THE MESSAGE OF EZEKIEL
By Christopher J.H. Wright
IVP The Bible Speaks Today: Bible Themes Series
ISBN 0 85111 548 9
Long ago when even scientists were expected to write essays the following essay title was set in the Part II of the Natural Science Tripos at Cambridge. 'Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creature, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel'. Discuss.
Did the examiners of 1946 know their Bibles better than today's churchgoers? They wanted to hear about enzyme cycles. We can speculate as to whether most church congregations would have any idea where the phrase comes from. Wheels within wheels has passed into common English usage, together with 'them dry bones'. Ezekiel is otherwise too difficult for many, except those who make much of the final chapters looking for the site of the nuclear Armageddon, preparing architectural plans for a new temple, and identifying Gog and Magog in the current politics of the Middle East.
