Obst 520 Discussion Forum

Read the articles provided in the Module/Week 3 Reading & Study folder. Then, answer the following questions in a new thread:

• In 250–300 words: Should we understand the temple prophesied in Ezekiel 40–48 as literal, figurative, or both? What specifics in the Ezekiel passage and the Old Testament prophets in general inform your answer? How should the further revelation in the New Testament impact our understanding of this OT prophecy? Interact with the specific NT passages that you think bear most directly on this question.

• In 150–200 words: Ezekiel 40–48 refers to the offering of sacrifices at the future temple. How do you understand this aspect of the prophecy? What problems/issues does this raise? How does the New Testament influence whether we should understand these sacrifices literally or figuratively?

Your thread is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Thursday; your replies are due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.

Dr. Randall Price states that if it is countered that chapters 40-48 are a spiritual vision and therefore not meant to be a literal reality, the literary structure of the book argues against this possibility. In chapters 8-11 all interpreters are in agreement that the literal First Temple in Jerusalem is in view. Although Ezekiel’s depiction of its desecration is visionary and serves as the basis for a spiritual warning to the exilic community of impending divine judgment, not one commentator doubts that an actual structure is described. Again, it must be emphasized that Ezekiel was not physically in Jerusalem when he reported these things, but in Babylon with the Judean exiles. It was “in the visions of God” that he was spiritually transported to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:3). Therefore,

everything he mentions in this first section concerning the Temple, it’s “inner court” (8:3), “porch” (8:16), “altar” (8:16), “threshold” (9:3), and “East gate” (10:19), were all

seen in a vision. Despite this fact, the symbolic school is unanimous in...