WHEATON COLLEGE

THE WRATH OF YAHWEH IN THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL

SUBMITTED TO DR. DANIEL I. BLOCKIN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

BITH 638-OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY

BYJUSTIN LANGLEY

APRIL 21, 2009

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1

THE ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN CONCEPT OF DIVINE WRATH........................... 2

EZEKIEL’S WRATHFUL VOCABULARY.................................................................... 4

Six Nouns Denoting Yahweh’s Wrath 4

Seven Verbs That Express or Affect Yahweh’s Wrath 7

FOUR CASE STUDIES....................................................................................................10

Ezekiel 5:1-17 11

Ezekiel 7:1-27 13

Ezekiel 13:1-16 16

Ezekiel 16:15-43 17

NEW TESTAMENT TRAJECTORIES............................................................................19

SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUDING THOUGHTS..........................................................20

BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................23

ii

INTRODUCTION

Theologians often reckon with the concept of God’s wrath as that from which a person most

needs salvation. Since theologians often start with the question of salvation, they also start

searching for answers in the New Testament, particularly in Paul’s writings or in the words of

Jesus recorded in the Gospels. However, it seems clear that whatever the New Testament writers

had to say about the wrath of God, they looked to the Hebrew Scriptures as their starting point

for understanding this concept. With that assumption in place, therefore, this study will seek an

understanding of the wrath of Yahweh from within the Hebrew Scriptures, where the prophets

first described and articulated Yahweh’s revelation of his wrath. Since the authors of the Hebrew

Bible spent a vast amount of ink with regard to this topic, this study will limit the investigation to

but one author, namely Ezekiel, chosen primarily because the number of occurrences of Hebrew

terms used for Yahweh’s wrath exceeds the number of occurrences in any other book, except

Psalms.

In order to understand the thought-world within which Ezekiel lived, we will first attempt

a brief analysis of other ancient Near Eastern conceptions of divine wrath. Then, this study will

analyze the vocabulary Ezekiel utilized to express the nature of Yahweh’s wrath. Then, we will

analyze individual pericopes in which Ezekiel discusses Yahweh’s wrath. Next, we will briefly

look ahead and offer some possible New Testament trajectories for Ezekiel’s teachings on

Yahweh’s wrath. Finally, we will synthesize Ezekiel’s teaching about Yahweh’s wrath, and we

will note distinctions between Ezekiel’s portrayals of Yahweh’s wrath with that of other ancient

0

Near Eastern cultures. This study seeks to shed some light on 1) what makes Yahweh angry; 2)

what Yahweh may do in his anger; and 3) how Yahweh’s anger diminishes.

THE ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN CONCEPT OF DIVINE WRATH

People living in the ancient world related every event that they experienced or observed to the

activity of their gods. They did not separate the secular or mundane from the spiritual or

supernatural; gods involved themselves to some degree with every aspect of human life.1 Thus,

people interpreted their individual circumstances as resulting from divine causality. Commonly,

when a person experienced sickness or some other calamity, that person may conclude that he or

she has angered a deity in some way, and therefore, the god has inflicted an illness or caused

trouble for the person. So, people composed texts like this “Prayer to Every God” in order to

plead with a god to relieve their suffering:

May the fury of my lord’s heart be quieted toward me…. The sin which I have done,

indeed I do not know. The forbidden thing which I have eaten, indeed I do not know; The

prohibited (place) on which I have set foot, indeed I do not know. The lord in the anger of

his heart looked at me; The god in the rage of his heart confronted me; When the goddess

was angry with me, she made me become ill. The god whom I know or do not know has

oppressed me; The goddess whom I know or do not know has placed suffering upon me.2

1 See John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Though and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 87.

2 “Prayer to Every God,” translated by Ferris J. Stephens (ANET, 391).

1

These people had no certainty as to why they suffered, but they assumed that they experienced

misfortunes as a result of a god exacting justice for an offense they had unknowingly committed.

Even within the mythological texts of the ancient world, authors portrayed the gods as having

capricious explosions of fury. For example, in the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh Epic, the other gods

do not wish to invite Enlil to the offering after the great flood because Enlil “unreasoning,

brought on the deluge,” and when Enlil saw that someone had survived the great flood on a boat,

he “became angry, He was filled with fury at the gods.”3 This typical portrayal of gods quickly

and easily provoked to anger shows that the people understood that “the wrath of the pagan gods

approaches a malicious and uncontrolled type of ‘passion’ which is often characteristic of an

implacable personality.”4 On occasion, however, some texts describe a deity’s anger as a

legitimate response to people’s disregard or abuse of the rituals designed to please the deity or to

people’s failure to fulfill oaths to which they had called the deity as a witness. Still, “even when

the ancients believed that their gods had legitimate reason to vent anger, they nevertheless

harbored deep anxieties about whether those gods had any internal motivation to control or limit

that anger.”5 These ideas about the gods formed a significant part of the “cognitive environment”

of the ancient Israelites.6 The importance of understanding the ancient Near Eastern concept of

divine anger will become clearer as we investigate Ezekiel’s own presentation of the wrath of

Yahweh, and we will draw comparisons and contrasts as we progress.

3 “Gilgamesh,” translated by Benjamin R. Foster (COS 1.132:460).

