Notes
on Ezekiel's Vision
(chapters 1 and 10 of the Book of Ezekiel; King James
Version – at times edited by myself to weed out archaisms)
Below is a verse-by-verse (brief) running commentary on Ezekiel's vision – in regard to whether what he saw was some sort of extraterrestrial craft or not. Mike's view is that all the elements of the Ezekiel vision referring to beings or objects can be accounted for in the iconography of the ancient near eastern world. Ezekiel was borrowing divine images familiar to the Babylonians (and which exiled Jews would no doubt see) to "inform" his audience that the God of Israel was the true God and still active (i.e., HE, YHWH, was still enthroned on the cherubim, not some Babylonian god, despite Israel's circumstances). Using ancient near eastern images and literature for theologically polemic purposes was a common practice for biblical writers (cf. the Baal epic and the face-off between Elijah and the prophets of Baal). Images used below come from a book by the great German scholar, Othmar Keel – Jahwe-Visionen und Siegelkunst: Eine neue Deutung der Majestatsschilderungen in Jes, Ez 1 und 10 und Sach 4 ("Visions of Yahweh and Seal Art: A New Interpretation of the Majestic Portrayals in Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 and 10, and Zechariah 4"), Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart, 1984-85).
I should also point out that Ezekiel 1 and 10 are considered to be among the most problem-filled chapters in the entire Old Testament when it comes to text-critical problems and manuscript disagreements. I've avoided dealing with that since most readers will not know Hebrew or will never have done textual criticism. If you want to know the relevant problems, see the textual discussion section of Leslie Allen, Ezekiel 1-19, Word Biblical Commentary, and the article by Daniel Block,
Ezekiel 1 (I'm going to
try and keep the description of the creatures and the platform they are
supporting together – and so the verse below will be out of order).
The "wheels" and the "wheelwork" are apparently part
of / inseparable from the creatures. I'll
group those verses together as well.
The
Creatures and the platform:
4 And I looked, and,
behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a flashing fire,
surrounded by a radiance, and in the center of it (the center of the fire) a
gleam as of amber
obviously, there are no mechanical
parts spoken of yet.
5 Also in the center of it
(probably
the cloud) were the figures of four
living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they each had the likeness of
a man. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7 And their
feet [were] straight feet; and the sole of their feet [was] like the sole of a
calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished bronze.
8 And [they had] the hands of a man under their wings on their four
sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9 Their wings [were]
joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one
straight forward. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face
of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face
of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus
[were] their faces: and their wings [were] stretched upward; two [wings] of
every one [were] joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
Here we see "beings" for
the first time. Note the images
below of statuary that account for these figures (save for the luminosity, they
do not resemble any "occupants" in UFO related sightings).
The relevant features are:
Human / humanoid appearance
Four animal faces
Four wings
Straight feet
Calf's feet
12
And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they
went; [and] they turned not when they went.
They apparently moved (had to move?) in tandem
13
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance [was] like burning
coals of fire, [and] like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the
living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth
lightning. 14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a
flash of lightning.
This apparent contradiction to the above (they either moved
in tandem or not; they either had their wings touching or not – here they are
described as moving about to and fro) has given rise to the notion we are
dealing perhaps with two different sets of creatures.
22
And the likeness of the expanse upon the heads of the living creatures
here we see there is some sort of platform above the heads of
the creatures; they are supporting the platform.
[was]
as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. 23
And under the expanse [were] their wings straight, the one toward the other:
every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which
covered on that side, their bodies. 24 And when they went, I heard the noise of
their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the
voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their
wings. 25 And there was a voice from the expanse that [was] over their heads,
when they stood, [and] had let down their wings. 26 And above the expanse that
[was] over their heads [was] the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a
sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne [was] the likeness as the
appearance of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the
appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even
upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the
appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 28 As the appearance of
the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so [was] the appearance of the
brightness round about. This [was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory
of the Lord. And when I saw [it], I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of
one that spoke.
Yahweh, the deity, is atop the platform being supported by the creatures
Summary so far:
