Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

A good trick, since there was no temple in Ezekiel's day as far as we know.  
The key phrase here is "in a vision."  I would think it's rather obvious that 
this is figurative language.  Moreover, we know from Kings - as I believe I 
already said - that various images, idols and altars had been set up in the 
temple in Josiah's time.  Getting rid of them was part of his recorded 
reform.  But Jim, it would be good to read what I actually wrote.  Dora said 
there was "graffitti [sic] scrawled everywhere...blessing Yahweh and Ba'al 
and their jointly held wife, Asherah."  First of all, the connection to Ba'al 
in the Kuntillet Ajrud inscription is tenuous at best, and second, to my 
knowledge, that's the only inscription found so far that describes Asherah as 
a consort (if that's what "his Asherah" means) of YHWH.  You can drag in 
various figurative visions and things like this, but I was addressing one 
specific statement about one specific inscription.  Frankly, we have no idea 
whether this "vision" of Ezekiel's described something literal or served as a 
metaphor for Judah's unfaithfulness.  You clearly want to take it literally; 
do you do the same thing with the wheels within wheels in the earlier 
chapters?  Weird figurative imagery is one of the hallmarks of Ezekiel in 
general.

On Monday 08 August 2005 08:29, Jim West wrote:
> Dave, you are wrong about this.  In Ezekiel there are a number of
> passages where Ezekiel goes, in a vision, into the Temple, and sees
> what's going on behind "closed doors".  There he observes all manner of
> inscriptions and drawings of bugs, beasts, animals and idols.  Not only
> were there inscriptions to other gods in Jerusalem- they were in the
> temple itself.  See Ezekiel 8, for instance.
>
> Best,
>
> Jim
>
> Dave Washburn wrote:
> >>And graffitti scrawled everywhere - in and out of Jerusalem - blessing
> >>Yahweh and Ba'al and their jointly held wife, Asherah.
> >
> >Um, no.  There's one inscription, rather vague, and it was definitely not
> > in Jerusalem.

-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Well, if I'd wanted a safe life, I guess I wouldn't have 
married a man who studies rocks." - Betty Armstrong (Fay Masterson)