The Makers and Teachers of Judaism / From the Fall of Jerusalem to the Death of Herod the Great

by Charles Foster Kent

Section XCII. EZEKIEL'S MESSAGE TO HIS SCATTERED COUNTRYMEN

[Sidenote: Ezek. 37:1-6] The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me by the spirit and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass by them round about; and, behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord Jehovah, thou knowest. Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah. 'Thus saith Jehovah to these bones: "Behold I am about to put breath into you, that ye may live. And I will put sinews on you, and will clothe you with flesh, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, that ye may live; and know that I am Jehovah."'

[Sidenote: Ezek. 37:7-10] So I prophesied as he commanded me: and as I prophesied, there was an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh had clothed them, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus saith Jehovah: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."' So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 37:11-14] Then he said to me, O man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are completely ruined.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, 'Thus saith Jehovah: "Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, and raised you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my spirit in you, that ye may live, and I will restore you to your own land: that ye may know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it and performed it," is the oracle of Jehovah.'

[Sidenote: Ezek. 37:15-23] This word also came to me from Jehovah: Do thou, O man, take a stick, and write upon it, JUDAH AND THE ISRAELITES ASSOCIATED WITH HIM: then take another stick, and write upon it, JOSEPH, AND ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL ASSOCIATED WITH HIM. Then join them together, so that they may become one stick in thy hand. And when the children of thy people shall say to thee, 'Wilt thou not show us what this means?' say to them, 'Thus saith Jehovah: "Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with him; and I will unite them with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be united in my hand."' And let the sticks on which thou writest be in thy hand before their eyes. And say to them, 'Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: "Behold, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations, whither they are gone, and gather them from all sides, and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and there shall be one king over them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any longer; nor shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all their apostasies wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be my people, and I will be their God."'

[Sidenote: Ezek. 37:24-28] '"And my servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in mine ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to my servant Jacob, wherein their fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they and their sons, forever. And David my servant shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish them, and multiply them, and set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. My dwelling place also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah who sanctifieth Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore."'

[Sidenote: Ezek. 40:1-4] In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was taken, on that very day, the hand of Jehovah was laid upon me, and he brought me in an inspired vision to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a city-like building toward the south. Thither he brought me, and there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a flaxen line and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and give heed to all that I shall show thee; for, in order that thou shouldst be shown it wert thou brought hither; declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 40:5] There was a wall encircling a temple, and in the man's hand a measuring reed six cubits long, each cubit being equal to about twenty-one inches. And he measured the thickness of the building one reed (about ten and one-half feet); and the height one reed.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 40:6-12] Then he came to the east gateway and went up its steps and measured the threshold of the gate one reed wide. And each guard-room was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the guard-rooms were spaces of five cubits; and the threshold of the gate at the vestibule of the gate on the inner side was one reed. Then he measured the vestibule of the gate, eight cubits, and its jambs, two cubits; and the vestibule of the gate was on the inner side. And the guard-rooms of the east gate were three on each side; and all three were of the same dimensions; and the posts were on both sides. And he measured the breadth of the entrance to the gateway, ten cubits; and the width of the gate, thirteen cubits; and there was a sill one cubit wide, before the guard-rooms on each side; and the guard-rooms, six cubits on both sides.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 40:13, 15] And he measured the gate from the outer wall of the one guard-room to the outer wall of the other, twenty-five cubits wide [about forty-four feet]; door opposite door. And from the front of the gateway at the entrance to the front of the inner vestibule of the gate were fifty cubits.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 40:17, 19] Then he brought me to the outer court, and there were chambers and a pavement made round about the court; thirty chambers were upon the pavement. And he measured its breadth from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court without, one hundred cubits on the east and on the north.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 40:20, 21b, 24b] And the north gateway of the outer court, he measured its length and breadth. And its measurements were the same as those of the east gateway. The dimensions of the gateway on the south were also the same as the others.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 40:44-47] He brought me outside the gate and into the inner court, and there were two chambers on the inner court, one by the north gate, facing the south, and the other by the south gate, facing the north. And he said to me, This chamber which faces the south is for the priests who have charge of the temple; and the chamber which faces the north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; they are the sons of Zadok, those of the sons of Levi who may be near to Jehovah to serve him. And he measured the court, a hundred cubits wide, and a hundred cubits broad—a perfect square. The altar was in front of the temple.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 41:1,2] Then he brought me into the hall of the temple and measured the jambs, six cubits on each side. And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side; and he measured its length, forty cubits; and its width, twenty cubits.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 41:3, 4] Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of its entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the side-walls of the entrance, seven cubits on each side. And he measured its length, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, before the hall of the temple. And he said to me, This is the most holy place.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 41:5-8a] Then he measured the thickness of the wall of the temple, six cubits; and the width of the side-chambers, four cubits, round about the temple on every side. And the side-chambers were in three stories, one above another, and thirty in each story; and there were abatements all around the walls of the temple that the side-chambers might be fastened to them and not to the walls of the temple. And the side-chambers became wider as they went up higher and higher, for the temple grew narrower higher up; and there was an ascent from the lowest story to the highest through the middle story. And I saw also that the temple had a raised platform round about.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 43:1-5] Then he brought me to the east gate. And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the east; and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with his glory. And the vision which I saw was like that which I saw when he came to destroy the city; and the visions were like that which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. Then the glory of Jehovah came into the temple through the east gate. And the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the temple.

