Texts in Conversation
Ezekiel reverses the imagery from the covenant curses in Deuteronomy in which the unburied dead become food for animals. Instead of a curse of exposure and disgrace, Ezekiel envisions future protection from such fate, where people and their land are kept safe from harm.
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Deuteronomy 28:26
Hebrew Bible
24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed. 25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Ezekiel 34:28
Hebrew Bible
26 I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing. 27 The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the earth will yield its crops. They will live securely on their land; they will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be prey for the nations, and the wild beasts will not devour them. They will live securely, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will prepare for them a healthy planting. They will no longer be victims of famine in the land and will no longer bear the insults of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they are my people, the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In the figure the scattered, exposed corpses suffer the ultimate disgrace: they are eaten by animals - a common curse or threat in ancient writings (Deuteronomy 28:26; Jeremiah 34:20; Ezekiel 39:17-20; and elsewhere; see D. R. Hillers, Treaty-Curses and the Old Testament Prophets ..."
Greenberg, Moshe
Ezekiel 21-37: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(p. 603) Doubleday, 1997
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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