Abstract

DE VRIES, Pieter. The presence of YHWH in exile according to the Book of Ezekiel, with special reference to the meaning of the expression מִקְדָּ֣שׁמְעַט in Ezekiel 11:16. Old testam. essays [online]. 2018, vol.31, n.1, pp.264-279. ISSN 2312-3621.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2018/v31n1a13.

In Ezek 11:16, we find the promise that YHWH will be for the people of Israel in exile a –’—‘•’’—“ –‘–’•. This promise of YHWH is an answer to the desperate exclamation of the prophet: "Ah, Lord God! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?" (Ezek 11:13b).¹ In this article, I investigate not only whether we must understand this expression as "a little sanctuary" or "a sanctuary for a while", but also in what sense we must understand the presence of YHWH among the exiles in the form of a sanctuary. Ezekiel was the only Hebrew prophet mentioned in the HB to receive his calling in exile. The kernel of his message was that hope for Israel would exclusively be realized through the exilic community. The readers of his book are urged to distance themselves from the past and orientate themselves on the future. In his second vision, the prophet sees the glory of YHWH depart the temple. This is the very time at which he receives the promise for the exilic community that YHWH will be for them a –’—‘•’’—“ –‘–’•. This expression can be understood both as a small and a temporal sanctuary. In exile, both the prophet himself and the oracles of hope he receives mediate the presence of YHWH for the exilic community. Hence, we can say that the message of the prophet Ezekiel is the embodiment of the –’—‘•’’—“ –‘–’•, and especially with the final vision of the return of the glory of YHWH to a completely new and purified temple, Ezekiel the prophet functions as a priest. This vision gives hope to the exiles in their present condition. It also makes clear that when that is fulfilled, a –’—‘•’’—“ –‘–’• will be finally be a thing of the past. The temporary character of the –’—‘•’’—“ will then definitely have elapsed, and the presence of YHWH will no longer be a reduced presence.

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