In my post titled “Ezekiel: Introduction to the Literary Structure,” I demonstrated how this book can be divided into the following discrete sections:
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
Each of these eight units is organized in a totally symmetrical manner, but the problem remains as to whether there is any overall way in which these units can be assembled together in a coherent manner. Thus, many would agree with Block's statement, “Had the editor of the book had the modern reader in mind he might have organized his material differently.”
By contrast, Childs states, “The backbone of the structure is provided by a chronological framework which extends throughout the book and joins the sections together.” Childs' statement is true to a limited extent in that the first and last date notices, which share certain commonalities, also happen to introduce sections A and H, respectively. Bullock, however, is probably closer to the mark in his observation, “A theological criterion is much more workable for determining the structure of the book.” Since the eight major sections above are structured along theological and literary considerations, the obvious next step is to look for similar considerations at play between these sections.
The dispute as to which sections are to be combined can even be traced back to Josephus, who stated that Ezekiel had left us “two books.” Assuming that he was referring to our present Book of Ezekiel in two volumes, does this refer to sections A-D and E-H (Greenberg, Fishbane), or to A-E and F-H (Young, Ellison)? In addition, many commentators see the book as a tripartite structure divided along lines corresponding to the sections labeled above as A-D, E, and F-H. This is the so-called classical prophetic division wherein oracles against foreign nations (Section E) are sandwiched between indictments against Israel and prophecies of national restoration. (Oswalt) Additional proposed groupings include consideration of Sections B through D as a whole (Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) and the combination of Sections F and G without the inclusion of H (Jerusalem Bible).
None of the above sources attempts to identify any internal symmetry in the book which would definitively decide between the various structural options. The problem is not that there is a scarcity of parallel passages within the book to use as a guide; the case is quite the opposite. The Book of Ezekiel abounds with ideas, images and key words that appear in more than one passage. Especially common is the brief appearance of a theme early in the book followed by a more extensive treatment later on. Block applies the term “resumptive exposition” to this literary phenomenon, but notes that it is really just another way of looking at foreshadowing. The wealth of parallel material is very difficult to sort through without resorting to some sort of statistical approach.
To tackle this problem, over 250 sets of suspected parallel passages involving more than one of the eight major sections of Ezekiel were first gleaned from a selection of current commentaries (relying most heavily on those by Greenberg, Block and Wevers). The criteria for choosing these parallels ranged from multiple occurrences of a rare word in the text to similarities between whole chapter groupings. Next, these data were sorted to (a) eliminate duplicate observations from different authors and (b) tabulate the number of observed parallels between each possible pairing of major sections. The result of this analysis is shown below, ranked by numbers of similarities. (Note: the total well exceeds 250 since many of the selected groupings involved more than two sections of the book.)
D+F=65 B+D=49 D+E=47 C+D=24 C+F=21 A+F=20
B+F=20 A+C=16 C+H=16 D+G=16 A+D=15 B+E=14
E+F=14 E+G=14 A+H=12 D+H=9 F+G=9 F+H=8
B+C=7 C+E=4 A+G=3 B+G=3 A+B=2 A+E=2
B+H=2 C+G=2 E+H=2 G+H=1
Although the observed spread from strongest to weakest correspondence is impressive, the numbers above do not take into account (a) statistical factors that tend to skew the data or (b) relative weightings for each parallel counted.
Adjusting for the first factor means recognizing that random occurrences of the same word or phrase in any two given sections will vary with the sizes of the two texts. Thus, it is approximately seventeen times more likely to find random parallels between sections D and E (with 13 and 8 chapters, respectively) than between the much smaller sections A and G (5 total chapters). Assuming that each chapter in Ezekiel is roughly the same size, the above tabulated numbers can be divided by the product of the number of chapters in each section. The result is a new set of relative rankings in which the strongest parallels are found between, in descending order: A+C, A+F, C+F, B+F, D+F, B+D, F+G and E+G. Note that this method of treating the data tends to penalize the larger sections such as D and give an added emphasis to the smaller sections such as A and G. The remaining pairings range down to an order of magnitude lower in significance than the eight listed above.
A second way to treat the original data is to only consider major parallels noted in the literature (i.e. those involving more than just a few verses). The most famous and obvious example is the reappearance of the four living creatures of ch. 1 as cherubim in ch. 10. In many cases, no such strong similarities could be found between different sections, but the numbers of those identified included:
D+F=15 A+C=7 C+H=7 A+F=6 D+E=6
B+D=5 C+D=5 A+B=3 A+H=3 B+E=3
Even these statistics leave out such obvious parallels as sections E and G, which are unique in Ezekiel for focusing exclusively on Gentile nations.
