Ezekiel's Wheel: Ancient Story and Prophetic Warning

 Ezekiel's Wheel and Description

Ezekiel 1:1-18 

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Ezekiel-Chapter-1/

1.  Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
2. On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile, 
3.  The word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.  
4. As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.
5. Within it there were figures resembling four living beings And this was their appearance: they had human form. 
6. Each of them had four faces and four wings.
7.  Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf ’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze.
8. Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,
9. their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.
10. As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle.
11. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies.
12. And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.
13. In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.
14. And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning.
15. Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them.
16.  The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another.
17. Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved.
18. As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about.

Commentary:  

The description of gleaming bronze matches other ancient stories about a planet or star that is fire blood red and like iron.  The planet has gleaming metal characteristics.  There are also similar weather event descriptions like fire and flashes of lightning. 

Academic Paper Commentary:  

"Traditions connected with the pole shift model of the Pleistocene"

https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.5078

As suits a report time and place are defined. The event occurred in the year 594 BC, i.e. late in the Holocene.

The appearance must have been impressive; Ezekiel was convinced that he was facing God. Note that this happened a millennium after the time when Moses had declared that God could not be visualized.

The storm wind may have been caused by a gravitational tidal effect or by thermal radiation. The light and specifically the “glowing metal in the midst of the fire” indicates a hot object. Due to their extremely eccentric orbits the fragments of the body were hot, shining and accompanied by a cloud.

This admirable description shows that the appearance was in turbulent internal movement, presenting a vast variety of structures. The description of Ezekiel goes far beyond what could be predicted from physical theory. As an example, a scientist considering an atmosphere with humidity could certainly not predict the variety of clouds on Earth, unless he had seen it. 

The description of Ezekiel continues until 1:28. It is the most detailed account of the passage of a fraction of The Binary Solar System and will certainly be a guide for theoretical reconstructions. Of especial value are indications of color: “gleamed like burnished bronze” in 1.7, “like burning coals of fire” in 1.13 and “like sparkling beryl” in 1.16. 

The description continues up to the end of chapter 1, when the text changes into a personal interpretation of the meaning of this event by the prophet Ezekiel.

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