Monthly Archives: July 2024

Ezekiel 24 The Painful Judgment of God

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By John Singer Sargent – This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the National Gallery of Art. Please see the Gallery’s Open Access Policy., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81473181

Ezekiel 24:1-14 The Boiling Pot

1 In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 Mortal, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. 3 And utter an allegory to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Set on the pot, set it on, pour in water also;
4 put in it the pieces, all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with choice bones.
5 Take the choicest one of the flock, pile the logs under it; boil its pieces, seethe also its bones in it.
6 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, the pot whose rust is in it, whose rust has not gone out of it! Empty it piece by piece, making no choice at all.
7 For the blood she shed is inside it; she placed it on a bare rock; she did not pour it out on the ground, to cover it with earth.
8 To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have placed the blood she shed on a bare rock, so that it may not be covered.
9 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile great.
10 Heap up the logs, kindle the fire; boil the meat well, mix in the spices, let the bones be burned.
11 Stand it empty upon the coals, so that it may become hot, its copper glow, its filth melt in it, its rust be consumed.
12 In vain I have wearied myself; its thick rust does not depart. To the fire with its rust!
13 Yet, when I cleansed you in your filthy lewdness, you did not become clean from your filth; you shall not again be cleansed until I have satisfied my fury upon you.
14 I the LORD have spoken; the time is coming, I will act. I will not refrain, I will not spare, I will not relent. According to your ways and your doings I will judge you, says the Lord GOD.

Before addressing the content of this allegory or metaphor[1]it is necessary to address the dating of this portion of Ezekiel. If the dating is done according to the pattern of the rest of the dates of Ezekiel then the time from the beginning of the siege until Ezekiel is notified that the siege has ended is almost three years. We know that the siege of Jerusalem lasted roughly eighteen months and it is unlikely that it would have taken another eighteen months for the information about the fall of Jerusalem to reach Ezekiel. Yet, it is not surprising that the dating changes since the same date is referenced in both 2 Kings and Jeremiah.

And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; they built siegeworks against it all around. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 2 Kings 25:1-3, see also Jeremiah 39: 1-3.

Whether Ezekiel changes his dating scheme based on the command to write down the name of the day by the LORD, or whether a later scribe corrects Ezekiel’s dating scheme to reflect the standard dating practice, the siege of Jerusalem begins in the ninth year of King Zedekiah’s reign in the tenth day of the tenth month of the year. The prophesied siege has finally begun. The words of Ezekiel are finally occurring in a way that the people can now see that there has been a prophet among them.

Ezekiel has frequently built upon previously used images and throughout this metaphor he pulls together the image of the pot previously used in chapter eleven and the bloody city from chapter twenty-two. There is a poetic quality to the image, and it is possible that Ezekiel is utilizing a cooking ditty that gets repurposed into this image, taking something familiar and using it in an uncomfortable manner to warp the preconceived notions of the hearer. But even if this is utilizing a song about a cooking pot, this is no ordinary meal being prepared. The copper pot indicates either a cultic use or court use because most people at this time would use clay pots.

The translation of the corruption of the pot as rust is problematic because copper does not rust. Copper when it oxidizes turns green and so if the corruption is with the pot then a better translation would be corruption that would need to be smelted away if the pot is to be clean. Yet, the more likely indication is that the meat is corrupted rather than the pot and that rather than the content of the pot being choice cuts of the choicest animal of the flock what they ended up with is putrid flesh. (Block, 1997, p. 777) This resonates with the imagery of chapter eleven where the leaders view themselves as the choice meat safe within the pot, while the LORD indicates that they are rotten.

Ezekiel, along with Jeremiah and others, has been challenging the Zion theology that viewed the temple and Jerusalem as guarantees of the LORD’s protection for the people. In this theology the exiles were the ones discarded while those remaining in the city were the choice cuts who are safe. Now with the beginning of the siege the pot which once offered safety is now heated until it glows. If this was being used for either consumption or cultic use the law would expect the blood of the sacrificed animal to be poured out on the ground, but the blood is in the pot and everything in the pot is heated to the point where the corruption is consumed. The blood still testifies to the violence committed in the city and there is no beginning without the contents of the pot being consumed. There can only be a new beginning once there is an ending. God has spoken and now those words are realized. It is only in retrospect that the people can understand that a prophet has been among them. It is only after the destruction of the city and in the time of exile that a new beginning can occur. For Ezekiel, the judgment of this time is just and yet this journey will take a difficult toll on him personally as well as any loss he may feel at the destruction of the city he grew up in and the temple he had been trained to serve in.