Using these various analyses as a rough guide, one possible arrangement explaining both the strong parallels between some sections and lack of correspondence between others is shown below:
Figure 1:Organization of Ezekiel
Section A (1-3)
DIVISION I Section B (4-7)
Section C (8-11)
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DIVISION II Section D (12-24)
Section E (25-32)
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Section F (33-37)
DIVISION III Section G (38-39)
Section H (40-48)
This structure recognizes the strongest parallels between (a) sections vertically aligned with one another, (b) sections beginning each major division, (c) the members within a given division, but with a sort of ABA arrangement within divisions I and III whereby B and G, respectively, act to interrupt the flow of thought, and (d) between divisions I and III, to give an ABA arrangement to the whole book. A similar sort of multiple hopscotch arrangement of sections is actually found within the structure of Section D. And, indeed, constant alternation and interruption seem to be a literary peculiarity of the Book of Ezekiel.
The validity of this tentative organization for the whole book is strengthened by the following observations:
1. Virtually the same date notice is used to begin sections A and C, and it is only here that the word hashmal (“brightness”) appears. The descriptions of “one like the son of man” in Ezek.1:26-27 and 8:2 are parallel to one another. The prophet sees God arrive at the temple in 1:1-28 and depart in 10:18-22 to effectively bracket Division I. In both those chapters is a similar description of God's chariot. In addition, the time span between the two date notices is approximately the same as the total years of punishment mentioned at the center of this division (Ezek. 4:4-6).
2. The “plain” of Ezekiel's vision at the end of (3:22-23) occurs next at the start of C (8:4), with the alien material of Section B placed in between.
3. Section H is felt by Allen to be an expansion of Ezek. 37:25-28, which ends Section F. Thus, scholars such as Lemke and Greenberg have noted that chs. 38-39 “interrupt” the natural transition from F to H.
4. The phrase “set me down” appears only at the beginning of the chapters that end F and begin H.
5. Riggan states that the use of date formulas throughout the book is one of its organizing principles. However, these are not uniformly distributed. For example, dates are given at the start of sections A, C, F and H, skipping over both B and G.
6. Ecstatic visions, often introduced with “the hand of Yahweh came upon me,” occur only at the beginning and end of sections A and F and at the beginning of C and H, with obvious interruptions by intervening material in B and G. The term “divine vision” is found only in the introduction to A, C and H. The sections in bold are those in Ezekiel possessing obvious apocalyptic characteristics.
7. The two extended “watchman” passages in Ezekiel appear in A and F (3:17-19 and 33:7-9, respectively) and are almost verbatim repetitions. Both A and F end with passages having the rare word “quake” in them. The two additional occurrences of this word within Ezekiel are at other structurally significant locations – the beginnings of B and G. Block notes that Ezekiel's commissioning by Yahweh in 2:1-3:15 is confirmed near the end of ch. 33.
8. Both C and H share common frameworks in which the prophet is transported to a different site in order to view something. There is a secondary heavenly personage in addition to Yahweh who interacts with the prophet in both these sections. Mason states, “The final section of the book echoes the vision of the defiling of the temple in Ezekiel 8-11.” However, there is a complete contrast between the polluted temple of ch. 8 and the perfect temple in chs. 40-48. Therefore, God's action in removing his presence from the temple in chs. 10-11 will be reversed in the future, as promised in chs. 43-44.
9. Extended poems involving the “cosmic tree” theme appear in sections D (17:1-10) and E (31:3-14).
10. According to Milgrom, “God's abandonment of his contaminated Temple [in C] is complemented by his return to an uncontaminable Temple [in H].”
11. Standard critical analysis of the book assigns chs. 1-24 to a pre-exilic period and the remainder of Ezekiel to an exilic period. (Tiemeyer) This division is equivalent to a symmetrical halving of the structure shown in Fig. 1.
12. Cook lists eight Hebrew words unique to Ezekiel but occurring more than once and in different sections of the book. Six of these line up in parallel sections identified by Fig. 1 (A & C, D & E, and D & G).
13. Daniel (or Danel) is mentioned in Ezekiel only in D (14:14) and E (28:3).
14. The phrase “then they shall know that there has been a prophet among them” appears only in A (2:5) and F (33:33).
15. An interesting pattern connects B, D, E and G whereby valuable metals appear in the outer members in the order “silver and gold” (7:19; 38:13) but in the reverse order in the inner members (16:13-17; 28:4).
Block has noted the many similarities between the beginnings of the first section (1:1-3:11) and the last one (40:2-43:11). One example is the confluence of “exile” and “visions of God” in 1:1 and 40:1-2. Due to these parallels, he treats the start of Section H as a sort of recommissioning of the prophet. Even more important is the mention of the River Chebar at 1:1-3 and 43:3, functioning functioning to enclose the whole book.
