Na primeira metade do século XX, se comparado com Isaías e Jeremias, o livro do profeta Ezequiel recebeu pouca atenção dos pesquisadores. Isto mudou radicalmente com a publicação do comentário, em dois volumes e em alemão, do suíço Walther Zimmerli, em 1969, e sua tradução para o inglês em 1979 e 1983. Com sua leitura histórico-crítica rigorosa, Zimmerli iniciou uma nova era para os estudos do livro de Ezequiel. Livro que ele atribuiu quase todo a seguidores do profeta. Também em 1983 aparece o primeiro volume do comentário de M. Greenberg que, em contraste com Zimmerli, apresenta o livro como proveniente do próprio profeta. Desde a publicação destes dois comentários, o nosso conhecimento sobre o exílio babilônico, época de Ezequiel, melhorou consideravelmente com os estudos arqueológicos, sociológicos e antropológicos feitos nos últimos anos. E o livro de Ezequiel passou a chamar mais a atenção dos pesquisadores.
The twentieth century was most eventful for the scholarly study of the book of Ezekiel (…) It is no wonder, then, that critical scholarship on the book through the first half of the 1900s seemed rather lackluster when compared with the other major biblical prophets. Indeed, the book of Ezekiel, perhaps because of the exilic setting of the work, or the bizarre behavior recounted in the text, or perhaps the conflicted priestly versus prophetic persona of Ezekiel himself, received considerably less scholarly attention than most of the prophet’s biblical predecessors (…) This trend changed dramatically with the appearance of Zimmerli’s two-volume commentary, published in German in the 1960s, and subsequently in English in 1979 and 1983. Zimmerli’ s mastery of form, text and redaction criticism, along with his traditio-historical analysis, made his commentary the new starting point for serious Ezekiel scholars. Even so, Zimmerli also ultimately deemed the bulk of the prophetic text to be secondary, written by the followers of the prophet (…) Also appearing in 1983 was the first volume of Greenberg’s Anchor Bible commentary on Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 1–20, Greenberg, in contrast to Zimmerli, illustrates his view that the general shape of the book is the result of representation of the prophet’s unique vision in its received form. With his emphasis on biblical and early Jewish commentators, Greenberg’s holistic method of textual and structural interpretation helped elucidate the sixth-century matrix of the prophet himself (…) Since the publication of Zimmerli’s and Greenberg’s commentaries, significant strides have been made in the study of the historical circumstances surrounding the Israelite Exile. Archaeological, sociological and anthropological analyses have illuminated what had been a dark age in biblical history, and have helped reveal the vivid theological struggles among both the local and Diaspora populations that have come to characterize the exilic period. As a result, the book of Ezekiel has gained both renewed interest and respect. As a prophet of the Exile, Ezekiel has come to be viewed as an important and liminal figure in the evolution of Israelite thought and theology.
Trecho de LEVITT KOHN, R. Ezekiel at the Turn of the Century. In: HAUSER, A. J. (ed.) Recent Research on the Major Prophets. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008, p. 260-261.
Autores citados no texto
ZIMMERLI, W. Ezekiel. I. A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979 (original alemão: 1969).
ZIMMERLI, W. Ezekiel. II. A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983 (original alemão: 1969).
GREENBERG, M. Ezekiel 1-20. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983.
GREENBERG, M. Ezekiel 21-37. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1997.
