Ezekiel Chapters 46 - 48 Q&A: Bible Study by Atheists

[00:00:00] Welcome to Sacrilegious Discourse. For this is what the sovereign Lord says, Why do you need prophets to tell people who you are and what you want? If you can justify everything that the God of the Bible

[00:00:11] has done, then you can justify any of your behavior. A lot of this mentality is trickling into what is now mainstream right wing Christianity. I am capable of empathy greater than this God of the Bible.

[00:00:26] This is a Bible that they tell kids, this is the good Lord, this is the good book, this is He is fantasizing about murder, mass murder. And over to Sacrilegious Discourse.com right now I got a Halloween sort of you or some

[00:00:42] worrisome patriarch. Wife, do you know what the hell we're doing? Well it's actually a Saturday sort of yeah, but yeah Saturday. So I guess that means we're doing our Q&A Saturday and it's

[00:01:03] on a Saturday. We are running a little behind this week though. I know. We did need to make this not on a Saturday. Isn't that funny how they worked out? So we apologize for that. I've had

[00:01:15] some crazy, they would change in jobs. Everything's kind of been up in the air and we're trying to get back on a regular schedule. So bear with us guys and we will be back to our regular

[00:01:26] normal self soon as we start a new book. Yeah, as we start a new book yeah, it'll be fun. Good fun. So what are we Q&A in today? We are covering the last couple chapters of what's his name?

[00:01:40] Is Eke O? Yeah that's the one. And that would be chapters 4647 and 48. All right, well let's go ahead and do this. Okay, okay. All right so we're doing the Q&A first. Okay. We're again chapters 4647

[00:02:02] and 48 except that 46 we didn't have any questions for because it was straight up instructions at the end. Right. Measurements that's all it was. Yeah. And we were like no we're reading.

[00:02:14] So in chapter 47 verse 1 says, though my an brought me back to the entrance to the temple and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east for the temple faced

[00:02:27] east. The water was coming from under the south side of the temple south of the altar. Okay. So I just had some notes about that less of a Q&A and more just like an explanation of shit.

[00:02:40] Yeah just to be clear this is the the bronze golden shining white gleaming dude. Yes, okay. This one makes sure that me had the right guy. Yeah. The man you know who depends on what

[00:02:51] interpretation you are reading as to what color he is. Because this is obviously the word of God it can't be fallible in any way whatsoever and can't be clear either. Yeah so reaching

[00:03:01] the gate of the temple is Eke O saw water spring under the threshold of that gate looking east. The waters ran west to east falling into the brook kidron and on from there to the dead sea.

[00:03:14] Okay. No such waters were ever in the temple. So Solomon had the sea made which held water for the use of the entire temple. Okay. Yeah. Water supplied the sea via pipes but

[00:03:29] a fountain producing abundance of water wasn't and couldn't be on top of such a hill. So consequently these waters are to be understood as being spiritual or symbolic rather than something that has ever happened or likely could ever happen. Okay I can believe that to an extent

[00:03:48] but they also at some point back in Moses's time told us that water spring forth from a rock. So I mean maybe they just don't have a good grasp on how water works. Right. I mean that could

[00:03:59] be because like we used to think that we had moods were like humors and they impacted what sicknesses we had. Right. And they used to like bleed us with leaches and like you know our scientific

[00:04:12] understanding of the body or anatomy or biology or chemistry was not all that great. Right. So but I'm going to lend it a little bit of leeway here because I remember in when we were talking

[00:04:25] about that they talked about the water flowing out and like creating this whole new garden of Eden type thing. So that could lend to spiritual things in a way to physical water. So here's

[00:04:37] the problem though. Again this is supposed to be understood to be spiritual or symbolic. Yeah later God gave specific borders to mark the land and like real numbers you know and there will be

[00:04:52] real land that will be given to the real 12 tribes of Israel suggesting that this was not in fact symbolic or spiritual land but real land. Okay so okay you know it's kind of like argues with

[00:05:04] itself right and that could be argued as well because really the 12 the 12 tribes are a bit symbolic themselves because we're in the tribes are lost by this point in time. Yes. So they don't even exist

[00:05:16] and this is this another one of these fever dreams that is eq heals having about something so there's only so much I don't know how much stock we can put in any of this honestly.

