Beyond the River Chebar

Description

To many readers the Book of Ezekiel is a hopeless riddle. However, if we take the time to study it, we discover that despite the strangeness of the man and his utterances this is the most clearly organized of the major prophetic books. And if we persist, we also discover that from a rhetorical perspective, this priestly prophet knew his audience; he recognized in Judah's rebellion against YHWH the underlying cause of the divine fury that resulted in the exile of his people and the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BCE. However, he also recognized that YHWH's judgment could not be the last word: his covenant is eternal and irrevocable, and a day of spiritual renewal and national restoration is anticipated. This is the second of two volumes of Block's essays on the book of Ezekiel. The essays in this volume explore the theme of Kingship in Ezekiel – both his assessment of Judah's historical kings and his hope for a restored Davidic King/Prince – and the mysterious visions concerning Gog's attack on restored Israel (Ezek 38–39) and concerning the new temple (40–48). Block brings to bear decades of study of the book to open up fresh insights on the ancient text.