revmarple

The second half of the oracles of restoration include a vision including a valley full of dry bones, a sign-act with two sticks, and an apocalypse featuring Gog of the land of Magog.  I include some Hebrew text upon request because of the popularity of associating the place names in Ezekiel 38-39 with modern place names, an approach that I quote others to debunk so that you will know it is not just my own opinion.  These three chapters are among the most well known of the entire book and are worth your reading before and after reading this post

We now turn to the chapters of Ezekiel that are the oracles of restoration.  Ezekiel 34-36 has three major sections.  The first two begin with the language of judgment oracles but end with the oracle of restoration.  They do not fit the chapter divisions in the English Bible.

In this post we will explore the structure of the climax of the book of Ezekiel (chapters 25-32) and then the turning point of Ezekiel 33 and look at the benefit of knowing this structure for the sake of interpretation and application.

We have seen that there has been a pattern of 2+2+2+1 for the seven oracles.  Indeed, we might simplify this to say that there is a pattern of 6+1.  And the +1 is the final punch.  So it is no surprise that there is a pattern of 6+1 cycles for this seventh oracle.  And that the +1 cycle itself follows a 6+1 pattern.  The +1 is Egypt.  This is the structural pattern of the text, but the structure also points to another pattern suggested by Davidson's article.  In this pattern the oracles against the first four nations are answered by the oracle against Sidon and the oracle against Tyre follows the same pattern as the oracle against Egypt.  Whether he is correct that the rest of chapter 28 is the climactic center of the oracles against foreign nations or not, I am not yet sure.  But either way, it is instructive that there are seven parts for each panel.  This only works because the seven cycles against Egypt includes one that is undated so that cycles 2 and 3 if combined still allow for seven parts in the second panel.  Take a look at these pages of the class handout I have prepared to understand what I am attempting to describe.