The Hope Oracle Formula

Ezekiel 17:22-24 ²² Thus says the Lord GOD: "I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out; I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain; ²³ on the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar; and under it will dwell all kinds of beasts; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. ²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it." (RSV)

Ezekiel 34:11-22 ¹¹ "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice. ¹⁷ "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, rams and he-goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? ²⁰ "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, ²² I will save my flock, they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. (RSV)

Ezekiel 34:23-31 ²³ And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. ²⁵ "I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷ And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them; they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. ²⁹ And I will provide for them prosperous plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. ³⁰ And they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. ³¹ And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD." (RSV)

The prophecy of Ezekiel begins primarily with sign acts and oracles of doom against Judah and Jerusalem. As time went on, the proclamations of Ezekiel progressed towards oracles of hope and restoration for Israel. Such an example is evident with his parable of a shepherd in Chapter 34 where God assures the people of two manners of salvific shepherds. Within each of these two prophecies, these oracles of hope that will provide a shepherd similarly follow a certain formula which is not solely present in this foreseeing of the shepherds. It is also seen in a previous oracle of hope in Chapter 17 where God ensures the people of restoration.

In this promise of God (Ez 17) to be an eagle that enables Israel to become a majestic cedar, the formula for an oracle of hope is more evident in these few verses. As a result of a similar format between the prophecies of the shepherds and the prophecy of the eagle, the question may be raised about the possibility that Ezekiel proclaimed these visions of the future with the aid of a common formula.[1] To answer this question, other questions must be clarified first. With any analysis of a prophet, criticism of the text must be a principal factor especially when the comparative verses are so distant. The deeper that the understanding of its history and its editorial history is, then the more the analysis can either illuminate the characteristics of this formula or the more it could divide the verses.

Ezekiel began his prophetic career in the midst of a momentous time of transition for the people of Judah. It occurred against a tumultuous background of the last days of Judah as an independent state. In 605 BC, Babylonians took power over Judah which prompted King Jehoiakim to scheme for ways to regain independence.[2] In an attempt to seize an opportunity, King Jehoiakim revolted against Babylon which led to the sack of Jerusalem in around 598 BC. As a result of this failed attempt at independence, the king and other elites of Judah including Ezekiel, who was a Judean priest, were exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadrezzar II (2 Kgs 24: 14–16).[3] As the ruler of Judah was exiled, King Nebuchadrezzar II appointed Zedekiah, who is the brother of King Jehoiakim, as regent-king.[4] He remained loyal for a short time before he started another rebellion. This time, the Babylonians siege lasted from 589 to 586 BC.[5] They conquered all of the cities of Judah before they finally destroyed Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25; Jer 37-45, 52)

Even though Ezekiel was sent into exile with the other elites in around 598 BC, he did not begin his prophetic ministry until 593 BC (Ez 1:2).[6] As he began his prophecy in Babylon presumably amongst the 8,000 other captives, the largest part of his ministry was done within the years of 593 and 586 BC in consultation with the content and the series of dates that headed many of his oracles.[7] With a discord with King Zedekiah on the idea to attempt to overthrow the Babylonian control of Judah, Ezekiel labored against the political ambitions of the ruling class in Jerusalem to put forth a strong model of a community of Israel as a faithful people centered on God in their religious observances and its obedience to Yahweh, regardless if they are politically independent or not.[8] Even when they ignored his proposal, which resulted in the destruction of Judah, Ezekiel emphasized that Israel still had a future. This future was under the control of God and was designed to ensure that the sins of the past could never be repeated.[9] He proclaimed this hope until the end of his prophecy.

In any textual review of scripture, there will always be inconsistencies, questions and difficulties. The challenging part about the prophetic book of Ezekiel to many text critics is its use of difficult Hebrew.[10] In these scrolls, there are many hapax legomena terms that are found nowhere in the Hebrew Bible which 130 of these terms were counted in the text.[11] Also, the most unusual aspect of the book is the consistent use of “I”; Yahweh himself speaks throughout. In choosing this method, the prophet stresses the overwhelming power of the divine word.[12] The book is marked however by certain formulas and expressions unique among the prophetic texts such as “so that you shall know that I am the Lord” (Ez 17:24, 34:27,30) and “I the Lord have spoken” (Ez 17:24). These and other expressions combine with the first person narrative develop the whole text a coalesced style. They also utilize extensive allegories and imagery to introduce oracles, an aid rarely found elsewhere. By all of these recognitions, the argument has been fortified that the book maintains a definable style ascribed much more certainly to the objectives and personality of Ezekiel than to a school of editors. Even though the editors are present and important to the text, they do not dominate the text.

