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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30252 ***
+
+                         Transcriber's Note:
+
+  This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction March 1961.
+  Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright
+  on this publication was renewed.
+
+
+
+                                 THE
+
+                              FOUR-FACED
+
+                               VISITORS
+
+                            OF ... EZEKIEL
+
+
+
+
+                          By ARTHUR W. ORTON
+
+
+
+     _Ezekiel, they say, "saw de wheel"--but he saw somewhat more
+      than that. And Orton suggests that what he saw made
+      perfectly good sense ... to the understanding!_
+
+
+
+                         Illustrated by Orton
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+We are told from our Sunday School days that the Bible is a "living
+book," the oldest of man's written works that is read and used anew,
+from generation to generation. It remains "living" because we are able
+to find new meaning to fit our daily lives. Although it is not the
+usual kind of new meaning, I believe that I have found something of
+the sort in the very old prophesies of Ezekiel.
+
+Bible scholars have long recognized the first chapter of Ezekiel as a
+strange and nearly unfathomable account of a vision. I suggest that it
+is strange only because it is written by a man far removed from us in
+time and experience, about a subject totally unfamiliar to men of his
+time. I do not think that this was a vision in the usual sense, nor
+was it meant to be mystical. This particular chapter has been called
+"Science fiction in the Bible" and many attempts have been made to
+unravel the meaning of the original author, along both spiritual and
+mundane lines. I am convinced that this chapter is the account of an
+actual happening; the landing of extraterrestial beings, reported by a
+careful, truthful and self-possessed observer.
+
+I am not a student of theology and therefore you may feel that I am
+being presumptive in attempting to throw light on a mystery as old and
+well-studied as Ezekiel's first chapter. I feel that any success that
+I may have in doing so will be due to the accident of my birth at the
+very beginning of an era when the events I have to describe are fact,
+or are about to become fact.
+
+If, as I believe, this is an account of an actual encounter with men
+from space, I may be better able to interpret the meaning than a
+student of theology, who by training and interest, is looking for a
+theological meaning. I have worked with mechanical things, and as an
+instructor of aircraft mechanics for most of my adult life. During
+this time I have had to untangle a lot of mechanical misconceptions
+and misunderstandings. I think that this gives me some insight into
+this problem.
+
+If you are not too familiar with the Old Testament, I suggest that you
+read through the first chapter of Ezekiel to get the feeling of the
+flow of words, and a general idea of what sort of material we will be
+covering. If you have done a considerable amount of reading in the
+Bible, I am sure you will notice at once how different and
+"un-Bible-like" this chapter sounds. It isn't long. The first chapter
+covers little more than one page. Don't expect to get a clear picture
+the first time through. It seems to have an elusive quality. About the
+time you feel that you have hold of a fact, it seems to be
+contradicted in a later verse. I am going to try to show you that this
+is due to your own preconceived notions of what some of the words and
+phrases mean. You, not Ezekiel, are supplying the contradictions.
+
+You will see that I am not going to make excuses for the words, as
+written. It is my belief that those who had the task of translating
+the Bible from its original tongue and re-copying it through the ages
+were particularly careful of this chapter because they did not
+understand it and were afraid of damaging it.
+
+Let us begin with the first verse of chapter one:
+
+
+_The Book of The Prophet EZEKIEL_
+
+
+803.       Chapter 1
+
+
+_Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in
+the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river
+of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God._
+
+
+_2. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king
+Jehoiachin's captivity._
+
+
+_3. The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the
+son of Buzi, in the Land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the
+hand of the Lord was there upon him._
+
+This fixes the location of this incident on the outskirts of Bagdad.
+The Chebar is sometimes called "The Grand Canal of Bagdad." Although
+the entire book was supposed to have been written by Ezekiel, the
+second and third verses sound like an editor's note, inserted by a
+later writer.
+
+
+_4. And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a
+great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about
+it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the
+midst of the fire._
+
+Here is a man who had lived most of his life in arid desert country.
+He had probably seen whirlwinds of all kinds, from dust-devils to
+full-scale tornadoes. He was an accurate and honest observer, as we
+shall see later. If he said it was a whirlwind, it must have really
+been one, or at least it looked enough like one to fool him for a
+while. Notice that he does not say that it was high in the air, or
+that it came out of the sky, but, "... out of the north," or toward
+him from the north.
+
+The first thing that he noticed was that it had fire associated with
+it, a strange companion for a whirlwind. There is something strange
+about the fire itself. He says that it "infolds itself," which
+suggests a fire of more active nature than Ezekiel would be accustomed
+to. The association of fire and whirlwind must have struck him as
+peculiar.
+
+Also something amber colored was associated with the cloud and fire.
+He said that this color came "out of the midst," which might mean that
+it was above the cloud and flame, or appeared as the fire and cloud
+subsided, or blew to one side. Considering the detail he gives in
+later verses, this is quite vague, as it might be if he saw it from a
+distance.
