H. J. VAN DIJK, S.C.J.

EZEKIEL’S PROPHECY ON TYRE

(Ez. 26:1–28:19)

A NEW APPROACH

R O M E

pontifical biblical institute

1968

© Iura editionis et versionis reservantur

To my Parents

Preface

Recalling the difficulties he originally experienced in trying to come to grips with the text of Ezekiel, C. H. Cornill confesses: “Soon I said to myself that such a text should not be interpreted, because, to be quite honest, a text of the kind was not capable of interpretation”.1 Cornill was not the first to issue such a statement.2

In an attempt to clear up the manifold obscurities and problems, commentators have mainly resorted to two devices. The first is excessive emendation or interpretation of the Hebrew text on the basis of the ancient versions and especially of the LXX. The second is a literary approach, consisting in cutting out bigger or smaller portions from the text to meet the poetical and metrical requirements favoured by the commentators themselves.

The emendation process based on the versions is to some extent exemplified in BH3 and was long before adopted by Cornill, whose perplexity allegedly disappeared as soon as he opened his Tischendorf LXX-edition: “The haze, which had obscured my understanding of the book, lifted gradually, and before my astonished eye a literary composition emerged of a quite singular, rough beauty and majesty whose originality attracted irresistibly”.3

A recent example of the literary approach is provided by W. A. Irwin, who prides himself on having established that “the material which we possess from the prophet constitutes less than 25 per cent of the bulk of the first thirty-nine chapters” investigated by him.4

Fortunately, of late there have been some signs of a new, third method 5, based on a firm belief in the substantial reliability of the consonantal Hebrew text, and availing itself of the new material of both lexical and syntactical nature uncovered by comparative Canaanite and Semitic studies. Commentators are becoming increasingly convinced that in most cases this is the only method to obtain permanent satisfactory results.

In this field, however, much remains to be done. The present writer hopes to make a contribution to the study of Ezekiel’s prophecy on Tyre with the help of the above-mentioned basic methodical principles. He prefers not to take a stand on questions that go beyond the philological and syntactical problems in these chapters. He will centre his attention upon controversial points, describing their particular difficulties, referring to the different ways scholars have sought to master the questions, and proposing his own suggestions. In as far as seems desirable, the author will take the liberty of applying these solutions to other biblical texts as well. Moreover some linguistic parallels in Ugaritic and other ...