4. Place of Origin and Destination
6. Literary Form and Structure
The neo-Assyrian empire had ruled the ancient Near East for several hundred years. God had used Assyria to exile the idolatrous northern tribes of Israel to Assyria in 722 BC. At that time the southern kingdom of Judah was spared through the influence of righteous men such as Isaiah and Hezekiah. Judah soon experienced revival and spiritual refreshment under the leadership of the young king Hezekiah. He had learned spiritual lessons from the downfall of Israel and was also encouraged by the ministry of the prophet Isaiah (2Ki 18–19). But Hezekiah’s faith in Yahweh and his zeal for the Mosaic covenant were forgotten when his son, Manasseh, and his grandson, Amon, rejected the ways of the Lord. For fifty-five years (2Ki 21:1–18) these two men led the people into all kinds of idolatry and wickedness. This so perverted the people that they repudiated God’s law and forgot that it existed.
Josiah, Amon’s righteous son, brought renewed hope to Judah—but it came too late. As he repaired the temple, a copy of the Mosaic law was discovered (2Ki 22). Upon reading it, Josiah was moved to obey it fully (2Ki 23). He purified the temple and officially cleansed the land of the abominations of Manasseh and Amon. But among the people this reformation was only perfunctory. The idolatry of Manasseh’s long reign had so corrupted the hearts of the people that there was little genuine repentance (cf. Jer 3:10). The Mosaic covenant declared that the nation of Israel would be taken captive and be dispersed among the nations if the people continued to disobey the stipulations of that covenant (Lev 26; Dt 28–29). That curse was now certain. It was the only thing that would remove the wickedness of Judah and cause the people to return to Yahweh their God.
Meanwhile, on the international scene there was a new power struggle. Assyria, the dominant nation in the ancient Near East for more than 250 years, was declining, while the Neo-Babylonian Empire was rising under the leadership of Nabopolassar. In 612 BC the Babylonians and Medes defeated the Assyrians. Nineveh, their capital city, fell. The remnants of the Assyrian army under Ashuruballit II retreated westward to Haran, where with their backs to the Egyptians they endeavored to keep resistance alive.
In 609 BC Pharaoh Neco of Egypt came to the aid of Assyria to retake Haran. At Megiddo, Josiah, the reformer king of Judah, tried to stop the advance of Neco, only to be killed in the ensuing battle. Neco continued on to Haran to support Ashuruballit in his attempt to regain Haran, but the strength of the Babylonians gave them a decisive victory over Assyria and Egypt.
Though Neco failed in his effort to aid Assyria at Haran, he did begin to consolidate Palestine and Syria. He removed Jehoahaz, the pro-Babylonian son of Josiah whom the people of Judah crowned as their new king. He established Jehoiakim, Josiah’s eldest and pro-Egyptian son, as his vassal king in Judah. Throughout this international turmoil, Jeremiah the prophet warned the people of Judah to submit to the Babylonians and not to follow the enticements of Egypt. But they would not listen.
In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar, the crown prince of Babylonia, attacked the combined Assyrian and Egyptian forces at Carchemish on the Euphrates in one of the most important battles of history. In Nebuchadnezzar’s overwhelming victory, two great powers of the ancient Near East fell, never again to rise to international significance. As the Babylonians pushed their conquest southward, they invaded Judah and deported a group of young nobles from there (2Ki 24:1; 2Ch 36:6; Da 1:1–3, 6). This began the great Babylonian captivity of Judah, which would ultimately affect every Israelite.
Jehoiakim became both a reluctant vassal of Babylon and a greedy ruler over his people, despising the Mosaic covenant and the reform of his father, Josiah (Jer 22:13–17). After three years of unwilling submission to Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim refused to heed the warnings of Jeremiah and revolted against Babylon in favor of Egypt (2Ki 24:1). The stalemate in battle between Babylon and Egypt on the frontier of Egypt in 601 BC had encouraged him. Jehoiakim’s revolt was a mistake, for as soon as Nebuchadnezzar reorganized his army, he retaliated against those nations that had revolted and refused to pay tribute to him.
