ZAW 2022; 134(2): 179–192 Tova Ganzel* Ezekiel’s Nonverbal Responses as Prophetic Message https://doi.org/10.1515/zaw-2022-2002 The book of Ezekiel includes verbal messages and symbolic acts.1 Much has been written about the symbolic acts (found in 3:22–5:17; 12:1–20; and 24:15–18) and their centrality to the book.2 Yet the book’s prophetic messages are also conveyed through nonverbal language that cannot be easily classified as »symbolic acts.« In this article, I suggest that varied responses—including exclamation words, sighs, shouts and physical gestures normally understood as an attempt to convey the prophet’s reactions to the oracles, whether spontaneous or upon divine command—should, in fact, be understood as a supplementary feature through 1 See, for example, Georg Fohrer, Die symbolischen Handlungen der Propheten (Zürich: Zwingli- Verlag, 1953), 35–47 and, more recently, Katrin Ott, Die prophetischen Analogiehandlungen im Alten Testament, BWANT 185 (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2009). 2 See Friebel’s comprehensive study, which examines instances of »nonverbal communication«: Kelvin G. Friebel, Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s Sign-Acts: Rhetorical Nonverbal Communication, JSOT- Sup 283 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999). Zimmerli used the term »sign-acts« when acknowledging their major contribution in Ezekiel; see: Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1: A Com- mentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24, trans. Ronald E. Clements, BKAT XIII (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979). I prefer the combination »symbolic acts« used by Greenberg in his commentary (Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel 1–20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB 22 [Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1983]); a symbol can convey a deeper and more complex meaning than a sign, and the term better reflects the symbols’ role in the book of Ezekiel. A sign is in many cases an indicator or marker for something more specific and concrete. For a differentiation between verbal messages and symbolic acts and the purpose of prophetic symbolic acts see: Kelvin G. Friebel, »Sign Acts,« in Dictionary of the Old Testa- ment Prophets, ed. Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012) 707–713, and R. Andrew Compton, »The Sign-acts of Ezekiel 3:22–5:17: Formative Rituals of Priestly Identity,« MAJT 29 (2018) 47–80: see specifically 51 f. *Kontakt: Tova Ganzel, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Jewish Studies, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel , E-Mail: tova.ganzel@biu.ac.il Article Note: All references in the article are to the book of Ezekiel unless stated otherwise. Bib- lical verses are referred to using the numbering system found in the Hebrew (Masoretic) text. I distinguish between the character of Ezekiel in the book and the book itself by referring to Eze- kiel as prophet to avoid awkward wording. However, my observations do not presume that there is a single redactor or sixth-century author for the book.