Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament: Ezekiel

Ezekiel: 1-20, is Volume 22 in the Anchor Bible series of new, book-by-book translations of the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha. This is the first of two volumes on the prophetic book of Ezekiel. It includes: A new translation of the book, followed by textual notes that give readings from such ancient translations as the Greek and the Syrian and from medieval Hebrew manuscripts. Sections titled "Comment," offering clarification of grammar, context, and other details, and "Structure and Themes," a more general literary discussion following each section of translation. Adherence to the Masoretic (traditional Hebrew) text and extensive use of Rabbinic literature. A holistic interpretation showing how many features of the text are interwoven and  integrated.

This major work explores the message and meaning of Ezekiel, one of the longest and most difficult of the prophetic books. An introduction explains what is involved in reading a prophetic book, and how the book of Ezekiel was put together and structured. It looks at the form of speech used and discusses Ezekiel's author and those who transmitted, edited, and enlarged upon what he had to say. The destruction of Jerusalem is a primary concern, and attention is focused on the political and social situation of the time in order to provide a clear understanding of the political and religious crisis facing the prophet's contemporaries. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

The books of Ezekiel and Daniel are rich in imagery taken up afresh in the New Testament. Echoes of Ezekiel--with its words of doom and promises of hope, the vision of a new temple and its scroll-eating prophet--are especially apparent in the book of Revelation. Daniel is most notable in supplying terminology and imagery for Jesus of Nazareth's favored self-description as "Son of man," a phrase also found in Ezekiel and one which John the seer employs repeatedly in describing the exalted figure of his vision on the island of Patmos. The four beasts of Daniel find their counterparts in the lion, ox, man and eagle of Ezekiel and Revelation. It is no wonder these books, despite the difficulties in interpreting them, took hold on the imagination of the early church.Over forty church fathers are cited in the commentary on Ezekiel, some of whom are here translated into English for the first time, but pride of place goes to four significant extant works: the homilies of Origen and Gregory the Great, and the commentaries of Jerome and Theodoret of Cyr, thus bridging East and West, North and South.A similar array of fathers are found within the commentary on Daniel. Extensive comments derive from the works of Theodoret of Cyr, Hippolytus, Jerome and Isho'dad of Merv and provide a wealth of insight. Valuable commentary attributed to Ephrem the Syrian and John Chrysostom is also found here, though the authorship of these commentaries is indeed questioned. Michael Glerup and Kenneth Stevenson edit this collection.

Part of the International critical commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

"To most modern readers the book of Ezekiel is a mystery. Few can handle Ezekiel's relentless denunciations, his unconventional antics, his repetitive style, and his bewildering array of topics. This excellent commentary by Daniel I. Block makes sense of this obscure and often misunderstood prophet and demonstrates the relevance of Ezekiel's message for the church today."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A user-friendly, interactive study guide for reading and understanding the prophet Ezekiel.

This book will become one of the classic works on Ezekiel. It is so thorough that it will be most useful to the scholar and serious students.

Contents: Exekiel at the dawn of the twenty-first century / Ralph W. Klein -- Divine abandonment : Ezekiel's adaptation of an ancient Near Eastern motif / Daniel I. Block -- Ezekiel's dim view of Israel's restoration / Baruch J. Schwartz -- God's kābôd : the presence of Yahweh in the Book of Ezekiel / John T. Strong -- Divine presence and absence in Ezekiel's prophecy / Steven S. Tuell -- Ezekiel's anthropology and its ethical implications / John F. Kutsko -- Shame and self-knowledge : the postivie role of shame in Ezekiel's view of the moral self / Jacqueline E. Lapsley -- The primal human in Ezekiel and the image of God / Dexter E. Callender, Jr. -- Genre and persona in Ezekiel 24:15-24 / Margaret S. Odell -- "Should our sister be treated like a whore?" : a response to feminist critiques of Ezekiel 23 / Corrine L. Patton.

