Should the chapters 40 to 48 of the book of Ezekiel be taken literally?
None of the Bible should be taken literally. It is not that kind of writing. The Bible was compiled from 66 different writings, many of which are internally inconsistent, and many more inconsistent with one another. Back when these were being written, there were no bookstores or libraries (except maybe at Alexandria) to separate them into fiction and non-fiction. The very idea of such divisions was unknown. They were writing down stories, some of which had been knocking around as oral traditions for a very long time. They also wrote poetry (Psalms, Song of Solomon) and prayers and all sorts of things. Prophecy is one of those things. I have another book of prophecy on the shelf above my computer: it’s called “Future Shock” and was written by Alvin Toffler in 1970. He’s talking about trends, warning of possible problems, and apparently not counting on everything happening exactly has he describes it. I suspect the prophets of the old days would have been amazed to be taken so literally.
