From: Robert Heard <Christopher.Heard AT pepperdine.edu>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Josiah's book of the Law
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 10:34:27 -0700 (PDT)
Dave Washburn wrote:
>A good trick, since there was no temple in Ezekiel's day as far as we
know.
Dave, the vision in question--from Ezekiel 8 and the following
chapters--is dated to the sixth year of King Jehoiachin's (and
Ezekiel's) "exile" in Babylon, or approximately 592/591 BCE. There
certainly was a temple standing in Jerusalem at that point.
Now, having said that, I should add that I regard Ezekiel's visionary
report in Ezekiel 8--the idolatry and such that he sees--as a
_composite_ sketch of what has been going on in that temple for some
time. Even so, the book clearly charges the temple administrators with
allowing the depiction of theriomorphic gods in private rooms within.