Asceticism and Migration in the Book of Ezekiel

GT-seminar med Rosanne Liebermann (Aarhus Universitet)

The book of Ezekiel is known for the strange and extreme sign-acts its prophet undertakes during his ministry: eating bread baked on dung, going mute, and remaining confined to his house for seven years, to name a few. I examine these sign-acts through the lens of asceticism: the practice of withdrawing from material and cultural things to make oneself more acceptable to God. Through such behaviour, ascetics symbolize an idealized religious order while located in a less than ideal reality. Ezekiel’s sign-acts function in a similar way, communicating a new religious order to his Judean audience exiled in Babylonia. By describing the prophet’s pro-ascetic behaviour, the book of Ezekiel demonstrates that he is an appropriate and genuine intermediary between God and the Judeans in exile. I argue that this is how the text establishes the possibility of God’s presence far from the Jerusalem temple: a significant claim not only for the Judeans in Babylonia, but also for all migrant Judeans.