Kryptogramme in Ezechiel 19 und im Ἱzbet-Ṣarṭa-Ostrakon

Abstract

Ez 19 is a dirge on the downfall of the Davidic dynasty. Several scholars have suggested that Ez 19,1.2–9 is a reworked version of an earlier, secular song. It is noteworthy that no word for God occurs in the song. On the basis of an atbash-riddle, hidden in v. 1–5, it may be assumed that the original song referred to Jezebel and her sons Ahaziah und Jehoram. Ezekiel edited and actualised this ancient song (cf. v. 14) because he was struck by the remarkable similarity between the fate of Jezebel and her two sons and that of Hamutal and her two sons Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. Ezekiel added a dirge about the end of the Davidic dynasty (v. 10–14), a kind of lesson from history. The incongruities in the final text can be better understood now as the result of this redactional combination of old and new themes. That Atbash encoding was already known in the 12th cent. BCE and therefore could certainly be used in the 9th cent. BCE is demonstrated by a completely fresh interpretation of the hitherto puzzling text on the Ἱzbet Ṣarṭa ostracon.