Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context by Tova Ganzel (review)

Reviewed by: Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context by Tova Ganzel Tamar Kamionkowski Tova Ganzel. Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021. 183 pp. Tova Ganzel's monograph Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context is an excellent study of Ezekiel 40–48 in the context of the Neo-Babylonian period (NB). Ganzel approaches the topic with nuanced argumentation and a thorough review of the literature. In recent years, there has been an upsurge of research on End Page 209 Judean communities in Babylonia from the time of Jehoiachin's exile (587 BCE). Ganzel uses this information to explain unique aspects of Ezekiel's Temple Vision. The Temple Vision is Ezekiel's final prophetic vision, wherein he describes highly specific plans for a new temple. Many details of the dimensions and architecture for the structure, its sacrifices, and its cultic personnel contrast with other biblical texts that describe the sanctuary (mishkan) and the First Temple. Ganzel argues that in addition to inner-biblical exegesis and theological considerations, the Temple Vision is influenced by the Judean community's experience in Babylonia. In chapter 1, Ganzel states that she treats Ezekiel 40–48 as a coherent independent unit in its final form. (She acknowledges some redactional activity.) Spotlighting some of the unique conceptual and linguistic features of these chapters, she presents her primary argument: Babylonian temples can provide a useful context for understanding Ezekiel's Temple Vision. Carefully distinguishing between "context" and "influence" (as we have no direct evidence of the writer's experiences), she proposes that the Temple Vision provides a revolutionary picture of the future temple that would be less accessible to the Israelites. Ezekiel presents this new vision to ensure that the divine name will never be desecrated again. Chapter 2 reviews recent scholarship on the Judean communities in Babylonia and on Babylonian temples. Ganzel concurs with the recent scholarly opinion that Ezekiel did not live in Babylon, where Jehoiachin and his royal entourage were kept, but rather in a more rural community like the one described in the relatively newly published Al-Yahudu texts. The Al-Yahudu texts and the Murashu archives, which provide invaluable information on Judean life in Babylonia, reveal that Judeans served as royal merchants in Sippar and that they regularly participated in Mesopotamian commerce. Ganzel cites evidence not only from the Eanna, the temple of Ishtar in Uruk, and from the Ebabbar, the temple of Shamash in Sippar, but also from priestly families associated with the Ezida, the temple of Nabu in Borsippa. Aramaic and Akkadian linguistic influences on the Temple Vision anchor chapter 3. Complementing Avi Hurvitz's work, Ganzel examines words that are influenced by Aramaic. Less studied, Ganzel looks at Akkadian terms which may appear in the Temple Vision. Perhaps the most fascinating example is the way that the city Nippur is written in Akkadian as EN.LILki (Enlil was the name of the god of the city) using the divine name with the city determinative. Ganzel suggests reading YHWH shammah as a geographical location parallel with EN.LILki. Ganzel's exploration of NB temple architecture in chapter 4 is persuasive. Ezekiel's Temple Vision does not follow the pattern of archaeological remains in ancient Israel, which have courtyards surrounding the temple; rather, it is more akin to the layout of NB temples like E-gig-par, Esagila, Ezida, and Temple A in Kish. She points to the similar structures of Temple Vision and NB temples: the extensive use of chambers, gate halls, and walls that surround the entire complex. Further, she suggests that both the Temple Vision and Babylonian mythology link temples and high mountains, and that the river that flows out from under Ezekiel's temple may have been derived from the centrality of rivers or key buildings in Mesopotamia that were erected by rivers. End Page 210 Continuing to connect NB and the Temple Vision, Ganzel moves to the alignment of the priestly roles in chapter 5. After describing the functions of the various priests in NB, she concludes that the focus on protecting the sacred status of the temple is evident in both NB temples and the Temple Vision. She...