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This paper aims to explore context and character of the longer LXX readings in Ezek 44:23–24, based on Codex Vaticanus (B), Papyrus 967 (p967) and Old Latin Codex Constantiensis (LaC). First, the position of these verses within the Book of Ezekiel and more particularly within chapters 40–48 is determined. Second, a broader comparison of the textual witnesses of the said verses is carried out, including the analysis of MT, the Greek witnesses B and p967, the Vetus Latina (VL), the Peshitta (Syr), and Targum Jonathan (TarJon). And finally, the meaning and literary function of the longer readings transmitted in LXX are clarified. The textual plusses displayed by LXX Ezek 44:24a originate in a Hebrew Vorlage, which establishes Zadokite priestly jurisdiction over cases of homicide and integrates the motif of 'the righteous' justifying the judgement of YHWH. The Vorlage thereby identifies 'the righteous men' announced in Ezek 23:45 as the Zadokite priests of the Second temple vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The written sources from the ancient Near East are for the most part authored from the perspective of the dominant group and yield a very limited view on people’s identities from an emic point of view that would correspond to their own self-identification. Self-defined minority groups in Mesopotamia have not left behind written evidence about themselves and their identity strategies. A notable exception to this rule is the book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. This book documents an intense and enduring attempt at reconstructing the identity of a dislocated group of people. The book of Ezekiel is produced by a group that constructed a diaspora identity from the early sixth century onwards, whether in Babylonia or in Jerusalem; in any case, it is written in an environment where the adaptation of a wide array of Mesopotamian linguistic, iconographic, literary, and theological motifs was possible. Wherever and whenever the book of Ezekiel was produced, it presents itself as a document of an explicit identity strategy of a minority group, unique among written sources from any part of Mesopotamia. It can be read as an example of the survival strategy of a group that distinguishes itself from others by way of self-reidentification. The book does not reflect a stable and universally shared identity of the Judeans. On the contrary, it creates and constructs an inner-Judean antagonism between Ezekiel’s in-group and the delegitimized out-group. The book of Ezekiel, therefore, does not convey much about the integration of the Judean minority into Babylonian society but all the more about conflicts among Judeans themselves.

In Second Temple Jewish Literature, more than a hundred quotations of and allusions to Ezekiel are preserved. Although only a few of them are text-critically relevant, these cases may help to shed light on the complex textual history of the book. In this article, eleven cases of quotations and allusions are analyzed in detail: Six cases should be regarded as evidence for the existence of the non-masoretic Hebrew Vorlage of the Old Greek Ezekiel. In two of these cases, non-aligned textual elements appear as well. Taken together with two non-aligned cases in the Damascus Document, these quotations and allusions substantiate the assumption that even more non-masoretic Ezekiel texts were in use until the beginning of the first century BCE—alongside proto-masoretic Ezekiel texts, which are attested by three cases of quotations and allusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This is an investigation of the intertexts and allusions in Reverend Hickman’s Juneteenth celebration sermon in Ralph Ellison’s second novel (in both published versions). The sermon is of critical importance to Ellison’s post-Invisible Man career. He published an excerpt containing it in 1965 and shared it with a television audience in 1966. The sermon is rich with intertexts, allusions, and literary influences that have yet to be explored. This paper establishes the sermon’s importance and then begins to map its intertextual connections, focusing on a series of 30 adjectives with the suffix “-less” spoken in a total of 80 instances by Hickman and/or Bliss in the course of the sermon. An argument is presented for the influence of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God on this sequence on adjectives, despite Ellison’s youthful dismissal of her work. An argument is presented (offering textual evidence) for Hurston’s influence being connected in Ellison’s thought process with James Joyce’s influence. James Weldon Johnson’s influence is brought into the discussion as well. Another scholar’s argument for C.L. Franklin’s influence is discussed but argued against. The study has implications for Ellison’s conception of the human face as a conduit for communication and for varied forms of possibility, thus connecting this reading of the sermon to some of the major themes of his career. It also has implications for developing a richer understanding of his artistic relation to the work of women writers.

Several Babylonian talmudic sources call for the withdrawal of the book of Ezekiel from circulation. This article examines the development of this tradition and demonstrates how later rabbis integrated early texts in its creation and also used exegetical means to address the contradictions between Ezekiel's stipulations and pentateuchal law. Another area of concern was Ezekiel's prophetic status: some rabbinic texts granted Ezekiel the power of a lawgiver; others framed him as transmitting Mosaic traditions; and still others lowered Ezekiel's prophetic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biblical prophecy in Ezekiel 28:11–19 records a dirge against the king from Tyre. While the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT) identifies the monarch as a cherub, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) distinguishes the royal from the cherub. Scholarly debates arise as to which edition represents the more original version of the prophecy. This article aims to contribute to the debates by adopting a text-critical approach to the two variant literary editions of the dirge, comparing and analyzing their differences, while incorporating insights gleaned from the extra-biblical literature originating from the ancient Near East, Second Temple Period, and Late Antiquity. The study reaches the conclusion that the current MT, with its presentation of a fluid boundary between the mortal and divine, likely builds on a more ancient interpretation of the Tyrian king. On the other hand, while the Hebrew Vorlage of LXX Ezekiel 28:12b–15 resembles the Hebrew text of the MT, the Greek translator modifies the text via literary allusions and syntactical rearrangement, so that the final result represents a later reception that suppresses any hints at the divinity of the Tyrian ruler. The result will contribute to our understanding of the historical development of the ancient Israelite religion.

