Bible Text &  Space Technology - I

Keywords: UFO, unidentified flying objects, Bible, flying saucers, prophecy, Paleo-SETI, ancient astronauts, Erich von Däniken, Josef F. Blumrich, Zecharia Sitchin, Ezekiel, biblical prophecy, spacecraft, spaceship, NASA, Roswell, aircraft, propellant, extraterrestrial hypothesis, Jacques Vallee, interdimensional hypothesis, Project Blue Book, Condon Report, ancient history, Jesus, Judaism, Christianity, Middle East, end times, engines, rockets, helicopters, space travel, aliens, abductions, alien abductions, crop circles, extraterrestrials, astronomy, economics, biology, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Space Shuttle, Apollo, stars, planets, solar system, scriptures, design, fuel tank, aerodynamics, fuels, hydrogen, oxygen, wheels

Chapter 5

The third encounter
(continued)

    This whole somewhat mysterious group now proceeds to the "bronze" altar and takes position beside it.  [p.79] 

    Verse 3: The beginning of this verse seems to convey the same content as the corresponding part of Verse 4 of Chapter 10: "And the glory of the Lord went up from the cherubim." A superficial assessment would show this passage as an unnecessary and misplaced repetition of Chapter 9, Verse 3. But in Chapter 9, Verse 3, Ezekiel speaks of the "glory of the God of Israel," while Chapter 10, Verse 4, refers to the "glory of the Lord." If we bear in mind Ezekiel's enormous gift of observation, such differentiation is not meaningless. It points to a difference between the two flying objects. It appears certain that Chapter 9, Verse 3, refers to the flight of the commander—and we shall find direct evidence of this as we discuss Chapter l0—while Chapter 10, Verse 4, concerns the flight of the empty capsule. As shown in section 4 of this book, both flights are possible today.

    Thus the commander has flown to the temple, and he first summons to him the man "clothed in linen" who carried the "writing case."

    Verse 4: Of all the passages of Ezekiel's book that have technical relevance this is the only one where the commander is directly identified with God ("the Lord"). This exceptional case is discussed in section 7 of this book. For the time being the only significant fact is that the commander gives an order to the man "clothed in linen." We shall revert to the content of that order in connection with Chapter 10, Verse 7.

    Verse 5: The other men also receive assignments. A longer passage follows in the text which does not pertain to our investigation.

    Verse 11: This verse comes back to the main events—the events concerning the commander and his helpers. This occurs in a very striking and exciting manner. The man in the protective suit comes back and reports: "I have done as thou didst command me." With these few words a situation is outlined with which we are very familiar: a report by a subordinate to a superior. It is short and matter-of-fact and recalls military brevity and discipline. Coming across such a situation under circumstances so remote from us in every sense confers upon this moment a staggering and truly electrifying qualify.

    Verse 1: Ezekiel looks over to the spaceship and makes an important observation. He briefly describes the position of the command capsule on top of the vehicle; but this description ends with the throne! No man is sitting on the throne. But none can be there, since the commander has flown to the temple as shown in the discussion of Chapter 9, Verse 3; has given his orders there and has also received there the report of the man in the protective suit. One has the impression that, after Ezekiel saw the commander flying to the temple, he now wants to make sure that this was indeed "his" commander. This is why he looks at the spaceship and finds his assumption confirmed: the "throne"—which is the commander's seat—is indeed empty! As before, we can only express the highest admiration for the precision of his observation and also the desire to check an observation that may be open to doubt.

    At the place where it occurs in the text this Verse was inserted out of context and in fact disrupts the description of the progress of the action. It seems that it would best belong to Chapter 9, Verse 3.

    Chapter 10 generally presents some difficulties in its structure. Although the action developed in Chapter 9 is continued here, as may be ascertained by careful reading, it is repeatedly interrupted by unrelated descriptions of the spacecraft. One has the impression of insertions or a rewriting done by persons not familiar with these events and we shall come back to this question later. At any rate, it is therefore better to select and discuss first the essential part of this chapter, that is, the action, and later to examine as a group the inserts that were not treated at the first reading. This essential part of the contents is to be found in Verses 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 18, and 19, which will now be discussed.

    Verse 2: The commander orders the man in the protective suit to go to the spaceship, to take some red-hot material from the main body ("from between the cherubim") and to scatter it "over the city." Now it becomes understandable why that man needed a protective suit: He had to come close to the large glowing surface of the radiator of the reactor which, naturally, was radiating intense heat. For the same reason the man also cannot move close to the main body and he is specifically instructed to remain "underneath the cherubim." Since, at that moment, the rotors are standing still, the word "underneath" does not mean that he would stand somewhere within the range of the rotor diameter, but rather refers—in defining the place where he is ordered to stand—to the body of the helicopters. A literal interpretation of the word "underneath" would only be possible if the lower edge of the helicopter body was high enough above the ground. In view of the large diameter of the wheels such height is entirely possible. At any rate, the order says that the place he was to stand in must be in the immediate vicinity of the helicopter. In Verse 6, we read later that the man stood "beside a wheel," which confirms the considerations above. The man was supposed to take something red-hot in his hands and to scatter it "over the city." The unclear last part of this command will be explained later. Besides, this Verse appears too early in the text. To be consistent with the course of events, it would belong to Verse 6.