The editorial influence on the text is not universally shared amongst scholars. Some argue that his work was heavily edited like G. Holscher, V. Herntrich, H.H. Rowley, and G.A. Cooke to name a few. G. Holscher once stated that only 144 of the 1,273 verses in the book are attributed to Ezekiel himself.[13] On the other hand, there are scholars that take the opposite view like R. Smend and H. Ewald.

R. Smend once wrote on the Ezekiel corpus stating that “the whole book is … the logical development of a series of ideas in accordance with a well thought out, and in quite schematic, plan. We cannot remove any part without disturbing the whole structure.”[14] Also, similar to the comment by R. Smend, H. Ewald declared in 1841 that the scroll, though not composed in a single stage, nevertheless owed its final form to Ezekiel himself. [15] In between these two sides lays W. Zimmerli. In his studies, he located the entire ministry of Ezekiel in Babylon and attributed the scroll to the prophet and his “school.” He concluded by stating that Ezekiel himself returned to and updated earlier oracles, and dated the composition of book largely to the exilic period.[16] As it stands today, many would agree that the question is not so much whether one should ascribe the prophecies to Ezekiel, but whether he was responsible for the arrangement of the book and if so to what extent.[17]

Overall, the prophecy of Ezekiel “shows strong indication of its original form, not only in the use of dramatic gestures and it stresses on both speaking and saying, but in the specific references within the oracles to individual moments of crisis that arose during the protracted siege of Jerusalem from 589-586 BC.”[18] This in turn has been literarily reworked into larger and more elaborate oracles that differ from those of earlier writing prophets by their “baroque extravagance” and introduction of legal and priestly concerns.[19] Also, this book has no pastiche (artistic composition made up of bits from various sources) of oracles; it is just a carefully structured literary work anchored in historical events. With these date notices of the oracles appearing in chronological order and the difficulty to distinguish a purpose or theology of the editors that is different from that of the core oracles or of the prose sections from the clearly poetic sections, the production of this text must be largely attributed to Ezekiel himself.

In these oracles of hope; in which Yahweh uses the imagery of an eagle/cedar (Ez. 17:22-24) and shepherd/sheep (34:11-31), a formula can be developed by the organization of the oracles into four criteria.[20] These four parts of the hope oracle formula are:

All of the four criteria are present in each of the oracles. Plus, the formula follows the criteria in the same order each time. In these two chapters, there are three formulas present in the text with two of them detected in the shepherd oracle. As a closer examination of the text will show, the formula is very evident and its criteria are highly noticeable.

A Ezekiel 17:22 ²² Thus says the Lord GOD: "I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out;

B Ezekiel 34:11 ¹¹ "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

C Ezekiel 34:23-24 ²³ And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.

In the first criterion of the hope oracle, Yahweh intervenes into humanity for restoration of his people. Although Ezekiel uses the imagery of an eagle and shepherd, the role that Yahweh takes on is easily understood in reference to the previous use of the image. For the eagle, he used earlier this image to describe foreign powers. The previous eagle was King Nebuchadrezzar who took a sprig (King Jehiachin) away in exile (Ez 17:3). For the reasoning of this image, the prophet shows that just as Yahweh used this great eagle to cause destruction to Israel, Yahweh will become the eagle for restoration and the new sprig from the top of the cedar represents a future king from the house of David (2 Sam 7:13).[21] For the shepherd, he used earlier this image to describe the rulers of Israel (Ez 34:2). Even though these leaders were to shepherd the people of Yahweh, they ended up leading them to despair.[22] Yahweh in turn will be their true shepherd and lead them into hope. The chief mode for Yahweh to shepherd his people is to set up an earthly shepherd from the line of David, who will gather and seek those that strayed and strengthen those that are weak. Overall, Ezekiel uses the imagery, which once was used to describe a negative situation, to reveal the restoration that Yahweh will initiate for his people.

A Ezekiel 17:22 I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain;

B Ezekiel 34:12-14 ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture;

Ezekiel 34:16 ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.

C Ezekiel 34:25-26 ²⁵ "I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.

