For nearly its entire textual life Ezekiel 16 has barely survived. Early Jewish communities were wary of including it in their canon of sacred texts because of the chapter’s explicit and disturbing imagery. Christian communities have likewise wrestled with the text by essentially barring it from communal worship (the text does not appear in any lectionary) as well as nearly bracketing it in scholarship (most, if not all, scholars see the text as a violent and gross misrepresentation of gender roles as well as one of the most exacerbating cases of divine violence. Kathryn Phisterer Darr’s work stands out as one of the few that allows the tension of the text to stand.). Despite all of these objections, however, the text remains in the canon. In this one chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, one finds themes of hope, love, despair, suffering, betrayal, grace, and abandonment — all foundational to the human experience. In addition to a colorful theological tapestry, one also finds a definitively historical text that is troubling to most contemporary readers. Theology, history, and contemporary reader combine to make the text and its message shocking at best and inaccessible at worst; this project proposes a solution by way of sequential art. Because the theological message of Ezekiel 16 is both wrapped up in the larger narratival context and presents itself through forceful and explicit imagery, exegeting the text via sequential art offers the reader a new medium for understanding the text. I propose a retelling of the story found in Ezekiel 16 that consciously creates space for the theological themes, historical realities, and contemporary cultural concerns all to be heard and to stand in tension with one another. Along with a sequential retelling of the story of Israel and YHWH, I will also annotate my work to provide historical, artistic and scholarly perspectives for the reader. I will first create the comic by traditional pencil and ink and then scan the images. The images can then appear in any form needed.
