To Read - Or Not to Read - Ezekiel as Christian Scripture

Abstract

This article focuses on the difficulty today to read the book of Ezekiel canonically. In Ezekiel, God’s destruction of Jerusalem is vindicated by the people’s utter sinfulness. Many earlier Christian readings of Ezekiel have tended to focus on how, through Jesus, human sin is finally conquered. I contend that such a reading does injustice to the message of the book of Ezekiel as a whole, as it enables the readers to quickly dismiss the horror of the destruction of Jerusalem and to focus solely on the future restoration. Moreover, many modern readers regard such a reading as unacceptable as it puts all the guilt on the victims. I shall therefore suggest another way of reading Ezekiel canonically, namely through the lens of the books of Lamentations and Job.