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The primary goal of this commentary is to focus attention on what mattered most to Ezekiel and to craft a direction and scope of application that the prophet himself would recognize were he to preach to God's people today. In addition to focusing on the most urgent interpretive issues of the text, another goal of this commentary is to explain in simple terms the reasons behind significant translation differences. Embedded in some verses in Ezekiel are particularly complicated or troubling biblical-theological issues. Special topical discussions address these at appropriate locations throughout the commentary.

One of the most perplexing and misunderstood books of the Bible, Ezekiel has left many scholars and exegetes scratching their heads regarding its message, coherency, and interpretation. Brian Peterson's look at the book of Ezekiel as a unified whole set within an exilic context helps explain some of the more difficult symbolic aspects in the book and makes Ezekiel as a whole more intelligible. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern concepts and motifs such as covenant and treaty curses, the various gods that made up the Babylonian pantheon, and the position that Israel held as the people of Yahweh, Peterson enlightens readers by showing that Ezekiel can only be understood in its original context. By placing the book first in its historical context, Peterson demonstrates how the original hearers of its message would have understood it, and how this message can be appreciated and applied by people today as well.

In Seeking Ezekiel , David J. Halperin argues that the biblical Book of Ezekiel provides substantial information about its author's psychology and reveals his personality in considerable depth. Psychoanalytic investigation of the book yields a coherent portrait of its author: a marvelously gifted yet profoundly disturbed man, tormented by inner conflicts over his sexual longings and fears. Ezekiel, Halperin argues, was dominated by a pathological dread and loathing of female sexuality. He expresses this emotional stance in the symbolic language of dreams (his vision of a temple polluted by idolatry); in a thin disguise of historical allegory (his obscenely graphic representations of Israel and Jerusalem as promiscuous wives); and in his self-described behavior at his wife's death. Ezekiel also demonstrates a deeply ambivalent attitude toward a dominant male figure. Normally, he projects the positive elements of his ambivalence onto his God, its negative elements onto other males. Yet the reverse can also take place, and this does much to explain the disturbing cruelty and arbitrariness of Ezekiel's God. Any psychological study of a man dead for 2500 years will run into formidable methodological difficulties. Halperin establishes the legitimacy of his approach by arguing that it permits the solution of a wide range of long-recognized textual problems. The implications of Halperin's study extend far beyond the boundaries of Biblical scholarship. The sexual pathology that he attributes to Ezekiel has afflicted humanity for most of its history, tainting the relations of men and women the world over. Ezekiel's powerful influence on posterity has done its part in strengthening the grip of this pathology. By understanding Ezekiel, people may come to a better understanding of his sickness within themselves and thus eventually come to find healing.