[00:05:27] I'm gonna put zero right as for myself you know you can do a different percentage but I'm going with zero right right. So if the borders described by God where put upon a modern map

[00:05:41] it would likely include all of Lebanon and a good portion of Syria including Damascus it would not include modern Jordan or Egypt and would not extend southward to modern Eilat. Eilat? Don't know. Only once in Israel's history did the political borders of Israel

[00:06:03] extend as far north as um Libohamath and that was under David and under Jerobo on the second in second Kings. Okay. All right. So what I'm hearing is that God was getting a little

[00:06:16] grabby. Don't land grabby. Could be. Could be or that the person that wrote this um thought he had an understanding of the politics and geography at the time and where it was likely to head but actually

[00:06:27] in fact didn't sure. Sure. Yeah. That would be my guess. That could make some sense. Generally speaking it is an area somewhat larger than the land Israel occupied in the Old Testament

[00:06:38] which you and I kind of figured when we were like, the source of the south. Oh yeah because we started talking about eat like it's gonna not it does better up against Egypt right now but

[00:06:47] it seemed bigger the way that was being discussed. Yeah and in fact it is because moving on into Ezekiel 48. Yeah. The land was a portion from north to south in bands or layers like we were

[00:07:01] really confused about how all these pieces fit together and why so and so got land here and there and like it didn't make any fucking sense. Right. Right. When I say bands or layers I'm talking

[00:07:16] about like if you imagine a seven layer dip right you've got the beans on the bottom then you've got the hamburger on top of that and then you've got like whatever else you put in their sour cream

[00:07:31] whatever. I think you should ask a damn how it feels to be referring to as referred to as beans. Well he's actually at the top. Oh he's the cheese. He's the cheese. Yeah so but we were thinking

[00:07:45] of just like different like circles and trying to picture how all this works. Yeah. In fact it reads more if you look up different maps. Yeah. It reads more as if there's a list.

[00:07:58] Right. Because remember remember we were like um why did they stop talking about these and all of the sudden just interrupt themselves to talk about the holy dip straight? Yeah. Because it falls

[00:08:09] in the middle of the list. Oh. So we've got like all of the northern things in a list like banded across the land and then in the middle of the temple area. Yes. And then it continues on

[00:08:24] under that with the rest of the list and it's like if you took that list and then just sat it down on top of a map. Got it. So they are literally bands or layers of the dip. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

[00:08:37] So one notable difference is that there is no land occupied on the east side of the Jordan River where the three trans Jordan tribes Ruben Gad and half of Manasa formerly had land. So that's not

[00:08:53] that's not part of this listing. That's not part of this new area. I remember in the times of Moses, I remember being listed together because they stopped early and then they went up you know

[00:09:03] that's interesting. Yeah. So they are put back together. They're all squished up one on top of the other from north to south. But this is a whole new configuration somewhat compared to what God promised, quote unquote, promised them before. That's interesting to me because God this I thought

[00:09:24] that what they had the first time was supposed to be the promised land. Right. And then it turns out that the promised land was a little bit more than what they described but also a little bit less in

[00:09:32] some areas. Yes. So the land markers didn't quite work out exactly the same way. Yeah. It's very interesting. It's like it's like a Z keyle was like yeah that didn't work. So what we're going to

[00:09:44] do is and then he picked up all the pieces, shuffled them together and then relayed them out. Yeah. And was like here, here, here but instead of like just shoved like laying them out

[00:09:56] hazzered all over the map, he just laid them one on top of the other from north to south. Right. Right. And the way he laid them out is very important because we didn't understand

[00:10:08] that Judah and Benjamin, they are the ones that were thought to be the most loyal through it all to God's work. Right. Those are on the north, Judah, and on the south, Benjamin, right between

[00:10:25] those two, that's where the middle section is of the city. So we're definitely the most important tribe. Yes, they were rewarded because they each get to be close, closest to the Holy Land,

[00:10:42] the Holy District. It's funny to me because I don't know if you recall this but Benjamin, at one point was actually destroyed almost completely, they had to, they took slave women

[00:10:53] to repopulate that tribe. Yes. That's that's crazy. Yeah. And part of that was like I think the fact that God helped destroy them, I think. I honestly don't remember but I wouldn't doubt it. Right.

[00:11:06] I could be, I could be getting that one wrong but I mean it's just funny that they now are such a prominent tribe in this whole Bible thing. So. Right. It is very interesting. Yeah. So

[00:11:17] I'm going to name them again but this time now that we have a little bit better understanding of how this lays out. So just imagine the Mediterranean, okay? And that is the western border

[00:11:32] for all of these people, okay? And I'm just going to name a list and just imagine them as the list next to the Mediterranean. Okay? Yeah. Northmost we have Dan underneath that is Asher, underneath that is Nephtolly, underneath that is Joseph's two because it didn't go to him.

[00:11:53] It went to his two sons of you recall. Right. So Manasa and Ephraim and we'll come back to that in a minute, Ruben and then Judah, okay? Then we get the Holy District which I will talk about more

[00:12:05] in a minute. Sure. Okay? Underneath that is Benjamin and then Simon and then Isikhar, Zebulon and Gad. Okay? Okay? Yeah. So let's talk more about that center area though, the Holy District.

