Theological Bites
In the history of Israel, two great events highly define them as a people and the God they worship. The first is the Exodus from the slavery of Egypt and the second one is the Exile to foreign lands, majorly Babylon and Assyria. In the former, they recognize a mighty god known as Yahweh who delivers them from a slave master (Pharaoh) whom they had failed to escape for over four hundred years. In the latter, their disobedience to the god (Yahweh) of their Exodus directly participates in their exile. It is interesting to note the prophets of Israel (Deutro-Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Hosea) do not attribute their captivity to the foreign powers like Babylon and Assyria but to Yahweh.
Their message to the people of Israel is that we are not captives to these nations because these nations are strong but rather, we are captives to these nations and exiled because Yahweh has deserted us and sided with these nations. The reason as to why he has behaved thus is our disobedience and violation of the covenant. This is what is known as the retribution principle. We have addressed the theology of retribution especially in the book of Job. Let us turn to the theological aspects of Prophet Ezekiel.
SON OF MAN
Throughout the book, Ezekiel records Yahweh addressing him as ‘Son of Man’. God doesn’t call him Prophet or even his name but Son of Man. Son of man appears more than 90 times in the book. The Hebrew for ‘Son of Man’ is ‘Ben Adam’. The best translation for this can be son/child of man. For theologians like myself who do not subscribe to the historical man named Adam, God here is not addressing Ezekiel as a descendant of that historical Adam but instead addressing his as a human being.
The overemphasis of this identity throughout the book has majorly two reasons;
- Contrast and
- Communication.
Yahweh addresses Ezekiel as Ben Adam to remind Ezekiel that he is man and God is God. Ezekiel is mortal and carnal while God is immortal, eternal and celestial. A contrast is drawn repeatedly throughout this book to ensure that however holy and good Ezekiel might be or even ever be, he is a Ben-Adam. He is human, Period. The communication in this address is that while Ezekiel and his likes are human, God has excessively much to do with Ben Adam than he has to do with any other creature he created.
The communication is that Yahweh who is transcendent, in a state of a supra-being has, and intends a communion with the fallible pure human beings like us the Ben Adams. Yahweh addressing Ezekiel as Son of Man has present implications in his day as well as a significance in the latter prophets.
For instance, while ‘Son of Man’ is Ezekiel’s title in the book of Ezekiel, ‘Son of Man’ is a title of an anticipated divine Messiah in the book of Daniel (Daniel 7:13-14). In Daniel, the son of man is not a pure human being like it is in Ezekiel, but instead, a divine messiah is the son of man. In other words, in Ezekiel, we have a pure man exclusive of any divinity in nature addressed as ‘Son of Man’, but in Daniel, we have a combination of humanity and divinity addressed as ‘Son of Man’.
This title does not end in the Old Testament prophets but crosses over to the New Testament and there, it is used by Jesus Christ on himself (Mathew 16:27; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:21,62; Luke 7:34; 21:27). Jesus addressed himself as ‘son of man’ to communicate two truths; 1. he was fully human and 2. that he was the Messiah prophesied by Daniel. Jesus was a human being in all human capacities and propensities (Hebrews 2:14; 1John 4:2-3; Romans 1:3; John 1:14) and was God himself (John 1:1-3, 14).
It is therefore in Ezekiel that we are first introduced to the truth of the coming son of man. All humanity is son of man at the level of Ezekiel and these cannot help themselves out of their problem but only the kind of Son of Man in Daniel and in the New Testament is the only son of man who can help his kind (Hebrews) out of they cannot by themselves (John 3:13). From this exile setting, it is hinted upon that the problem of the son of man can be solved by a different son of man.
REBELLIOUS NOT DISOBEDIENT
From the Pentateuch through all the writings and a large portion of the Prophets, the recurrent theme is DISOBEDIENCE. However, in Ezekiel, we have another concept presented to us. Yahweh sends Ezekiel not to the disobedient people but to the rebellious people (Ezekiel 2:3; 12:2). There is both a practical and conceptual difference between disobedience and rebellion. It doesn’t take too much for anyone trained or layman to define what disobedience is. Disobedience is acting contrary to a stipulated law and a known Principal’s will.
All Christians who know about the law and the will of God but act contrary are disobedient. It is, in fact, this disobedience that Jesus rectified on behalf of all those who believe him in order to excuse them from the punishment of the same (Mathew 5:17, Romans 5:19). Disobedience is not what Prophet Ezekiel accuses the Israelites in the book; what Israel is accused of is Rebellion. For us to understand this accusation in contrast to disobedience, we need to refer to history and review the nature and style of the rebellions we know of.
For example in Uganda (East Africa), there is what is known as the Nyangire Revolt of 1907 against both the colonialists and the imposition of Ganda Chiefs over them. Rebellion is not just disobeying the Law, it’s disobeying the law, fighting it to be removed, and fighting the legislator. What the book of Ezekiel says is that the prophet was sent to not just disobedient people but rebellious ones.
Ezekiel seems to argue that the reason for the exile is not just disobedience but rebellion. The sin of rebellion is greater than the sin of disobedience in the sense that rebellion cannot be forgiven like disobedience is. The exile, therefore, is a practical response of Yahweh to the rebels (5:8) and he is against them and commissions the prophet to speak to them whether they hear or refuse to (2:5). Judah rebelled by defying the holy city (Jerusalem) with impunity and provoked the Jealousy of God (8:3). There are outright and intended immoral actions of men at the door of the court (8:7). At the gate of the Lord’s house, women are weeping for a Babylonian deity Tammuz (8:13-14). In the inner court of the Lord’s house, they worship the Sun (8:15-18).
These are not heathen people but covenantal people of God. Those who know who God is and what he wants but act otherwise. The theme of rebellion is hinted of by Jeremiah in 44:15-24, where he speaks to men and they clearly tell him off that they won’t. Rebelling against God is issuing a war challenge to him. These Israelites worshipped other gods and observed different rituals in the house of God (8:6). This was done by the elders (8:11-12), the men (8:12) and the women (8:13-14) and worst of all by the prophets (Chapter 13).
What is wrong about rebellion is who or what you are rebelling. It is absurd for creatures to be a rebel group against their creator, for they will surely end up in exile (Hebrews 10:31; Revelation 12:7-10). It is the right thing and actually an appropriate identity for Christians to rebel against the Devil and all his representatives (Acts 4:20). We are not called to disobey the devil; we are called to rebel against him.
God bless you I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest Isaiah White (+256-775 822833 for further inquiries)
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