4 Gary A. Herion, “Wrath of God, Old Testament,” AYBD 6:991.

5 Ibid., 992-3, italics original.

6 For the term “cognitive environment,” see Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought, 19-26.

2

EZEKIEL’S WRATHFUL VOCABULARY

Ezekiel uses a unique set of Hebrew terms to express and describe Yahweh’s wrath. As much as

possible, we will stay within Ezekiel’s usage of these terms to define them, while appealing to

other biblical literature in order to draw parallels or otherwise illuminate or illustrate their

meanings.

Six Nouns Denoting Yahweh’s Wrath

Ezekiel chooses among six Hebrew nouns to identify Yahweh’s wrath: ע�ם� , ח�מה, ע�ב�רה, חרו�ן, ז

�אה and ,א�ף When denoting Yahweh’s wrath in particular, these words occur in Ezekiel a 7.ק�נ

total of 62 times. We will investigate each one in turn and note some unique features of each.

�ע�ם ז

This word only occurs three times in Ezekiel (21:36; 22:24, 31). In 21:36, it occurs in Yahweh’s

announcement that he will execute judgment on the Ammonites, and in 22:31, it occurs in the

same collocation as an object of the verb ש�פך, directed against Israel. In 22:24, Yahweh refers to

a day of ע�ם� which Israel had not yet experienced. Though often translated “indignation,” the ,ז

root seems to carry the nuance of a particular expression of anger involving a curse or a strong

denunciation.8

חרו�ן

7 Technically, of course, הא� does not denote anger/wrath; however, the term is used frequently in ק�נEzekiel in conjunction with terms for God’s wrath, so I felt compelled to include a study of this word as well.

8 L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, “זעם,” HALOT on CD-ROM 276. Version 3.0f. 2000-2007. Cf. L. J. Wood, ע�ם“ .TWOT 247 ”,ז

3

In Ezekiel’s extended discussion of the day of the wrath of the Lord, this noun occurs twice

(7:12, 14). Jeremiah uses the term frequently modifying א�ף, seemingly to indicate the fierceness

or intensity of Yahweh’s anger. The noun derives from the root חרה, which the lexica explain as

relating to an Aramaic root that means “to burn.”9 However, the authors of the Hebrew Bible

always use the root metaphorically to refer to anger. Though Ezekiel’s two uses of the noun do

not occur in construct relationship with another noun for anger as in Jeremiah, perhaps he

chooses this particular term in this context to mean the same thing, namely, Yahweh’s fierce,

burning anger.

ע�ב�רה

Used four times as part of the unique Ezekelian phrase י ש� ע�ב�ר ���ב ת� � )38:19; 31, 22:21; 21:36 (א� , its

precise derivation remains debated.10 However, in most of the occurrences in the prophetic

corpus, the term closely relates to specific actions of judgment or to specific results that Yahweh

will bring about. This may add some support to the notion that the noun derives from the root

which basically indicates movement across something.11 Ezekiel also uses this term in one ,עבר

other verse, as part of the phrase ה �ה ת י ��יו� ע�ב� �ב ו� ר� ם , on which Yahweh will finally execute

judgment and give full vent to his wrath.12

ח�מה

This word occurs 32 times, much more frequently than any other word for anger that Ezekiel

uses. Another metaphorical term, הח�מ can refer to heat produced by poison,13 and the root shows

9 L. J. Wood, “חרה,” TWOT 322. Cf. G. Sauer, “חרה,” TLOT 472-4.

10 G. Sauer, “הע�ב�ר,” TLOT 835-6.

11 G. van Groningen, “ב�רע,” TWOT 640-4.

12 See below, under the section on Ezekiel 7:1-27.

13 See Deut 32:33, for example.

4

up in Akkadian and in Ugaritic denoting venom.14 Not only does this appear as Ezekiel’s term of

choice for the wrath of Yahweh most often, Ezekiel also uses the term more frequently than any

other author in the Hebrew Bible.15

א�ף

Across the Hebrew Bible, most authors choose א�ף more frequently than any other term to

express the wrath of Yahweh. Ezekiel only uses this term 11 times, and it usually occurs parallel

with ה16.ח�מ The word regularly refers to a person’s (or animal’s) nose or nostrils,17 and scholars

have posited a couple of possible explanations for why it often depicts anger. Some have

highlighted the heavy breathing that often accompanies a person’s anger as the probable

depiction intended.18 Others have pointed out snorting as the background for the imagery.19 Or

perhaps the common flaring of the nostrils in anger best fits the author’s depictions using this

term.20 Whatever the specific anatomical imagery the authors intended, it seems clear that they

recognized that people express anger physically through the nose.

�אה ק�נ

Ezekiel uses this term nine times closely connected to some of the other terms listed above.

