Marco Conceptual

The initial purpose of the Korean shamanic-sickness is to isolate the nominee from the secular world and its defilements, so that the neophyte can communicate with the spirits undisturbed by external influences. In a similar vein, Moses and Ezekiel are called to the wilderness to witness a theophany and receive the divine message. Moses steps onto the

107 Grabbe, ‘Ancient Near Eastern’, 21-22.

95 mountain of God, Horeb, and sees a burning bush that was not consumed by fire (Exod 3.2).

However, Moses appears to be oblivious to the significance of the place where he is standing, and decides to examine the supernatural phenomenon (v.3) but is instantly warned against

doing so by God: ‘Do not come near, put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground’ (vv.4-5). Moses removes his shoes, and from a

Korean shamanic point of view, it is considered a general rule that the sacred place may be trodden only by naked feet, feet in their natural condition. As with Ja on the shamanic mountain, in spirit possession the nominee often sets out to the wilderness barefoot or treads on hot coals to remove any ‘secular dirt’ remaining on the practitioner’s feet.¹⁰⁸ A similar idea can be found in the initiation of Isaiah, in a purifying rite which uses a burning coal to

remove the impurities of the secular world before divine message is placed in the prophet’s mouth: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven…Go, and say to this people’ (Isa 6.6-9).

Having realised that he is in the company of God, Moses hides his face because he is afraid to look at God (v.6, a mere mortal cannot look God and live: Judg 13.22; 6.22-23; Gen 1.13) A vision-like dream is considered the most common form of divine epiphany (Gen

108 There is another perspective on the ‘barefoot’ appearance of Korean novice shamans. While treading on hot coals, climbing a ladder made of sharp blades, or wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, the shamans appear to be immune to physical harm or otherwise their feet would be covered with burns and cuts. The implication is that from the moment of the divine selection, the nominee will be protected by the supernatural power until the person completes the initiation process and while serving as a shaman.

96 15.12; 28.11-22), but, especially in the initial stage of spiritual calling for biblical prophets, the contact happens not only in auditory but also both visual and physical forms which heightens the sensitivity of the nominee to the supernatural surroundings. The narrative of Ezekiel is unique in its abundant usage of auditory, visual and physical sensations pertaining to the divine revelation. Ezekiel sees the heavens open and visions of stormy wind, huge cloud and flashing fire, which are common metaphors for the divine potency that controls the

violent and unpredictable power of nature.¹⁰⁹ The expression in v.3, ‘the hand of Yahweh came upon me’, is also a typical biblical description of a personal experience of being under

the influence of the spirit (Ezek 8.1; 11.5; Judg 3.10; 11.29), and, especially in the narrative of Ezekiel, the hand of God is regularly associated with spirit possession (3.22; 8.1; 33.2;

37.1; 40.1).¹¹⁰ As the supernatural realm is opened up in front of his eyes, Ezekiel sees the heavenly beings surrounding the divine celestial court. A similar image of the celestial court

109 For example, Isa 63.19 (64.1), in the tearing of the heavens, and 2 Sam 22.10; Ps 18.10 (9), 144.5, in the spreading open of the heavens like the curtains of a tent. The statement about the opening of heaven is found only here in the OT, while the opening of the windows of heaven as a punishment (Gen 7.11; Isa 24.28) and blessing (Mal 3.10; cf. 2 Kgs 7.2) is mentioned more than once.

110 The hand of God demonstrates the power of divine promises in history (1 Kgs 8.15, 24; 2 Chr 6.4, 15), the works of creation (Isa 45.12; 48.13), the force with which it comes upon human beings (1 Sam 5.6; 6.3,5), protection (Isa 49.2; 51.16), and the means of empowering the prophet (1 Kgs 18.46) and of giving an oracle (2 Kgs 3.15; Is 8.11; cf. Jer 15.16). In parallel to Ezekiel’s trance-like vision, in 2 Kgs 3.15 God’s hand triggers the altered-state of consciousness in which an oracle is communicated, and, in 1 Kgs 8.46, it offers a physical empowerment to run with exceptional speed.