In December 598 BC, when the Babylonians began to attack Judah, Jehoiakim died. His eighteen-year-old son, Jehoiachin, succeeded him (2Ki 24:8), only to surrender Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar three months later. Jehoiachin, his mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land (24:12–16), including Ezekiel, a priest (Eze 1:1–3), were led into exile in 597 BC. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah (Mattaniah), Jehoiachin’s uncle, as a regent vassal over Judah. Though in exile, Jehoiachin remained the recognized king of Judah by Babylon, as demonstrated from administrative documents found in the excavations at Babylonia (Babylonian text 28122).1
Zedekiah and the exiles were buoyed by the false prophets’ messages that Nebuchadnezzar’s power was soon to be broken and the exiles would return triumphantly. The vacillating Zedekiah pinned his hopes of restored national independence on the seemingly renewed strength of Pharaohs Psammetikus II (594–588 BC) and Apries (588–568 BC). He was persuaded to rebel once more against Nebuchadnezzar. The response of Babylon was immediate. Early in 588 BC the Babylonian army laid siege to Jerusalem (2Ki 25:1; Jer 32:1–2), having already destroyed the fortress cities of the Judean hill country (vividly described in the Lachish Letters). In the fall of 586 BC Jerusalem was destroyed, including its temple. Zedekiah was captured and blinded after witnessing the execution of his sons. The Babylonians murdered many inhabitants of Jerusalem, and others were deported to Babylonia (2Ki 25:2–21; Jer 52:5–27). Judah had fallen.
It was in this period of international turmoil and unrest, combined with the immorality and apostasy of Judah, that Ezekiel ministered. Ezekiel grew up during the reform of Josiah. He was taken captive in the deportation of Jehoiachin in 597 BC. As both a priest and a prophet, Ezekiel proclaimed to the exiled Jews in Babylonia the Lord’s judgment and ultimate blessing.
The following outline will clarify the chronological relationship between the Judean, Egyptian, and Babylonian kings.
Until the second quarter of the twentieth century, biblical scholars considered the book of Ezekiel an unfragmented unity, possessing orderliness and purpose of development. Those holding to the traditional unity of the book and Ezekiel’s authorship use six factors to support their position: (1) balanced structure and logical arrangement, (2) autobiographical nature, (3) clear chronological sequence, (4) internal consistency of the message within the structural balance, (5) uniformity of language and style, and (6) consistency of Ezekiel’s personality throughout the book.2
Ezekiel’s authorship and the unity of the book were never seriously questioned before the second quarter of the twentieth century, though some consider Josephus’s remark (Ant. 10.79 [v.1]) that Ezekiel left behind him two books to be an early witness to disunity. Initial objections to the unity of the book were based on critical literary analysis. H. Ewald (1875) sought to find multiple authors by asserting that there was within the book written material that differed from oral messages, whereas R. Kraetzschmar (1900) argued that the book contained inconsistencies of style such as doublets, parallelisms, and interchange between the first and third person. In the 1920s and 1930s a number of other scholars dissected the book between the “true Ezekiel,” a poet, and other authors who wrote in prose.
C. C. Torrey, arguing on historical and geographical grounds, maintained that a fictitious pseudoauthor wrote the book around 230 BC.3 Torrey’s mysterious author sought to disguise himself as a prophet from the time of Manasseh as he wrote the first twenty-four chapters. The chapters dealing with Jerusalem and her abominations, Torrey maintained, could not have been written after Josiah’s reform. A. Bertholet (1936) divided the book on geographical and historical considerations, holding to a double ministry for Ezekiel: 593–586 BC in Jerusalem and 586 BC and following in Babylon. Variations of this position gained some popularity.
G. Cooke4 and C. G. Howie5 have guided the majority of contemporary biblical scholars back to a belief in the unity and single authorship of the book. Though Ezekiel’s visions caused him to see events in Jerusalem while living in Babylon, there are fewer difficulties in accepting the traditional unity than in altering the text and subjectively devising stylistic, geographical, and historical objections with no real basis. The majority of contemporary scholars have followed Howie and Zimmerli6 because the style and content of Ezekiel are so remarkably consistent (so Eichrodt,7 Greenberg,8 Wevers9), though some hold to a Palestinian locale for the composition (such as P. Auvray10), some to later editing (Brownlee,11 Greenberg, Zimmerli), and some to rhetorical criticism and structural analysis (Boadt,12 Parunak13).