Was the Yahweh temple on Mount Gerizim modelled after the temple in Jerusalem? This question is important for our understanding of the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and the people who worshipped there in the Persian and Hellenistic period; if the Gerizim temple was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, the argument in favour of the Gerizim cult as derived from the cult in Jerusalem is strengthened. On the other hand, if no such connection can be demonstrated convincingly, one must look elsewhere for the answer to the question of Samaritan origins. The present study gives a brief introduction to the relationship between early Judaism and early Samaritanism, or rather Southern and Northern Yahwism, followed by a presentation of Mount Gerizim and the excavations that were carried out there between 1982 and 2006. Finally, I shall turn to the theory that the temple on Mount Gerizim was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, which has been recast by Dr Yitzhak Magen (2008). I conclude that the archaeological remains from the Persian-period sanctuary on Mount Gerizim offer no evidence that this temple was modelled on the temple in Jerusalem.

The question of hope in dark times, though topical, is not new. The Babylonian Exile (597/587−539 BCE) is commonly recognised as perhaps the most profound, yet also most fruitful crisis in biblical (Old Testament) times. It involved the total breakdown of all religious and political structures and institutions that previously had provided meaning and protection, yet it led to significant theological progress, laying the foundations for both Judaism and Christianity. Today the metaphor of exile is sometimes used with reference to the present; however, the connection is usually not further explored. This article examines a biblical exilic voice, the book of Ezekiel, which offers an initial prophetic response to the theological, political and identity crisis of the early Babylonian Exile. While resisting both optimism and despair, Ezekiel arrives at an original, if peculiar, imagination of hope, founded solely on theological conviction. The article outlines this process by discussing select texts of the book as examples, and opens it up to conversation with the present. The logic of Ezekiel’s theocentric hope is bound to ultimately remain foreign to modern thinking. However, while it cannot be directly transferred into our times, the article aims to demonstrate that theological reflection on Ezekiel still yields valuable and transferable impulses for thought.