[Sidenote: Ezek. 43:6-9] Then I heard One speaking to me from the temple, as he stood by me. And he said to me, O man, this is the place of my throne, and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites forever. And the house of Israel, they and their kings, shall no more defile my holy name with their idolatry and with the corpses of their kings by placing their thresholds by my threshold, and their door-posts by my door-post, with only a wall between me and them, thus defiling my holy name by the abominations which they have committed; therefore I have destroyed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their idolatry, and the corpses of their kings far from me, that I may dwell in the midst of them forever.

[Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 44:9-14] Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, 'No foreigner, consecrated neither in heart nor flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the Israelites, shall enter my sanctuary. But those Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, shall bear their guilt. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and ministering in the temple; they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them and minister to them. Since they were wont to minister to them before their idols and were a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore I have taken a solemn oath against them,' is the oracle of the Lord Jehovah, 'and they shall bear their guilt. And they shall not approach me to act as priests to me, so as to come near any of my sacred things, or to those which are most sacred; but they shall bear their shame and the punishment for the abominations which they have committed; I will make them responsible for the care of the temple, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.

[Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 44:15-16] But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who took charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me fat and blood,' is the oracle of the Lord Jehovah. 'They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach near to my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.

[Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 44:23-24] And they shall teach my people the difference between the sacred and the common, and instruct them how to discern between the clean and the unclean. And in a controversy they shall act as judges, judging it according to my ordinances. And they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall maintain the sanctity of my sabbaths.'

[Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 45:2-5] When ye allot the land as inheritance, ye shall offer as a special gift to Jehovah, a sacred portion of the land, five thousand cubits long, and twenty thousand cubits wide; it shall be sacred throughout its entire extent. And out of this area shalt thou measure off a space twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, and on it shall the most holy sanctuary stand. It is a holy portion of the land; it shall belong to the priests who are the ministers in the sanctuary, who draw near to minister to Jehovah; and it shall be a place for their houses, and an open space for the sanctuary. Out of this a square of five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with an open space fifty cubits wide around it. And a space twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the temple; it shall be their possession for cities in which to dwell.

[Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 45:6-8] And as the possession of the city, ye shall assign a space five thousand cubits wide, and twenty-five thousand long, beside the sacred reservation; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel. And the prince shall have the space on both sides of the sacred reservation and the possession of the city, on the west and on the east, and of the same length as one of the portions of the tribes, from the west border to the east border of the land. It shall be his possession in Israel; and the princes of Israel shall no more oppress my people, but shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

I. The Home of the Exiles in Babylon. From the references in the contemporary writers it is possible to gain a reasonably definite idea regarding the environment of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Ezekiel describes the site as "a land of traffic, a city of merchants, a fruitful soil, and beside many waters," where the colony like a willow was transplanted [17:5]. The Kabaru Canal (the River Chebar of Ezekiel) ran southeast from Babylon to Nippur through a rich alluvial plain, intersected by numerous canals. Beside it lived a dense agricultural population. On the tells or artificial mounds made by the ruins of earlier Babylonian cities were built the peasant villages. Ezekiel speaks of preaching to the Jewish colony of Tel-Abib (Storm-hill), and the lists of those who later returned to Judah contain references to those who came from Tel-Melah (Salt-hill) and Tel-Harsha (Forest-hill).

II. Their Condition and Occupations. It is probable that these mounds were not far from each other and that the adjacent fields were cultivated by the Jewish colonists. Thus they were enabled, under even more favorable conditions than in Judah, to continue in their old occupations and to build houses and rear families as Jeremiah had advised (Jer. 29; Section LXXXVII:35). In Babylonia, as at Elephantine, so long as they paid the imperial tax and refrained from open violence they were probably allowed to rule themselves in accordance with their own laws. The elders of the different families directed the affairs of the community and acted as judges, except in the case of capital offences which were punished in the name of Nebuchadrezzar (Jer. 29 22). Thus for a long time the exiles constituted a little Judah within the heart of the Babylonian empire, maintaining their racial integrity even more completely than the Jews resident in Egypt.