Leslie Allen holds to a basic unity of the book but with editing done both by Ezekiel himself as well as his heirs, who provided literary units composed of three layers. Intentional organization is argued by Dorsey14 and is widely accepted. Daniel Block clearly supports the unity of Ezekiel as authored by the prophet with possible editorial clarifications by later editors.15
Few books in the OT place the emphasis on chronology as Ezekiel does. Ezekiel 1:1–3 mark the chronological setting, dating the book by Jehoiachin’s deportation to Babylon in 597 BC. The first prophetic message is dated in “the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin” (593 BC). The last-dated message (29:17–30:19) was given in “the twenty-seventh year” (571 BC). The book contains thirteen chronological notices. Chapters 1–24, which announce the sins and resulting judgment on Jerusalem and Judah, are dated 593–589 BC (1:1–3; 8:1; 20:1; 24:1). The prophecies against the foreign nations in chs. 29–32 are dated 587–585 BC (26:1; 29:1; 30:20; 31:1; 32:1; 17), with the exception of 29:17–30:19. The blessing and hope in chs. 33–48 were delivered between 585 and 573 BC (33:21; 40:1).
The following chronology of Ezekiel includes major events and the dated messages.16
Though most biblical scholars accept the basic chronology set forth in Ezekiel, some critics argue for a late date by saying that a prophet cannot pronounce simultaneously the type of judgment and blessing that one finds in Ezekiel. Therefore the book had to have been written at different times, the last in the intertestamental period. Others hold to a similarly late date based on the geographical consideration that part of the book was written from a Palestinian viewpoint, whereas the remainder was composed by a Babylonian eyewitness. Still others declare that the discrepancies between Ezekiel and the priestly code demonstrate a date of composition at least partially in the intertestamental period.17
On the contrary, the use of apocalyptic literature (37:1–14; chs. 40–48), which appears to follow the scheme of the Mesopotamian dream vision of the seventh and sixth centuries BC,18 argues against a late date and for authorship of the book during the exile.19
Ezekiel 1:1–3 and 3:15 clearly define the place of origin of Ezekiel’s ministry as Babylonia, specifically at the site of Tel Abib located near the Kebar River and the site of Nippur. This “River” has been identified by many with the naru kabari (mentioned in the Nippur cuneiform texts), a southeasterly canal connecting at both ends with the Euphrates River. Nabopolassar destroyed pro-Assyrian Nippur and repopulated the area with deportees, perhaps Judeans.
The conditions of the Jews in the Babylonian exile were not severe. Though placed at the specific site of Tel Abib, it seems that they had freedom of movement within the country and the opportunity to engage in commerce. They were regarded more as colonists than slaves.
Ezekiel’s messages were primarily for the exiles in Babylonia. He condemned the abominations that were leading Jerusalem and Judah to ultimate destruction. The exiles questioned the prophecies of Ezekiel. Ezekiel, in turn, answered them carefully. He played the role of a watchman to warn them of the impending judgment on Judah and to proclaim the hope of their ultimate restoration to the land of Israel. Though in some of Ezekiel’s visions (chs. 8; 11) he was carried to Jerusalem, his messages were not directly given for the benefit of the Jews in Palestine. The distance between Babylon and Jerusalem would preclude these messages being directed to Jerusalem, though certainly some of the concepts of Ezekiel may have filtered back to Palestine. Jeremiah, Ezekiel’s contemporary, however, was simultaneously proclaiming a similar message of warning and judgment to those remaining in Jerusalem and Judah.
When God created the nation of Israel, he gave the people the Mosaic covenant (Ex 20–Nu 9; Deuteronomy) as their constitution. This covenant told the already chosen people how to live for the Lord. The law was not given to burden the Hebrews; it was given for their own good (Dt 10:12–13), so that they might be blessed (Dt 5:28–33).
Yet the history of Israel was marked by disobedience to this covenant. Often Israel followed the gods of the peoples around her. As the historical sketch in section 1 shows, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah became increasingly corrupt and ultimately forgot their constitution, the Mosaic covenant. The covenant itself had warned the Israelites that if they continued to stray from the Lord’s ways as revealed in the statutes and commandments of the law, the Lord would discipline them through dispersion in order to bring them back to himself.20
This theme fills the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel spoke to his contemporaries, declaring to them the faithfulness, holiness, and glory of God. Their God would bring judgment, cleansing, and ultimate blessing through which all peoples might come to know that the God of Israel was the one true God. The Lord desired to turn the exiles of Israel away from their sinful ways and restore them to himself. God’s judgment, therefore, was exercised as an instrument of love to cause them to see their abominations and recognize the Lord’s covenantal faithfulness to the promises of both judgment and blessing. The destruction of Jerusalem demonstrated God’s faithfulness to his holy character (cf. Lev 26; Dt 28–30) as revealed in the covenants. He gave the hope that one day the true Shepherd, the Messiah, would come to lead the chosen people, Israel. Though their contemporary rulers had exploited them and led them away from the Lord, in the future the people would be restored to the Promised Land by a righteous leader. In that day all the covenants of the Lord would be fulfilled for Israel (Eze 37:24–28).