Ezekiel 24: 15-27 A Tragic Final Sign

15 The word of the LORD came to me: 16 Mortal, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of mourners. 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.

19 Then the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting this way?” 20 Then I said to them: The word of the LORD came to me: 21 Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and your heart’s desire; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. 22 And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of mourners. 23 Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and groan to one another. 24 Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; you shall do just as he has done. When this comes, then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

25 And you, mortal, on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their heart’s affection, and also their sons and their daughters, 26 on that day, one who has escaped will come to you to report to you the news. 27 On that day your mouth shall be opened to the one who has escaped, and you shall speak and no longer be silent. So you shall be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Even though the book of Ezekiel is one of the longer books in the bible we know very little biographical information about the prophet: we know that he was thirty years old at the time of his call[2], that he was a part of the initial group of exiles in Babylon, that he is a priest and the son of Buzi, and now we learn that he is married. Being a thirty year old male we may have assumed he was married but in this time of upheaval it is likely that many traditional markers in the personal life of individuals may be delayed. Now that we have learned that he has a wife described here as the delight of his eyes it helps provide some answers to how the prophet was able to become the living sign that God required him to be. Presumably when Ezekiel portrays the siege of Jerusalem with his body for over four hundred days it would be his wife who ministered to him and cared for him. Throughout the book of Ezekiel, the prophet has been obedient in contrast to the disobedience of the people and only protests when he is asked to do something that makes him unclean or when he feels that all of Israel is being destroyed. Now Ezekiel who has occupied the space between a heartbroken God and the disobedient people endures his own personal heartbreak with no set of listening ears to hear his grief. Ezekiel has often been a living sign for the people of Israel and his actions have cost him physically, but now his family becomes one final sign before the destruction of Israel, and he is unable to collapse in mourning because of the imperative of his mission from God.

Ezekiel is addressed as Mortal[3] and then told that with ‘one blow’ God is taking away his wife and he is not to mourn of weep. The term translated ‘one blow’ elsewhere has referred to death from a plague, but here it conveys the suddenness of the death. There was no indication that Ezekiel’s wife is sick before this announcement but in the span of a day his wife is dead. The lack of the standard actions associated with mourning is a noticeable departure from the expected activity and it makes people demand an explanation from the prophet. Throughout the book the prophet has been both the medium and the messenger, but one last time he is both the physical sign to the people and the one to explain the sign. Instead of mourning and covering the upper lip,[4] he is to dress and carry on in a normal manner. In Leviticus Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar were not allowed to mourn Aaron’s two sons who offered an ‘unholy fire’ before the LORD and were killed (Leviticus 10: 6-7) and later this becomes the expected practice for the high priest (Leviticus 21: 10-12). In the absence of the temple, now perhaps we are to see the prophet as the new high priest for the people. The ‘stronghold, joy, and delight of the people’ (the city and temple) in addition to their sons and daughters of the people are being taken away and the prophets will become the new center of faith at the beginning of a new era in Babylon.

Ezekiel embodies obedience throughout his ministry, and this has come at a high cost. This portion of Ezekiel’s life resonates with Abraham’s call to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. Yet, unlike Abraham’s offering in Genesis 22 there is no lamb to take the place of the beloved one.  Ezekiel pays a steep price for the privilege of serving as God’s agent charged with carrying the difficult message of the judgment on Jerusalem, the leaders of Israel, the temple, and the land. Daniel Block argues that he pays a price higher than any other recorded prophet. (Block, 1997, p. 793)

