Symbolism

Our Wednesday Bible study is finally done with Ezekiel. We started back in April, I think. The last few chapters beg for symbolic or allegorical interpretation. The river grows from a trickle to unfordable in less than 2 miles, with no tributaries mentioned. That's not a river.

The temple has an odd rule: go out by a different door than you go in. It isn't hard to come up with symbolic/allegorical reasons, and even practical ones: a trip to the temple is whole-hearted with no turning back; you come out different; etc--and you come in contact with people other than the ones you went in with. Etc.

But it isn't hard to find people who believe this is the literal description of a temple to be built and used during the "millennial reign of Christ." Even positing that the 1000-years is literal, assuming that the abrogated sacrifices would be acceptable in the new era, with Jesus on hand to boot, just seems incoherent, and I said so. They pity me.

I can live with that.

While some argue that the rituals commanded in the Old Testament are arbitrary, the author of Hebrews implies that they have meanings. So, what is the meaning of holding festivals at the new moon? These days they treat the new moon as the birth of a new month--maybe it had that meaning back then too. Passover is a full moon (no eclipse possible at the Crucifixion), and as a memorial of liberation, maybe having light day and night is a good symbol.