Was Ezekiel an epileptic?
By Judy Siegel November, 19 2001
JERUSALEM (November 19) - Ezekiel's visions may have resulted as much from disease as from divine inspiration, according to a California neuroscientist, who believes the prophet suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy.
Dr. Eric Altschuler, of the University of California at San Diego, presented his theory about Ezekiel and epilepsy before last week's meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego and reported in the latest issue of New Scientist. Altschuler said a careful reading of the Book of Ezekiel shows he had "all the classic signs of the condition."
Sufferers of temporal lobe epilepsy experience partial seizures, often accompanied by a dreamy feeling that things are not quite as they should be, said Altschuler. Ezekiel - who lived some 2,600 years ago - displayed some obvious signs of epilepsy, such as frequent fainting spells and episodes of being unable to speak, Altschuler said.
The prophet, who foretold the fall of Jerusalem and the First Temple in 586 BCE at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, exhibited other peculiarities associated with the disease, the neuroscientist claims. For instance, "he wrote compulsively, a trait known as hypergraphia."
Altschuler said the Book of Ezekiel is the fourth longest book in the Bible - only slightly shorter than Genesis. "It's impenetrable," Altschuler maintains. "He goes on and on."
He was a young widower, as his wife reputedly died during the siege of Jerusalem. "Ezekiel was also extremely religious, another characteristic associated with this form of epilepsy. While many Biblical figures are pious, none was as aggressively religious as Ezekiel," said Altschuler. "Other signs of epilepsy can include aggression, delusions, and pedantic speech - and the man had them all."
Altschuler made headlines earlier this year when he claimed that the biblical strongman Samson, who brought an amphitheater down on himself and his Philistine captors, may have suffered from "antisocial personality disorder."