Though not a term for wrath or anger in and of itself, it contributes significantly to Ezekiel’s

14 G. Sauer, “הח�מ,” TLOT 435-6.

15 Jeremiah comes in second with 17 occurrences.

16 Ezek 5:13, 15; 7:8; 13:13; 20:8, 21; 22:20; and 25:14.

17 E.g., Gen 2:7; Nu 11:20; Ps 115:6; Song 7:5.

18 L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, “א�ף,” HALOT on CD-ROM 76-7. Version 3.0f. 2000-2007.

19 G. Sauer, “א�ף,” TLOT 168.

20 G. van Groningen, “א�ף,” TWOT 58.

5

portrayal of Yahweh’s wrath.21 Often rendered “jealousy” in English, it seems better to

understand Ezekiel as intending to denote intense passion, particularly “Yahweh’s enthusiasm

for his covenant relationship with Israel.”22

Seven Verbs That Express or Affect Yahweh’s Wrath

Ezekiel uses seven Hebrew verbs in various collocations with the nouns discussed above: עלה ,

נוח, ש�לח, ש�פך, כעס, רגז , and כלה. Some of these verbs show how Yahweh expresses or acts

out his wrath, while others indicate what effects flow out of his wrath or how Yahweh’s wrath

may cease.

עלה

A very common word in the Hebrew Bible, its normal usage denotes upward motion.23 Ezekiel

uses it with this meaning, for example, in 8:11 where he describes a cloud of smoke from incense

going up. However, Ezekiel also uses this term in relation to Yahweh’s wrath arising in 24:8 and

38:18. Perhaps he intends to portray Yahweh’s wrath coming to expression, rising from within

himself, moving from something internal to something visible and external.

רגז

This term only occurs once in Ezekiel (16:43), and his intended meaning remains debated.

Normally a transitive verb in the Qal stem, Ezekiel has attached an object to it: י � This has led .ל�

most English translations to emend the text and re-point the verb as a Hiphil.24 In any case, the

21 Cf. Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1-24 (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 13.

22 Ibid., 211.

23 L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, “עלה,” HALOT on CD-ROM 828. Version 3.0f. 2000-2007. Cf. G. Wehmeier, “עלה,” TLOT 885.

24 Cf. Block, The Book of Ezekiel 1-24, 499 n.222.

6

verb sometimes refers to the effects of earthquakes25 and thus to people trembling due to fear or

anger.26 Therefore, with Yahweh as the object of this verb, it would seem that Ezekiel intends to

portray Israel (or Jerusalem the prostitute; cf. 16:3, 35) as causing Yahweh to tremble in rage.27

כעס

Ezekiel uses this verb three times (8:17; 16:26, 42) to convey the basic emotion of anger.28 In

8:17 and 16:26, he uses the Hiphil form to show that Israel had provoked Yahweh to anger by

their violence and by their unfaithfulness.

ש�פך

This verb regularly means to pour out or spill liquids such as water (Exod 4:9) or broth (Judg

6:20).29 However, Ezekiel and other authors frequently use the term to refer to the violent and

intentional shedding of blood.30 Furthermore, Ezekiel also uses this term metaphorically to depict

the pouring out of the wrath of Yahweh 13 times.31 Apparently, he intends his audience to

25 E.g., Joel 2:10; Amos 8:8.

26 L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, “רגז,” HALOT on CD-ROM 1182-3. Version 3.0f. 2000-2007.

27 In an effort to avoid emending the text, we might prefer to follow Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20 (AYB 22; New Haven: Yale University, 1983), 288, who thinks the verb refers to Israel’s failure to tremble in fear before Yahweh, taking the negative particle at the beginning of the verse to govern both זכר and רגז. But, in light of v. 42, I remain convinced that רגז refers to Yahweh’s anger as a result of Israel’s unfaithfulness.

28 L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, “כעס,” HALOT on CD-ROM 491. Version 3.0f. 2000-2007.

29 Ibid., “ש�פך,” HALOT on CD-ROM 1629. Version 3.0f. 2000-2007.

30 See Ezek 16:38; 22:3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 27; 23:45; 24:7, 8; 33:25; and 36:18.

31 Ezek 7:8; 9:8; 14:19; 20:8, 13, 21, 33, 34; 21:36; 22:22, 31; 30:15; 36:18.

7

recognize the imagery “of a boiling cauldron, whose contents are poured out on an unfortunate

victim.”32

ש�לח

Once, in 7:3, Ezekiel uses this verb to direct the wrath of Yahweh toward Israel. The word

usually means to send (as in 2:3, 4; 3:5, 6), but it also serves to depict the launching of arrows by

an archer (e.g., Ps 18:15; 144:6; Ezek 5:16).33 Thus, Ezekiel here “treats the divine anger as if it

were an arrow to be shot (cf. 5:16), or an envoy to be commissioned.”34

נוח

Four times Ezekiel uses this verb in the Hiphil stem with הח�מ as its direct object (5:13; 16:42;

21:22; 24:13). He also uses it when he describes how Yahweh set him down in the valley in the

midst of a visionary experience (37:1). Frequently, the verb appears expressing the action of rest

or settling down.35 Ezekiel seems to use it in these four passages to indicate that Yahweh’s wrath

(almost personified) has a task to complete and cannot rest until that task comes to completion.

