Ezekiel

I know how the residents of Jerusalem must have felt. As Ezekiel took one third of his hair and burned it, struck one third with a sword (a comical image, if you ask me), and threw the remaining third to the wind, what could they possibly think except, "What the fuck is he doing?" The book which bears Ezekiel's name is bookended by two scrupulously detailed and mind-bogglingly pointless accounts of prophetic vision. Normally, description is used to highlight meaning, not to replace it. But by the eighth chapter of temple measurements, "From the gate to the vestibule was fifty cubits," and so on sin terminus, I had given up waiting for him to get to the point. He seems to expect that the distance from the nave to the pilaster is sufficiently interesting by itself. I disagree.

Which is not to say the meat in this boredom sandwich was not highly comestible. If one discards the aforementioned beginning and ending narratives, Ezekiel actually borders on the inspiring. For instance, JEHOVAH promises through Ezekiel, "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (36:26). "Please!" was my spontaneously verbal response upon reading this passage. How nice it would be for God to grab me by the leg and shake me until all my broken ideas and feelings spill out of my pockets. He then could fill his promise, "I will take you . . . and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you" 36: 24,25). Please, Show me where that land is, and I shall meet you there.