Ezekiel 1–19 (Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 28 | WBC)
Overview
Delve deep into the language, structure, and background of the mysterious prophecies of Ezekiel. Allen’s mastery of Hebrew provides a fresh translation and is accompanied by notes interpreting the significance of textual variants. Focusing on the meaning of the text, Allen illuminates the historical setting of the book and explains the role of the prophet with clarity and precision.
The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.
Top Highlights
“Ultimately what needed to be removed lay not outside them, as in v 18, but inside, and only God could do that. The heart stands for the will: Israel’s hearts had been hard and wanton (2:4; 3:7; 6:9). ‘Stone hearts’ refer to that which is unconscious, immobile, and so unresponsive to God (cf. Exod 15:16; 1 Sam 25:37). By contrast, ‘hearts of flesh’ relate to that which is tender, yielding, and responsive. What was needed was a transformation wrought by God, replacing unresponsiveness with a new compliance to the will of God.” (Page 165)
“Here the creatures are represented as supernatural, in view of v 7b. As supernatural beings, they are mediators of Yahweh’s powerful being. Yet, as his supernatural servants, they also represent the concerted best that each of his orders of animate creation can separately contribute to his glory (cf. Pss 103:20–22; 148).” (Page 30)
“But the specification of Sodom’s sins highlights the city’s arrogance or pride in materialistic comfort and excess, coupled with a lack of concern for the poor.” (Page 244)
“The intended readers or hearers were living in the closing years of the exile” (Page xxvi)
“In chaps. 10–11 four stages of Yahweh’s departure are depicted, from the holy of holies, where he was enthroned above the ark, to the threshold of the temple (10:4; cf. 9:3), to the mobile conveyance of the cherubim (10:18), then over to the east gateway of the temple court (10:19), and finally beyond the city to the Mount of Olives (11:23).” (Page 167)
Leslie C. Allen is professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, and was lecturer in Hebrew, Aramaic and Judaism at London Bible College. He is the author of The New International Commentary on the Old Testament: The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah, A Liturgy of Grief: A Pastoral Commentary on Lamentations, and Old Testament Library: Jeremiah.
Reviews
3 ratings
Matthew
3/2/2024
Paulo Rabello
10/9/2020
Morris Yates
1/17/2015
