Ezekiel and Michael

the priest says: Christ is risen from the dead!

and the people respond: With great power and authority!

Wherever in the world you are today, I hope you are having a blessed faseeka/pascha/pesakh/passover/Eastern Easter. Let us take this moment to reflect on two biblical names and figures of the utmost importance in Scripture. Both point to God.

From my Biblical Hebrew teacher Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, I learned that the theophoric Ezekiel (yekhezqel) means the strength of God, which expresses His “absolute dominance.” In his commentary on Ezekiel, a part of his Chrysostom Bible series that continues St. John Chrysostom’s legacy as one who provides food for the soul, he says,

Usually, the prophet is first introduced by name and then one starts hearing the prophetic “I.” In Ezekiel, however, one immediately encounters the enigmatic personal pronoun “I” and no less than twice, which leaves the hearer wondering who is speaking… The intended impression is evident: the opening of the book points exclusively to “God” who is “in the heavens.” Anything and anyone else cannot even compare with such God, as will become clear in the rest of the chapter which is a detailed “description” merely of his “likeness” (v.28).

From the late great Hebrew Bible scholar Dr. Michael Heiser I learned of the Two Powers in Heaven, St. Michael and his master yahweh. Michael means, who is like God? This is the greatest rhetorical question ever asked. The answer is plain. No one.

When Ezekiel and Michael think, speak, and act, they become invisible. Not like H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man, nor Stan ‘the Man’ Lee’s Susan Storm Richards. But functionally invisible. They think, speak, and act this way, by clearing the path for yahweh. Making sure only yahweh is visible. To what extent do we think, speak, and act the words of St. John the Baptizer? “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Or St. Paul? “It is no longer I who live, but the anointed one who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). With at least four fantastic exemplars, what excuses can we conjure? Let every thought, word, and deed echo yahweh elohym (the Lord God).

The zeitgeist encourages you to find your voice. “I disagree, homeboy.” As you read aloud scripture, you will notice that the voices of Ezekiel and Michael' are intentionally conflated with the voice of God. This is not an accident. This is what divine inspiration looks like.

Do likewise.

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of elohym. On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of king jehoiachin’s captivity, the word of yahweh came expressly to ezekiel the priest, the son of buzi, in the land of the chaldeans by the river chebar; and the hand of yahweh was upon him there. (Ezekiel 1:1-3)

Now moses was tending the flock of jethro his father-in-law, the priest of midian. And he led the flock to the farthest end of the wilderness, and came to horeb, the mountain of elohym. And the angel of the lord (messenger of yahweh) appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, elohym called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “moses, moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:1-4)