What Laws were "Not Good"? A Canonical Approach to the Theological Problem of Ezekiel 20:25-26‪.‬

Ezekiel 20:25-26 is one of the most infamous interpretive cruxes of the book of Ezekiel. As Hartmut Gese put it, "Die Auslegung von Ez 20,25f., ... ist schon seit den Anfangen alttestamentlicher Wissenschaft als besonders schwieriges Problem empfunden worden." (1) In these two verses, the writer of the book, whom we will call "Ezekiel" without prejudice toward debates about authorship, makes the shocking claim that the LORD gave Israel "laws that were not good," which not only failed to give the people life but actually defiled them: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]