What is the connection between 'Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!' (Ezekiel 18) and 'A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you' (Ezekiel 36)? The author explores the radical theocentricity of the Ezekiel tradition (with its characteristic formula 'You will know that I am Yahweh') and finds here the key to the tensions of the book. A special concern of this study is to challenge the widely held view that Ezekiel is the prophet of individual responsibility. A close exegesis demonstrates that Ezekiel's overriding emphasis is on the responsibility of the House of Israel as a collective unit. |