Why does God ask such a high price from God’s most faithful people? This is a difficult question without one simple answer, but this is a question that any reading of the scriptures does prompt. Prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah often find themselves caught between the people who God loves and the God who the people have rejected, and they become living witnesses to the tension in this broken relationship. I’ve often told my community that “God sends God’s very best in the hope that the people God loves will return.” This thought is captured in Jesus’ parable of the wicked tenants (Matthew 21: 33-46, Mark 12: 1-12, Luke 20: 9-19) where the house master (NRSV landowner) continually sends servants to tenants who resist them, eventually sending the Son. This is an opportunity for the tenants, but it means that the servants (or slaves) of God suffer abuse. Some prophets have protested the treatment they have received, but Ezekiel throughout these twenty-four chapters that lead to the exile has demonstrated a quiet obedience to God’s will. The book of Ezekiel does not consider sharing the emotional struggle of the prophet worthy of space (and any speculations we make are merely speculations) in contrast to the essential task of communicating the word of God to a resistant people.

The first half of Ezekiel has been leading to this point where the consequences of the disobedience of the people of Israel occur in the siege of Jerusalem by Babylon. This is a difficult portion of scripture to read but the people valued these difficult words enough to preserve them as a continual witness to warn against the loss of the covenantal dimension of the relationship between the people of God and the God of Israel. Ezekiel will be an influence on several later prophets as well as the New Testament, particularly Revelation. As we continue in this book the focus shifts from Judah to the nations. The LORD the God of Israel is not merely the God of Israel. Ezekiel like many prophets will have messages for many other nations and as the next eight chapters of Ezekiel will concern Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, and Egypt. Now that the forces of Babylon are on the march these nations which conspired with Judah will not be exempt from the judgment of King Nebuchadrezzar (and by extension the LORD).

[1] This is the Hebrew masal which can be translated parable, proverb, allegory or metaphor.

[2] Presuming the initial dating of the thirtieth year is Ezekiel’s thirtieth year, see chapter one.

[3] Literally son of man, as throughout the book. This is God’s characteristic address to the prophet Ezekiel.

[4] Elsewhere in the bible this is a sign of shame (Micah 3:7) and perhaps communal mourning, but this passage assumes that this is also a common practice symbolizing bereavement.

Ezekiel 23 Oholah and Oholibah the Metaphor of Unfaithfulness Revisited

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Ezekiel 23: 1-4 Jerusalem and Samaria as Unfaithful Women

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; 3 they played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Ezekiel returns to the metaphor of Samaria and Jerusalem as women utilized in chapter sixteen, but the imagery serves a different purpose than in the earlier chapter. In chapter sixteen the metaphor of infidelity was used primarily about the practice of worshipping other gods but now the issue is the alliances with other nations. The names Oholah and Oholibah both derive from the Hebrew ‘ohel which means tent. Oholah means her own tent and may be an allusion to the shrines in Bethel and other places where the Samaria worshipped after the split. Oholibah means my tent is in her and reflects the presence of the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. This metaphorical narration of the story of Samaria and Jerusalem continues Ezekiel’s earlier narration (chapter 20) of Israel’s rebellion beginning in Egypt, now portrayed as women who are sexually active in a time prior to their marriage to the LORD. Both Samaria and Jerusalem are claimed by the LORD, and they bear children for their husband before both prove to be unfaithful women.

Ezekiel 23: 5-10 The Judgment of Oholah (Samaria)

5 Oholah played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen. 7 She bestowed her favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whorings that she had practiced since Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. 10 These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.

Ezekiel’s portrayal of Oholah and Oholibah are shocking because of their departure from the expected role of women at this time. Oholah abandons the security of her relationship with the LORD for the Assyrians, portrayed as handsome and powerful warriors and leaders. The metaphor here is about the practice of Samaria, in this case, forming military and trade alliances with the Assyrians and putting their trust in them instead of the LORD. These partnerships also likely involved the leaders of Samaria adopting practices and attitudes of the Assyrians. Israel was always intended to be an alternative to the ways that the nations were governed, but the narration of Israel’s history in 1 and 2 Kings illustrates that most of the kings leading Samaria adopted both the practices of the nations they allied themselves with and frequently their worship of other deities. Ezekiel does not concretely link the metaphor to any specific event, but the memory of Samaria’s conquest by Assyria was to be a warning for Jerusalem about how they were to respond to the temptation to engage with other nations in this manner. Cast as infidelity in the metaphor Oholah becomes a proverb (or byword) spoken among the other women about how not to live. Her unfaithfulness cost her not only her children and her position but also her life in the image.

