Ezekiel as Misogynist

Abstract

A centerpiece of Ezekiel's prophecies are his descriptions of the corruption of Jerusalem. That Ezekiel was probably writing as a priest (cf. Ezek 1:3) or at the very least, someone with priestly concerns, suggests the basis of his obsession with purity/impurity, as well as the contagion and corruption of the special rites associated with the Temple in Jerusalem. He chooses women as the metaphor for that defilement. Especially in chapters 16 and 23, he presents images of the city as prostitutes, as nymphomaniacs. His words there straddle the divide between misogyny and outright pornography.