The Disarmament Of God: Ezekiel 38-39 in its Mythic Context (review)

Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 417 Reviews THE DISARMAMENT OF GOD: EZEKIEL 38–39 IN ITS MYTHIC CONTEXT. By Paul E. Fitzpatrick. CBQMS 37. Pp. xvii + 243. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2004. Paper, $11.50. Paul Fitzpatrick’s study of Ezekiel 38–39 is an attempt to “demonstrate adequately the thematic unity of the Gog pericope with the rest of the book in its final form” (p. 47). Fitzpatrick finds this unity in the book’s use of preexisting myths, particularly the Chaoskampf. The first chapter (pp. 1–48) is a standard literature review of critical studies on Ezekiel 38–39. The chapter is divided into three periods, each characterized by certain critical tendencies. In the first period (ca. 1830– 1900), most scholars viewed the book of Ezekiel as a product of the prophet himself, including Ezekiel 38–39. In the second period (1900–1950), most critics assigned Ezekiel 38–39 to a later redactor, and questioned its cohesion with the rest of the book. Studies from the third period (1950–present) are characterized by a tendency to divide the text, including Ezekiel 38–39, into various redactional strata. Fitzpatrick evaluates the contribution of each study according to two criteria: do they address the mythic elements of the Gog oracles, and do they focus on the “final form” or on some hypothetical stage(s) in the text’s literary evolution? The second chapter (pp. 49–73) deals with the importance of myth in shaping religious experience in general and the Hebrew Bible in particular. Fitzpatrick makes two primary arguments in this chapter. First, the Gog oracles represent “mythopoeic” literature (adapting or extending myths to include new dimensions or fit new circumstances) not “mythopoetic” literature (symbolic or formulaic use of mythic images in artistic compositions, divested of their mythic value). Second, the myth that is (re)used to give content to the eschatological hope of Ezekiel 38–39 is the Chaoskampf: the struggle between chaos or its representatives and the divine king. The bulk of the chapter , however, is given over to a review of academic literature on myth in general (pp. 50–56) and the Chaoskampf in particular (pp. 56–73) rather than arguing for these theses. Chapter three (pp. 74–81) is a brief attempt to argue that the Gog oracles are indigenous to Ezekiel by listing locutions found in chapter 38–39 that are distinctive of the book. (Fitzpatrick’s list of twenty-six locutions is largely taken from S. Cook’s, Prophecy and Apocalypticism [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992], pp. 98–103.) The purpose of this chapter is to “give clear testimony that in the final form, these chapters were understood as part of the whole” (p. 74). Chapter four (pp. 82–112) is the core of the study. In it Fitzpatrick argues that the Gog oracles represent a drama in three parts (38:2–17; 38:18–39:8; 39:9–20 [39:21–29 is a conclusion]). This drama follows the major plot-points Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 418 Reviews of the Chaoskampf and depicts the eschatological future as “a cosmogony completed” (pp. 85, 105). The divine warrior, in the process of defeating the resurgent forces of chaos, has “destroyed forever any nation which could ever be used by him in the future in judgement against Israel” (p. 112). Thus, God delivers his people forever by disarming himself and sets the stage for his enthronement and universal rule at the Temple (chs. 40–48). Chapter five (pp. 113–192) attempts to bolster this argument by demonstrating that the book of Ezekiel is dependant throughout upon “mythic elements ,” “cosmogonic themes,” and other well-known features of ancient Near Eastern literature (p. 113). Among the attested parallels are the stormgod theophany, Sumerian laments, Babylonian prophecies, the myth of the divine shepherd, various creation myths, and cosmic temple-construction stories. The notion that prophetic texts are influenced by ancient Near Eastern myths is standard fare in biblical studies. What is revolutionary about Fitzpatrick’s proposal is the idea that the “final form” of Ezekiel 38–39 is an intentional, recognizable, mythopoeic reworking of the Chaoskampf. There are two key issues here: identification of the “final form...