כלה

This term indicates the ceasing of an action or the completion of a task or even the completion of

a particular period of time.36 Ezekiel uses it ten times in connection with either הח�מ or א�ף or

both (5:13 twice; 6:12; 7:8; 13:15; 20:8, 13, 21; 22:31; 43:8), with the first occurrence in the Qal

stem and the other nine in the Piel stem. The repeated usage of this term may have provided

32 Block, The Book of Ezekiel 1-24, 254.

33 M. Delcor and E. Jenni, “ש�לח,” TLOT 1330.

34 Block, The Book of Ezekiel 1-24, 249.

35 F. Stolz, “נוח,” TLOT 722-3.

36 L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, “כלה,” HALOT on CD-ROM 476-7. Version 3.0f. 2000-2007.

8

Ezekiel’s readers with hope that Yahweh’s wrath would complete its mission, and that Yahweh

would finish pouring out his wrath on the nation.37

FOUR CASE STUDIES

In order to understand more fully what Ezekiel teaches about Yahweh’s wrath, we must take a

look at several texts. Word studies can only provide skeletal data on which we may then build

from the contexts in which Ezekiel uses these words. The texts under consideration all come

from chapters 1-24, since chapter 24 records the vision given to Ezekiel on the very day of the

beginning of Jerusalem’s siege and destruction as the ultimate execution of Yahweh’s wrath.38

Ezekiel 5:1-17

Ezekiel 5 begins with Yahweh commanding Ezekiel to perform a dramatic prophetic portrayal of

the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel cuts off the hair of his face and head and separates

it into three parts; he then burns one part, slices another part with a sword, and scatters the other

part in the wind. As he did this, he took a small number of hairs and hid them in his robe, as

commanded by Yahweh (5:1-4). Yahweh then states that Jerusalem has rebelled against him by

disobeying his rules and acting even more wickedly than the surrounding nations. He clearly

articulates that their wicked rebellion has brought Yahweh’s decision to execute judgment upon

them (5:5-8). The language recalls both Lev 26 and Deut 28, where Yahweh reveals what he will

do if Israel breaks his covenant (Lev 26:15). Yahweh makes clear in vv. 5-12 the many

37 Cf. J. N. Oswalt, “הלכ,” TWOT 439-40.

38 See Ralph H. Alexander, “Ezekiel,” in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gæbelein; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 741.

9

legitimate reasons why he must judge this wicked people. He lists the following reasons for the

impending doom:

Jerusalem rebelled against Yahweh’s rules and statutes (5:6; cf. Lev 26:14-15)

Jerusalem is more wicked and turbulent than the nations that are all around her (5:6-7a)

Jerusalem has not walked in Yahweh’s statutes or obeyed his rules (5:7b; cf. Lev 26:3;

Deut 28:15)

Jerusalem has not even acted according to the rules of the nations around her (5:7c)

Jerusalem’s abominations (5:9)

Jerusalem has defiled Yahweh’s sanctuary with all of her detestable things and

abominations (5:11)

Because of these things, Yahweh must execute judgments as he stands against them (5:8; cf. Lev

26:17). He says, then, that the following will result from his judgments, showing that “the

covenant curses of Leviticus have become Ezekiel’s prophetic dooms”:39

Fathers will eat their sons and sons will eat their fathers (5:10a; cf. Lev 26:29; Deut

28:53-57)

Yahweh will scatter the people (5:10b, 12c; cf. Lev 26:33; Deut 28:64)

Yahweh will withdraw (5:11)

Death will occur due to pestilence and famine (5:12; cf. Lev 26:25; Deut 28:21)

In bringing all of these things to pass in judgment on Jerusalem, Yahweh explains in 5:13 that

this is how his anger will come to its end (י ה א� �כ פ��ו ל� ), as he brings it to rest on the wicked people

39 Mark F. Rooker, “The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Ezekiel,” FM 15 (1998): 47.

10

ם) י י ח#מ �חו� �ה#נ �ו ב� � ת� � ת� ). When this happens, Yahweh will assuage himself (י� �ת מ� �� �ה�נ �ו ח� )40 after having

to express such excited passion (י �א �ב��ק�נ ת� ).

Moreover, Yahweh indicates that when he finishes being angry with them, they will

know that he is Yahweh. This is the first of 72 occurrences of the so-called “recognition

formula” in Ezekiel.41 Therefore, Yahweh’s exercising of judgment in wrath has the underlying

purpose of bringing his people to a genuine knowledge of who he is. He follows this statement

with a reiteration of all that he will bring to pass in judgment against them in vv. 14-17 with an

additional “panoply of stereotyped dooms … drawn from the curses for covenant malfeasance

found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.”42 Indeed, even the recognition formula reflects

Yahweh’s repeated self-identification in Lev 26: “I am Yahweh your God” (Lev 26:1; cf. 26:2,

13, 45).

Ezekiel 7:1-27

Yahweh directs his word of judgment in chapter 7 through Ezekiel against the land of Israel (

ל ת יש$�ר �ל�א�ד� א� � מ� ) in particular (7:1-2).43 He depicts the land as a target at which Yahweh will

loose the arrow of his wrath.44 Yahweh pronounces the end of the land of Israel, probably

referring metonymically to the people of Israel (7:3). The usage of ץ� seems to reflect a common ק�

40 For a similar understanding of י� �ת מ� �� �ה�נ �ו ח� , see G. A. Cooke, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel (ICC 21; Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1936), 61. Cf. H. J. Stoebe, “נחם,” TLOT 737.

