Abstract
The Land of Sojourn in the Book of the Prophet
Ezekiel
Archimandrite Youhanna El Mecherki
The study sheds light on the land of sojourn in the book of the Prophet Ezekiel, as it is not simply the land of the exiles. Still, instead, it is the land of Israel, contrary to the prevailing belief among scholars, which considers that the phrase “The land of their sojourn” in Ezekiel
20:38, which is uniquely mentioned among all the prophets, is limited only to that place to which Israel was taken captive and sojourned far from its homeland, Jerusalem. Relying on an “intertextuality” reading, we approach the topic of “The land of sojourn” and the tradition to which it belongs. It appears that the prophet Ezekiel used the phrase “The land of their sojourn” as a synonym for the Land of Israel. The
land of sojourn, and therefore the land of Israel, is the land (hāʾāręṣ) in which man alienates himself from everything that distances him from God. It is the one in which only the law of God is established, as there is no place in it for the rebels and those who transgress against God. It is the one that the new Israel enters after an actual Exodus in which it abandons any worship other than the worship of God. An Exodus that will not be achieved except on “That day” and with divine intervention. It is a land where Israel can have true communion with God.
Keywords: Land, Ezekiel, Sojourn, Exile, Israel.
