Ezekiel Language Analysis

I do not know if I have ever felt as sorry for a prophet like I do for Ezekiel. I am not sure if this is due to the specific language that he uses or if it is something else, but the way in which God is depicted in these chapters makes him look like a bully. Ezekiel appears to mind his own business and then without any warning, God lays a huge burden of responsibility on his shoulders that he did not ask for. Furthermore, Ezekiel appears to have no choice but to carry out YHWH’s wishes as there is more than one instance where YHWH supposedly uses ropes to bind Ezekiel until his task is complete. Not only does God show up out of nowhere to call Ezekiel to his purpose, who is already in exile, but he also hardly allows for Ezekiel to speak. The conversation is dominated by YHWH, giving him a bulldozer-like personality that

In addition to this imposing picture of YHWH, I am also struck by the seemingly contradictory language that is present at certain moments in the text. For example, when Ezekiel eats the scroll of God’s words in chapter 3, he reflects on the sweet taste, but this is most surprising because it is a written message that is full of woe and lamentation. Another situation of the text contains a command from YHWH to his divine helpers who are bringing destruction on the city of Jerusalem, where he tells them to “defile the Temple” with their victims’ corpses. Normally one would not expect such a command to come from YHWH and I can only imagine how shocking it would sound to the Jews that were living at the moment this word from God was announced. Another interesting aspect of the language and symbolism in these chapters is the idea of things coming from the North. Other prophets tell of the enemies of Israel and Judah as coming from the North, and YHWH has, on more than one occasion been given the title of “enemy of Judah”, so I find it interesting that the theophany in the first chapter of Ezekiel shows YHWH coming from the North to