Polemics with Enochic Traditions in the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian

The Exagoge, Ezekiel the Tragedian’s second-century BCE drama about the Exodus, contains a non-biblical account of Moses’ vision of God’s throne on Sinai. This apocalyptic merkavah vision reveals that Enochic traditions were formative in Ezekiel’s writing. In the Exagoge, Ezekiel attributes to Moses what had earlier been claimed for Enoch. In presenting Moses as the patriarch who ascends and receives esoteric revelation on Sinai, Ezekiel is establishing the primacy of Moses and his revelation. In the drama, Moses not only ascends and has a merkavah vision: he is divinized. This elevation of Moses is a challenge to accounts of an exalted Enoch. This article provides an analysis of the role of Ezekiel’s drama in Enochic-Mosaic polemics. The Exagoge exalts Moses over Enoch, founding Moses’ superlative status upon his ascent, vision, received revelation, and deification on Sinai.