41 Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1: A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapters 1-24 (Hermeneia; trans. R. E. Clements; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979), 38.

42 Michael Fishbane, “Sin and Judgment in the Prophecies of Ezekiel,” Int 38 (1984): 147. Cf. Rooker, “Use of the Old Testament,” 49.

43 This phrase is unique to Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. He uses it in 7:2; 11:17; 12:22; 13:9; 18:2; 20:38, 42; 21:7, 8; 25:3, 6; 33:24; 36:6; 37:12; 38:18, 19.

44 Cf. the discussion of ש�לח above.

11

doom proclamation of prophets in the ancient world; it has the sense of, “Time is up!”45 He

summarizes his resolved commitment to go through with his judgment saying, “And my eye will

not spare you, nor will I have pity” (7:4, ESV).46 Yahweh uses this phraseology seven times in

Ezekiel, and the language is also found five times in Deuteronomy.47 Yahweh again shows that

his purpose in all of this remains that the people would know him.

In vv. 5-10, Yahweh repeats the announcement of impending doom with the exclamation

of ה �ר ע� . Here, Yahweh individualizes the coming judgment as coming on ר�ץ ב ה �יו� א� ש� , inhabitant

of the land (v. 7), probably representing the collective people of Israel. He speaks of the

approaching day on which he would pour out his wrath on them and complete his anger against

them, judging them according to their wicked ways (vv. 7-8). Yahweh must repay them for their

abominations in accord with their ways, even as they continue to practice those abominations (v.

9). Yahweh repeats the recognition formula with an added participle, identifying Yahweh as the

one who strikes, lest they should question who, in fact, brings this terrible judgment upon them.

Furthermore, the repetition in this section between vv. 2-4 and vv. 5-9 serves to highlight the

urgency of this proclamation, “like two trumpet blasts of a watchman.”48

This section reflects the language of Isa 13 and Zeph 1, where they each discuss the day

of Yahweh. All three texts speak of the day as near (Ezek 7:7; Isa 13:6; Zeph 1:7, 14); all three

texts speak of the day involving Yahweh’s wrath (Ezek 7:3, 8, 12, 14, 19; Isa 13:3, 9, 13; Zeph

1:15, 18); and all three involve Yahweh’s repaying the people for their wickedness (Ezek 7:3, 4,

45 Cf. Block, The Book of Ezekiel 1-24, 248, and Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20, 147. Against Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1, 204.

46 Cf. Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20, 115.

47 Ezek 5:11; 7:4, 9; 8:18; 9:5, 10; and 16:5. Cf. the similar language in Deut 7:16; 13:8; 19:13, 21; and 25:12.

48 Block, The Book of Ezekiel 1-24, 243.

12

8, 9; Isa 13:11; Zeph 1:8, 9, 12).49 Ezekiel’s verbiage very closely resembles Zephaniah’s in

several places; for example, compare Ezek 7:19, “Their silver and gold are not able to deliver

them in the day of the wrath of the LORD,” with Zeph 1:18, “Neither their silver nor their gold

shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD.”50

Yahweh continues to announce the certain coming doom on the people of Israel in vv.

10-13. The people’s violence has increased and grown into total wickedness, Yahweh will sweep

them away completely (v. 11). In v. 13, he indicates that the vision of doom concerns everything

Israel is and has, and he has committed to bring this to pass; nothing can stop the coming wrath.51

Finally, he notes that each person’s iniquity has brought on the coming wrath.

In vv. 14-15, Yahweh again brings in the language of the covenant curses of Lev 26 with

the mention of sword, pestilence, and famine overtaking the people. The imagery depicts a

military invasion which would utterly defeat them; the people will find no protection and will not

be able to stand against their enemy (vv. 16-17).52 This military invasion represents the day of

the wrath of Yahweh. In response to their calamity, they try to buy off their enemy with silver

and gold, but their money will not help them at all on that day;53 silver and gold cannot remedy

sword, pestilence, and famine (v. 19ab). Indeed, Yahweh indicates that their money caused them

to sin in some way (v. 19c). They even used the temple treasures to make idols to worship (v.

49 However, though the linguistic parallels are clearly there between Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Zephaniah, Isaiah’s oracle is against Babylon rather than Israel, and Zephaniah universalizes his message for the whole world. Cf. also Isa 22.

50 For other similarities that may imply the direct influence of Zephaniah on Ezekiel, see Block, The Book of Ezekiel 1-24, 245-6.

51 Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20, 150.

52 Lamar Eugene Cooper, Sr., Ezekiel (NAC 17; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 114.

53 Cf. Fishbane, “Sin and Judgment,” 150.

13

20).54 Finally, as a vivid depiction of what will come to pass on the day of the wrath of Yahweh,

he says that foreign enemies will take all their silver and gold and all their temple treasures and

profane the sanctuary (vv. 21-22).

The final section of chapter 7 continues the theme of the previous paragraph: Yahweh

will bring a foreign nation to conquer Israel. He begins by explaining the reason that this must

come to pass: “For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence” (v. 23). The

people will seek peace in the aftermath of their conquest, but they will have no peace (vv. 24-

25). In all of this, Yahweh judges them in accord with their way and in accord with their

judgments (v. 27). He closes this oracle again with the recognition formula, reminding them of

the goal of the day of the wrath of Yahweh: that the people will know him.