[00:12:20] Right. So I looked on maps to try to understand it better because I'm somewhat of a visual person and I don't feel like the Bible explained it well enough that I could imagine this.

[00:12:30] So I'm going to try to explain it a little bit better than the Bible did. Okay? Okay? Yeah. So the Holy District is set up similarly to the rest of it where it's a

[00:12:42] list except for the bottom part of the list. Okay? Yeah. So at first we have the Levites, okay? Right. They are the northernmost part of this Holy District. Right. And that puts them the furthest away from the temple. Okay? Even though they get included in that center section,

[00:13:05] right. They are the furthest away from the temple. Which is it was just kind of interesting because they're actually responsible for a lot of things going on at the temple. So yes, so they get to be

[00:13:17] in there they get to be included but they are northmost and furthest away. Underneath them on this list comes the Zatakite priest and the sanctuary and the temple because the Zatakite priest of course live and serve in the sanctuary. Right. The temple. Right. Okay? That's a special

[00:13:36] priest. Yeah. So that's in the very center. They get the special eating clothes. Yeah. And then just south of that comes the city. Okay? Now the city lies between from west to east like the city isn't a whole band to itself. Got it. Okay? It's a little

[00:13:58] teeny tiny square that on each side of it is the city gardens. Okay? And then what I've just described to you is a whole square. Okay? So it goes um the Levites, the Zatakite priest,

[00:14:14] the sanctuary with the temple and then the city surrounded by the city gardens. Okay? So that is a square that I just described. Okay? And that is not the entire length of um the rest of the band.

[00:14:28] So what what makes up the rest of that rectangle is Prince lands on either side. Okay? That's what fills out. So the Prince is in the middle too, but in the middle of the Prince

[00:14:42] is the Holy District. I see. Okay? Does that make better sense? Yeah. Like I could not picture this for the fucking life of me. I guess I didn't try that hard honestly because to me this it doesn't

[00:14:57] really matter. Right? Yeah, it's a dream that as he yields supposedly had and supposedly written wrote down and supposedly is the word a god that has never been fulfilled and probably never will.

[00:15:11] Well, especially with this really weird layout where they just wrote down a list and then stuck it on a map and said there you go. Yeah. Why is this weird? It's things like this that really take

[00:15:20] away from the um believability of the Bible in general. Robes it of any magic, you know? It's kind of disappointing like, oh that's it. Yeah. Okay. So let's move on from that to the gates around the city.

[00:15:37] Okay? Okay? So um the gates around the city this comes from, you know what, I'm like back up. I'm sorry. I should have read the next sentence here. Okay. In my notes. Okay. So the verses in the last

[00:15:50] section sections 3335 were apparently added from a different source because they focus the city gates on each of the four sides and each gate is named after a certain tribe. Right. I'll do that.

[00:16:04] So that shit was all added later by other people. They would have been followers of uh uh as a geoh. Yeah. But not as a geoh himself. Okay. Because he had all the layout of all the

[00:16:17] city and stuff and like the gates were less important to him. Sure. So the new city is different from the Jerusalem in history we pointed out um already some of the differences because the

[00:16:29] gates of the post-exilic Jerusalem in the amyus time like way back when we're carefully noted yet none of them was named after the tribes although in the pre-exilic period there was a

[00:16:44] Benjamin gate and an e-frame gate but both of those were on the north side not the east side of the city. I feel like this inclusion in this section is more of a uh acknowledgement of

[00:16:56] and like here we're giving you something. This is a thing you're all going to be part of the holy district with your gate. Yes, you know? Yes. And that actually is kind of important too

[00:17:06] from what I'm about to say. Okay. Okay. In the new city Levi stands as one of the 12 tribes with its own gate like the Levi's? Yeah. Like they are in the holy district, right? The Levi's themselves

[00:17:23] they get to be in the holy district but they're the furthest away from the temple, right? Right? But they also get their own gate. Wait a second though. So that would that make it 12? Yeah.

[00:17:36] Okay because remember I said we come back to that when I was talking about the two that were Joseph on the gates they are one listed as the Joseph gate. Oh okay. So that the Levi's can have a gate.

[00:17:51] They've created essentially a 13th tribe. Yes and no because um monasa and e-frame were referred to as the Joseph tribe collectively on and off. Right? So it technically is Joseph's tribe

[00:18:09] but it's his two sons each get one. Okay. So it depends on how they want to do it and for the purposes of this they were like no we really want the Levi's to have their own gate. I mean to be

[00:18:21] fair to Joseph's sons the the entire you know history of the Bible is based on one person. Right. So I don't know where did they get off saying any of this you know if you say there

[00:18:32] was 12 tribes before there should still be 12 12 tribes but whatever whatever they got to do to appease these little priestly people is fine I guess and if that is just in the dream so who cares?

