Today we read the 500th chapter of Below the Bible Belt, and with 429 to go it is a modest midway point, which also marks the last chapter of Ezekiel’s visions.
Somehow, yet again, it all works out to point at what it means to be between the end and the beginning, here and there, wherever we are - right now.
Whoever chose to edit the first prophet of the Jewish exile’s visions chose to do so with the promise to the broken people: One day we will come back home.
Between the here of what may have seemed to them like eternal exile and the there of the land left behind there is a crack that leads to hope and that’s the prophet’s big deal vision. His promise will continue to inspire hope, The Hope, for many many generations. These days, that vision and this hope, is, incredibly, a century old fact and yet, and still, so much is left to dream about, to yearn for, and repair. The prophet’s hope is still a promise that we want to keep.
What does it mean to be back on the land, to rebuild this home that is also shared and loved by others who call it home? What will a home-base devoted to the highest virtues of an ancient nation and not the basest drives look like? At what price will this project prevail? What will it take to not just build the physical state of security but to also heal and transcend the generations of trauma that have become so deeply ingrained into the people’s psyches?
And which of the prophets’ lofty visions of eternal peace and justice will survive the savage sorrow of these battle days?
It is perhaps a comfort to know that this complicated struggle is really old, and that we did invent it and are not the first generation to listen to this prophet’s wondrous words, to ask these serious questions, and to ponder the possibilities of his poetic promises of peace on earth, right here, right there -- for all.
Dura-Europos, is the oldest known synagogue in the world, dating to the 3rd century CE, in what is nowadays Syria. The border town was destroyed, covered in sand and forgotten but discovered in the 1920’s. The synagogue, among other temples to multiple gods, was discovered in the 1930’s, in fine form, including a series of extensive figurative wall-paintings that are apparently still on display in the National Museum of Damascus, with descriptions of biblical scenes.
The longest continuous panel is dedicated to the visions of Ezekiel, whose hopeful visions for the return to the homeland must have been of supreme importance to this community. Central to the panel is Ezekiel’s famous prophecy of the dry bones - the ultimate promise for the resurrection of the nation and its future redemption. In the middle of this panel is a figure that art historians and Midrash scholars Jo Milgrom and Joel Duman identify in their fascinating essay as Ezekiel - no longer just an ancient prophet but depicted as their contemporary rabbinic teacher:
“We suggest that this is Ezekiel, our teacher, speaking to us, the congregation of Dura Europos. Earlier, Ezekiel had encouraged the despondent exile community of Israel settled on the River Chebar. He now speaks to us as our teacher, here at Dura on the Euphrates, a minority Jewish community in a precarious location on the border between the warring Roman and Sassanian empires. The hand of God, representing prophecy, is a thing of the past – today our rabbi Ezekiel encourages us, gesturing with his own hand, like a second Moses.”
Ezekiel will leave his stamp on future generations with his mystical visions and futurist aspirations. And as we wrap up his book today, it’s interesting to note that he leaves behind not only a legacy that will inspire a future of political pride and return to the land, but also, and foremost - a return to a life of spiritual commitment to values that validate a life of love and justice, rooted in faith in the Hebraic Divine.
His final words in the last verses complete the charting of the future map of Jerusalem - with each tribe receiving a fair share and its own gate into the sacred city of Jerusalem. It’s easy to miss but his proposal is radical. The original set up of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah included unequal tribal lands, with Jerusalem belonging to two tribal territories - Judah and Benjamin. And while it is a bit complex to chart, what Ezekiel imagines here is that Jerusalem will someone in the future become neutral territory - set within the other tribes to be its own domain that will belong to neither tribe. It’s a little bit like the Vatican or Washington DC. He wants a religious center that is not tied to political polemics. It’s almost a very early take on separation of religion and state - with a clear superior role to the religion.
But it isn’t just the holy city’s new independent status that the prophet wants us take with us as his parting gift but also its new name:
סָבִ֕יב שְׁמֹנָ֥ה עָשָׂ֖ר אָ֑לֶף וְשֵׁם־הָעִ֥יר מִיּ֖וֹם יְהֹוָ֥ה שָֽׁמָּה׃
Its circumference shall be 18,000 cubits: and the name of the city from that day on shall be “YHWH Is There.”
Ezekiel 48:35
Ezekiel is not the first to rename the city. In one of his prophetic visions Isaiah already renamed Jerusalem ``The Desired One: or Hephzibah, and in chapter 33 Jeremiah suggested “God is our Justice” - ‘Tsidkenu’. But Ezekiel is making a bold theological claim as the first to speak from a distance, a refugee in Babylon, having told his people that YHWH has left the building and joined them where they are - renaming their old city for the future promise that still echoes the rupture.
Notice that he doesn’t name the city GOD IS HERE. From the moment of the exile it will always hold a sense of ‘There’. Yes, YHWH will return to the temple in Jerusalem - but there will now forever be both here and there, center and diaspora, an evolving sense of the divinity beyond them both, transcending territorial claims, everybody’s sacred center.
And thus we leave Ezekiel in Tel Aviv, by the rivers of Babylon, his fate unknown. His book binds the great three prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel as we head into the next biblical section that spans several centuries and offer the prophetic perspectives of protests against power that may, perhaps, still resonate today.
Image: Panel from the Dura Europos Synagogue
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