Term Paper on "Exegesis of Ezekiel, Chapter"

Term Paper 4 pages (1389 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

God has given his Prophet Ezekiel a clear foresight o the peoples miseries. He gives Ezekiel the insight into the people's offenses and wickedness for which God befalls judgment upon them. Ezekiel's visionary experience occurs in the prophet's house during a consultation session with the elders of the Diaspora communities. As the story is counted, it seems that the state of trance (the Hand of Yahweh") came over Ezekiel suddenly, without preparation or solicitation. In the vision, a heavenly been appeared to Ezekiel and took by the hairs of his head.(Block During this religious visionary experience the spirit of God Then transports him and sets him down in Jerusalem. Just as in our dreams we may experience other places while never moving from our beds so too does Ezekiel; physically he is bound to the reality of exile in Babylon, but in his dream, he becomes a visitor in the holy city that once was his home. Ezekiel finds himself standing in the outer court of the temple in Jerusalem, at the s pot close tot the northern entrance to the inner court; it was through this entrance that the king and royal family passed into the inner court to worship. Standing there is aware of the awesome Glory of God, just as he had been in his first vision on the plain. There he is instructed to look to the north and see the "Image of jealousy" (verse 5). An image would provoke jealousy for according to the first commandment "He is a jealous God." As such it would refer to the image of Asherah, the Canaanite goddess of love. Such an image of has been placed in the temple in the past (2Kings 21:7), and though it was removed in Josiah's reformation, it may well have reappeared in the last sad days of the temple's history prior to its destruction. Ezekiel is also privy to the information that by Israel's actions, they have driven God away and with him his protection. There are three striking features of this first installment of Ezekiel's vision. Two things were present where there should only be one. The Glory of God was there but so was the image of the false deity and immediately there is a sense of the incongruous. As mercury and water will not mix, no more would the worship of Israel's God mix with that of other gods. From a biblical perspective, a true temple has room for only one god. If two are present, one or the other will leave. If the false god remains then the true God will leave. At the sight of the image, Ezekiel perceives immediately that the first of the Ten Commandments was being broken; that commandment prohibited the recognition of any other god other than the Lord God. The first commandment expressed the fundamental principle of faith, that of absolute commitment and faithfulness to the God of Israel. When that commandment is broken, the entire foundations of faith are undermined. Thus one is already forewarned that matters will worsen as the vision progresses. God expresses to Ezekiel that he has been driven out of his sanctuary (verse 6).The anger will grow later, but for the moment the tone reflects that of grief. The people are driving God out of his temple, and in doing so demonstrate that they have forgotten entirely the very reason for the temple's existence. As the vision progresses to the second stage, Ezekiel is led to the door of the inner court, and asked to look inside a hole in the wall. Verse 8 should translate as "Son of Man, examine the wall closely." As he examined the wall his horror dos not stem from the decorations on the wall but rather, the art of idolatry that the inhabitants of the room were practicing. Seventy of Israel's leading citizens were there. Offering their worship and incense to the inanimate murals decorating the room. The seventy elders, who were taking part in a liturgy with incense, were the officials representatives of the tribes that according to tradition, accompanied Moses and Aaron at the ratification of the Sinai Covenant (Exodus 24:1,… READ MORE

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