Ezekiel’s Radical Iconoclasm

ABSTRACT This essay is part of a series collectively redefining the method, message, social location, and historical impact of the book of Ezekiel. Previous instalments looked at illustrative examples of the prophet’s satirical məšālîm, which he deployed as vehicles for strident religious and political criticism. This sequel elucidates a related but more consequential assault on normative Judahite paradigms, manifest as a comprehensive, near total iconoclasm. As the epicentre of that shattering negation, Ezekiel is here understood not in accordance with the roles scholars have typically assigned to him—as a second Moses or traumatized exile—but as a zealous champion of the ban against images. Based on a close reading of the text, the exposition shows how the inexorable logic of that proscription drove the prophet to a sweeping rejection of the central cult—including the conventional Jerusalemite concept of God.