Ezekiel 23: 11-35 The Judgment of Oholibah (Jerusalem)

11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her whorings, which were worse than those of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whorings further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers — a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whorings so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts.

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and warriors, all of them riding on horses. 24 They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances. 25 I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels. 27 So I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them, or remember Egypt any more. 28 For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust; 29 and they shall deal with you in hatred, and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whorings shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your whorings 30 have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations, and polluted yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord GOD:

You shall drink your sister’s cup, deep and wide; you shall be scorned and derided, it holds so much.

 33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria;

34 you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its sherds, and tear out your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.

35 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings.

Now the image turns to Jerusalem (Oholibah) who failed to head the proverbs spoken about Samaria (Oholah). Jerusalem desires the same warriors and leaders that her sister Samaria did in the metaphor but sees images of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and desires them. As in chapter sixteen, Jerusalem surpasses Samaria in her offensive practices and fails to heed the warning of the judgment of Samaria. Yet, when Oholibah (Jerusalem) summons the Babylonians and they come and defile her, and she recoils from them in disgust. Literally her nephesh[1] recoiled from than. She had invited the attentions of the Babylonians but something in the way in which they treated her evoked this disgust reaction. Elsewhere the imagery has been about two sisters with unfulfilled sexual desire who continually seek partners, but now there is something about the Babylonians which this sister finds repulsive.

When Oholibah turns away from the Babylonians she does not return to the LORD but instead turns to the Egyptians who were the sexual partners of her youth. The language to describe her Egyptian partners is graphic and shocking, but Ezekiel is intentionally using this imagery to shock. Yet, Oholibah has turned to the Assyrians, the Chaldeans/Babylonians, and the Egyptians. Everyone except the LORD who is the cuckolded husband in this metaphor. Oholibah has failed to attend to the previous experience of her sister Oholah when she was turned over to her previous partners.

As with Oholah, Oholibah is now turned over to her former lovers. Yet, for Oholibah the lovers she is handed over to are the ones she recoiled from in disgust. Pekod, Shoa, and Koa may refer to three Aramean tribes, but these words are similar to the Hebrew words for “perish,” “cry for help,” and “shriek.” (NIB VI: 1326) These warriors who were appealing in imagery are now terrifying as a threat. The punishments experienced by Oholah are now expanded in detail in the judgment of Oholibah. The imagery here includes facial mutilation (cutting off the nose and ears in the image) which was practiced by the nations in the region.

The metaphor of a cup of suffering or wrath is utilized in both Jeremiah 25: 15-29 and Habakkuk 2: 15-16. Now the cup that was formerly given to Samaria to consume is now handed on to Jerusalem with devastating consequences. It contains so much, but Jerusalem will drink it completely and gnaw at the shards of the cup looking for more. The disfigurement practiced by the Babylonians with facial mutilation is now matched by self-mutilation as the woman tears out her breasts.

The imagery of this chapter is similar to chapter sixteen, or Jeremiah 3: 15-16 or the beginning of Hosea. It was shocking then and remains shocking today. The image of marital infidelity is one of the most painful images in both the ancient world and our own. The image indicates by implication that God is the cuckolded husband reacting in anger to the unfaithfulness of their partner. This is the language of heartbreak, and the prophet stands between a wounded God and a wounding people. Unlike Jeremiah, in Ezekiel there is no romanticization of the past, Samaria and Jerusalem have always been unfaithful to God and in Ezekiel the penalty is harsher. In Jeremiah God is divorcing Israel, but here the handing over of Israel leads to mutilation and death. These are difficult and even offensive images but as mentioned above they are images that come out of the experience of heartbreak. I know this is not a section of scripture the most people will dwell on for very long because it is uncomfortable but perhaps for all its shocking imagery it demonstrates the impact of the behavior of the people on their God.

