A Passage from Ezzekiel

28:1 – וַיְהִי דְבַר יְהוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר.  ב בֶּן אָדָם אֱמֹר לִנְגִיד צֹר כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה יַעַן גָּבַהּ לִבְּךָ וַתֹּאמֶר אֵל אָנִי מוֹשַׁב אֱלֹהִים יָשַׁבְתִּי בְּלֵב יַמִּים וְאַתָּה אָדָם וְלֹא אֵל וַתִּתֵּן לִבְּךָ כְּלֵב אֱלֹהִים

            See the Yalkut here, featuring the celebrated passage of the people who never died, and the people who entered gan eden alive. According to the Midrash, God is directing his remarks to Chiram, who fancied himself a God. But Chiram lived in the time of Solomon, hundreds of years before Ezekiel! (Update 2013 – But see Genesis Rabbah, 85:4, citing a debate of whether Chiram lived 500 years or close to 1100 years. The debate is based on the fact that a certain “Chirah” is mentioned in connection with Yehuda and Tamar, and the question is whether or not Chirah is to be identified with Chiram.)

            It is also worth pointing out that according to the Midrash here, Nebuchadezzar sexually violated the mother of Chiram. How appropriate, then, that Nebuchadnezzar, in a little-known fact, was himself later sexually violated. (See Rashi to 28:7).  Note also that according to Shemos Rabbah 8:2, when Nebuchadnezzar was exiled to the fields, he appeared to the animals “as a female animal.” I understand this to be another oblique reference to the fact that he was sexually violated.  It is another example, albeit little noticed, of middah kinegged middah: He violated others, therefore he was violated himself.  (Update 2013 – See Genesis Rabbah 93:6 or 7 (there is confusion in the numbering), where Yehuda accuses the Viceroy of Egypt, “Just as Pharaoh desired males, you too, desire Joseph for homosexual reasons.” In Shabbos (149b) it is said that Nebuchadnezzar would draw lots on a daily basis to determine which of his captives he would violate homosexually.  See also above Genesis 25:32, where I noted the comments of Midrash Rabbah to the words of Genesis 5:27 אִישׁ שָׂדֶה, stating that Esau made himself as an unclaimed “field” to be plowed by anyone, i.e., that he engaged in homosexual acts with any man who wanted.  ( I also noted there that the Midrash two versers later interprets the same word “שדה” to mean that Esau had “come from the field”, i.e., had returned from outraging a maiden, a decidedly heterosexual act.) 

Homosexuality in ancient times among rulers was somewhat common. Gibbon notes in the Decline and Fall that nearly all of the Roman Caesars engaged in homosexuality. (Update 2014 – In Leviticus Rabbah (21:2) we find a view that Goliath desired David for homosexual purposes. Most interestingly, the “Likutim” printed on the side of the new Wagshal editions says, in a somewhat oblique fashion, that Saul accused Jonathan of harboring sexual desires for David. This view is not based so much on the famous elegy of David for Jonathan, stating that the former’s love for the latter was “greater than that of women” [a much abused passage in contemporary times] but, rather, on 1 Samuel 20:30.)

See also my notes to Habakuk 2:15, where I discuss the prophet railing against Nebuchadnezzar’s habit of “gazing upon nakedness.” (2015)

This was contributed by David Farkas.

For those interested his book is available here