    Verse 3: Here we are given a description of the position of the spacecraft at the time the man approaches it. This description is given from where Ezekiel is standing. To derive from it a specific indication of the location of the vehicle relative to the temple, we must first try to identify Ezekiel's position. In Chapter 8, Verse 3, he says that he was standing in the courtyard near the north gate. From Chapter 9, Verse 2, one might conclude that he had moved somewhat away from it because he sees the men coming "from the direction of the upper gate." If now, in Chapter 10, Verse 3, he sees the spaceship "on the right side of the house"—which means to the right of the temple—then its position may be deduced with sufficient certainty to lie somewhat to the north of the temple.

    The "cloud" is mentioned in a quite casual way, as though it had already been introduced and described at an earlier stage. It appears probable that this passage was inserted here too early, since its contents are repeated in Verse 4.

    Verse 4: As was already mentioned in the discussion of Chapter 9, Verse 3, the capsule—operated by remote control by the commander—flies from the spaceship to the threshold of the temple. It is important to note that the commander is there too (see Chapter 9, Verse 3). In this context a "cloud" would be altogether conceivable; however, it would be a cloud of dust raised by the jets of the engines of the capsule. The addition "and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the Lord" may describe the light effects produced by the glasslike and highly reflective surface of the capsule. The use of engines with hot gases—whose light effect could perhaps be suspected here—is ruled out because the capsule was brought to land next to the commander. Hot exhaust gases from rocket engines probably would have severely injured the commander.

    Verse 6: According to the context, this would be the right moment for giving the final command. This is why—as we have already mentioned—Verse 2 could really belong here. At any rate, with the posting of the man next to the helicopter, all preparatory moves have been completed. Everyone and everything is now in position: The commander and his capsule are at the front side of the temple (which is its east side), the spaceship is on the north side, Ezekiel presumably is not very far from the north gate; the man in the protective suit takes his position "beside a wheel."

    Verse 7: Now the mechanical arm—and of course there may be more than one arm involved—reaches its hand toward the main body of the spaceship, picks up something, and moves it across to the man standing by the wheel, who takes it with both hands and carries it away.

    As for the burning question about what really took place here, some attempts at an answer can be made. Seen from a technical angle, one thing is certain—namely that some hot element was removed. Whether it was "hot" only in a thermal sense or also included nuclear radiation is not clear.

    More light can be shed on this matter by going back to the first two orders issued by the commander. If we study the essence of these orders given to the man in the protective suit and to the accompanying crew, we find that they involve the task of seeking and marking in the first instance, and that of removing undesirable things, obstacles, in the second. These fundamental ideas may be applied both in a religious and a technical sense. Doing this—in contrast to the Bible—in the technical  sense, the following picture will emerge: We have just seen that a structural part or an element of the reactor had to be removed, either because of an emergency or according to plan. In both cases, that is, whether it was an emergency or a planned operation, the part to be removed was "hot." It was therefore imperative to find in advance a place where the part could be disposed of safely and fast. Both activities, the search and marking of that place as well as its preparation, such as, for example, the removal of earth, rocks, or bushes, are reflected in the basic meaning of the commands. Even the continued absence of the six men could be explained by their being engaged in the preparation and safeguarding of this site. Finally, it should be pointed out that there is an absence of any greetings between the commander and the ground crew, and that the commands follow each other in a brisk sequence. Both these circumstances suggest a certain haste and urgency.

    Verse 18 and 19: After the departure of the man wearing the protective suit, the capsule returns without any waste of time: It flies back to the main body. The text that follows later indicates that the commander is inside the capsule. Immediately upon his arrival, he starts the helicopter because, as Ezekiel observes, they "lifted up their wings." The helicopter, however, makes only a short leap to the east gate.

    The rapid sequence of events draws attention to their peculiar interrelation. First the commander removes Ezekiel—his passenger on that flight—from the spaceship; then he goes himself to the entrance to the temple, which means that it is important to him to be at a certain distance from his spaceship. While the man in the protective suit—having fulfilled his first task—proceeds toward the spacecraft, even the capsule is removed from it and flown to the commander who, it appears, soon boards it; at any rate he flies in it back to the ship as soon as the man in the protective suit has departed. One cannot fail to notice that, at an obviously critical moment, nobody is in the immediate vicinity of the spaceship except the one indispensable assistant. We know, moreover, that the commander was by the east side of the temple while his spaceship stood to its north. One cannot entirely escape the impression that in the course of these preparations the commander very prudently had put part of the temple between himself and the critical procedure which was being carried out on the spaceship. This impression is strengthened even more by the presence of the capsule by his side which—if needed—could provide him with a swift means of escape.

    The analysis of those Verses in Chapter 10 which describe the action has now been completed. . . .  [p.86]