The Apocryphon of Ezekiel is an apocryphal book, written in the style of the Old Testament, as revelations of Ezekiel. It survives only in five fragments[1] including quotations in writings by Epiphanius, Clement of Rome and Clement of Alexandria, and the Chester Beatty Papyri 185.[2] It is likely to have been composed c. 50 BC – 50 AD, although some scholars suggest a date closer to 7 AD.
The largest fragment tells of a king who holds a feast to which he invites everyone except two beggars, a blind man and a cripple.[3] The two are angry and determine to have their revenge: the cripple sits on the blind man's shoulders, and together they damage the king's orchard, but the king discovers what they have done and punishes them both.[4] The moral of the story, according to the narrator, is that this proves the resurrection of the body, since soul and body must function together.[5]
Pseudo-Ezekiel, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, is possibly further fragments of this text, or it may be a different work concerning Ezekiel, but it is unclear.[6]
Bibliography edit
References edit
- ^ R. E. Mueller and S. E. Robinson, Apocryphon of Ezekiel (First Century B.C.-First Century A.D.). A New Translation and Introduction, in James H. Charlesworth (1985), The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company Inc., Volume 2, ISBN 0-385-09630-5 (Vol. 1), ISBN 0-385-18813-7 (Vol. 2). Here cited vol. 1 pp. 487-488
- ^ Cook, Stephen L.; Mueller, James R. (1996). "The Five Fragments of the Apocryphon of Ezekiel: A Critical Study". Journal of Biblical Literature. 115 (3): 532. doi:10.2307/3266910. JSTOR 3266910.
- ^ "Apocryphon of Ezekiel". www.earlyjewishwritings.com. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
- ^ BREGMAN, MARC (1991). "The Parable of the Lame and the Blind: Epiphanius' Quotation from an Apocryphon of Ezekiel". The Journal of Theological Studies. 42 (1): 125–138. doi:10.1093/jts/42.1.125. ISSN 0022-5185.
- ^ BREGMAN, MARC (1991). "The Parable of the Lame and the Blind: Epiphanius' Quotation from an Apocryphon of Ezekiel". The Journal of Theological Studies. 42 (1): 125–138. doi:10.1093/jts/42.1.125. ISSN 0022-5185.
- ^ Bauckham, Richard (2017-01-01), "Apocryphon of Ezekiel Fragment 3: Meaning and Reception", in DiTommaso, Lorenzo; Henze, Matthias; Adler, William (eds.), The Embroidered Bible: Studies in Biblical Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Honour of Michael E. Stone, Brill, pp. 213–236, doi:10.1163/9789004357211_015, ISBN 978-90-04-35721-1, retrieved 2020-05-19