In the second criterion of the hope oracle, Yahweh reveals his plan of restoration for the people. This plan usually demonstrates the opposite of the experience with its negative image. With the planting of the young sprig on a mountain (Mt. Zion), this is much different from the first eagle who took the sprig to the land of tradesmen (exile). Ezekiel reveals to the people the great plan, no longer in exile, but of a new king from the line of David in Jerusalem. In regards to other plans of Yahweh as a shepherd, Ezekiel shows the experiences of neglect that these people have gone through, but he shows that Yahweh has a plan to recuperate them. Yahweh will reverse all the evil that the bad shepherds have done to the people. They will recover from the neglect that is both physical and spiritual. Yahweh will restore the faith of the people and draw them closer. Even though knowing of the intervention of Yahweh will give hope, the hope increases as Ezekiel reveals the plan of Yahweh in which all the negative experiences of neglect and abuse will end.

A Ezekiel 17:23 ²³ on the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar; and under it will dwell all kinds of beasts; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.

B Ezekiel 34:14-15 there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.

C Ezekiel 34:27 ²⁷ And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land;

In the third criterion of the hope oracle, Yahweh unveils the results of his plan of action which is the true sign of hope. Not only will the negative situations from before cease, but there is more planned for them. For the eagle oracle, it is a promise to lead Israel into times of great prosperity. Not only will Yahweh lead them back to Jerusalem (mountain), but they will thrive under their promised king (sprig) and many will find comfort there. Just as birds of every sort came aboard the ark at the time of the flood and found comfort and protection, so it is true with the birds of every sort coming to this mighty cedar for comfort and protection.[23] In the end, the people will no longer fear the violence in their land, but they will find a dwelling place that is secure. In the other hope oracle, they see the future of Israel as also a place that they can live, prosper, and just relax without fear, which has not happened for a long time for those people. From the intervention of Yahweh to the ending of despair to a life of prosperity, the growth of hope ever increases after every criterion that is introduced by Ezekiel.

[*]¹⁷ "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, rams and he-goats.

[L] ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?

[*] ²⁰ "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

[L] ²¹ Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad,

[R] when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

[L] ²⁸ They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them;

[R] they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. ²⁹ And I will provide for them prosperous plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations.

[*] ³⁰ And they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. ³¹ And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD."

In the fourth and final criterion, Ezekiel announces the future recognition of Yahweh by his actions of raising and lowering. In this section, the verses can be separated by the use of symbols (*, L, R). The star (*) represents the recognition statements declared by Yahweh. These statements, such as the frequently used statements of “They shall know I” and “Behold”, are characterized by Yahweh demonstrating his power and demanding the attention of all people in the world not just Israel. Also, the letters (L and R) represents the action of Yahweh to either raise the weak (R) or lower the mighty (L). In the end, Ezekiel lets no one be confused at the source of the future restoration of Israel. The Yahweh that can take the abandoned, neglect, and reject people of Israel and make them a mighty and flourishing kingdom can also take the mighty and flourishing nations and people and cause the destruction of their work and values.[24] Overall, the prophet is not concerned with practical politics, but rather with inevitable consequences of disobedience.[25] The one who choose the greener grass on the other side of the fence will find, to his cost, that Yahweh has the power to make green grass brown and vice versa (Ez. 17:24).[26] Judgment on the one who has transgressed is inevitable.

In the overview of the book of Ezekiel, the compilation of the great works of this prophet can be separated into three sections. With a fuller understanding of the events in the time of his ministry, the first section of the book (Ez 1-24) can be understood as predominantly dealing with warnings of Ezekiel to his fellow Israelites in Babylon of the approaching fall of Jerusalem.[27] The second section of the book (Ez 25-32) is seen as primarily dealing with oracles against foreign nations. Finally, the third section of the book (Ez 33-48) is the time when the people begin to find out that Jerusalem was no more. As a result, Ezekiel began speaking of a wonderful future for his people.[28] In the first section where the common theme of the prophecy of Ezekiel is doom and negativity, an oracle of hope is found (Ez 17). In this surprising oracle of hope (Ez 17:22-24) in the midst of doom, Yahweh gives a promise of a future intervention where his people will be lead from despair to prosperity and security. In these small three verses of this hope oracle, a formula has been devised which has also been illuminated twice in the future oracle of hope with shepherds in the last section of the book (Ez 34: 11-22, 23-31).

By the inquiry into the scholarly study of the editorial history of the book of Ezekiel, there can be seen the strong possibility that either Ezekiel wrote these oracles at that present moment that were many years apart or Ezekiel or his “school” added these oracles into his writings after the fact. Either way due to the reliable scholarship, an argument has been made that the author of the oracles used a common formula as a guide. For the book of this prophet cannot be torn apart with attributes to different authors like the book of Isaiah for example. This scroll is one first-person report after another which “for an entire prophetic collection of the size and scope of this one should be made up of such memoirs is nevertheless quite surprising”.[29] Therefore, with scholarly support of the authorship of Ezekiel and the common literary techniques used throughout this book, a very strong case is made for use of a formula in the writing of these oracles of hope.