Ezekiel 13:1-16

Yahweh directs this oracle in Ezek 13 against the false prophets of Ezekiel’s day. He compares

them with jackals among the ruins of a destroyed city (v. 4). They treat the people of Israel like

their prey, abusing them with lying visions that they have dreamed up in their own hearts (vv. 2-

3, 6-7). In v. 5, Yahweh indicts them for not going up into the breaches and building up the wall

of Israel, so that it could stand on the day of Yahweh. The imagery comes from siege warfare,

whereby the enemy approaches a city’s wall with battering rams in order to make a breach in the

wall through which their soldiers might march in order to take the city.55 Apparently, the only

way to defend against the soldiers coming through the breach was having some of the defending

54 Cf. Block, The Book of Ezekiel, 264.

55 For archaeological and iconographic information about these practices, see Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands: In the Light of Archaeological Discovery (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963), 315, 422-25.

14

city’s people physically climb up into the gap to ward off the intruding army.56 This imagery may

continue behind Yahweh’s description of the false prophets’ smearing the wall with whitewash;

rather than building up the wall with substantive defenses, they merely paint over the breach so

that the people will remain unaware of the impending doom.57 Yahweh uses this imagery again

in 22:30, where he says that he sought out someone among the leadership of the Israel (prophets,

priests, and royalty) who would stand in the breach, but he could not find a single person who

would do the job. In light of this passage, the metaphor implies that Yahweh actually is the

invading army who is about to break through the wall of the city to plunder and destroy in

judgment. The false prophets’ lies may be contrasted with Ezekiel’s proclamation from Yahweh

that judgment is near. But we must keep in mind that Ezekiel’s message is not actually directed

to the people of Jerusalem but rather to the exiles of Babylon. If an Ezekiel would have risen up

to speak truth to the people in Jerusalem, the people may have repented of their wickedness and

Yahweh would have stayed his hand (22:30).58 This seems to reflect the principle of the

watchman; the prophets’ responsibility from Yahweh was to give warning to the people when

their deeds would bring judgment (3:17-21).

Yahweh then declares the prophets’ exclusion from the privileges of Israel (vv. 8-9), and

by their exclusion the people would know that Yahweh is God. He then assures them that, even

though the prophets had assured the people that the wall would stand as they smeared it with

whitewash, he will bring the wall down with rain, hailstones, and great wind (vv. 10-14).

56 Christoph Schroeder, “’Standing in the Breach’: Turning Away the Wrath of God,” Int 52 (1998): 19.

57 Cf. Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 1-19 (WBC 28; Dallas: Word, 1994), 201.

58 Cf. Schroeder, “Standing,” 19, though I differ him in that he argues that the actual performance of justice to restore “social cohesion and stability of the community” is what the metaphor is trying to portray. I am arguing that the metaphor points specifically to the obligation of the prophets to speak truth to the people to give them the opportunity to repent.

15

Through this metaphorical meteorological barrage, Yahweh’s wrath would accomplish its

mission: the false prophets will cease lying to the people, and the judgment will be complete

against the wicked people of Israel (vv. 13-15).59 The recognition formula follows in v. 15,

indicating that the false prophets will know that he is Yahweh when all of this calamity comes to

pass.

Ezekiel 16:15-43

Ezekiel 16 paints a vivid picture in which Yahweh finds Israel as an abandoned infant, adopts

her, and then marries her. To these gracious gestures Israel responds with wicked unfaithfulness.

Vv. 1-14 depict Yahweh basically stumbling upon this abandoned baby girl, still lying in the

blood of her birth. He caused her to live and rescued her and empowered her to grow (vv. 4-7).

Yahweh passed by her again when she was a teenager, and he spread his cloak over her and

entered into a marriage covenant with her (v. 8). He then exalted and pampered her and made her

famous among the nations (vv. 9-14). All that Yahweh had done for her to make her beautiful

and famous she then twisted, attracting illicit lovers of the nations around her.

The lewd imagery utilized in these verses to depict Israel’s idolatrous rebellion against

her husband Yahweh is remarkable. Verses 16-21 portray how Israel took the very gifts Yahweh

had given her of gold, silver, clothing, and bread, and used them to make idols. Even more

abominable than this, she took her very children, Yahweh’s children, and sacrificed them to

these idols! Yahweh summarizes the fundamental reason why she did these things: “you did not

remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood,” the

59 There is a play on the word כלה in vv. 13-15: Yahweh will bring his wrath to completion (interpreting the Qal infinitive construct of v. 13 as a purpose clause), which will cause the false prophets to cease their lying (v. 14), and in this way Yahweh will finish his wrath (v. 15).

16

days when Yahweh gave her life, rescued her from her pitiable state, and adorned her with the

most profound beauty (v. 22).

Continuing the description of Israel’s wickedness, Yahweh describes how she then began

to flaunt her beauty before the nations, inviting them to come and spend the night with her (vv.

23-26a). Yahweh has elaborately described all of this to detail the reason his anger is coming.