Ezekiel, as a watchman for Israel, warned her of imminent judgment and stressed the need for individual responsibility as well as national accountability before God. Each Israelite was personally to turn to the Lord, to whom the whole nation must likewise ultimately return.
Traditionally Ezekiel is divided into three distinct sections. Chapters 1–24 proclaim the coming judgment on Jerusalem and its causes. Chapters 25–32 announce judgment on the foreign nations, while chs. 33–48 declare the blessings of future restoration and the messianic kingdom.
The threefold division shows the logical development and unity of the book. Many, however, tend to view these three sections as distinct and isolated topics without much interrelation. On the contrary, Ezekiel ties the entire book together structurally and thematically. The prophecy begins with his divine vision of the glorious presence of God (chs. 1–3). Without a proper understanding of the glorious, holy character of God, the announcements of judgment are meaningless (chs. 4–7). The Lord shows how Israel’s wickedness caused God’s glory to depart from her midst until she is cleansed through the coming judgment (chs. 8–11). The announcements of this judgment are presented through the exiles’ objections, which are answered in chs. 12–19. Then Ezekiel summarizes the nature of the impending discipline and the reasons for it, announcing the fall of Jerusalem (chs. 20–24). Chapters 25–32 form an integral part of the previous structural unit, for in them the Lord condemns the nations around Judah for rejoicing in her destruction. Those who curse Israel will be cursed (Ge 12:3). God faithfully executes that promise.
Lest the exiles in Babylonia lose all hope, the Lord promises their ultimate restoration to the land of blessing, Israel. The Lord will cleanse the chosen people and fulfill the covenants made with them. This will result in their dwelling in the Promised Land, becoming God’s faithful people, experiencing the outpouring of the Spirit of the new covenant, and living under the righteous rule of the Messiah in the promised Davidic kingdom (2Sa 7). When this occurs, the departed glory of the Lord will return to the new temple established in the messianic kingdom. Israel will worship God in righteousness according to the Lord’s holy statutes and ordinances (Eze 40–48).
The book is not only developed logically but is also arranged chronologically. The pivotal point historically and chronologically is the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The messages contained in chs. 1–24 are all dated prior to the fall of Jerusalem, preparing the exiles for the judgment that was to come on the Holy City. Once that judgment came, as described in ch. 24, Ezekiel turned his attention to judgment on the nations. These messages (chs. 25–33) were given during and following the siege of Jerusalem, in 586–585 BC. One exception is the message in 29:17–30:19, included in this chronological section because of its logical relationship to the judgment on the foreign nations (cf. comments on 29:17–30:19). Then 33:21–39:29 was delivered on the night before a fugitive arrived in Babylon to tell the exiles that Jerusalem had fallen (December/January 586/585 BC). These messages were designed to encourage the exiles when that sad news arrived. Fourteen years later, the final end-time prophecy in chs. 40–48 was delivered, culminating the logical development of the book.
Few books of the Bible use such a wide variety of literary forms as Ezekiel does. Though most of the book is prose, some of it is poetry. Ezekiel uses almost every kind of literary device and imagery to communicate graphically the messages of judgment and blessing: dream visions (chs. 1–3; 8–11); apocalyptic literature (37:1–14; chs. 40–48); drama (chs. 4–5; 12); allegory, parable, proverbs (16:44; 18:2); and funeral dirges (chs. 19; 26–28; 32). The frequent rhetorical questions and repetitious phrases enhance the vitality and thrust of the oracles.
The literary form “dream visions” was common in Mesopotamia in the seventh and sixth centuries BC21 and consisted of two major parts: (1) the setting of the vision, declaring the time, recipient, place of reception, and general circumstances; and (2) the description of the vision just as it was seen by the recipient. Ezekiel uses this type of literature in his book and also develops (along with Daniel and Zechariah in the OT) apocalyptic literature in the dream vision format. This may be defined as “symbolic visionary prophetic literature, composed during oppressive conditions, consisting of visions whose events are recorded exactly as they were seen by the author and explained through a divine interpreter, and whose theological content is primarily eschatological.”22 Twice Ezekiel uses this genre, most likely known to the exiles, to encourage them during their time of oppression. Both apocalyptic visions contain messages of restoration and blessing.
Five prominent theological concepts pervade these prophetic pages: (1) the nature of God; (2) the purpose and nature of God’s judgment; (3) individual responsibility; (4) the ethical, religious, and moral history of Israel; and (5) the nature of Israel’s restoration and the millennial worship.
