Beside The Chebar River

This book is the author's doctoral dissertation, made available here directly by the author. This dissertation is also available on the ProQuest Dissertations database under the title, "The Glory of Yahweh, Name Theology, and Ezekiel's Understanding of Divine Presence" (2011). The work looks at two different biblical conceptions of how divine presence operates. Through Ezekiel's portrayal of the Glory of Yahweh, the prophet offers an understanding of earthly divine presence that differs in important ways from how the divine presence is understood in Deuteronomistic thought. From his exile in Babylonia in the sixth century B.C.E., Ezekiel depicts God's Glory with no exclusive connection to the Temple or the land. The Glory vacates the Temple to allow for its destruction and appears in Babylonia, where God disputes the contention that the exiles are now far from him. This schema contrasts sharply with the Deuteronomistic theology of the one "chosen place." Ezekiel's portrait of the Glory finds its inspiration in the Priestly account of the Exodus wanderings before the Tabernacle's existence. In Priestly tradition, this was the only time the Glory ever appeared outside a sanctified structure. These appearances occurred outside Israel, while the people were dislocated, without a physical sanctuary - a situation homologous to Ezekiel's own.