This contribution begins with an anthropomorphism that has been used often in the Bible: God has feelings like a human being. He gets angry, but also feels remorse. The article first presents a few examples of this kind of»mood«God gets into. This is not only unique for the Hebrew Bible, but the history of religions in general is familiarised with God's and gods' anger, as well as the human being's expectance of such a phenomenon. By analysing the term אף ʾaf, (nose, nostrils, rage, anger) and some similar terms of the same semantic field, the article specifies Biblical places where these are being illustrated. After that, the article turns to a specific example of a prophetic book, in this case Ezekiel's book, in order to present all texts that use this term in any context. As an example of God's»remorse«, the author draws our attention to a short text from the Book of Jonah (Jnh 4:10) that describes a paradoxical situation: the prophet Jonah is getting angry precisely because God is»feeling remorseful«and gives up his plan to punish the big and sinful, albeit pagan, city of Nineveh, because its inhabitants have repented for their sins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ubiquitous vocative expression בן־אדם (literally ‘son of man') in the Book of Ezekiel seems to underscore the prophet's status as a mere mortal. In contrast to the other ancient versions, TargumJonathan to the Prophets interprets the word אדם as a proper noun, and renders the phrase accordingly as בר אדם 'son of Adam'. This translation runs counter to the Targum's conventional practice of rendering בן־אדם with ( בר אנש(א . In the absence of a satisfactory grammatical explanation for the divergent rendering, this article examines the possibility that theTargumist's eschewal of בר אנשא wasmotivated by doctrinal concerns. On the strength of the findings it is argued that בר אדם was a clever and subtle alternative for בר אנשא because, depending on the context, the latter phrase could evoke associations with the Danielic Son of Man figure and the Son of Man Christology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chief aim of this essay is to posit a well-known Mesopotamian royal and divine epithet, ušumgallu "great dragon," as the source behind Ezekiel's enigmatic description of Pharaoh in 29.3, hattanniīn hagga ādôl, "the great dragon." This relationship sheds new light and meaning on an old problem: why does Ezekiel refer to Pharaoh as a dragon? Rather than viewing this prophetic expression as a pejorative, the cognate evidence argues for the converse by rooting it in an enduring tradition of regal titles. Replicating Akkadian ušumgallu (Sumerian UŠUM.GAL) as efficiently as possible and drawing upon Israelite cosmological history (viz. Gen. 1.21a), Ezekiel feigned including Pharaoh within a venerable, long line of Mesopotamian kings and deities to receive this title. Instead, and as is characteristic of Ezekiel's rhetoric, he upended the putative associations of the "great dragon," thereby exposing its true subordinate position under the hegemony of YHWH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article questions the theory that Targum Ezekiel holds a distinctive position within the corpus of Targum Jonathan to the Prophets with regard to Messianism. According to the hith-erto unchallenged studies by Samson Levey, Targum Ezekiel is proof that Merkabah mysticism functioned as a substitute for Messianism after the cataclysm of 70 CE. This theological shift was supposedly instigated by R. Yohanan b. Zakkai at a time when messianic speculations had become doctrinally too dangerous. However, the present study shows that the lack of Messian-ism already goes back to the Hebrew Vorlage itself. A thorough examination of Targum Ezekiel's translational strategy reveals further that the targumist in fact had a keen eye for the actual mean-ing of the few messianic references. On the strength of these and other findings it is argued that Targum Ezekiel's approach to Messianism is not at odds with the rest of the corpus [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument starts from the observation that the Book of Ezekiel is characterised by a remarkable knowledge of prophetic tradition. This phenomenon has long been explained by the prophet's personal acquaintance with the words of his predecessors. However, the main aim of the following article is to show that the various allusions and thematic linkages have to be understood as examples of innerbiblical exegesis. For the purpose of discussion, three examples from different literary layers of the book are chosen that serve in illustrating the underlying basic principle, namely Ezek 37:1-14, Ezek 34 and Ezek 36:23bβ-38. In the course of the textual observations, it shall further be demonstrated that form and technique of innerbiblical exegesis undergo a development within the literary growth of the book. While the oldest texts draw on existing motifs and metaphors, the literary references increase over the following literary layers. Finally, in the youngest texts, literary references to different texts within and beyond the book are assembled and systematised. This development bears witness to changes in the understanding of scripture that was increasingly perceived as authoritative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Codex Manchester Gaster 1478 contains an extensively aggadic Targumic Tosefta to Ezekiel 1:1, the prelude to the prophet's vision of the divine 'throne-chariot'. This study focuses on the unique mystical lore that is preserved in this Targum. It transpires that this material sheds light on a relatively dark chapter in the reception history of early Jewish mysticism, being closely related to Hekhalot literature, and to the Shi'ur Qomah tradition in particular, with implications for the latter's dating. It is furthermore established that the intriguing mixture of Aramaic dialect use that characterizes this Tosefta-Targum bears resemblances with Late Jewish Literary Aramaic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biblical prophecy in Ezekiel 28:11–19 records a dirge against the king from Tyre. While the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT) identifies the monarch as a cherub, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) distinguishes the royal from the cherub. Scholarly debates arise as to which edition represents the more original version of the prophecy. This article aims to contribute to the debates by adopting a text-critical approach to the two variant literary editions of the dirge, comparing and analyzing their differences, while incorporating insights gleaned from the extra-biblical literature originating from the ancient Near East, Second Temple Period, and Late Antiquity. The study reaches the conclusion that the current MT, with its presentation of a fluid boundary between the mortal and divine, likely builds on a more ancient interpretation of the Tyrian king. On the other hand, while the Hebrew Vorlage of LXX Ezekiel 28:12b–15 resembles the Hebrew text of the MT, the Greek translator modifies the text via literary allusions and syntactical rearrangement, so that the final result represents a later reception that suppresses any hints at the divinity of the Tyrian ruler. The result will contribute to our understanding of the historical development of the ancient Israelite religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Was the Yahweh temple on Mount Gerizim modelled after the temple in Jerusalem? This question is important for our understanding of the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and the people who worshipped there in the Persian and Hellenistic period; if the Gerizim temple was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, the argument in favour of the Gerizim cult as derived from the cult in Jerusalem is strengthened. On the other hand, if no such connection can be demonstrated convincingly, one must look elsewhere for the answer to the question of Samaritan origins. The present study gives a brief introduction to the relationship between early Judaism and early Samaritanism, or rather Southern and Northern Yahwism, followed by a presentation of Mount Gerizim and the excavations that were carried out there between 1982 and 2006. Finally, I shall turn to the theory that the temple on Mount Gerizim was modelled after the Jerusalem temple, which has been recast by Dr Yitzhak Magen (2008). I conclude that the archaeological remains from the Persian-period sanctuary on Mount Gerizim offer no evidence that this temple was modelled on the temple in Jerusalem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of hope in dark times, though topical, is not new. The Babylonian Exile (597/587–539 BCE) is commonly recognised as perhaps the most profound, yet also most fruitful crisis in biblical (Old Testament) times. It involved the total breakdown of all religious and political structures and institutions that previously had provided meaning and protection, yet it led to significant theological progress, laying the foundations for both Judaism and Christianity. Today the metaphor of exile is sometimes used with reference to the present; however, the connection is usually not further explored. This article examines a biblical exilic voice, the book of Ezekiel, which offers an initial prophetic response to the theological, political and identity crisis of the early Babylonian Exile. While resisting both optimism and despair, Ezekiel arrives at an original, if peculiar, imagination of hope, founded solely on theological conviction. The article outlines this process by discussing select texts of the book as examples, and opens it up to conversation with the present. The logic of Ezekiel's theocentric hope is bound to ultimately remain foreign to modern thinking. However, while it cannot be directly transferred into our times, the article aims to demonstrate that theological reflection on Ezekiel still yields valuable and transferable impulses for thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]