Her whoredom has provoked Yahweh to anger (v. 26b).Verse 27 seems to imply an “interim

punishment” intended to curb Israel’s wickedness, but then he notes that she continued to “play

the whore” with Assyria and Chaldea (vv. 28-29).60 Yahweh then breaks in with an interjection

of his own anger towards his wife for her behavior,61 and he again grounds his anger specifically

in the adulterous actions he has just metaphorically narrated (vv. 31-34).

In vv. 35-37, Yahweh addresses the prostitute directly, telling her that he will turn her

lovers against her. Whereas he had earlier covered her nakedness in gracious pity (v. 8), now he

will expose her nakedness for the nations to abuse and punish (v. 37). Thus, he executes the

death penalty due to both murderers and adulterers, since she had murdered her own children and

had committed adultery with other nations (v. 38).62 Thus, Yahweh will deliver Israel over to her

neighbors, and they will plunder her in a complete reversal of fortunes for Israel (vv. 39-41). As

Yahweh brings the nations against Israel he will bring his wrath to rest upon them, and his

excited passion will turn away from them. When this occurs, Yahweh says that he will relax and

his anger will subside (v. 42). After this, we might expect the recognition formula, but instead

Yahweh reiterates his reason for judging them in this way: the people had caused him to tremble

60 Allen, Ezekiel 1-19, 240.

61 For discussion of the enigmatic Hebrew phrase � ך � �ה א#מ)ל ל�ב ת� ה � .see Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20, 283. Cf ,מ�Block, The Book of Ezekiel 1-24, 496-7.

62 The death penalty for murderers is found in Exod 21:12 (not to mention Gen 9:6); the death penalty for adulterers is found in Lev 20:10. See Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1, 347, and Allen, Ezekiel 1-19, 242.

17

in rage because they did not remember his grace to them in former days and instead turned to

commit lewdness and abominable idolatry (v. 43).63

NEW TESTAMENT TRAJECTORIES

Having studied much of how the book of Ezekiel portrays the wrath of Yahweh, we can now

look to the New Testament to see how the authors of the New Testament might have reflected on

or developed Ezekiel’s teachings.64 The first possible affinity comes in the preaching of John the

Baptist. He calls out the Pharisees in the crowd, wondering who warned them of the coming

wrath (Matt 3:7; cf. Luke 3:7). This sounds very similar to Ezekiel’s language in Ezek 7, where

Yahweh announces that the day for pouring out his wrath is near (7:7, 8; cf. 30:3). Also from

Ezek 7, the book of James, in his words against the rich, may reflect Ezekiel’s words about silver

and gold not having any ability to deliver the people from the coming wrath of Yahweh (Jas 5:1-

6). Finally, the book of Revelation contains some significant affinities with the imagery of

Ezekiel. Ten times, Ezekiel refers to the finishing of Yahweh’s wrath, using the term כלה. The

Septuagint translates this term with συντελέω, eight out of ten times when it is used

concerning Yahweh’s wrath. Revelation 15 opens with John seeing seven angels with seven

plagues, and he comments at the end of v. 1,“With [these plagues] the wrath of God is finished,”

using the verb τελέω. Thus, the last act of Yahweh’s wrath will take place in the pouring out of

the seven bowls. We have already reflected on the imagery of pouring out the wrath of Yahweh

in Ezekiel; here, John sees the final outpouring of his wrath out of bowls that affect every area of

63 See the discussion of רגז above.

64 After all, one author at least has recognized Ezekiel as the “bridge between the testaments.” See C. Hassell Bullock, “Ezekiel, Bridge Between the Testaments,” JETS 25 (1982): 23-31.

18

creation permeated by the wickedness of humanity. In this, the refrain of the judgment cycles of

Revelation is repeated: “They did not repent of their deeds” (Rev 16:11; cf. Rev 9:20, 21; 16:9).

SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

The oracles of Ezekiel contain many descriptions and explanations of the wrath of Yahweh. We

may draw several conclusions from Ezekiel’s portrayal. First, Yahweh expresses his wrath

always in conjunction with judgment of people for profound wickedness. We noted several times

the connections in Ezekiel with the covenant curses in Lev 26 and Deut 28. Thus, “the persistent

theme of divine judgment of Jerusalem (and Judea) for her sins makes it clear that the

punishment to come is the personal justice of Israel’s covenantal God, not simply the working

out of some impersonal principle of natural balance or retribution.”65 Thus, he seems to fulfill the

covenant curses against the people when they have broken the covenant. Yahweh lists

emphatically and repeatedly the reasons for his wrath. This sets him off significantly from the

gods of other nations in the ancient world. He acts rationally and in the interests of his people.

