Bible Text &  Space Technology - K

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 fourth encounter

    Verse 1: Some nineteen years elapse before Ezekiel feels again the "hand of the Lord."  [p.93] 

    Verse 2: Without going into any details, he mentions his flight "in the visions of God"to a "very high mountain." He alights outside a number of buildings, and the general impression they convey is described by him as one of a "structure like a city." He is again totally unimpressed; the commander is simply referred to as "he."

    Verse 3: Ezekiel's arrival had obviously been arranged, because "behold, there was a man." Ezekiel in no way indicates that he has ever seen man or commander before.

    Ezekiel's familiarity with the spaceship and the commander prompts him to omit their so often repeated description. That "man"on the contrary is new to him, so he does describe him. There is no doubt that he indeed beholds a man and not some new different form of vehicle because, in contrast to his earlier descriptions, he is now talking about a "hand" and no longer about the "form of a hand" (compare Chapter 8, Verse 3). Moreover, this same man accompanies him and guides him through the temple. He is wearing a metallic or metal-like suit. The various translations mention—apart from the word "bronze"—such terms as brass and metal. However, all these definitions have in common the impression of a metallic surface.

    The nature of this suit may be ascertained with sufficient assurance on the basis of the following considerations. At the time of this encounter Ezekiel was probably about fifty years old and no doubt had seen on many occasions coats of mail and suits of plated armor as worn by the warriors of his time. We are now sufficiently familiar with his gift of observation to say that he would certainly have adequately described any man wearing such armor. On the other hand, there is a certain degree of similarity here with his description of the appearance of the commander during the first and third encounters; the only missing point is a mention of the brightness observed on those occasions. The latter fact, however, loses significance because this time Ezekiel is obviously not interested at all in describing any attending circumstances. At the beginning of the encounter, the spaceship is not described at all and later only by a comparison with earlier encounters; the temple, on the other hand, is described with an enormous amount of detail. We can therefore be almost certain that this very general depiction indicates a protective suit of the kind worn by the commander.

    The man carries a "line of flax" and a "measuring reed" in his hand. As we learn from Verse 5 of this Chapter, this measuring reed is "six cubits long, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length." According to Reference 6, page 267, this corresponds to a length of 10-1/2 feet. Although the measuring reed seems to have been used during the subsequent walk through the large temple, both these items—the measuring reed and the line of flax—would certainly be of interest to engineers specialized in communications and related fields.

    Verse 4: The man strongly enjoins Ezekiel to remember everything that he is about to see and then to describe it accurately to the people of Israel. Again a phrase occurs here surprisingly "human" in its context: ". . . you were brought here in order that I might show it to you."

    Verse 2: It is only in Reference 5 that the new arrival of a spaceship is described with the use of the expression "broke in from the east"; all other translations consulted here say that it "came." The former version might be understood in the sense of the first encounter, that is of a landing initiated by the rocket engine.

    What really happened here, however, can be quite easily reconstructed: at his arrival on the "very high mountain" (Chapter 40, Verse 2) Ezekiel was put down at some distance from a gate which is later identified as the east gate. He leaves the spacecraft which therefore was also standing outside the east gate, and proceeds with the man to undertake an extensive walking tour through the temple. Now the spaceship takes off from its location outside the gate and flies in a straight line to the temple building in the inner court. Accordingly, if observed from the outer court, it must necessarily be coming from the east. The fact that it is really the whole spacecraft that is flying over Ezekiel with the aid of its helicopters is evidenced by the comparison made in the text with the "sound of many waters." The same description: "the sound of many waters," is used in Chapter 1, Verse 24, in connection with the sound and noise of the helicopters. For the time being there is no satisfactory explanation for the light effect.  [p.95]