1 ²² Thus says the Lord GOD: "I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out;

2 I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain;

3 ²³ on the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar; and under it will dwell all kinds of beasts; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.

1 ¹¹ "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

2 ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture;

3 there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.

2 ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.

4 * ¹⁷ "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, rams and he-goats.

L ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?

* ²⁰ "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

L ²¹ Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad,

1 ²³ And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.

2 ²⁵ "I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.

3 ²⁷ And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land;

R when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

L ²⁸ They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them;

R they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. ²⁹ And I will provide for them prosperous plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations.

* ³⁰ And they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. ³¹ And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD."

[1] Wolff, Jahweals Bundesvermittler VT 6 (1956): pg. 319.

[2] Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmeyer, and Roland Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990) pg. 306.

[3]William R. Farmer, The International Bible Commentary (Collegeville,MN: The Liturgical Press, 1998) pg. 1075.

[4] Brown, Fitzmeyer, and Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 306.

[5] Brown, Fitzmeyer, and Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 306.,

Farmer, The International Bible Commentary pg. 1075.

[6] Brown, Fitzmeyer, and Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 306.,

Farmer, The International Bible Commentary pg. 1075.

[7] Brown, Fitzmeyer, and Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 306.,

H.L. Ellison, Ezekiel: The Man and his Message (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1956) pg. 13: The last dated prophecy of Ezekiel was in 571 BC.

[8] Brown, Fitzmeyer, and Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 306.

[9] Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel and the Leaders of Israel (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994) pg. 127.

[10] Farmer, The International Bible Commentary pg. 1092.

[11] Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel1: A commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979) pg. 23.

[12] Walther Zimmerli, VT 15 (1965) pg. 515.

[13]G. Holscher, Hesekiel, BZAW 39 (1924) pg. 5-6; cited by Zimmerli, Ezekiel1, pg. 3.

William A. Irwin, The Problem of Ezekiel: An Inductive Study (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1943) pg. 114: He says that verses 23c-24 are trite phrases such as he has no basis for attributing to Ezekiel.

[14] R. Smend, Der Prophet Ezekiel, KHAT (1880) pg. 21; cited by Zimmerli, Ezekiel1, pg. 3.

[15] H. Ewald, Die Propheten des Alten Bundes erklart. II. Jeremja und Hezekiel (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht) 207; cited by Farmer, The International Bible Commentary pg. 1090.

[16] Zimmerli, Ezekiel1: A commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel pg. 7.

[17] Reginald Fuller, Leonard Johnston, and Conleth Kearns, A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (New York: Nelson, 1975) pg. 635.

[18] Brown, Fitzmeyer, and Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 307.

[19] C. Westermann, Basic Forms of Prophetic Speech (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967) pg. 205.

[20] cf. Ronald M. Hals, Ezekiel (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989) pg. 114, 247-248.

[21] Keith W. Carley, Ezekiel among the Prophets (Naperville, IL: SCM Press Ltd, 1974) pg. 78;

Andrew Mein, Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) pg. 249;

Ralph W. Klein, Exekiel: The Prophet and His Message (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988) pg. 117.

[22] Duguid, Ezekiel and the Leaders of Israel pg. 39.

[23] Walther Eichrodt, Ezekiel (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1970) pg. 228.

[24] Hals, Ezekiel pg. 117;

Aelred Cody, Ezekiel with an Excursus on Old Testament Priesthood (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glaizer, Inc., 1984) pg. 84.

[25] Eichrodt, Ezekiel pg. 162;

Duguid, Ezekiel and the Leaders of Israel pg. 35

[26] Duguid, Ezekiel and the Leaders of Israel pg. 35

[27] John W. Miller, Meet the Prophet: A Beginner’s Guide to the Books of the Biblical Prophets (New York: Paulist Press, 1985) pg. 180.

[28] Miller, Meet the Prophet: A Beginner’s Guide to the Books of the Biblical Prophets pg. 180;

Zimmerli, Ezekiel1: A commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel pg. 2;

Julie Galambush, Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel: The City as Yahweh’s Wife (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992) pg. 2;

Brown, Fitzmeyer, and Murphy, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 306: It says that Ezekiel is separated into 2 sections, which only combined sections two and three of Miller.

[29] Miller, Meet the Prophet: A Beginner’s Guide to the Books of the Biblical Prophets pg. 179.