Babylonia was the scene of an intense commercial activity. The opportunities and allurements of the far-reaching traffic which passed up and down the great rivers and across the neighboring deserts were eventually too strong for the Jews to resist. Hence in Babylonia, as in Egypt, they gradually abandoned their inherited agricultural habits and were transformed into a nation of traders. In the recently discovered records of the transactions of the famous Babylonian banking house which flourished during the earlier part of the Persian period, under the direction of succeeding generations of the Murashu family, are found many familiar Jewish names. These indicate that within a century after the fall of Jerusalem many sons of the exiles had already won a prominent place in the commercial life of that great metropolis.

III. Their Religious Life. With this transformation in their occupation came a great temptation to forget their race and to lose sight of its ideals. The temptation was all the greater because their capital city and temple were in ruins and the belief was widely held that Jehovah had forsaken his land and people and retired to his "mount in the uttermost parts of the north" (Isa. 14:13 Ezek. 1:4). Their actual experiences had proved so fundamentally different from their hopes that there was undoubtedly in the minds of many a dread doubt as to whether Jehovah was able to fulfil his promises. False prophets were also present to mislead the people (Jer. 39:21-23 Ezek. 13:1-7 14:8-10). There is also no indication that the Jews of Babylon ever attempted to build a temple to Jehovah in the land of their captivity. Hence there were no ancient festivals and public and private sacrifices and impressive ceremonials to kindle their religious feelings and to keep alive their national faith. Instead, the imposing religion of the Babylonians, with its rich temples, its many festivals, its prosperous and powerful priesthood, and its elaborate ritual must have profoundly impressed them and led them to draw unfavorable comparisons between it and the simple services of their pre-exilic temple. Nevertheless, in spite of these temptations, there were many who proved themselves loyal to Jehovah. Prayer and fasting and sabbath observance took the place of sacrificial rites. A strong emphasis is laid by Ezekiel on the sabbath. [Sidenote A: Ezekiel 20:12-31; Ezekiel 22:26; Ezekiel 23:38] From this time on it became one of the most important and characteristic institutions of Judaism. Under the influence of the new situation it lost much of its original, philanthropic, and social character and became instead a ceremonial institution. In faithfully observing it the exiles felt that even in captivity they were paying homage to their divine King. The more it took the place of the ancient feasts and sacrifices, the more they forgot that the sabbath was God's gift to toiling man rather than man's gift to God. From the Babylonian exile, also, probably dates that custom of assembling on the sabbath to read the ancient scriptures which represents the genesis of the later synagogue and its service.

IV. The Prophecies of Ezekiel. The priest-prophet Ezekiel was the interpreter, pastor, and guide of the Babylonian exiles. He met their problems and proposed the solutions which became the foundation principles of later Judaism. His prophecies fall naturally into four distinct groups: (1) Chapters 1 to 24, which recount his call and deal with the issues at stake in the different Judean communities in the critical years between the first and second captivities. They represent the prophet's work between the years 592 and 586 B.C. (2) Chapters 25 to 32, include seven oracles regarding Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, and Egypt, the nations which had taken part in the destruction of Jerusalem or else, like Egypt, had lured Judah to its ruin. The complete destruction of these foes is predicted, and chapter 32 concludes with a weird picture of their fate, condemned by Jehovah to dwell in Sheol, the abode of the shades. (3) Chapters 33 to 39 contain messages of comfort and promise to Ezekiel's fellow-exiles in Babylonia and in the distant lands of the dispersion. They are dated between the years 586 and 570 B.C. (4) Chapters 40 to 48 present Ezekiel's plan for the restored temple and service and for the redistribution of the territory of Canaan, and his belief that Judah's fertility would be miraculously increased. This plan is definitely dated in the year 572 B.C., two years before the prophet's death.

V. The Resurrection of the Dead Nation. Ezekiel dealt with the problems of his fellow-exiles concretely and from a point of view which they could readily understand. He fully realized that if the faith of the people was to be saved in this crisis a definite hope, expressed in objective imagery, must be set before them. With the same inspired insight that had prompted Jeremiah to purchase his family estate in the hour of Jerusalem's downfall, Ezekiel saw that Jehovah would yet restore his people, if they would but respond to the demands of this crisis. His message was, therefore, one of hope and promise. In the memorable chapter in which he pictures a valley filled with dry bones, he aimed to inspire their faith by declaring that Jehovah was not only able but would surely gather together the dismembered parts of the nation and impart to it new life and activity. The prophet was clearly speaking of national rather than of individual resurrection. Like Jeremiah, he anticipated that the tribes of the north and south would again be united, as in the days of David, and that over them a scion of the Davidic house would rule as Jehovah's representative. He also assured them that Jehovah would come again to dwell in the midst of his purified and restored people.

