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From the IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament: 8:17. "branch to the nose." There is an Akkadian expression (laban appi) that refers to a gesture of humility used to come contritely before deity with a petition. When this act is portrayed in art, the worshiper has his hand positioned in front of his nose and mouth, and is sometimes shown with a ...

First, if your time travel theory is correct, you might prove to some people (but not all) that Ezekiel book was written at God's direction. However, I think the time-traveling robot theory is not sustainable. The primary problem, it seems to me, is that the author intended the first chapter to be interpreted as a vision: In the thirtieth year, in the ...

The Hebrew for the first "mark well" is שִׂים לִבְּךָ , which is literally "give your heart". (The Hebrew for the second uses a different formation from the same roots -- וְשַׂמְתָּ לִבְּךָ .) This is probably an idiom, like "give ear" in Deut 32:1. The Ezekiel passage follows "give your heart" with appeals to vision and hearing -- וּרְאֵה בְעֵינֶיךָ (see ...

In Genesis 3:24, it is a Cherubim - an angel of the Lord who guards the Garden of Eden. They are depicted in the tabernacle and on the ark of the covenant, guarding the Throne of God. In all places, they are associated with angelic beings and are part of the host of heaven. The difficulty in giving a verse calling a cherubim an angel is that angelos is a ...

Within the Tanach/Old Testament there is no association of the angelic “adversary”, the satan¹ in the books of Job and Samuel, to be any sort of fallen or rebellious angel. Aside from the rather obscure verses about the nefilim in Genesis 6, I know of no Biblical verses that Jewish scholars take to refer to fallen or rebellious angels.² The verses in Isaiah ...

I asked this question on Mi Yodeya and this answer says that these were different measuring utensils (standard weights). This answer is based on the Targum, an early translation into Aramaic; I don't have the linguistic skills to evaluate that myself, but it's generally held to be a faithful translation + clarifications (like this). When transactions were ...

Zedekiah figured that he would not be taken to Babylon because Jeremiah said he would not see Babylon. It was his opinion that the prophets disagreed. The understanding is that Zedekiah refused to believe Jeremiah because Ezekiel had prophesied that Zedekiah should never see Babylon (he had no idea that his eyes would be put out). Thus Zedekiah doubted God's ...

It is certainly an idiom, so a literal translation won't convey the actual meaning of the phrase. Now, a literal translation of the Hebrew שִׂים לִבְּךָ (sim libbeka) would be "Set/ put/ place into your heart!" Again, the heart was considered as the locus of thought --- a function we now give to the brain. Thus, to place something into your heart was to ...

So far I've found two "surveys" (links below), both of which agree that there are four main interpretations of the vision: Literal (post-Exile) - Under this view the vision anticipates a literal new temple built after the exiles' return. There is little evidence, though, that any of the returning exiles considered the pattern given in the vision as ...

It is a common feature of biblical prophecy to conflate various events, people, places, etc. This is related to the theology of types: some events, people, places, etc, foreshadow and picture others. This gives rise to the "mountain peak" metaphor of prophecy: when looking down a range of mountains, it not easy to clearly distinguish them unless you have ...

Though it's not going to be popular, I would suggest that these are the preferred readings of the "Lucifer" tradition. Both here, and Isaiah 13-14, the historical and traditional attempts to reconcile prophetic language with a very concrete concept of a location (Tyre and Babylon, respectively) probably resulted in such an understanding. I'm still on the ...

This is an expansive question; as such, I've limited my answer to keep it from getting too much longer. Hopefully someone else can/will address historical interpretations of the imagery. Ezekiel writes during the time of the exile (1:2) to the people in exile (3:11). Much of Judah has already gone into Babylonian captivity, but at the time he begins ...

We should distinguish between the idiom of the prophet and the later theological interpretations of the text. Ben Adam in Hebrew (Aramaic bar Enosh) expresses the distinction in ancient thought between the mortal and immortal actors in the world drama - between humans and gods in Greek and Roman thought, and between humans and God in Israelite thought. In ...

