The Rhetorical Function of the Book of Ezekiel
Thomas Renz
Language: English
Pages: 298
ISBN: 0391041622
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In this study, Renz argues that the book of Ezekiel functions as a rhetorical unit, that it addresses a specific rhetorical situation, and that it aims at shaping the self-understanding of the second-generation of Judaean exiles and defining the true Israel. After examining the historical context of the exile, the author addresses the overall literary arrangement and the individual rhetorical techniques in the book. A final chapter explores the book's rhetorical effectiveness in presenting a suitable response to the issues the exilic community faced. Renz offers both a convincing analysis of the book of Ezekiel as well as a model for the fruitful integration of traditional critical methods with more recent literary, rhetorical, and sociological approaches. This book will interest all those who study the history, literature, and theology of ancient Israel. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details."
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Romans von Bunyan bis Beckett (Munich: Fink, 1972), i.e. The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett (Baltimore and London: J o h n Hopkins University Press, 1974). See however Ska, "Our Fathers," p. 40, for predecessors to use the concept, if not the exact terminology. While I will occasionally adhere to the custom to refer to the implied reader in the singular, my use of the plural "readers" or of the generic "readership" on other occasions highlights
election. The manner in which Yahweh deals with "any nation" is the manner in which he deals with Jerusalem and vice versa. Paul Joyce aptly oudines the line of reasoning: V e r s e s 1 2 2 0 ־are c o u c h e d in the test-case f o r m a t w h i c h c h a r a c t e r i z e s the style o f a n u m b e r o f p a s s a g e s in the b o o k a n d w h i c h s e e m s to o w e m u c h to the style o f Priestly case-law. T h u s these verses a p p e a r to lay d o w n a g e n e r a l principle a c c
devastation for the land of the oppressors (35:1-15), then deals with the land of Israel itself, which is vindicated against those who have taken possession of it (36:1-7) and prepared to receive back returning Israel (36:8-12). A short disputation oracle in 36:13-15 affirms that it will no longer be said of the land of Israel that it devours its people ( 1 2 6 . ( א ת י אכלת אדם 125 For a reflection of these two major techniques see Hals, 250f. Hals points out that the bad shepherds
influenced the address of the prophet as •( ?]"אךhere translated as "human one") throughout the book. Ezekiel is the human representative, not only as distinct from God ("only human"), but also as the first of many who are to follow his receptiveness of the word (a "proto-human"). 20 In sum, the text portrays two possible reactions to Yahweh's word. The prophet's audience is an anti-paradigm; the prophet himself exemplifies the way readers should react to the word of Yahweh i.e. literal
be established" (1:232). Zimmerii seems reluctant to commit himself to any interpretation (1:353), but favours a similar view. 106 It is not imperative that the daughters are the subject of the sentence (so the NEB and Brownlee). O n e could also add an impersonal subject: "and (even) this shall not be outside my covenant." But to regard the daughters as the subject of the sentence is perhaps to be preferred. 107 Cf. the similar outline by Bernard Renaud, "L'alliance éternelle d'Éz 16, 5 9 - 6 3