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The Book of Ezekiel has been identified as one of the most difficult to study. The theme often changes dramatically from chapter to chapter, returning in a later chapter to a previous theme. Some of the symbolism is obscure, and some of it extremely offensive to modern readers, such that much of the vocabulary, especially in chapters 16 and 23, has been toned down in English translations.
One lesson in the Book of Ezekiel is that the nations should never form alliances with other nations. Ezekiel uses extreme pornography and of images of death and destruction, as part of an overtly forceful style to express this message. Chapter 16 begins by portraying a gracious and compassionate God, who symbolically rescues Jerusalem, an abandoned infant, from near-certain death. After she grew symbolically into a beautiful woman, she played the harlot, making alliances with and paying tribute to Egypt, then Assyria, then Babylon. There follows an intensely pornographic depiction of Jerusalem like a harlot who invites everyone to her, refusing payment and even bribing men to come to her. Chapter 23 is the most difficult chapter in the entire Book of Ezekiel, as it is full of extremely pornographic images representing Israel, even when the words are revised in English translation to allow for modern sensibilities.


At times, Ezekiel appears to blur the distinction between Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah, whereas his slightly older contemporary Jeremiah stringently observed the distinctions between the separate nations of Israel and Judah, especially in the early chapters which otherwise bear comparison with aspects of Ezekiel's historical allegories. Also, too many of Ezekiel's prophecies were never fulfilled, or only partially so, for them to have been of divine origin. Several times, Ezekiel prophesied the imminent return of all the Israelites scattered by the Assyrian conquest in 722 BCE, but this never happened and, after intermarriage and assimilation, can never happen.



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10y ago

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