Y hwh Shammah : The City as Gateway to the Presence of Y hwh *

Abstract

It is well-known that the book of Ezekiel has seriously concerned itself with Jerusalem's holiness and its defilement in the past and the new City's possible profanity in the future. Unlike common assumptions, however, the new City in Ezekiel 40–48 is not pre-designated either as holy or as profane but shows its liminal or dual characteristics in relation to the holy dedicated area (terumah). In other words, Ezekiel 40–48 has three distinctive categories in space recognition, not only the two categories of holy and profane. The City fits in this third category as a transitional space and functions even as a gateway to the holy presence of Yhwh. This article pursues this unique dual characteristic of the City by examining three significant facets of the City described in Ezekiel 40–48: the identity of the City in terms of its holy dedicated area (terumah), the structure and shape of the City in relation to the Temple, and the theological meaning of the name of the City, Yhwh Shammah.