Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the Book of Ezekiel

200 Pages·2000·1.38 MB·English

by  John F. Kutsko

BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH
DIVINE PRESENCE AND ABSENCE
IN THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL
BIBLICAL AND JUDAIC STUDIES
FROM
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
SAN DIEGO
Volume 7
edited by
William Henry Propp
Previously published in the series:
1. The Hebrew Bible and Its Interpreters, edited by William Henry Propp,
Baruch Halpern, and David Noel Freedman (1990).
2. Studies in Hebrew and Aramaic Orthography, by David Noel Freedman,
A. Dean Forbes, and Francis I. Andersen (1992).
3. Isaiah 46, 47, and 48: A New Literary-Critical Reading, by Chris Franke
(1994).
4. The Book around Immanuel: Style and Structure in Isaiah 2–12, by
Andrew H. Bartelt (1996).
5. The Structure of Psalms 93–100, by David M. Howard Jr. (1997).
6. Psalm 119: The Exaltation of Torah, by David Noel Freedman (1999).
BETWEEN HEAVEN
AND EARTH
DIVINE PRESENCE AND ABSENCE IN
THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL
by
John F. Kutsko
EISENBRAUNS
Winona Lake, Indiana
2000
Published for Biblical and Judaic Studies
The University of California, San Diego
by
Eisenbrauns
Winona Lake, Indiana
ç Copyright 2000 by John F. Kutsko.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Cataloging in Publication Data
Kutsko, John F., 1963–
Between Heaven and Earth : divine presence and absence in the Book of
Ezekiel / by John F. Kutsko.
p. cm. — (Biblical and Judaic studies ; v. 7)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57506-041-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Presence of God—Biblical teaching. 2. Hidden God—Biblical
teaching. 3. Bible. O.T. Ezekiel—Criticism, interpretation, etc.
I. Title. II. Series.
BS1545.6.P695 K88 1999
224u.406—dc21
99-046778
CIP
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.†‰
For Carolyn
Hearts and Bones

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1. The Inquiry and Its Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
§1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
§2. The Coherence of the Book of Ezekiel . . . . . . . . 5
§3. Ezekiel and Other Israelite Traditions . . . . . . . . . 10
§4. Ezekiel and Non-Israelite Traditions . . . . . . . . . . 14
§5. Summation and Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. Idolatry and Theodicy:
Illegitimate Expressions for God’s Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
§1. Idolatry as a Main Cause of the Exile . . . . . . . . . 25
§2. Divine Images in the Book of Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . 53
§3. The Ethics of Idolatry in Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
§4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3. Idolatry and Theophany:
Legitimate Expressions of God’s Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
§1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
§2. The kabôd-Theology in the Priestly Tradition . . . 79
§3. The kabôd-Theology in Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
§4. Yahweh’s Presence in Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
§5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4. Idolatry and Theonomy:
The Power of God’s Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
§1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
§2. Status and Treatment of Divine Images
Captured in War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
vii
viii Contents
§3. Ezekiel 36–37: Renewal, Re-creation,
and Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
§4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5. Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
§1. Depth of the Theme:
God’s Presence and Absence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
§2. Impact of the Exile on the Theology
of Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Appendix: Removal, Repair, and Return
of Divine Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Index of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Index of Deuterocanonical, Pseudepigraphical,
and Early Jewish and Christian Literature . . . 185
Preface and Acknowledgments
This book is a revision of my doctoral thesis, The Presence and Absence of
God in the Book of Ezekiel (Harvard University, 1997). Anyone even remotely
familiar with the members of my dissertation committee will understand
how I have benefited from their scholarly breadth and depth. Many of my
ideas gained focus from the engaging inquiry of Jon Levenson and James Ku-
gel. And my adviser Peter Machinist was a veritable deus ex machina. It goes
without saying, however, that while I availed myself of their input, the per-
suasiveness of this argument remains mine to demonstrate, and any errors of
judgment or fact contained herein remain mine to bear.
I would surely omit someone accidentally if I tried to list all those who
aided and abetted me along the way. I take this opportunity, however, to
thank Patrick Alexander, who helped me move from thinking about a disser-
tation to thinking about a publication. That was no small task during that
time when, I confess, I was still under the spell of “dissertationese.”
Finally, I wish to thank William Propp, David Noel Freedman, and all of
those connected with the series Biblical and Judaic Studies from the Univer-
sity of California, San Diego, for their patience and support.
ix