Word and Spirit in Ezekiel (review)

Hebrew Studies 50 (2009) 411 Reviews LORD,” “Because you cherished an ancient enmity, “Gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity,” “I will cut off from it all who come and go,” and “Its mountains”). Another problematic aspect of the commentary on specific passages involves the (lack of) space devoted to certain issues. To choose one obvious example: Joyce gives only a tantalizingly brief analysis of the enigmatic and alarming Ezek 20:25–26, wherein YHWH famously claims that he purposely defiled his own people by giving them certain laws that were “not good,” seemingly in the form of a command for child sacrifice. Joyce compares this statement to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in the Exodus, and then comments on the phenomenon of child sacrifice in the Bible (citing only a very few key studies on the topic), concluding simply that this passage is “the darkest manifestation of Ezekiel’s radically theocentric perspective ” (p. 151). While it is fair to say that Joyce has not provided readers with an astonishingly detailed or useful commentary on every difficult historical or linguistic aspect of the book of Ezekiel, the commentary should not be judged for what it never sets out to do in the first place; the author explicitly states that his purpose is “to make a distinctive contribution to the interpretation and understanding of the book of Ezekiel, particularly in terms of its theology , grounded in both historical research and literary sensitivity” (p. vii). Paul Joyce accomplishes this task, and does so with a judicious handling of both the primary and secondary materials and with many provocative insights along the way. Brian R. Doak Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 doak@fas.harvard.edu WORD AND SPIRIT IN EZEKIEL. By James Robson. LHBOTS 447. Pp. xiii + 311. New York: T & T Clark, 2006. Cloth, $140.00. James Robson argues convincingly that word and spirit are so entwined in the book of Ezekiel that they expand the concepts of both words. Encounters with Yahweh’s word and Yahweh’s spirit are central to the prophet Ezekiel’s life and to the book bearing his name, he writes (p. 4). Robson’s Word and Spirit in Ezekiel is a revision of his thesis submitted to the University of Middlesex; his Ph.D. was awarded in 2004. He thanks his supervisor Thomas Renz and readers Gordon Wenham, Paul Joyce, Ronald Clements, Andrew Mein, and Max Turner for their comments and Hebrew Studies 50 (2009) 412 Reviews encouragement. Indeed, scholarly work is built on collegial contacts; that collaboration often begins during the reading for and the writing of one’s thesis, but it lasts throughout one’s professional life. Robson notes that the book of Ezekiel resembles most the books of Jeremiah and Leviticus. Leviticus, however, never mentions spirit and Jeremiah never uses spirit theologically, he says (p. 4). Robson’s niche in Ezekiel studies is to examine the theological relationship between Yahweh’s word and Yahweh’s spirit/word/breath in the book of Ezekiel (p. 5). Robson’s key scholarly contribution is to see the book of Ezekiel not so much as a self-authentication of the prophet, whose name it bears, but instead as a work aimed at transforming those it addresses (p. 24). I like this switch in viewpoints; the new emphasis helped me understand the book of Ezekiel more fully. How do Ezekiel’s words, message, and person and the spirit of Yahweh transform the addressees, as Robson calls them? Well, for example, the prophet’s visions of the future are not just for Ezekiel but also for his first hearers and readers. How does a vision transform the addressees’ lives by becoming a reality in these lives, Robson wonders? One way is to see that Yahweh’s spirit is a bridge between the present and the future, he answers (p. 25). Robson divides his book into three parts. In part 1, he details instances where Yahweh’s word can be found within the book of Ezekiel. In part 2 he examines the dominant paradigm for interpreting the relationship of word and spirit in Ezekiel—namely inspiration and authentication of...