God’s attributes most strongly emphasized are those related to his covenantal promises. A righteous, sovereign, and holy God set forth in the Mosaic covenant a righteous way of life for the well-being of the chosen people, Israel. If they follow the stipulations of that covenant, they will be blessed in every spiritual and physical way (Lev 26:3–13; Dt 28:1–14). If they rebel against the Lord’s righteous ordinances and disobey them, the Lord—being holy, just, and righteous—will discipline the people and withhold blessing (Lev 26:14–39; Dt 28:15–68). Ezekiel demonstrates the Lord’s faithfulness to these promises. God is being faithful to judge Israel and Judah because they have broken the law. By the same token, God will also faithfully restore the people to the land of blessing and confer on them messianic blessings based on the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants (Lev 26:40–45; Dt 30; cf. Ge 12:1–3; 2Sa 7:12–17; Jer 31:31–34).
God’s holy and righteous character logically reflects judgment. The Lord loved Israel and chose her as his very own people to bless the world (Ge 12:2–3; Ex 19:4–6; Dt 7:6–11). Since she has strayed from God’s righteous ways, the Lord will bring judgment on her to make her conscious of her wickedness so that she will return to him. Ezekiel continually declares that the purpose of the Lord’s judgment is to cause Israel, or the nations, to “know that I am the LORD,” a phrase repeated over sixty-five times in this book. Judgment is for Israel’s good because it will result in her return to a relationship with the Lord and her understanding that the Lord alone is the only true God.
Though the Lord has often dealt with Israel nationally, Ezekiel balances this with an emphasis on individual responsibility (cf. Dt 24:16; 29:17–21). A person is not delivered from God’s curse by the righteousness of the majority of the nation or some other person’s spirituality. Each person is accountable to God. Each needs to obey the statutes of God’s Word in order to live righteously before him. Everyone is equally responsible for his own disobedience or unrighteousness. Therefore Ezekiel exhorts the exiles individually to turn from their sinful ways and to live righteously according to the Mosaic covenant (chs. 18; 23).
Along with the announcement of God’s judgment, Ezekiel vindicates the Lord’s righteous justice by recounting Israel’s ethical, moral, and religious history. This is most vividly accomplished through the imagery of Israel as a spiritual prostitute who, having been wooed and married by God, prostituted herself by going after the gods of other nations throughout her entire history. This idolatry and unfaithfulness has characterized her from her birth in Egypt.
In spite of Israel’s consistent idolatry, the Lord gives her a message of hope through the prophet Ezekiel. One of the most complete descriptions of Israel’s restoration to the land of promise in the end times appears in Ezekiel’s messages of hope (33:21–39:29), in which the basis, manner, and results of Israel’s restoration to the Promised Land are clearly enunciated. Likewise, the most exhaustive delineation of millennial blessing, glory, and worship is set forth in chs. 40–48. All students of eschatology should examine seriously these chapters.
Many scholars believe the text of Ezekiel that we have is in one of the worst states of preservation of any OT book. The basis for this opinion normally lies in the supposed obscurities of technical expressions (such as dates and measurements) and hapax legomena (words appearing only once) that have led to errors by copyists. Many translators have resorted to conjecture and textual emendations to try to solve these problems and “make sense” of the text.
But textual evidence for most of the “corrections” is sparse. Though some textual difficulties do exist in Ezekiel, one should be cautious of “corrections” unless there is adequate and sufficient textual data to warrant a better reading of the MT in accord with normal textual-critical guidelines. Some appeal to the LXX to control the Hebrew text of Ezekiel, but the paraphrasing tendency of that textual recension along with its propensity to omit repetitions and to interpolate explanations often impugn its reliability.23 A proper understanding of the argument of the book demonstrates that the Hebrew text may usually be understood adequately as it stands.
Alexander, Ralph H. Ezekiel. Chicago: Moody, 1976.
Allen, Leslie C. Ezekiel 1–19. Word Biblical Commentary 28. Dallas: Word, 1994.
———. Ezekiel 20–48. Word Biblical Commentary 29. Dallas: Word, 1990.
Barnett, R. D. “Ezekiel and Tyre.” Eretz-Israel 9 (1969): 6–13.
Block, Daniel I. “Ezekiel’s Boiling Cauldron: A Form-Critical Solution to Ezekiel xxiv 1–14.” Vetus Testamentum 41 (1991): 12–37.
