Today's Scripture Reading (October 18, 2026): 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 that album was never released. For some
mysterious reason, Young decided at the last minute to abandon the project. The
song "Love is a Rose" then went into a holding pattern. It took a few
more years for the song to see the light of day on a compilation CD, and then,
as a country hit, on a Linda Ronstadt album. The lyrics of the chorus are:
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."
Neil Young
Young's lines are poetic,
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)
symbolizes love, but it is not love. It is a very dangerous thing to confuse the
real thing with the symbol. The only safe place to confuse the actual thing
with a symbol is in a poem or a song. Real life demands something different.
In biblical study, one
challenge we struggle with is distinguishing 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 the
Bible never speaks symbolically; everything mentioned is meant literally. But
then we arrive at the "Love is a Rose" problem.
Ezekiel describes the
gates to the new city. The city has twelve gates, and each 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 how Israel camped in the desert or how the tribes
received their inheritance in Canaan. A second clue is Levi's inclusion in the
list. Levi had no inheritance and is often excluded from the list of the
tribes; however, a gate bears Levi's 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 Israel's tribes. The tribes of Israel
symbolize God's promise. God promises Abraham that he will bless the world
through him, and the tribes symbolize that promise. As Ezekiel sees the gates
of the new city, he recognizes God's promise to bless the world, and he allows
the twelve tribes to represent or symbolize that blessing.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah
40
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