You just about have your answer right in the question. The short answer is that moving eastward seems to relate to exile, while moving westward is a return to the garden and the presence of God. The long answer: The garden is planted in the east of Eden The garden is the primeval meeting place between God and man. It is the first sanctuary, where man is ...

Perhaps not the entire answer, but the Sun does rise in the east. So for practical reasons, the door of the tabernacle and temple should face east so that there is light for ceremonies early in the morning. (It would be facing the west if ceremonies happened in the late afternoon, I suppose.) It may be that the rising sun is invoked as a symbol of God's ...

It is an interesting image which I've read a few commentators take different approaches toward. What is it that they are never to speak about again because of their shame? Assuming for a moment that it is not simply a blanket muteness then what subject is it that Jerusalem (and perhaps, by extension, all those who have received atonement) are to remain ...

Ezekiel's book focuses on the Temple: its desolation (1–24) and glorification (33–48). In the earlier section we see the Glory of God forsaking the temple and city as a necessary final step before Jerusalem could be laid waste (8–11). In the latter section we are shown the glory of God returning to the temple (43:4–5). Ezekiel did not introduce a ...

The stones of fire refer literally to the tablets of the law and figuratively to the law itself: De 5:22 These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. De ...

Ezekiel 28:14 in the Masoretic text and the Allepo Codex are identical. The Cambridge New English Bible (1970) translates the verse as "I set you with a towering cherub as guardian; you were on God's holy hill and you walked proudly among stones that flashed with fire" and in 16, "stones that flashed like fire". A. S. Hartom's Hebrew commentary (published ...

Putting a branch to God's nose would likely be related to the kindling of God's nostrils. This expression is only used against a whole people when the crime is idolatry, with the exception of the crime of oppressing widows. James Jordan comments on this: “This is jealousy language. Potiphar’s nostrils were kindled when he suspected Joseph of attempting ...

There are two basic questions that can be asked about Ezekiel 37: In the past - did Ezekiel witness a real and literal resurrection of dead bodies? In the future - does chapter 37 imply that there will be a real resurrection of dead bodies in future messianic times? The Talmud addresses both these questions in its analysis of Ezekiel 37. Question 1 - ...

His Silence does not Necessarily Indicate Willingness Ezekiel is not as expressive of his emotions and states of mind as some of the other prophets, so his lack of protest does not necessary mean that he was a willing prophet. In the introduction to his commentary on the book, Daniel Block writes, Ironically, although the oracles are presented in ...

From the more immediate meaning it may have been a simple way for God to humble Ezekiel for he had given him many visions about the future. The same thing was required of Paul on account of his ‘surpassingly great revelations’ (2 Cor 12:7). Yet as (כל הנביאים כולן לא נתנבאו אלא לימות המשיח Sanh. 99a) "All the prophets prophesied not but of the days of the ...

I apologize for the length of this one but your question demands a thorough answer. Who is the man? From the immediate context his is only what it says, 'a man'. He is a man who has a 'special interest'. He is a man provisioning for the miraculous visionary, prophetic and thus mysterious future expansion of Israel. In the immediate context this vision is ...

Ezekiel 28:1-10 seems to apply to the still future beast, Satan's image man. Verses 11-16 seem to apply to Satan alone. Verses 17-19 could apply to both Satan and the Beast. Verse 13 is Eden, God's garden on earth. Verse 14 & 16 has these hot rocks where God"s Holy mountain is. Probably fiery hot because God is there. As a sinner I wouldn't want to try ...

The book of Ezekiel follows a literary pattern laid down in the Torah. It begins in the Sanctuary/Garden, moves out to the Land, then out to the World (the Gentile nations), then moves back to the Land and then to the Garden. We see this in the pattern from Adam to Noah, where Noah is a new Adam but a better one. So the first part of Ezekiel judges and ...