldiers fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the 12And the prince who is among them king’s garden, though the Chaldeans shall lift his baggage on his shoul- were all around the city. They went in der in the dark, and shall go out; he the direction of the Arabah. But the shall dig through the wall and carry army of the Chaldeans pursued the it through; he shall cover his face, king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; all his army was scattered, so that he may not see the land with deserting him. his eyes. Then they captured the king and 13I will spread my net for him, and brought him up to the king of Babylon he shall be caught in my snare; and I at Riblah, who passed sentence on will bring him to Babylon, the land him. They slaughtered the sons of of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out see it; and he shall die there. the eyes of Zedekiah; they bound him in fetters and took him to Babylon. 14 I will scatter to every wind all who In the fifth month, on the seventh day are around him, his helpers and all of the month—which was the nine- his troops; and I will unsheathe the teenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, sword behind them. 15And they shall king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the know that I am YHWH, when I dis- captain of the bodyguard, a servant of perse them among the nations and the king of Babylon, came to Jerusa- scatter them through the countries. lem. He burned the house of YHWH, 16But I will let a few of them escape the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he from the sword, from famine and burned down. All the army of the pestilence, so that they may tell of Chaldeans who were with the captain all their abominations among the of the guard broke down the walls nations where they go; then they around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the shall know that I am YHWH. captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had de- fected to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the population. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vine dressers and tillers of the soil.

60 Ezekiel 12:17-20

This is a separate unit, included here so 17The word of YHWH came to me: that it will be interpreted, like the previous 18Son of man, eat your bread with verses in chapter 12, in the light of the vi- quaking, and drink your water with sion described in chapters 8 to 11. trembling and with fearfulness; 19 Ezekiel’s response to the word of YHWH is and say to the people of the land, one of trembling and fear, as he ‘sees’ the Thus says the Lord YHWH concern- terrible suffering of his people. We think ing the inhabitants of Jerusalem of the following from Ezekiel’s older con- in the land of Israel: They shall eat temporary, Jeremiah (4:19-20). their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, because My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in their land shall be stripped of all it pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! contains, on account of the violence My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; of all those who live in it. for I hear the sound of the trumpet, 20The inhabited cities shall be laid the alarm of war. waste, and the land shall become a Disaster overtakes disaster, desolation; and you shall know that the whole land is laid waste. I am YHWH. – Jeremiah 4:19-20 The exiles whom Ezekiel is addressing would have been hoping to return to Je- rusalem. He is telling them that worse is to come.

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