Wilson argues that being under the influence of the hand of God does not necessarily refer to external behaviour, such as ecstasy or trance, but to divine possession as is primary means of divine-human communication. R. Wilson, ‘Prophecy and Ecstasy: A Re-examination,’ JBL 98 (1979), 325.

However, it is not so clear how to separate the (biblical) phenomenon of spirit possession from trance or ecstasy, let alone to distinguish physical and psychological aspects of possessions from divinatory activities while under the influence of the spirit.

97 opening up in front of a human is also found in Isa. 6 (cf. Jer 23.16-18, 21-22), but unlike Isaiah who was brought up to the celestial court for the cleansing ritual, Ezekiel appears to remain on the earth while his usual surroundings are transformed into something lofty and transcendental.

The metamorphosis of the ordinary or natural into the holy or supernatural continues as Ezekiel sees the figures of four messengers of God, creatures combining human forms with those of wild animals:

Four living creatures had the form of human, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands, and the four had their faces and their wings … As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a person in front; the four had the face of a lion on the right side, and four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle at the back. And their wings were spread out above; each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies (1.5-14).¹¹¹

Ezekiel’s eyes are opened to the omnipotence of God by all the great creations in the earth,

beasts and human being; the forces around them such as wind, cloud (water), and fire, and the

111 I will not explore a detailed comparison of the images in Ezekiel narrative and those of Israel and ancient Near Eastern environments, since the focus of this research is not the anthropological discoveries of biblical or pagan religious imageries and their validation, but instead read those images as a part of divine revelation, legitimating the authenticity of the inaugural experience, and examining how the divine message is manifested and reinforced in the supernatural signs and visions. The subject of biblical and ancient Near Eastern religious iconography have been discussed in many scholarly work, such as: L. Grabbe, Priests, Prophets, Diviners, Sages: A Socio-historical Study of Religious Specialists in Ancient Israel (Valley Forge, PA.: Trinity Press International, 1995), 95-98; R.

Wilson, Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Sourcebook for Biblical Researchers (SBLSBS;

Atlanta, GA.: Scholars Press, 1986), 117-30; M. Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20 (AB; Garden City, NY.:

Doubleday, 1983), 54-58; L. C. Allen, Ezekiel 1-20 (WBC; Dallas, TX.: Word Books, 1994), 26-31;

and R. Klein, Ezekiel: The Prophet and His Message (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988), 16-24.

98 divine order that brings life into each entity (cf. Ps 103.20-22; 104.3-4; 148).¹¹² The number four, symbol of totality, also adds significance to the divine government of every macrocosm:

Ezekiel witnesses the breath of God coming from the four points of the compass and restoring the dead to life (37.9); the four world eras of Dan 2 and 7 represent the whole of human history which is still to run (from Nebuchadnezzar to its end); Isaiah declares the universal power of God to assemble people from the four cardinal directions (Isa 11.12); the

four chariots which are identical to the heavenly messengers in Ezekiel ‘go to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of the whole earth’ (Zech 6.2-5); and Ja’s bowing down to the four directions make known her presence to the spirits that reside in

each corner of the universe. The spirit of God is the force that directs these heavenly beings, organising their movement through its will (Ezek 1.20; cf. 2 Sam 22.11; Ps 194.3, the ‘wind’

as a means of divine mobility). As in Moses’ vision of the burning bush, or Jeremiah’s

boiling pot, a mysterious heat (fire) features in the narrative of Ezekiel as a symbol of the presence of God (‘in the midst of the living creatures there was something that looked like

burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro, and the fire was bright and out of the

112 Ezekiel’s vision, which started with images of a stormy wind, a great cloud with a brightness around it, and a flashing fire with gleaming bronze in the middle of it (1.4) neatly rounds off with his actual confrontation with the divine itself, described as, ‘gleaming bronze, like the appearance of fire enclosed round about…and there was brightness round about him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness about’ (Ezek 1.27-28).

99 fire went forth lightning’, v.14).¹¹³ Overwhelmed by this experience, as was Moses, Ezekiel

falls on his face and prepares to hear the message of God: ‘Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and heard, “Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak with you”’ (1.28-2.1).