‘You Were the (Divine) Cherub’: A Potential Challenge to Yhwh's Sole Divinity in Ezekiel 28.14

According to the Masoretic vocalizations, Ezek. 28.14 directly identifies the king of Tyre as ‘the anointed covering cherub’. Hector Patmore has recently suggested that the Masoretic vocalizations and accentuation produce an awkward reading of the verse, and that the Hebrew consonantal text does not...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lee, Lydia ca. 1988 (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2016]
In: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Year: 2016, Volume: 41, Issue: 1, Pages: 99-116
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bible. Ezechiel 28,14 / Hebrew language / Vocalization / Tyre / King / Divinity
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
NBC Doctrine of God
NBE Anthropology
Further subjects:B Hector Patmore
B Tyrian king
B Cherub
B Ezekiel 28.14
B Divinity
B Masoretic vocalizations and accentuation
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Summary:According to the Masoretic vocalizations, Ezek. 28.14 directly identifies the king of Tyre as ‘the anointed covering cherub’. Hector Patmore has recently suggested that the Masoretic vocalizations and accentuation produce an awkward reading of the verse, and that the Hebrew consonantal text does not perceive the Tyrian king as a cherub but a god. This article undertakes a two-fold examination of this controversial verse. First, it contends on syntactical grounds that the Masoretic identification of the Tyrian king with the cherub renders an intelligible reading of the consonantal text. Second, it suggests that the Masoretic presentation of the Tyrian king as a cherub is conceptually compatible with Patmore's argument for the divinity of the Tyrian king in Ezek. 28.14. By comparing the Tyrian king to a cherub, the verse extols the Tyrian king to a nearly, if not fully, divine status, which potentially challenges the sole divinity of Yhwh.
ISSN:1476-6728
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0309089216628419