- Feb 5, 2002
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In my last article, I looked at the decision-making analogy of the four-faced creatures of Ezekiel’s chariot. I mentioned that when I started looking for science in the Bible, I was drawn to the wheels of Ezekiel’s chariot vision.
I wondered why wheels, which are a human invention made of solid material, were attached beneath Ezekiel’s vision of angel-like figures and surmounted by a figure surrounded by flames. The text stresses that when the chariot descended, the wheels touched the ground and it moved. A wheel running on the ground brought to mind a trundle wheel, often used to measure distances. As a wheel turns, it covers a finite distance on the ground. So, as the chariot moved on the ground, it was measuring out a distance. But measurement is a hallmark of science. In the 19th century, Lord Kelvin said that without measurement there can be no science. Measurement turns unknown lengths into standard units that can be examined, compared and interrogated. Was the chariot trying to tell us something about science?
Ezekiel is the book of the Bible that contains the most measurements. The volume, precision and specificity of these measurements differ from elsewhere in Scripture and seem to tell us something about Ezekiel’s approach to prophetic revelation. He gives frequent exact dates of events; he compares Jewish weights and measures and standardises them; he gives the exact weight of food and volume of drink that people would have during the coming siege of Jerusalem, illustrating that it was below the minimum needed to sustain life; he is told to gauge the depth of a river at four precisely measured intervals; and he records 101 measurements of the size of a visionary temple he sees.
But why did Ezekiel make so many precise measurements? If we look at what was happening in Babylonia at the time, we find that mathematics was highly advanced. The king used the positions of the planets and stars to help him plan battles and make other state decisions, so the royal astrologers became adept at mathematics capable of predicting planetary movement. It was recently discovered that the Babylonians developed an early form of calculus, long before it was thought to have been invented, and their discoveries have been described as the “first scientific revolution”. Ezekiel’s use of measurement was very much in keeping with his environment and suggests that he, too, may have been using measurement for its precision.
Continued below.
thecatholicherald.com
I wondered why wheels, which are a human invention made of solid material, were attached beneath Ezekiel’s vision of angel-like figures and surmounted by a figure surrounded by flames. The text stresses that when the chariot descended, the wheels touched the ground and it moved. A wheel running on the ground brought to mind a trundle wheel, often used to measure distances. As a wheel turns, it covers a finite distance on the ground. So, as the chariot moved on the ground, it was measuring out a distance. But measurement is a hallmark of science. In the 19th century, Lord Kelvin said that without measurement there can be no science. Measurement turns unknown lengths into standard units that can be examined, compared and interrogated. Was the chariot trying to tell us something about science?
Ezekiel is the book of the Bible that contains the most measurements. The volume, precision and specificity of these measurements differ from elsewhere in Scripture and seem to tell us something about Ezekiel’s approach to prophetic revelation. He gives frequent exact dates of events; he compares Jewish weights and measures and standardises them; he gives the exact weight of food and volume of drink that people would have during the coming siege of Jerusalem, illustrating that it was below the minimum needed to sustain life; he is told to gauge the depth of a river at four precisely measured intervals; and he records 101 measurements of the size of a visionary temple he sees.
But why did Ezekiel make so many precise measurements? If we look at what was happening in Babylonia at the time, we find that mathematics was highly advanced. The king used the positions of the planets and stars to help him plan battles and make other state decisions, so the royal astrologers became adept at mathematics capable of predicting planetary movement. It was recently discovered that the Babylonians developed an early form of calculus, long before it was thought to have been invented, and their discoveries have been described as the “first scientific revolution”. Ezekiel’s use of measurement was very much in keeping with his environment and suggests that he, too, may have been using measurement for its precision.
Continued below.
Ezekiel: measurement and science help us to reach spiritual truths
Fr Patrick Pullicino argues that the precise measurements recorded in Ezekiel reveal how scientific method and spiritual insight can work together in the search for truth
thecatholicherald.com