———. “Beyond the Grave: Ezekiel’s Vision of Death and Afterlife.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 (1992): 113–41.
———. The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Edited by R. K. Harrison and Robert L. Hubbard Jr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.
———. The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Edited by R. K. Harrison and Robert L. Hubbard Jr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
Cooke, George A. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel. International Critical Commentary. Edited by S. R. Driver, A. Plummer, and C. A. Briggs. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1936.
Cooper, Lamar. Ezekiel. New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1994.
Ellison, Henry L. Ezekiel: The Man and His Message. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956.
Fairbairn, Patrick. Ezekiel and the Book of His Prophecy. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1963.
Feinberg, Charles Lee. The Prophecy of Ezekiel: The Glory of the Lord. Chicago: Moody Press, 1969.
Freedy, K. S., and D. B. Redford. “The Dates in Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical, Babylonian and Egyptian Sources.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 90 (1970): 79–103.
Greenberg, Moshe. Ezekiel 1–20. Anchor Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983.
———. Ezekiel 21–48. Anchor Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983.
Hoekema, Anthony. The Bible and the Future. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979.
Taylor, John B. Ezekiel: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1969.
Vawter, B., and L. J. Hoppe. A New Heart: A Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel. International Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.
Wevers, John W. Ezekiel. New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982.
Zimmerli, Walter. Ezekiel I and II. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979.
1. See ANET, 308.
2. For a full discussion, cf. R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 823–32, or H. H. Rowley, Men of God: Studies in Old Testament History and Prophecy (London: Nelson, 1963), 169–210.
3. C. C. Torrey, Pseudo-Ezekiel and the Original Prophecy (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1930).
4. George A. Cooke, Ezekiel (ICC; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1936).
5. Carl G. Howie, The Date and Composition of Ezekiel (Philadelphia: Society of Biblical Literature, 1950).
6. Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1, 1–15 (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979), 41–56, 68–74.
7. Walther Eichrodt, Ezekiel (OTL; London: SCM, 1970).
8. Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel, 2 vols. (AB; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983, 1997).
9. John W. Wevers, Ezekiel (NCBC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982).
10. Paul Auvray, Ézéchiel (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1947).
11. H. W. Brownlee, “Ezekiel,” ISBE, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 250–63.
12. Lawrence Boadt, Ezekiel’s Oracles against Egypt: A Literary and Philological Study of Ezekiel 29–32 (Chicago: Loyola Univ. Press, 1980).
13. H. Van Dyke Parunak, “Structural Studies in Ezekiel” (PhD diss.; Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1978); idem, Linguistic Density Plots in Ezekiel (Wooster, Ohio: Biblical Research, 1984); idem, “The Literary Architecture of Ezekiel’s Marot Elohim,” JBL 99 (1980): 61–74.
14. David A. Dorsey, “Can These Bones Live? Investigating Literary Structure in the Bible,” Evangelical Journal 9 (1991): 13–14.
15. Cf. Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 20–48 (WBC 29; Dallas: Word, 1990), xxv–xxviii, and Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 17–23.
16. The chronology presented is based predominantly on the work of K. S. Freedy and D. S. Redford, “The Dates in Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical, Babylonian and Egyptian Source,” JAOS 90 (1970): 79–103. Cf. A. Malamat, “The Last Kings of Judah and the Fall of Jerusalem,” IEJ 18 (1968): 137–56; idem, “Twilight of Judah: In Egyptian–Babylonian Maelstrom,” International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (VTSup 28; Leiden: Brill, 1975): 123–45.
17. For refutations of these arguments for a late date, see Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, 822–55; and Gleason Archer Jr., Survey of Old Testament Introduction, rev. ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 368–76.
18. Cf. A. Leo Oppenheim, The Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East With a Translation of an Assyrian Dream-Book (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1956), 179–373.
19. For a complete contemporary analysis of the date of Ezekiel, see Howie, The Date and Composition of Ezekiel.
20. The blessing and curse formulas in the Mosaic covenant—indeed the entire Mosaic covenant—reflect the pattern of suzerain-vassal treaties from the second millennium BC. For a full discussion, see Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963).
21. Oppenheim, Interpretation of Dreams, 186–225.
22. Ralph H. Alexander, “Hermeneutics of Old Testament Apocalyptic Literature” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1968), 45.
23. Cf. Moshe Greenberg, “The Use of the Ancient Versions for Interpreting the Hebrew Text,” Congress Volume (VTSup 29; Leiden: Brill, 1976), 131–48. Cf. Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 20–48, xxvii–xxviii.