The bawdy speech of an angry, loving God: Ezekiel’s dilemma

The prophet Ezekiel reports the words of an angry, loving God who repetitively communicates “lamentations, mourning, and woe,” the taste of which is – this is the kicker - “as sweet as honey” (Ezek 2:10). How can the taste of anticipatory lament be as sweet as honey? In the answer to that question lies the mystery of the book of Ezekiel’s power.

Ezekiel heard God speak to him in long, drawn-out sentences riddled with hypotaxis, a symphony of sound, and violent, sexual imagery. Ezekiel saw visions of God encased in fire, wheels inside of wheels covered with eyes, multi-headed beasts, bones that clatter and come back to life, Gog of Magog marching as to war, and a New Temple built over a gargantuan river of life.

Ezekiel built a model of Jerusalem under siege, laid on one side and then another for hundreds of days, with the model of the city separated from him by a cast-iron plate, with cords binding his body, his bare arm raised, and his face set against the city. All the while he was to eat impure food cooked over human excrement (Ezek 4).

To whom does the God of Ezekiel compare the Jerusalem he so jealously loves? To a beautiful wench who spread her legs for every passerby. Even the Egyptians, big of phallus, were shocked by her lewd behavior. “Bloody and impassioned fury” is the recompense God promises her (Ezek 16).

The God of Ezekiel is not a wish-projection, but a terror-projection.

The God-speech of Ezekiel is riveting. Through the good offices of an aunt, I was invited to preach on a text of my choice in her home church among the cornfields of Missouri. I don’t know what got into me. The text I chose was Ezekiel 16, all 63 sexually charged verses. The church was packed to the gills. Hardwood floors everywhere, the floors creaked if any weight was placed upon them. Without consulting me, the parson of the place read the passage himself – in the KJV, so that his beloved community would not understand it.

Little did he know. Little did he know that I had prepared and practiced a fresh translation of the Hebrew, in which the full allusive force of Ezekiel’s language was palpable. I began with that. Silence filled the sanctuary. Not a floorboard stirred. Faces flushed in front of my own, I began my exposition.

The dilemma Ezekiel faced was grave. He knew beforehand that his words might announce the possibility of repentance, but could and would not lead to repentance. Only at a future point of time of God’s own choosing, in blazing, loving wrath, God would rip out the heart of stone between their ribs, replace it with one of soft flesh, and compel the people to keep his laws (Ezek 36:26-27).

That was in the future. In the meantime, the divne word would fall on ears intent on the violent, sexual tropes thereof alone. Only later, when the end came, would they know that a prophet had been in their midst.

The text which brings this out is Ezekiel 33:30-33. For a fresh translation, go here.

Comments

[Adam Couturier]

I can only imagine the terror and dread in the congregants' eyes.

p.s. I posed a question on Hebrew Pedagogy on my blog. I was curious if you would weigh in on that?

[Bryan]

This is a nicely written post!

I have to know: what was the central message of your sermon that morning? What comments did you get?

[Stephen Barkley]

Your little finger must be thicker than most preacher's waists to have chosen that passage.

I've imagined preaching on Ezekiel 16 or 23, but have never had the courage . . . yet.

Any chance that message was recorded?

[JohnFH]

No, my sermon was not recorded (thank goodness).

I kept the focus on the national level, talked about the sins of the United States, how Republicans and Democrats draw up lists of sins designed to incriminate those they think their constituencies perceive as opponents and enemies of the peace.

I said that we need to draw up a list that is self-incriminating. Otherwise we never enter the repentance / renewal dynamic Ezekiel envisions.

In some ways, all of Ezekiel is political theology. Figuring out how to follow Zeke's example in our context is an urgent task.

[JohnFH]

Adam,

I do have some ideas about pedagogy. You might consider joining NAPH. The Cohelet program in that context is doing some interesting work:

A four-day workshop in Communicative Biblical Hebrew Pedagogy will be offered from June 9-12, 2009 (Tuesday - Friday), in Ashland, Ohio, on the campus of Ashland Theological Seminary (located a little over one hour from airports in Cleveland, Columbus, and Akron/Canton, Ohio).

The workshop will provide skills so that instructors may successfully employ Second Language Acquisition communicative pedagogy to teach an introductory course in Biblical Hebrew. Two workshop foci will help make this possible: a) training and actual practice in communicative pedagogy for Biblical Hebrew, and b) the transitioning of instructors’ reading skills in Biblical Hebrew so they may lead immersion exchanges in the communicative classroom.

The workshop will be led by members of the Communicative Hebrew Learning and Teaching [“Cohelet”] Project (a three-year project which developed and field-tested communicative materials [see http://seminary.ashland.edu/cohelet/ ]). While classroom materials developed through the Cohelet Project will enable ready implementation of pedagogy principles, participants also will be encouraged to explore ways communicative principles may enhance the use of non-communicative materials which they already may have found useful.

To ensure an effective facilitator / participant ratio, the number of participants will be limited to ten. The cost for the four-day workshop is $200. Reasonably-priced hotels and restaurants are available within a short drive of the workshop site.

If you have questions or wish to receive a registration form, please contact Paul Overland at the following email address:

poverlan@ashland.edu

A registration form will be sent to interested persons later this month.

[Adam Couturier]

Hello John,

Thanks for the reply. I received an email from Paul Overland about this project's workshop. A former professor of mine was part of the field testing team, and I would really like to be apart of this. I just need to figure out if I am still trying to make it out to the SBL meeting in LA, because I won't be able to do both.

[JohnFH]

Hi Adam,

To return to the theme of the post at the top of this thread, you need a sugar daddy, better yet, a sugar mamma. Seriously, in my context (United Methodist), it's not uncommon for the pockets of sem students to be lined occasionally by a wealthy member of their congregation of reference.

Sugar mammas are, statistically, easier to come by than sugar daddies. Plus, they know how to make better tea. I have a friend who had her whole way paid through seminary by a widow of her congregation. I think the only thing she had to do in return was to allow herself and her family to be invited over once a year for dinner.

It's your pastor who might find you a matron / patron for such purposes. You are free to copy this comment to his or her attention.

[Adam Couturier]

I really think I am going to make this thing in Ohio happen. I think that this approach will make my Hebrew stronger, and help me be a better educator of the language.

Nice chatting with you!

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