PRIESTS, LEVITES, AND THE NASI: New Roles in Ezekiel’s Future Temple

Abstract

In evaluating the roles of the temple personnel in Ezekiel’s vision of the future temple (Ezekiel 40-48), three spheres of concern are taken into account: the broader biblical context, the more restricted context of the book of Ezekiel, and the Babylonian backdrop of his prophecies. This chapter demonstrates that the temple functionaries differ from their biblical precedents, on the one hand, and from what was known of their Babylonian environment on the other. What determines the roles of the priests, the Levites, and the nasi in Ezekiel’s temple vision is the driving theological force of preserving the temples’ sanctity. Thus, for example, the uniquely positioned nasi integrates the roles of two Babylonian temple officials; unlike the Babylonian functionaries, however, the nasi is not second to a human king, but answers only to God.