First-Month Rituals in Ezekiel's Temple Vision: A Pentateuchal and Babylonian Comparison

This article examines a number of similarities and differences in the status and roles of functionaries in Ezekiel's vision and the contemporaneous Babylonian celebration of the Akitu festival. Explicit references to the month of Nisan appear in the temple vision: in the date notice (40:1) and with regarding to ritual cleansing of the temple (45:18-20), which parallels the time when the festivals for the Babylonian gods were held. Consideration of the Akitu festival exemplifies how Babylonian ritual practices left a strong impression on the Jewish exiles there and, even more so, on the exiles from priestly families. The affinity between the Jewish and Babylonian calendars seems not only to be grounded in administrative needs but also to be extended to the adoption of principles from Babylonian culture.