Envisioning Restoration: Innovations in Ezekiel 40–48 Michael A. Lyons Simpson University 1.0 Introduction What is unique about Ezek 40–48 as a vision report? The study of prophetic vision reports as such began in the last century, and scholars created various typologies of these texts based on their form, content, and purpose.1 Curiously, Ezek 40–48 received only cursory treatment in these studies. Long classified Ezek 40–48 as a “Dramatic Word Vision” along with Amos 7:1–6 and Zech 1:8–17. But Horst regarded Ezek 40–48 as a “pure literary vision” distinct from other vision reports, and Niditch did not treat it at all.2 The works of these scholars remain valuable. However, because of the constraints inevitably created by their typologies, certain distinctive content features in Ezek 40–48 did not receive attention. In this essay, I want to examine the use of four content-related features that set Ezek 40–48 apart from other vision reports: the interpreter/guide figure, cosmic-mythic imagery, description of sacred space, and legal material. By so doing, I hope to more effectively situate Ezek 40–48 in the development of ancient Israelite and Second Temple-period Jewish visionary literature. 2.0 Content and Composition3 1 M. Sister, “Die Typen der prophetischen Visionen in der Bibel,” MGWJ 78 (1934): 399–430; Friedrich Horst, “Die Visionsschilderungen der alttestamentlichen Propheten,” EvTh 20 (1960): 193–205; Otto Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An Introduction (trans. P. R. Ackroyd; New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 53–55; Burke O. Long, “Reports of Visions among the Prophets,” JBL 95.3 (1976): 353–65; S. Amsler, “La parole visionnaire des prophètes,” VT 31.3 (1981): 359–62; Susan Niditch, The Symbolic Vision in Biblical Tradition (HSM 30; Chico, Ca.: Scholars Press, 1983. 2 Long, “Reports of Visions,” 359–63; his other categories are “Oracle Vision” (357–59; here he includes e.g. Amos 7:7–8; Jer 1:11–14; 24:1–10) and “Revelatory-Mysteries Vision” (363–64; here he includes e.g. Ezek 37; Zech 2:3–4). Horst’s three categories of classification were “Anwesenheitsvision,” “Wortsymbolvision,” and “Geschehnisvision,” but of Ezek 40–48 he said “Gewiß gibt es auch . reine literarische Visionen, wie der als Vision stilisierte Komplex Hes 40–48 (eigentlicher Visionsstil liegt freilich hier nur für einen schmalen Textbereich vor)”; (“Visionsschilderungen,” 202, 205). Niditch (who uses Sister’s schema) did not treat any of Ezekiel's visions because in her analysis they lack a symbolic element and do not display the “seeing-question-answer” format present in other visions; see Niditch, Symbolic Visions, 2, 9–12. 3 For an excellent short introduction to the contents of and critical issues associated with Ezek 40–48, see Paul Joyce, “Temple and Worship in Ezekiel 40–48,” in Temple and Worship in The contents of the vision report in Ezek 40–48 can be summarized as follows: Ezekiel the prophet is depicted as having a visionary experience in which he is taken to “a very high mountain” in the land of Israel. A “man whose appearance was like bronze” tells him to report what he sees, then leads him around a temple complex and shows him its features (Ezek 40–42). The prophet next sees the Glory of Yhwh entering the sanctuary and hears Yhwh’s claim that he will reside there “among the people of Israel forever” (Ezek 43:1–9). He is told to “declare the temple to the house of Israel” (43:10). He then receives the “law of the temple” (40:12), including instructions for the altar and its dedication (43:13ff), for the cult personnel and access to the sanctuary (44:1ff), for the division of land around the sanctuary (45:1–8), and for sacred festivals and offerings (45:9–46:24). He sees a river flowing out of the temple, bringing supernatural fertility and health (47:1–12), then is given further instructions for tribal land allotments (47:13–48:29) and for the layout of the city gates (48:30ff). The arrangement and diversity of content indicate that Ezek 40–48 is a composite text.4 It contains tensions that most feel are best accounted for by a model of sequential editorial activity (e.g., Ezek 40:45–46 with its “some priests for temple, other priests for altar” scheme stands in tension with Ezek 44:13, where the Levites, whose job it is to minister in the temple, are explicitly prohibited from “functioning as priests”).5 The most recent studies of the compositional history of Ezek 40–48 argue for a core of Ezekielian material with later redactional layers.6 If this is correct, what is the rationale for including Ezek 40–48 in entirety in one’s analysis of a vision report? Of course, opinions concerning what is secondary in these chapters differ considerably.7 Moreover, it is certainly possible that those in the scribal circles who copied and added to earlier Biblical Israel. Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar (LHBOTS 422; ed. John Day; London: T&T Clark, 2006), 145–63. 4 See S. Talmon and M. Fishbane, “The Structuring of Biblical Books: Studies in the Book of Ezekiel,” ASTI 10 (1976), 127, 138–40; Moshe Greenberg, “The Design and Themes of Ezekiel’s Program of Restoration,” Int 38 (1984), 184–89. 5 Cf. H. Gese, Der Verfassungsentwurf des Ezechiel (Kap. 40–48) traditionsgeschichtlich untersucht (BHT 25; Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1957), 66; Jon Levenson, Theology of the Program of Restoration of Ezekiel 40–48 (HSM 10; Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976), 129–32, 153 n. 13; Steven Tuell, The Law of the Temple in Ezekiel 40–48 (HSM 49; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), 3, 31–33; Joyce, “Temple and Worship,” 146. However, others believe Ezek 40–48 in entirety should be understood as the product of the prophet; cf. Menahem Haran, “The Law Code of Ezekiel XL–XLVIII and its Relation to the Priestly School,” HUCA 50 (1979), 46–47; Greenberg, “Design,” 181. 6 Thilo Rudnig, Heilig und Profan: Redaktionskritische Studien zu Ez 40–48 (BZAW 287; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2000); Michael Konkel, Architektonik des Heiligen. Studien zur zweiten tempelvision Ezechiels (Ez 40–48) (BBB 129; Berlin: Philo, 2001). 7 For example, while Gese (Verfassungsentwurf, 36, 109, 114) understands Ezek 43:1ff as a redactional layer subsequent to the original Ezekielian vision, Konkel and Zimmerli place 43:1– 10 with the original temple vision; see Konkel, Architektonik, 239–40; Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel 2 (trans. James D. Martin; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 412. vision reports would be motivated by the same kind of experiences as the initial visionary. More to the point is the fact that even if some material in Ezek 40–48 is redactional, it is redactionally presented as an integral part of the vision report: the “man” of Ezek 40:1–4 continues to guide the prophet and provide explanation throughout these chapters. With respect to issues of dating, the command to “declare the temple” in Ezek 43:10 suggests to me that the material in Ezek 40– 42 is best understood in a context when there was no temple (pre-515 BCE), and the concerns of Ezek 40–48 suggest to me that the bulk of the material is exilic. While Persian-period additions are not unlikely, the lack of historical references in the material makes attempts at more specific dating uncertain.8 3.0 Ezekiel 40–48 as a Vision Report Ezekiel 40–48 displays the formal features shared by other texts that allow us to classify the הָאְרַמ ) ”vision report as a literary genre.9 These chapters are explicitly introduced as a “vision Ezek 40:2; cf. 43:3),10 and contain references linking the experience to earlier visions , הֶאְרַמ / (Ezek 43:3a > ch. 9; 43:3b > ch. 1). They use terminology such as “I saw” (Ezek 41:8; 43:3; 44:3), “show/be shown” (Ezek 40:4), and “see with your eyes” (Ezek 40:4; 44:5).11 After the introduction, the text continues with a first person report of what the prophet saw and heard. Visionary literature in the Jewish and Christian traditions presents us with a problem: on the one hand, it purports to describe humans who, in an altered state of consciousness, experience things that are not normally experienced—sights of the deity and the heavenly realm, scenes of past or future events, encounters with heavenly beings, and travel to other (even cosmic) locations. On the other hand, these texts are marked by creative and deliberately planned literary features (e.g., literary artistry, structure and patterning, quotation or allusion, exegesis, reflective commentary) that cannot be accounted for as products of altered consciousness.12 Current research attempts to account for both the experiential and the literary aspects of these texts.13 While it is true that 8 Cf. Joyce, “Temple and Worship,” 146–47. 9 For a definition of the genre and its features, see Michael H. Floyd, Minor Prophets Part 2 (FOTL 22; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 644–45. 10 Cf. Ezek 1:1; 8:3, 4; 11:24; cf. Dan 8:16, 27. In later visionary literature we find the use of the .(Dan 8:1, 2, 15, 17, 26) זח ו ן Dan 7:1, 2, 7, 13, 15, 20) and) זח או terms 11 Note Amsler’s distinction (“La parole visionnaire,” 362) between the literary genre “vision report” and other prophetic utterances which contain references to “seeing” (e.g. Isa 21:2, 7; Jer 4:21, 23ff). For the use of “sight” terminology in other prophetic vision reports, see Isa 6:1; Jer 1:11–13; 24:1, 3; 38:21; Ezek 1:4, 28; 8:2, 4, 6; 11:24; etc.; Amos 7:1, 4, 7, 8; 8:1, 2; 9:1; Zech 1:8; 2:1, 3, 5; 3:1; 4:2; 5:1, 2, 5, 9; 6:1.