Today’s Scripture Reading (June 10,
2014): Ezekiel 48
Neil Young wrote the song “Love is a Rose” in
1974. The song was originally written for Young’s studio album “Homegrown.” But
the album was never released. For some mysterious reason Young decided at the
last minute to abandon the project. And the song “Love is a Rose” went into a
bit of a holding pattern. It would be a few more years before the song would see
the light of day on a compilation CD – and then as a country hit released by
Linda Ronstadt.
Love is a rose but
you better not pick it
It only grows when it's on the vine.
A handful of thorns and you'll know you've missed it
You lose your love when you say the word "mine".
It only grows when it's on the vine.
A handful of thorns and you'll know you've missed it
You lose your love when you say the word "mine".
Young has great poetical thought in the lines
of the song, but in a very real way he is wrong. Love may be like a rose, it
may be symbolized by a rose, but love is not a rose. The rose (especially a red
one) simply stands as a symbol of love – but it is not love. And it is a very
dangerous thing to confuse the real thing with the symbol. The only safe place
to do that is in a poem or a song. But real life demands something different.
In biblical study, one of the challenges that
we seem to struggle with is the difference between the literal and the symbolic.
When does the Bible mean something literally and when is it speaking
figuratively or symbolically? A friend of mine solved the problem by assuming
that the Bible never speaks symbolically – everything that is mentioned is
meant literally. But then we arrive at the “Love is a Rose” problem.
Ezekiel describes the gates to the new city. There
are twelve gates to the city, and each one of them is named after one of the
tribes of Israel. But this is not a literal representation of the tribes of
Israel, the gates are symbolic. We know this for two reasons. First, the order
of the gates does not match any order given for the tribes of Israel. It does
not reflect either the way that Israel camped in the desert, or the way that
the tribes received their inheritance in Canaan. But a second clue is the
inclusion of Levi in the list. Levi had no inheritance and is often not
included in the list of the tribes, but there is a gate that bears his name.
Ezekiel describes the new city – the city that
blesses the world. The tribes symbolize the way into the city. But the way is
not through the tribes of Israel. The tribes of Israel simply symbolize the
promise of God. God promises Abraham that he will bless the world through him,
and the tribes symbolize that promise of God. And as Ezekiel sees the gates of
the new city, he recognizes the promise of God to bless the world, and he
allows the twelve tribes to represent that blessing.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezra 1
& 2
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