VI. The Divine Shepherd. In the thirty-fourth chapter Ezekiel deals with the same theme under a different figure. First he traces the cause of the exile to the inefficiency and greed and oppression of the earlier shepherds, the rulers like Jehoiakim, who had scattered rather than gathered and led the people intrusted to them. Now Jehovah himself, the great Shepherd of the People, will arise and gather his flock, and lead them back to their home and give them a rich pasture. Over them he will appoint a descendant of David, but this prince shall be shorn of his ancient kingly power.

Ezekiel also presents in his characteristic, symbolic form the promise that Jehovah will now fulfil the popular hopes and destroy the wicked foes who have preyed upon his people, and thus vindicate his divine rulership of the world. In one passage Judah's worst foes, the Edomites, represent aggressive heathendom. Again, in a still more impressive picture, suggested by an experience in his own childhood when the dread Scythians swept down from the north, he portrays the advance of the mysterious foes from the distant north under the leadership of Gog (38, 39). When they are already in the land of Palestine, the prophet declares, Jehovah will terrify them with an earthquake, so that in panic they shall slay each other, as did the Midianites in the days of Gideon, until they shall all fall victims of Jehovah's judgment. Ezekiel thus revived in the changed conditions of the exile that popular conception of the day of Jehovah which the earlier prophets had refused to countenance. It was the prophet's graphic way of declaring that Jehovah would prepare the way for the return of his people, if they would but respond when the opportune moment should arrive. Later Judaism, however, and especially the apocalyptic writers, interpreted literally and developed still further this picture of Jehovah's great judgment day until it became a prominent teaching of later Jewish and Christian thought.

Similarly Ezekiel declared that the barren lands of Judah would be miraculously transformed and rendered capable of supporting the great numbers of the exiles who should return. In this respect Ezekiel became the father of the later priestly school to which belongs the author of the book of Chronicles, in whose thought the events of Israel's history came to pass, not through man's earnest effort and in accordance with the established laws of the universe, but through special divine interposition. It is difficult to determine whether Ezekiel himself was simply endeavoring to state dramatically that Jehovah would fully anticipate the needs of his people, or whether he did actually anticipate a series of prodigious miracles.

VII. Ezekiel's Plan of the Restored Temple. Ezekiel, being a true prophet, fully realized that the fundamental question regarding the future of his race was not whether they would be restored to their home but whether or not they would guard against the mistakes and sins of the past and live in accord with Jehovah's just demands. The solution of this question which he proposes reveals his priestly training. With infinite pains and detail he develops the plan of a restored temple and ritual. The details were doubtless in part suggested by his remembrance of the temple at Jerusalem and in part taken from the great temples of Babylon. By means of this elaborate picture he declared his firm conviction that his race would surely be restored. His chief purpose, however, was to impress upon the minds of his people the transcendent holiness of Jehovah and the necessity that he be worshipped by a holy people. The entire plan of the temple, of the ritual, and even of the allotment of the territory of Canaan was intended to enforce this idea. His plan, if adopted, was calculated to deliver the people from the temptations and mistakes of the past. With this end in view Jehovah's sacred abode was guarded with massive double walls and huge gateways. Only the priests were allowed to enter the inner court, and a sharp distinction was made between the priests who were the descendants of Zadok and the Levites whose fathers had ministered at the many sanctuaries scattered throughout the land of Israel. The territory immediately adjacent to the temple was assigned to the priests and Levites, and its sanctity was further guarded on the east and west by the domains of the prince. His chief function was, not to rule, as had the selfish and inefficient tyrants who had preceded him, but to provide the animals and the material requisite for the temple service. The territory on the north and the south of the temple was assigned to the different tribes of Israel.

No political or social problems clouded the prophet's vision. The entire energies of priest, Levite, prince, and people were to be devoted to the worship of the Holy One, whose restored and glorified sanctuary stood in their midst. Thus it was that Ezekiel reversed the ideals of the pre-exilic Hebrew state and presented that programme which with many modifications was adopted in principle at least by the post-exilic Judean community. In place of the monarchy appeared the hierarchy; instead of the king the high priest became both the religious and the civil head of the nation. Soon the Davidic royal line disappeared entirely, and the interests of the people centred more and more about the temple and its ritual. Although Ezekiel's vision was not and could not be fully realized, except by a series of miracles, this devoted priest-prophet of the exile was in a large sense the father of Judaism.