Significance of Structural Features
A. The structure in Fig. 1 may be of use in explaining one of the major puzzles in the book. At the end of ch. 3, God places restrictions upon the prophet so that he will be unable to reprove Israel for her sins until a later date which God will determine for him. This event apparently happens in Ezek. 33:21-22 when the news of Jerusalem's fall comes to the prophet. The placement of these latter verses has confused more than one commentator since Ezekiel had been apparently prophesying for all the intervening years. The period of “dumbness” has been variously explained as applying only to his period of house confinement (Greenberg) or limited to his inability to intercede with God on behalf of the exiles (Wilson).
Looking at the structural placement of these two events, they appear at the end of the first section of Division I and the beginning of the first section of Division III, seemingly marking Division II as the period of silence for Ezekiel. Within Division II, Section E deals with oracles against nations outside of Israel so that poses no real contradiction to God's order/prophecy in ch. 3. Section D does pose a problem until one remembers the hallmark of this section: the extensive and almost exclusive use of figurative devices (mashalim) to convey the message. One is reminded of Jesus' stated use of parabolic speech to conceal rather than reveal his messages until the time was ripe (Matt. 13:10-15) and the apostles' obvious relief when Jesus later dropped this oblique mode of revelation (John 16:29). Perhaps the real meaning of Ezekiel's “dumbness” is, as Rosenberg states, an inability to state the message of God's will for Israel without resorting to bizarre actions and obscure verbal imagery.
B. The fits and starts with which the book proceeds may be an intentional literary device to encourage patience and hope in the minds of the audience. Even though the nation's fate is at an all-time low, one major message of Ezekiel is that the end of the story has not yet been seen. As Kaiser notes, the plain (or valley) in which Ezekiel first received his revelation concerning Jerusalem's destruction is probably the same place where he later saw the vision of the dry bones reviving. The connection between the two, strengthened by the structural placement of these two passages (similarly located at the ends of the sections beginning divisions I and III), may also indicate that national, rather than individual, resurrection is the prime focus of the latter vision. Most commentators would concur with this interpretation.
C. It is instructive to compare the proposed three-part division of Fig. 1 with the usual three-part prophetic structure: Indictment of Israel, Oracles to the Nations, and Restoration of Israel. As Raabe points out, the Nations section is sometimes included with the first division since both deal with punishment of sins against God. Childs, however, includes it with the Restoration section since removal of the pagan nations is a necessary first step to cleansing the land for Israel's occupation. Both elements are found in Ezek. 25-32 (Section E). An extension of this thought may also exist in the presently proposed three-division structure. Division I zeroes in on Israel's many occasions of rebellion against God while Division III clearly depicts her eventual restoration. Sandwiched between these is, as mentioned above, the necessary step of judgment on the Gentile nations.
The inclusion of Section D within this crucial center division of Ezekiel must next be explained.
One possibility is found within the text: “she [Israel] has wickedly rebelled against my ordinances more than the nations...round about her (Ezek. 5:6).” Therefore, for the purpose of preserving God's justice, it is necessary that Israel not be excluded from the fate of her neighbors. Is there, however, a dual purpose in Israel's suffering parallel to the second reason for the removal of the pagan nations? Might it not be a necessary step to Israel's restoration to a glory exceeding the one it previously had? This principle of stooping to conquer is clearly expressed throughout the NT: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies (I Corin. 15:36),” “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3),” “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ (Phil. 3:8),” etc.
D. The most famous restoration passage in Ezekiel is, of course, the vision of the bones coming to life. The Hebrew word for dead bones actually appears throughout the text, but usually located towards the ends of major sections (6:5; 24:10; 32:27; 37:1-11 and 39:15).
E. It is worth a note in closing that the theme of repentance is prominently displayed at three points in the book: 3:16-21; ch. 18; and 33:1-20. (Block) These correspond, respectively, to the end, middle and beginning of the initial chapters of each major division of Ezekiel (see Fig. 1). It is clearly implied that an integral part of the restoration process is the repentance of His people. The disputation speeches in Ezekiel identified by Block also occur symmetrically at the end of Section C; the start of Section F; and the beginning, middle and end of Section D. Other commentators have similarly noted the strong thematic parallels between Ezek. 3, 18 and 33 (Wevers, Greenberg) All these data indicate that if one were to look for the structural center point of the book, ch. 18 would be the best possibility. This passage is remarkably free from some of the ambiguities and obscurities of the surrounding text. And as Wevers states, “Ezekiel here makes his most valuable contribution, vis. that man is not bound by laws of generation to a fate; rather each man individually faces God and is judged on his own merits.”
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