Ezekiel 23: 36-49 The Metaphor of Unfaithfulness Concluded

36 The LORD said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.

40 They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments; 41 you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil. 42 The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the arms of the women, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

43 Then I said, Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her. 44 For they have gone in to her, as one goes in to a whore. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women. 45 But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed; because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

46 For thus says the Lord GOD: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder. 47 The assembly shall stone them and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. 48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Any English translation of this text is the translator’s best efforts at a text that Moshe Greenberg called, “incoherent, odd, and disconcerting.” (NIB VI: 1329) Yet, the overall direction of many of the images is clear as it concludes the metaphor of unfaithfulness. The actions of Oholah and Oholibah have turned the world upside down. The children born to the LORD were sacrificed to other ‘idols,’ the sanctuary is defiled, and the sabbath profaned. The imagery of chapters sixteen and twenty merge with the metaphor here and the idolatry of worshipping other gods now seems merged with the political unfaithfulness with other nations. Yet, for all their actions both Oholah and Oholibah seem to be unsatiable. The LORD hoped they would wear themselves out and change their ways but no change occurred. Jerusalem and Samaria have become like the woman dressed as a prostitute in Proverbs 7: 10-27, but with the added implication that the incense and oil mentioned are likely the incense designated for use in the temple and the oil designated for the temple offerings. Holy things have been used for unholy purposes. Women set aside for the LORD prostitute themselves to every nation. The wounded party is God. The children offered to these idols are God’s children, the sanctuary defiled is God’s sanctuary, the abominable things are done in God’s house, God’s holy things are misused. Ultimately the people have done this to God. God has waited and desired for both sisters to change but now in this disconcerting metaphor they finally bear the penalty, long delayed, for their actions.

[1] Nephesh is the Hebrew word often translated in English as ‘soul’ but the Hebrew idea of nephesh is the essence of life, not the Greek idea of a soul which is separate from the body.

Ezekiel 22 A Bloody City, Impure Ore, and No One to Stand in the Breach

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Interior of the Silver Smelter of Corralitos By Philippe Rondé – Le Tour du Monde, volume 4 [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82418139

Ezekiel 22: 1-21 The Bloody City

The word of the LORD came to me: 2 You, mortal, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to it all its abominable deeds. 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: A city! Shedding blood within itself; its time has come; making its idols, defiling itself. 4 You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made; you have brought your day near, the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a disgrace before the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

6 The princes of Israel in you, everyone according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the alien residing within you suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you. 8 You have despised my holy things, and profaned my sabbaths. 9 In you are those who slander to shed blood, those in you who eat upon the mountains, who commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you they uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women in their menstrual periods. 11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest, and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; and you have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD.

13 See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain you have made, and at the blood that has been shed within you. 14 Can your courage endure, or can your hands remain strong in the days when I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your filthiness out of you. 16 And I shall be profaned through you in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am the LORD.

The prophet Nahum in the 7th Century BCE issues oracles against the Assyrian capital Ninevah he declares that it is a city of bloodshed. Ninevah had been responsible for the conquering of Samaria and Nahum viewed their violent actions as meriting God’s judgement. “Ah, City of bloodshed, utterly deceitful, full of booty—no end to plunder” (Nahum 3:1) Although it is not certain that Ezekiel would have known these words from a prophet a couple of decades prior to his ministry, the content of this oracle reflects similar language, although now the bloody city is Jerusalem instead of Ninevah. Ezekiel is now called to judge the city which has transformed itself by its actions from the city of God to the bloody city.

The actions of bloodshed and idolatry have led the city to this space where they stand under God’s judgment. The punishment long withheld is finally arriving and Jerusalem instead of occupying a privileged space of honor as Zion now occupies a space of mockery and dishonor before the nations. The society of Judah has unraveled. They have lost their grounding in the covenant and in this dangerous city the fundamental building block of society (the family) has broken down and the vulnerable are exploited.

Throughout the law it is clear that leaders in Judah have a responsibility to maintain justice among the citizens. Their position is one of responsibility and not primarily one of privilege. Ezekiel accuses the princes of Israel of practicing exploitation instead of justice. Family is treated with contempt, the vulnerable (aliens, orphans, and widows) are exploited, the holy things of God are profaned, dishonest words are used to spill blood, unholy actions and things are lifted up, the boundaries of decency in family and among neighbors is broken, profit is made upon the misfortune of others (by charging interest) and all of this points to the reality that the people has forgotten the LORD. The list of unrighteous actions is the opposite of the righteous man who can save his own life in Ezekiel 18:5-9 and both build upon the understanding of holiness expressed in Leviticus 18-19.