[00:18:45] Right and like going back to what you said yeah who fucking cares but it matters in how they imagine placating various people. Yeah yeah that part is what I found interesting. Sure. How they

[00:19:01] laid out like what they thought of the various people as far as like in this dream your shitty so you get to live further away from the city. Right? Like that's important. Yeah. The city less so

[00:19:14] but how they imagined the people. Yeah that's what I found really interesting and that's what I was trying to imagine when they were like and this guy was living for this the way I was like what I can't

[00:19:24] see it so I had to see it in order to understand what the people how they were being punished or rewarded. Okay okay so okay we've got the Joseph gate and that's how they did the there still 12.

[00:19:41] Yeah. Okay so the image of a city with 12 gates distributed equally among the four sides and named after the 12 tribes of Israel is really super fucking unusual okay okay city walls were usually

[00:19:55] designed intentionally with only one gate. Right I mean that makes so a lot of sense because it's a bit like you're sitting right yeah yeah but this is gonna be in a time of peace on

[00:20:07] other whatever in an Eden you know so we'll all live in harmony. There's no need to protect yourself we just need to enter. So if that's the case why don't you just leave no gates. Well

[00:20:22] I'm just saying not everybody can fit inside some people live outside you know they come to visit this city. But why do you need gates is what I'm saying? That I could not tell you. Okay but

[00:20:35] I feel like it's just symbolic. It's just it is. Let's mention all the fucking tribes. Here's the people that are important to it there they are. That is a very good question you actually did stump me. I don't fucking

[00:20:47] know. Right so okay moving on since I can't answer that and since again who cares? Yeah um the order of the gate naming seems to have its own logic which I found this kind of interesting too. The children

[00:21:00] of Leah all are on the north one. Judah Levi and Rubin okay because remember Jacob had several Jacob's name as Israel and he had several different he had like a wife and her sister wife or something

[00:21:16] like that and then each of them had a concubine because you know his wife couldn't have a baby or whatever so Leah was one of his wives and so her children Judah Levi and Rubin are on the

[00:21:30] north side. On the south side is the other ones of Leah's children Simon is a car in Zebulon okay because she had a shit time. Okay but children of Rachel remember that was the one he really loved.

[00:21:42] Rachel was his true love. Right. His actual wifey wife. Her children Joseph and Benjamin and also with Dan who was the oldest son of Billa Rachel's handmade. Right. Those guys were all on the east side.

[00:21:58] Okay okay so she only had two and you know he had one with this other fucking maid of hers. Sure. Were you gonna put that dude? Right. So Dickham because it was Rachel's handmade. Got it. Okay.

[00:22:12] Yeah. So that guy gets to be with them. The remaining children of his various concubines or whatever Gad, Asher and Nath Tolly were grouped together on the west. So the arrangement recalls

[00:22:26] the order of tribal camps around the tabernacle three on each of the four sides as referenced in the book of numbers. Got it. So I just thought that whole thing was interesting and there were really

[00:22:39] a lot of questions that I thought. Yeah. But that was the Q&A info that I could come up with that I thought might be interesting for this. Got it. Got it. Yeah. No that's good information. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:53] So is that all you got for us today then? That is all I have for the Q&A. Yes. All right. Well we are going to be releasing the next episode which will be the wrap up for Ezekiel and we'll be doing that.

[00:23:08] Actually here probably tonight and shortly. So we'll be releasing a couple of back to back today and then we'll be back tomorrow with... Oh we will be doing the you are always wrong or as I

[00:23:22] like to call it, you're always wrong. That's right and so am I sometimes but you know, no, right I'm right I'm correct. Okay. Sometimes and then usually I'm also wrong but you know. In the purposes

[00:23:37] not my fault. And for the purposes of the game you're always wrong. Right. That's the point. But in everything else you're usually right. So that's why I enjoy this game. Sure. And then I

[00:23:48] are we still endeavoring to get done a book club? Yes. Exactly. I just book club. What happened this weekend? Okay. All right. So we're still kind of trying to get all this done. Sorry for the delay

[00:23:59] this week. It's been we're kind of setting into a new schedule and it's been a little bit hectic getting into it. So because you started in a job recently. Right. Right. And so we apologize

[00:24:09] for the you know not exactly on time stuff. The fourth thing in the backing. Yes. Hopefully we will find our rhythm and get back into this full fledged tier soon. And in the mean

[00:24:21] time, hang in there and we'll be back shortly with the next episode. Okay. Bye. Bye.