EZEKIEL: INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERARY STRUCTURE

This article is abstracted from a chapter in my unpublished book The Structure of Scripture. If you wish a copy of the complete chapter, just contact me at elmerphd21@hotmail.com.

This is a book filled with bizarre prophetic actions and puzzling visions. No wonder that some rabbis once prohibited reading of key portions of Ezekiel by those under thirty years of age. This book nonetheless possesses a high degree of order, and the traditional chapter divisions still stand today as excellent indicators of the major sub-units in the book. At this level of organization, the lines of division are usually clearly marked by standard opening formulas (“The Word of the LORD came to me saying, 'Son of man',” “the hand of Yahweh came upon me,” “and He said to me”) and concluding phrases (“I will be your God and you shall be my people,” “shall know that I am the LORD,” “I am Yahweh and I have spoken”).

If one moves to the next larger literary unit beyond the chapter level, the situation starts to become a little muddier. However, it is still possible to navigate these waters without much difficulty. Practically all of the proposed major sections for the Book of Ezekiel found in the literature employ some combination of the following eight chapter groupings:

Section A: chs. 1-3         Section B: chs. 4-7          Section C: chs. 8-11

            Section D: chs. 12-24     Section E: chs. 25-32       Section F: chs. 33-37

            Section G: chs. 38-39     Section H: chs. 40-48

With one minor disagreement regarding the exact verse ending Section A, these happen to be precisely the divisions used by the editors of the New English Bible. F. F. Bruce recognizes these same sections although he further subdivides Section D into three parts. The exact relationships between these individual units, however, remains a matter of some speculation since there is a tremendous amount of cross-referencing that occurs within the book. Therefore, I will confine my remarks to showing some of the symmetries within the individual sections, omitting Section D since its analysis suffers from the same difficulties.

Figure I: Structure of Section A

1. God's glory (1:1-2:2)

2. Commission (2:3-2:8a)

3. Eating the scroll (2:8b-3:3)

2'. Commission (3:4-3:11)

1'. God's glory (3:12-3:16)

4. The watchman (3:17-3:21)

1''. God's glory (3:22-3:24a)

2''. Commission (3:24b-3:27)

Figure 2: Structure of Section B

1. Figurative Depiction

a. The coming siege (ch. 4)

b. Destruction of Jerusalem (ch. 5)

2. Literal Depiction

b'. Destruction of Jerusalem (ch. 6)

a'. The coming siege (ch. 7)

 

Figure 3: Structure of Section C

1. Religious leaders exposed and judged (ch. 8)

2. Jerusalem destroyed (ch. 9)

                                                2'. Glory of God departs (ch. 10)

1'. Civil leaders exposed and judged (ch. 11)

Two ordering mechanisms for the oracles in Section E have been noted. The nations mentioned in Ezekiel 25-26 begin with those to the east of Jerusalem and then move clockwise around the city. Also, the first half of the section (through ch. 28) deals with Israel's enemies while the last half treats her prospective ally, Egypt.

Figure 4: Structure of Section E

                            1. The Nations (ch. 25)

2. Tyre (26:1-28:19)

a. city: realistic (ch. 26)

                                                    b. city and her allies (ch. 27)

                                                        c. ruler: realistic (28:1-10)

                                                            d. ruler: allegorical (28:11-19)

    3. God's judgments and holiness (28:20-26)

2'. Egypt (29:1-32:16)

                                        Introduction – against Pharaoh and Egypt (29:1-16)

a. nation: realistic (29:17-21)

                                                    b. nation and her allies (30:1-19)

                                                        c. ruler: realistic (30:20-26)

                                                            d. ruler: allegorical (31:1-18)

  Conclusion – against Pharaoh and Egypt (32:1-16)

1'. The Nations (32:17-32)

Figure 5: Structure of Section F

1. Appointed watchman; God's sword upon the land (33:1-9)

2. Individual cleansing (33:10-20)

3. The nation destroyed (33:21-33)

4. Promissory note to Israel (ch. 34)

5. Oracle against Mt. Seir (ch. 35)                                                   

5'. Oracle to mountains of Israel (36:1-15)

4'. Promissory note to Israel (36:16-38)

3'. The nation resurrected (37:1-14)

2'. National cleansing (37:15-23)

1'. Appointed shepherd; God's covenant of peace (37:24-28)

Beale summarizes the relationship between these two chapters: “the consensus in more recent major OT commentaries is that Ezek. 39:1-20 recapitulates ch. 38 and that the two chapters describe two versions of the same attack.” A more precise way of viewing Section G is as two prophetic cycles in which the second cycle is parallel to the first, but also advances the action somewhat (a pattern seen elsewhere, mainly in apocalyptic literature).

Figure 6: Structure of Section G

CYCLE 1

Introduction (38:1-6)

A. Readiness for attack on Israel (38:7-13)

B. The attack (38:14-16)

C. Judgment on Gog (38:17-23)

CYCLE 2

Introduction (39:1-3)

B. The attack (39:4a)

C. Judgment on Gog (39:4b-20)

D. Restoration of Israel (39:21-29)

Figure 7: Structure of Section H

1. The city of God and its entrances (40:1-16)

2. Temple area survey (40:17-42:20)

a. Outer court (40:17-27)

b. Inner court (40:28-47)

c. Vestibule, nave and inner room (40:48-41:4)

d. Overall temple area (41:5-15a)

c'. Vestibule, nave and inner room (41:15b-26)

b'. Inner court (42:1-14)

a'. Outer court (42:15-20)

3. God's glory; priestly ordinances (ch. 43)

3'. God's glory; priestly ordinances (44:1-27)

2'. Land survey (44:28-48:29)

a. Allotment of land (44:28-45:8)

b. Honest government for the people (45:9-12)

c. Offerings/feasts (45:13-25)

d. Prince's offerings (46:1-18)

c'. Preparation of offerings (46:19-24)

b'. Restored fertility to the land (47:1-12)

a'. Allotment of land (47:13-48:29)

1'. The city of God and its exits (48:30-35)

Statistical treatments of the many verbal and thematic parallels within Section D and within the book as a whole have been utilized to arrive at very tentative structures for both.