Ezekiel paints a bleak picture of the communal life of Jerusalem. When they can be referred to in a similar way to Ninevah (or Samaria and Sodom as in 16: 44-58) then they are a society that has lost its moorings. When the city of shalom (Jeru-shalom) has become the bloody city the world has turned upside down. Ezekiel’s language is evocative. He paints this blood red image of violence to demonstrate the brokenness of Jerusalem and the righteousness of God in calling for judgment. These words, which are preserved beyond the judgment may have enabled the children to look upon the actions of their parents, consider and not do likewise. (Ezekiel 18:14)

Ezekiel 22: 17-22 Israel is Dross

17 The word of the LORD came to me: 18 Mortal, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them, silver, bronze, tin, iron, and lead. In the smelter they have become dross. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into a smelter, to blow the fire upon them in order to melt them; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted within it. 22 As silver is melted in a smelter, so you shall be melted in it; and you shall know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath upon you.

Israel was to be a treasured possession, a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation (Exodus 19: 5-6). Just as the city of peace became the blood city, now the treasured possession has become dross. The imagery of the refinement of silver from the silver ore which contains multiple elements (copper, iron, lead and tin) becomes the metaphor for God’s action of pouring out anger to melt the elements to separate the dross from the precious metal. There is a resonance with the metaphor here and Egypt as the iron smelter which God delivered his people from (Deuteronomy 4:20) but a stronger resonance exists in Isaiah’s earlier description of Judah:

How the faithful city has become a whore! She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her—but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them. Isaiah 1: 21-23 (emphasis mine).

Yet, Ezekiel’s image may indicate that there is nothing precious left in Israel. They are completely dross. It is only God’s action that dross which has nothing precious can emerge from the smelter as silver. Any hope for Israel’s future lies in the same God whose blast of wrath is melting the people in their current state.

Ezekiel 22: 23-31 No One to Stand in the Breach

23 The word of the LORD came to me: 24 Mortal, say to it: You are a land that is not cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 Its princes within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows within it. 26 Its priests have done violence to my teaching and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Its officials within it are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 Its prophets have smeared whitewash on their behalf, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, “Thus says the Lord GOD,” when the LORD has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the alien without redress. 30 And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have returned their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.

This third section within the chapter continues to build upon previously used imagery and has echoes of the words of Jeremiah, Micah,[1] and especially Zephaniah. The image of princes as roaring lions was seen in chapter 19 and prophets are covering up the flaws in the society with whitewash as in chapter 13. Like many speakers these images are brought again to hearers to reinforce the injustice done by the rulers of the society.  For the first time in Ezekiel the priests are brought into the condemnation. The overall passage, as mentioned above, echoes the language of Zephaniah 3:

Ah, soiled, defiled, oppressing city! It has listened to no voice; it has accepted no correction. It has not trusted the LORD; it has not drawn near to its God. The officials within it are roaring lions; its judges are evening wolves that leave nothing until the morning. Its prophets are reckless, faithless persons; its priests have profaned what is sacred they have done violence to the law. Zephaniah 3: 1-4 (emphasis mine).

The echoes between prophets may originate in a tradition of preserving the words of the prophets and studying these words, but if we take seriously the claims that the prophets are proclaiming the word of the LORD, then they share a common source. Through multiple voices similar images and messages have attempted to break through the resistance of the people of Israel, but now the people stand at the precipice of judgment with no one to stand in the gap for them.

The narrative of the flood in the book of Genesis (Genesis 6-9) deals with God’s attempt to cleanse the land from the wickedness, corruption, and violence of humanity. Now this violence, wickedness and corruption are focused in Judah and the action of the LORD is to purify the land once again. The princes, officials, priest, and prophets have all practiced violence, corrupted the teaching of the law and profaned the holy things, shed blood for dishonest gain, and covered up the corruption in the society. The result is a society that was intended to provide justice to the poor, needy, and the alien are now exploiting those vulnerable members of society.

