The prophet Ezekiel wrote at a critical time in the history of the Chosen People. Their identity had been woven into “the promised land.” Abraham was called into the promised land from Ur of the Chaldees, Moses led the people out of slavery into the promised land, Joshua and the judges wrested the promised land from the Canaanites, David established a kingdom in the promised land, Solomon build the temple as the locus of God’s presence in the promised land. What a crisis, then, when the people are taken from the promised land into exile! “How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land?” asked the Psalmist. Ezekiel’s vision is that God is mobile, dwelling with the people and not in any geographic location.
