Ezekiel (Understanding the Bible Commentary | UBC)
Overview
The modern reader encounters unfamiliar territory in Ezekiel, with its otherworldly visions and the peculiar actions of its author. Ezekiel presents a message of doom and judgment followed by an equally powerful message of hope and restoration. Through helpful literary analysis and theological reflection, Tuell assists the reader in seeing the richness and ongoing relevance of this book for today.
Top Highlights
“The second part of the book, chapters 34–48, is concerned with visions and oracles of hope and possibility.” (Page 4)
“Ezekiel communicates the grand good news that God has come to be with God’s people in exile. However, the flip side of that affirmation is God’s abandonment of Jerusalem. We can cut ourselves off from God’s presence, Ezekiel states. Through injustice, idolatry, and faithlessness, we can render our holy places desolate, and turn our hearts to stone. Yet God can still act, to transform and renew. The book of Ezekiel, which begins with the awesome presence of God made manifest to a priest in exile, concludes with a vision of the ideal city of God, given a new name: ‘the Lord is there’ (48:35). The promise of this book, then, is that God desires to be in fellowship with God’s people. Ultimately, come what will, God is with us.” (Page 6)
“Thus is absolute freedom joined to perfect knowledge and perception, omnipresence to omniscience. Already, we can sense where this vision is taking us.” (Page 11)
“Broadly speaking, the book of Ezekiel falls into two major parts. The first and longest section, chapters 1–33, presents visions and oracles of judgment concerning Jerusalem’s fall, which is described to Ezekiel by a fugitive from the city in 33:21.” (Page 4)
“In the priestly texts of the Torah, ‘the glory of the Lord’ is the means of God’s presence in sacred spaces” (Page 11)
Steven Tuell is the James A. Kelso Associate Professor of Old Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He has authored a study of Ezekiel 40–48 in the Harvard Semitic Monographs series, as well as a commentary on 1 and 2 Chronicles in the Interpretation series. With John Strong, he coedited Constituting the Community: Studies on the Polity of Ancient Israel in Honor of S. Dean McBride, Jr.