The LORD seeks someone who will stand in the breach before God on behalf of the land. Gary Anderson points to the way Moses filled this role for the people in both Exodus 32: 7-14 and Numbers 14: 11-20. (Anderson, 2008, p. 223) Moses after both the Golden Calf and the rebellion against Moses and Aaron stands between the people and God and calls upon God not to destroy the people, initially for the sake of the name of God and then later picking up on God’s declared identity in the aftermath of the first betrayal. There is no Moses to stand in the breach for the people, to both defend the people from the wrath of the LORD, but also to reorient the people on the way of the law.

In a time where there is no Moses to stand in the breach and the princes, prophets, officials, and priests have all betrayed the ways of God the society is disordered. There is no reform that will reorient this broken society, only the wrath of God which washes over and consumes can purify the dross into silver. When Jerusalem is bloodier than Ninevah then perhaps only the destruction of the city can bring about the healing of the land. There is no hope in Ezekiel which does not pass through the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, the Davidic line of kings, and the loss of the land.  There are only two more chapters of Ezekiel prior to the exile of the majority of the people, and throughout the book there has been no expectation that the people would hear and respond to the words of the prophet. Ezekiel does provide a lens for the people to look backward through in the aftermath of exile once they realize that there has been a prophet among them.

[1] Jeremiah 5: 1-5, 31; Micah 3:11.

Review of At Swim Two Birds by Flann O’Brien

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Time Magazine Top 100 Novels

Book 9: At Swim Two Birds by Flann O’Brien (1938)

This is a series of reflections reading through Time Magazine’s top 100 novels as selected by Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo published since 1923 (when Time magazine was founded). For me this is an attempt to broaden my exposure to authors I may not encounter otherwise, especially as a person who was not a liberal arts major in college. Time’s list is alphabetical, so I decided to read through in a random order, and I plan to write a short reflection on each novel.

At Swim Two Birds was more a book to be read as a concept than as a story for me. There is a story being written within the story and we are introduced to the three characters in the story being composed: Pooka MacPhellimey a devil, John Furriskey a character who emerges from the writing of the fictional writer Dermot Trellis, and adaptations of Irish legends mainly Finn Mac Cool and Mad King Sweeney. Yet, there are significant breaks where the writer introduces the writer of this story as a college student living with his bachelor uncle, rarely attending class, drinking stout with his buddies, and laying in bed. There is a strange, disjointed nature to the novel because of this back and forth between observation of the writer/narrator reality, for example pausing to describe the color of a persons suit or attitude, and the occasional glimpses into the story of the characters. As a concept I can appreciate the attempt to transcend the boundaries of the literary genre and the walls between the artist and the art. As a story I found the narrator/writer hard to care about and I can acknowledge that has a lot to do with my own culture. I thought the poetry of Mad King Sweeney was the best part of the work, but the characters themselves felt cardboard and not well developed and the plot never held my interest.

I struggled to make it through this relatively short novel because neither the plot nor characters were compelling to me. When the book was first published it had a few very positive reviews by famous authors but generally received cool reviews in publications and sold less than 240 copies before the unsold copies were incinerated during the bombing raids of England in 1940. This is a book that the readers who loved the work kept pushing it into republication and recommending it, but it also seems to be something that many readers fail to appreciate. I obviously am in the later group as a reader. I can appreciate the concept but as a story it fails for me.

Every book is not for every reader, and when a story fails for me, I often wonder what it is that makes me not the best reader of the book, particularly a book other intelligent readers have enjoyed. As I mentioned above, the character of the writer/narrator as a lazy individual who appears to do the minimum (although he achieves good test scores at the end) rubs hard against the Texas rugged individualism, Protestant work ethic, and persistent American optimism of a child of the 1970s. There is a vast cultural gap between the depressed economy of the 1930s and the lack of opportunity of that time and the time of my youth and I know that shapes a person. I appreciate that in At Swim Two Birds the author can probably use the narrator to be self-deprecating without lapsing completely into cynicism or nihilism.