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O l d T e s t a m e n t G u i d e
EZEKIEL
By ANTONIO FUENTES
EZEKIEL is the third of the major prophets. His name, which in
Hebrew is Yehezq'el (= God strengthens) was very much in keeping with the
mission God planned for him. A member of a priestly family, he was taken to
Babylon in the first deportation (597 B.C.), along with his wife, King
Jehoiachin, and all his court (2 Kings 24:16). Like most of these deportees,
Ezekiel settled near the Great Canal between Babylon and Nippur, in southern
Babylonia. There the exiles established the farming community of Tel-Abib, but
later on many of them were employed in the grandiose building schemes then
underway in the country.
Five years after his arrival (592), when he was around thirty years of age,
Ezekiel received his great vision, a theophany or vision of God (1:1ff) and was
called by God himself to be a prophet to his people (2:1ff). So generous was his
response that from that point onward, for about twenty-two years, Ezekiel was
the spiritual guide of his fellow exiles.
His life was full of suffering and misunderstanding, even though he was a man of
peace and sought only his people's welfare, but he remained ever optimistic and
full of hope in the power of Yahweh. His wife had died shortly after their
arrival in Babylon, and he himself died in exile, probably at the hands of one
of the Jewish leaders whom he criticized for idolatry--that at least is the
opinion of St. Athanasius and St. Epiphanus.
Ezekiel's prophetic and spiritual mission all turns on one central event--the
destruction of Jerusalem (587). Prior to that date the prophecies all have to do
with warning the people and exhorting them to repent and to trust in God rather
than in pacts with Egypt or any other neighbor. Ezekiel keeps insisting on a
point which may seem rather unusual, namely, that, by a special disposition of
providence, Babylon is to be the instrument God will use to punish Judah; there
is no escape from this punishment, but its purpose is medicinal, because it will
purify people's souls and set them again on the road of faithfulness to Yahweh.
Are they sure to turn in that direction? The will of God, when it is absolute,
is always fulfilled; however, when people are warned of it, as in this case, God
conditions his will when instructing man's will to do something, leaving man
free to do it or not. Judah will indeed be purified, but only part of it--the
"remnant" who will experience the suffering of separation from Yahweh
and from his Temple during the long years of exile.
The first part of the book, up to chapter 32 inclusive, announces God's
judgments against both the people of Israel and the idolatrous nations. After a
short prologue in which Ezekiel describes how God called him, he uses a series
of symbols to predict the now inevitable destruction of Jerusalem and identify
its causes.
In the second part, with those prophecies already come true, he puts on the
mantle of a prophet of hope. He consoles and encourages the exiles and tells
them of God's determination to set them free and bring them home. These
prophecies, full of majestic symbols, look forward to the era when the New
Covenant will be made, in the kingdom of the Messiah to come.
The book is written almost entirely in prose, with a didactic and descriptive
purpose, using symbolism to catch the attention of his listeners. He is
obviously addressing a people strongly inclined to be sceptical. His language is
extremely rich, colorful, and descriptive, sometimes rising to poetic heights.
Although the Hebrew text which the Vulgate follows is defective in some parts,
it is superior to that of the Greek translation of the Septuagint and to the
Masoretic text, though both the latter do help to clarify obscure passages.
Ezekiel is the prophet of the exiles. He shared the hardest years the Jews spent
in Babylon. All his energies were directed toward keeping the exiles' hopes
alive, just at the point at which, on hearing the news of the fall of Jerusalem,
they were liable to feel that God had abandoned them forever.
The first point the prophet emphasizes is that Yahweh is not confined to
Jerusalem or even Palestine. His power extends as far as Babylon and to the ends
of the earth. His majesty is infinite, his presence universal. Thanks to his
omnipotence and infinite love, he will once more show mercy to his people and by
a totally gratuitous act he will work their conversion. What seems so difficult
will soon become a reality, as shown in the symbolic vision of the bare bones
which are clothed again with flesh and changed back into men. Nothing is
impossible to God.
Ezekiel then goes on to preach about personal responsibility and everything it
implies in the case of the exiles. What he teaches marks an advance on the
revelation contained in previous books. People took it as normal for a city or a
whole nation to be punished collectively--just men as well as sinners--and for
the sins of parents to be visited also on their children. Ezekiel speaks of
individual responsibility: A man's salvation or condemnation depends on him
alone, on his personal attitude to God, that is, his response to the grace he
has been given, as it was in the beginning.
Ezekiel therefore explains the meaning and purpose of divine punishment and
teaches that it is possible for each individual to be reconciled with God, going
on to explain further about individual retribution. Since man is responsible for
his actions, he must suffer the consequences of his unfaithfulness,
although--even in exile--he can recover lost grace by being converted, which is
the true purpose of any punishment God metes out:
"But if a wicked man turns away from all his sins which he has committed
and keeps and my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely
live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall
be remembered against him; for the righteousness which he has done he shall
live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not
rather that he should turn from his way and live?" (Ezek. 18:21-23).
Ezekiel's work did much to regroup the exiles around the priests and the Law; it
revived their religion, making it more interior and personal; it gave new hope
to those who stayed faithful to Yahweh; it gave them a vision of their future
and, in particular, it showed them a new spiritual horizon, a type of renewal
deeper than anything they had so far experienced.
In this future which Ezekiel predicts, it will be God himself who purifies and
renews their hearts:
"I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your
uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will
give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will take out of your
flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my
ordinances" (Ezek. 36:25-27).
Ezekiel concludes his prophecies, as we have seen, by announcing that there will
be a New Covenant:
"I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them and set my sanctuary
in the midst of them for ever more" (Ezek. 37:26).
The book closes with a description of the future city:
"The circumference of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits, and the
name of the city henceforth shall be, 'Yahweh is there'" (48:35). This
prophecy looks to the reconstruction of Israel as symbol of the messianic
kingdom, the Church.