Ezekiel has long been considered the most difficult of all the prophetic books to understand. The prophet's bizarre visions, extraordinary behaviour, and extravagant imagery have perplexed and fascinated readers for more than 2,500 years. Originating as a response to the crisis of the Babylonian exile, the book contains the traditional mixture of oracles of judgement against Judah, oracles against the nations, and prophecies of salvation. Ezekiel is distinctive amongst the prophets for the baroque and elaborate visions of God around which the book is structured, for the severity and violence of his message of judgement, and for his distinctively priestly background and ritual interests. For the New Testament, while explicit mention of Ezekiel is absent, we see the book's pervasive influence in the Apocalypse of John and several other places. Moving further on in Christian interpretation, the few surviving commentaries and homilies from the patristic era provide an excellent contrast of Alexandrian and Antiochene interpretation. Amongst these it was Jerome's commentary (410-414) which had the most substantial and lasting impact on the Western Christian reception of Ezekiel. Indeed, subsequent commentaries did little more than repeat Jerome until the work of Richard and Andrew of St Victor in the twelfth century.

The Reformation saw the beginnings of an expansion of Ezekiel commentary, with notable works by Oecolampadius (1528-29) and Calvin (1563-64), who died before he could complete his work. In the early twentieth century, Ezekiel was one of the last of the biblical books to undergo radical literary analysis, but Gustav Hölscher opened the floodgates in 1924 and for the next few decades one could be forgiven for thinking that exegetes were trying to make up for lost time, so many and varied were the theories of composition that were suggested. In more recent years Ezekiel has proved a prime candidate for the development of both psychoanalytical and feminist approaches to biblical scholarship. There can, therefore, be no question that Ezekiel has provided rich resources for professional interpreters of scripture over the centuries. However, the book has also drawn mystics and songwriters, poets and revolutionaries to engage with its potent metaphors and extravagant visions. Chaucer, Milton, Blake, and Wilfred Owen all owe the prophet a debt for elements of their poetic work. Millenarians from Girolamo Savonarola to the contemporary Peruvian 'Israelites of the Universal New Covenant' have drawn authorization from the prophet for their hopes and plans. An examination of these and other responses from outside the main exegetical tradition will tie in very well with the aim of the Blackwell Commentary Series to go beyond the 'history of interpretation' and to focus attention on a broad range of readers and communities that have encountered the text and found meaning in it.

The commentary will certainly need to deal with responses to the book from both inside and outside the theological 'mainstream'.