Friday, June 07, 2019

On Ezekiel's chariot vision

PROF. CARL S. ERLICH: Ezekiel’s Vision of God and the Chariot (TheTorah.com).
How are we to understand Ezekiel’s bizarre vision of the chariot in its historical context? What makes it theologically so dangerous in the eyes of the rabbis?
Regular readers are aware that Ezekiel's Merkavah vision is one of my favorite things.

Ezekiel chapter one is read on the first day of Shavuot, which this year is 8-9 June (i.e., starts tomorrow!). The traditional date of his vision is the fifth of Tammuz (see here and here), which this year is on July 8-9. Follow those links for much more on Ezekiel one and its history of interpretation.

For more on goofy Erich von Däniken, see here and links. For more on the history of the interpretation of the "terrible ice" of Ezekiel 1:22, see here. For more on the cherubim, see here and here.

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