The Book of Ezekiel is one of the books that display a transition from prophetic to apocalyptic speech (Zechariah being the other OT book that evidences the same kind of transition stage). It is written from the perspective of a priest named Ezekiel who is in exile. It is directed toward both those who went away into exile and those who remain in the land and are still being unfaithful, even after God has judged the nation. The book is divided into two sections: one of judgment (1-33) and one of restoration (34-48).
Theology: One of the important theological contributions that Ezekiel makes to the Old Testament is that he argues that God is not bound to the land of Israel or the temple. He presents God’s throne as a moveable chariot that conveys that God’s presence can be anywhere, and the wheels of the chariot as filled with eyes, representing that God sees everything. Since He is not merely a local deity, He is able to go with the exiles into the land, and also to see and judge the abominations that are practiced privately by those who remain in Israel. Hence, the four wheels filled with eyes, as well as the flying creatures represent God’s presence that covers the entire world, not just the land of Israel. Hence, His special presence leaves the temple and goes into Babylon with the exiles.
The book also emphatically argues that the judgment of God is active, not merely passive. False prophets are able to have such a devastating effect on the people because God causes them to be deceived through their words (14:9). If the people are given over to the practice of destructive rituals, like the sacrificing of their children, it is because God confuses them with false commands (20:23-26). In short, truth and good are distorted, so that the people believe that what is false is true and what is evil is good. This is part of their destruction.
Ethics: The book makes it clear that each man is being judged for his own sins, and not for those of the previous generation if he turns from the deeds of that generation. This is a response to the exiles claiming that they have been judged because of what their ancestors did. God, instead, tells them that if they had turned away from the sins of their ancestors, they would not be judged. They are being judged both for their idolatry and for their hateful, rather than loving, acts toward one another.
The ethical responsibility of the prophet is brought out in the book. He is likened to a watchman on a tower who must warn the city of an oncoming army. If he does, his duty is fulfilled whether the people listen or not. If he does not, the people will perish, but he will be considered guilty of murder. God even tells him that no one will listen to him, but that he is to warn them anyway.
There is also the terrifying teaching that even if the most righteous men of the Bible were to pray for Israel once judgment is placed upon them, God would not relent, as His justice demands now that the exile take place. There is a point of no return when it comes to God’s judgment. As in other prophets, the judgment of Israel also produces the effect of God’s judgment of the world.
As in all of the major prophets, God promises that there will be a remnant who will be faithful due to their being given a new mind and spirit. They will be ruled by David forever in the land. Only those who repent by putting away their evil and doing good will become a part of this remnant. Hence, even though they must still go into exile, there is a possibility of restoration based on God’s mercy upon the repentant sinner.
Ultimately, God will return to the temple, but the temple will be a greater one than before, and He will dwell in it forever. There is a correspondence between the resurrected people and the temple being restored to the land of the living. Hence, what is said goes far beyond the exile and looks forward to the reign of the Davidic king and the resurrection of the dead. Hence, the return to the exile is being discussed in terms of macrocosmic and microcosmic realities. Lots of imagery from Genesis is used. The restoration from exile is a microcosm of the ultimate restoration from the exile that occurred at the fall.
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ReplyDeleteIt's clear from the context that this isn't referring to the Pentateuch or anything that becomes Scripture, as someone like Thom Stark would argue. The time period to which this refers is the promise of what God will do to them as a judgment around the time of the exile. In the larger context of Ezekiel, this is part of God causing them to be deceived through false prophets. So Stark is wrong both on the idea that this refers to laws given at the time of the BC or Deuteronomic law, and that they reference other Scripture rather than false prophets that push the people into further judgment surrounding the time of the exile.
ReplyDeleteI always try to tell people that what is most important is a teachable spirit to God and His Word because throughout the Bible He seems to give the unteachable over to deception, but those who love Him and the truth He gives illumination. The parables are another example of this. So it really has nothing to do with the human figuring it out, but rather the disposition with which He pursues and approaches God.
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DeleteNo. It says that is the time He swore to them that He would disperse them into other nations. It's a reference to Deuteronomy that predicts the deportations and exile. The entire chapter actually argues that God withheld His hand from bringing any of that to bear on that generation for the sake of His name among the nations. That's the mistake Stark makes. He doesn't pay attention to the context. The text is clearly talking about the time of the exile, and that is Ezekiel's application of the Deuteronomic prophecy as well.
ReplyDeleteFishbane's interpretation is possible, but I do think it ignores the context of Ezekiel that displays deception as coming from the mouths of the false prophets that leads to the exile.
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DeleteWhat do you do with the punishment as deportation into the nations? That isn’t the wilderness journey. It’s really referring to the judgment in Deuteronomy that refers to the exile.
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DeleteI think you’re misreading it. 1. The “them” refers to the descendants in v. 21. What happened in the wilderness is that he swore to “them” that He would scatter “them” throughout the nations and disperse “them” among other countries (v. 23). This is what he tells “them” in Deut 28:63-66. He speaks of Israel as a unit disregarding the times in which they live. What is done to their children is done to “them.”
ReplyDelete2. There is no evidence that the Istaelites sacrificed children in the wilderness. However, it describes the practices of Israelites later in the land. Hence, if we believe the law we have in the BC was given in the wilderness then none of those laws would be the ones referred to by Ezekiel.
3. The law in the BC isn’t about sacrificing children, but rather dedicating them. There is no law that commands child sacrifice in the Torah unless one attempts to divorce it from its context and place a fabricated context in its stead.
4. The prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel make it clear that these commands are coming through false prophets, not real ones. This disqualifies all Scripture as a candidate.
5. You can’t admit that the deportation is the judgment given to later Israel but the false commands are centuries earlier because they’re all a part of the same judgment. The people getting false commands are the people being deceived by false prophets in order to throw them into the final judgment of deportation/exile.
It simply is a case of people like Stark stretching what is said, ignoring context, and making up a new narrative in order to get to his conclusion. It’s not a plausible interpretation.
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DeleteAny time
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DeleteAre you talking about this: "They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin" (Jeremiah 32:35).
ReplyDeleteWouldn't this be a problem for Stark's interpretation, not mine? I don't believe God originally gave them any laws in the BC to do this. It is not until they reject Him and His laws and start doing this that He gives them over to it, so that by the time of the exile He gives the wicked false commands through their false prophets.
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ReplyDeleteWell, I'd agree that the people doing this include those from the wildnerness on up to the exile. The issue is when God is giving the commandments through false prophets. These verses would back up what I am saying, namely, that He did not give them these commandments in the wilderness or even have as His purpose that they should do these things. It's only after centuries of idolatry that God gives them over to believe that they are being commanded to do this, and that is through the false prophets during the time of the exile for Ezekiel.
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