Ezekiel 1:1-3, Under God's Coercion

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Derek Leman

I

This entry was posted in Bible, messianic, Messianic Jewish, Messianic Judaism and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to Ezekiel 1:1-3, Under God's Coercion

  1. rebyosh says:
    November 17, 2009 at 10:04 am

    Great post Derek!

    As you so aptly noted, from its immediate onset, Ezekiel is quite different from the other literary prophets and indeed rich in mystical thought, ecstatic prophesy, and divine control. As such, Ezekiel specifically inspired other great works, including early Jewish mystical texts – specifically the Merkavah literature.

    However, in regard to your comment: “we should note that trances, frenzy, and disassociation of mind and body did not become the norm in Israel. Those movements died out.”

    As a general rule, I would agree with you, however, these frenzies mystical experiences within Jewish circles continued to exist (even if albeit on the fringe), and especially experienced a renaissance with Isaac Luria, and the further development of Kabbalah (a type of Jewish mysticism).

    In fact, all throughout Chasidic literature there is also a wealth of stories about Chasidic rebbes who fall into ecstatic trances, prophesy, heal, etc.

    These ecstatic experiences and idea you so rightly point out in Ezekiel interestingly end up flowing into Second Temple literature, the NT, and then into other mystical texts.

    Great post!

Comments are closed.