We cannot get the impression from reading Ezekiel that Yahweh “is at once involved in the

world, and yet is not affected and does not get angry when disobedience occurs, or when

injustice is done. … [Rather], God is affected by all that God creates, even as God affects all of

creation.”66

In Ezekiel 16, for example, we read that Israel has provoked him to wrath with her

harlotries. “That God’s anger is ‘provoked’ … reveals that God is moved by what people do and

shows that anger is a divine response and not a divine attribute. God’s anger is contingent; if

65 Fishbane, “Sin and Judgment,” 148.

66 Rufus Burrows, Jr., “The Love, Justice, and Wrath of God,” Enc 59 (1998): 385.

19

there were no sin, there would be no divine anger.”67 As Yahweh interacts with his people, he

responds to their wickedness and disobedience with wrath and judgment. In Ezekiel, it is

particularly clear that Yahweh’s exercise of wrath and judgment is for the benefit of the people,

as the recognition formula occurs so frequently. He wants his people to know him as he is, and as

they are disobedient and rebellious, he must bring them back to himself through judgment.68

Even in Ezek 16, however, Yahweh proclaims a word of hope. Though they have utterly broken

the covenant, and he will execute judgment and fulfill the covenant curses with full force,

Yahweh will still remember his covenant and establish it with his people, and they will, in truth,

know Yahweh (16:59-63). Yahweh hints at this hope by using the terms כלה and ש�פך. Both of

these terms imply that his anger with the people will only last for a time and that it will subside

once it has been completely poured out (cf. Ps 30:6).69

When Yahweh is angry, he may express his anger in a variety of ways, but, in Ezekiel’s

oracles, every judgment that will come about in his wrath reflects the curses laid out in the

covenant (i.e., Lev 26; Deut 28). These effects can include military conquest, death, sickness,

famine, plague, earthquake, and most notably exile.70 Breaking the covenant stipulations is the

primary reason the wrath of Yahweh is ever kindled, though the people of Israel had broken the

covenant in a variety of ways.71 Repentance and returning to faithfulness to Yahweh and his

covenant can turn away his wrath and his threats of punishment. Ezekiel 22:30 shows that

67 Terence E. Fretheim, “’I was only a little angry’: Divine Violence in the Prophets,” Int 58 (2004): 373.

68 Bruce Edward Baloian, Anger in the Old Testament (American University Studies, Series VII: Theology and Religion 99; New York: Peter Lang, 1992), 76.

69 Terence E. Fretheim, “Theological Reflections on the Wrath of God in the Old Testament,” HBT 24 (2002): 19. Cf. Burrows, “The Love, Justice, and Wrath,” 390.

70 For a comprehensive list, cf. Baloian, Anger, 99.

71 See Seth Erlandsson, “The Wrath of YHWH,” TynBul 23 (1972): 113.

20

Yahweh looked hard for someone who would proclaim the people’s need to repent and return to

covenant faithfulness, but he found no one. Thus, this text implies that if he had found someone

to do this, the people might have repented and Yahweh would not have had to pour out his wrath

on them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander, Ralph H. “Ezekiel.” Pages 737-996 in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary 6. Edited by Frank E. Gæbelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986.

Allen, Leslie C. Ezekiel 1-19. Word Biblical Commentary 28. Dallas: Word, 1994.

Baloian, Bruce Edward. Anger in the Old Testament. American University Studies, Series VII: Theology and Religion 99. New York: Peter Lang, 1992.

Block, Daniel I. The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1-24. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.

Bullock, C. Hassell. “Ezekiel, Bridge Between the Testaments.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 25 (1982): 23-31.

Burrow, Rufus, Jr. “The Love, Justice, and Wrath of God.” Encounter 59.3 (1998): 379-407.

Cooke, G. A. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel. International Critical Commentary 21. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1936.

Cooper, Lamar Eugene Sr., Ezekiel. New American Commentary 17. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994.

Erlandsson, Seth. “The Wrath of YHWH.” Tyndale Bulletin 23 (1972): 111-6.

Fishbane, Michael A. “Sin and Judgment in the Prophecies of Ezekiel.” Interpretation 38:2 (1984): 131-50.

Fretheim, Terence E. “‘I was only a little angry’: Divine Violence in the Prophets.” Interpretation 58:4 (2004): 365-75.

21

________. “Theological Reflections on the Wrath of God in the Old Testament.” Horizons in Biblical Theology 24:2 (2002): 1-26.

Greenberg, Moshe. Ezekiel 1-20. The Anchor Yale Bible 22. New Haven: Yale University, 1983.

Hallo, William W., ed. Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World. Vol. 1 of The Context of Scripture. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997.

Harris, R. Laird, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, eds. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody, 1980.

Herion, Gary A. “Wrath of God, Old Testament.” Pages 989-96 in vol. 6 of The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

Jenni, Ernst, and Claus Westermann. Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. 3 vols. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997.

Koehler, Ludwig and Walter Baumgartner, eds. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament on CD-ROM. Logos Library System Version 3.0f. 2000-2007. Print ed.: Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, eds. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Rev. by Walter Baumgartner and Johann Jakob Stamm. Translated by M. E. J. Richardson. 5 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994-2000.

Lopez, René A. “Do Believers Experience the Wrath of God?” Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society 15:2 (2002): 45-66.

Pritchard, James B., ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 3d ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

Rooker, Mark F. “The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Ezekiel.” Faith and Mission 15:2 (1998): 45-50.

Schroeder, Christoph. “‘Standing in the Breach’: Turning Away the Wrath of God.” Interpretation 52:1 (1998): 16-23.

Walton, John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006.

Yadin, Yigael. The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands: In the Light of Archaeological Discovery. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963.

Zimmerli, Walther. Ezekiel 1: A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapters 1-24. Translated by Ronald E. Clements. Hermeneia. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979.

22