Contents: 1. Introduction -- I. Goals of the study -- II. Defining the metaphor of the city as wife -- A. The metaphor of the city as wife: developing a working definition -- 1). Models of metaphors -- 2). Narrative metaphor in Ezekiel 16 and 23 -- B. Previous work on metaphor in Ezekiel -- III. Backgrounds: The metaphor of the city as wife in the ancient Near East 2. The marriage metaphor in the OT exclusive of Ezekiel -- I. OT usage of the Near Eastern metaphor: some essential changes -- II. The marriage metaphor in extraprophetic texts -- III. The marriage metaphor in the prophets -- A. Distinctive characteristics of the marriage metaphor in the prophetic books -- B. Personification of foreign cities as women -- 1). Isaiah -- 2). Nahum -- 3). Deutero-Isaiah -- C. Personification of the capital city as Yahweh's wife in the prophets -- 1). The marriage metaphor in Hosea -- 2). The city as Yahweh's wife in Isaiah -- 3). The city as Yahweh's wife in Jeremiah -- 4). The city as Yahweh's wife in Lamentations and Deutero-Isaiah -- D. Conclusions 3. Ezekiel's distinctive use of the marriage metaphor -- I. Ezekiel 16 and 23: Four metaphorical narratives -- A. Ezek. 16:1-43 -- B. Ezek. 16:44-58 -- C. Coda: Ezek. 16:59-63 -- D. Ezek. 23:1-35 -- E. Ezek. 23:36-45 -- F. Coda: Ezek. 23:46-49 -- II. Ezekiel 16 and 23: translation and notes -- A. Ezekiel 16 -- B. Ezekiel 23 -- III. The distinctiveness of Ezekiel's marriage metaphor relative to those of earlier prophetic books -- A. Differences in style -- B. Differences in content -- 1). Origins -- 2). Sins -- 3). Punishment -- 4). Restoration -- C. Differences in placement and function 4. The city as Yahweh's wife in Ezekiel 16 and 23 -- I. Ezekiel 16 -- A. Jerusalem as unclean other: 16:1-43 -- B. Jerusalem shamed: 16:44-58 -- C. Coda: Covenant, cleansing, and shame: 16:59-63 -- II. Ezekiel 23 -- A. The two sisters: 23:1-35 -- B. The temple as brothel: 23:36-45 -- C. Coda: The call to arms: 23:46-49 -- III. Conclusions 5. The woman Jerusalem: Her role in the book of Ezekiel -- I. Introduction -- II. Jerusalem in Ezekiel 1-24: The implied prostitute -- A. Ezek. 5:7-17 -- B. Ezek. 6:8-10 -- C. Ezek. 7:19-22 -- D. Ezek. 22:1-5 -- E. Ezek. 24:3-14 -- F. Ezek. 24:15-24 -- III. The real women in Ezekiel -- A. Ezek. 8:14-15 -- B. Ezek. 13:17-23 -- C. Ezek. 18:6, 11, 15; 22:10-11 -- D. Conclusions -- IV. After the fall: Ezekiel 25-39 -- V. The lady vanishes: the temple-city of Ezekiel 40-48 -- A. Purity without danger -- B. The return of the repressed: the feminine identity of the new city -- VI. Conclusions

The present work has been highly and widely commended for the quite remarkable insight it shows into the prophet's mind and message. Mr. Ellison's background makes him peculiarly fitted to expound Old Testament prophecy-as his Men Spake From God has already shown -and this completely fresh expository and devotional study of Ezekiel, written in non-technical language, yet with true scholarship, will both inform the mind and challenge the heart.

In these homilies Origen endeavors to show his audience in the church of Caesarea how the text of Ezekiel points to and prefigures Jesus Christ and the church. Following in the footsteps of St. Paul (Rom 15.4: ¿For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction¿¿) and Hebrews (10.1: ¿For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come¿¿), Origen looks for the reality of Christ symbolized in the shadowy words of the prophet Ezekiel. The result is a deeply moving, reverent, and edifying exposition of the Old Testament prophet in a manner that doubtless would have been received with pleasure by St. Paul himself.

This study makes a contribution to the understanding of Old Testament prophetic ministry by comparing selected texts from Jeremiah and Ezekiel relating to the call of each prophet, the images of assayer, potter and watchman, their relationships with the temple and their assessments of deviant prophets. The styles of communication of the two prophets are strikingly different. Interpretive clues regarding the reasons for these differences are found in the settings of each book. While Jeremiah and his people are still in the land with the temple present, Yahweh is perceived as close, and the communication between Yahweh, prophet and people is characterised by intimate dialogue. In Ezekiel's context, far from the temple and their land, Yahweh is presumed to be distant, and communication between Yahweh, Ezekiel and the people employs more visual content. Comparing two such significantly different prophets gives a range of fruitful insights into the relationship between prophetic ministry and local context.

Contents: The context of Ezekiel's ministry -- Questions of unity and authorship -- The responsibility of Israel: I -- The responsibility of Israel: II -- Collective and individual responsibility in the Old Testament -- The radical theocentricity of Ezekiel -- A new heart and a new spirit -- Divine initiative and human response in Ezekiel.

With the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the exile of members of the Israelite community to the land of its enemies, whose gods were represented as divine statues, the prophet Ezekiel faced a challenge: how to respond to the enemies' taunts that Israel's God was absent, whereas the foreigners' gods self-evidently were present. Thus, to ask the question, "Where is God" was to face several complex and tangled problems. How is God to be represented? How is Yahweh to be differentiated from other deities? What is Yahweh's relationship to Israel in exile?" Kutsko sets out to answer these questions within the theme of divine presence and absence. He shows that God's absence becomes, for Ezekiel, an argument for his presence and power. Furthermore, God's presence is not consigned to sanctuary, for God is a sanctuary; his presence in exile becomes a message of victory even over imperial powers. In the end, Kutsko shows that the book of Ezekiel plays a central and previously unappreciated role in the development of Israelite theology.