Apocryphon of Ezekiel

The Apocryphon of Ezekiel is an apocryphal book, written in the style of the Old Testament, as revelations of Ezekiel. It survives only in five fragments^[1] including quotations in writings by Epiphanius, Clement of Rome and Clement of Alexandria, and the Chester Beatty Papyri 185.^[2] It is likely to have been composed c. 50 BC – 50 AD, although some scholars suggest a date closer to 7 AD.

The largest fragment tells of a king who holds a feast to which he invites everyone except two beggars, a blind man and a cripple.^[3] The two are angry and determine to have their revenge: the cripple sits on the blind man's shoulders, and together they damage the king's orchard, but the king discovers what they have done and punishes them both.^[4] The moral of the story, according to the narrator, is that this proves the resurrection of the body, since soul and body must function together.^[5]

Pseudo-Ezekiel, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, is possibly further fragments of this text, or it may be a different work concerning Ezekiel, but it is unclear.^[6]

Bibliography

• W. Milton Timmons, "Everything About the Bible That You Never Had Time to Look Up", p. 192
• Travis Darren Trost, "Who Should Be King in Israel?", p. 157
• Mercer dictionary of the Bible: Ezekiel, p. 283