Book of Ezekiel 30:13–18 in an English manuscript from the early 13th century, MS. Bodl. Or. 62, fol. 59a. ALatin translation appears in the margins with further interlineations above theHebrew.
And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month,
as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me,
that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.[7]
"In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month": According to the New Oxford Annotated Bible,[8] this day falls on September 17,592 BCE; this is also the result of calculations by German theologian Bernhard Lang.[9]
Ezekiel is depicted sitting in his own house, with the elders of Judah seated before him. The same format occurs inEzekiel 14:1 and20:1; theologian Julie Galambush suggests that "apparently the community recognized Ezekiel's prophetic status and regularly sought YHWH's oracles through him".[3]
So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house;
and to my dismay,
women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. (NKJV)[13]
"Weeping for Tammuz": an "ancient ritual of Sumerian origin,"[14] "counterpart of SumerianDumuzi, the fertility-god associated with shepherding and vegetation".[15] The weeping is to commemorate the death of seasonal fertility, and thecult stresses for the mourning aspect of it.[16] The Phoenicians called it "Adon" (or "Lord"), from where the Greek cult "Adonis" took root.[17] The cult ofIshtar and Tammuz may have been introduced to theKingdom of Judah during the reign ofKing Manasseh[18] and theOld Testament contains numerous allusions to them.[19] Ezekiel's testimony is the only direct mention of Tammuz in theHebrew Bible,[20][21] but the cult of Tammuz may also be alluded to inIsaiah 17:10–11:[20][21]
"Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow."
This passage may be describing the miniature gardens that women would plant in honor of Tammuz during his festival.[22]Isaiah 1:29–30,Isaiah 65:3, andIsaiah 66:17 all denounce sacrifices made "in the gardens", which may also be connected to the cult of Tammuz.[22] Another possible allusion to Tammuz occurs inDaniel 11:37:[20][22][21] "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all." The subject of this passage isAntiochus IV Epiphanes[22] and some scholars have interpreted the reference to the "one desired by women" in this passage as an indication that Antiochus may have persecuted the cult of Tammuz.[22] There is no external evidence to support this reading, however,[22] and it is much more probable that this epithet is merely a jibe at Antiochus's notorious cruelty towards all the women who fell in love with him.[22]
So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. (NKJV)[23]
"Worshipping the sun": This practice in Israel is mentioned in2 Kings 23:5,11 and also "evidenced by artifacts".[8]
^abThe New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. pp. 1190-1191 Hebrew Bible.ISBN978-0195288810
^Lang, Bernhard (1981)Ezechiel. Darmstadt. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesselschaft, cited in Keeet al 2008, p. 209.
Kee, Howard Clark; Meyers, Eric M.; Rogerson, John; Levine, Amy-Jill; Saldarini, Anthony J. (2008). Chilton, Bruce (ed.).The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (2, revised ed.). Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521691406.