+
+
+_5. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living
+creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a
+man._
+
+Why didn't he say that out came four men? Remember that he is telling
+this to very primitive, superstitious people. He was himself bred in a
+time when the supernatural was taken for granted. Under these
+conditions he has gone about as far as he could by saying that they
+certainly looked like four men. He does not say here that he took them
+for angels or any other kind of supernatural beings.
+
+
+_6. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings._
+
+This short verse is very clear, yet you wonder how a creature with
+four faces and four wings could possibly be taken for a man, even by
+you or me.
+
+Although he does not say so, we can imply that these creatures must
+have advanced much closer to him after they got out of the fire and
+cloud, for him to be able to see so much detail.
+
+Imagine the courage it took for him to stay put in order to observe
+these creatures. Notice also how objective he is, never mentioning his
+own feelings.
+
+
+_7. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was
+like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the colour of
+burnished brass._
+
+Each verse of the description covers one or two parts of the
+creatures. When Ezekiel mentions more than one part it becomes
+confusing, so that one verse seems to contradict another. These can
+usually be sorted out however. Nowhere will you find a direct
+contradiction.
+
+Here he is describing the feet only. The word "straight" can be taken
+several ways. Does he mean _regular feet_, or feet that point straight
+forward, or feet that are straight up and down, like an elephant's?
+Probably he means regular, forward-pointing feet because he does not
+dwell on the point. In other places he leans heavily on simile to
+describe some unusual feature of the beings.
+
+The sole of the foot sounds as if it was heavily cleated. What then
+has he described in this verse? For a person living in a warm climate
+who had never seen any footwear more complicated than a sandal, he has
+described a highly polished leather, plastic or metal boot very well.
+
+
+_8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four
+sides; and they four had their faces and their wings._
+
+Notice carefully that he is _not_ saying that each creature had four
+man-like hands, one on each of four sides. He is saying that each has
+the normal number of hands and they are located _below_ their wings.
+Remember that he was a careful observer and he had probably noticed
+that birds have wings _instead_ of arms. These had both. In addition,
+he has given us another bit of information about the distribution of
+the wings. They do not appear to be arranged like a biplane, but each
+wing is at a ninety-degree angle from its neighboring wing like a
+helicopter.
+
+Ezekiel must have been something of a numerologist. He points out that
+there are four creatures, and each of the four has four faces each,
+and each has four wings each--but not four hands.
+
+
+_9. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they
+went; they went every one straight forward._
+
+He is not saying that the wings of one creature are joined to the
+wings of another creature. He is saying that each wing is joined to
+another wing, not directly to the creature.
+
+The second and third parts of this verse present a mystery. We do not
+know what the "theys" refer to. There are three "theys" in this verse,
+one after another and we are given very few clues to which refer to
+_creatures_ and which refer to wings. The first "they" most likely is
+tied to the first part of the verse and therefore refers to the wings.
+Given this, there are still three interpretations:
+
+     1. _The wings_ turned not when _the wings_ went; _The wings_
+     went every one straight forward.
+
+     2. _The wings_ turned not when _the creatures_ went; _The
+     wings_ went every one straight forward.
+
+     3. _The wings_ turned not when _the creatures_ went; _The
+     creatures_ went every one straight forward.
+
+None of these three statements make much of a point, whether the
+creatures have helicopter wings, or bird-angel wings. Let us assume
+then that the first "they" refers to the creatures:
+
+     1. _The creatures_ turned not when _the creatures_ went;
+     _The creatures_ went every one straight forward.
+
+     2. _The creatures_ turned not when _the wings_ went; _The
+     wings_ went every one straight forward.
+
+     3. _The creatures_ turned not when _the wings_ went; _The
+     creatures_ went every one straight forward.
+
+This last statement would pretty well describe the action of the
+blades of an inoperative helicopter being carried forward in a
+straight line. It would strike Ezekiel as odd that the wings might
+move and turn without turning the men under them. You might wonder why
+he would say "... wings went ..." instead of "... wings turned...."
+When a light breeze moves the blades of an inoperative helicopter the
+blades not only turn, but they change their pitch and plane in a most
+random manner.
+
+Although Ezekiel has not completed his description of the creatures,
+we can try now to form a picture of what he saw. No matter how we bend
+and squeeze, we are not going to get a Michelangelo-type angel. Look
+at figure one. Go back over the points that Ezekiel has described. You
+will see that it fits quite well.
+
+
+_10. As for the likeness of the faces, they four had the face of a
+man, and the face of a lion, on the right side; and they four had the
+face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an
+eagle._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This again does not sound very man-like. You wonder what could have
+kept him from pronouncing them demons. If you will study figure two,
+you will see what Ezekiel described. Now look at figure three. How
+much better could a man living six centuries before Christ describe
+figure three?
+
+
+_11. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; Two
+wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their
+bodies._
+
+See figure one again. The arrangement is like he describes. Notice
+that when he talks about "... the wings ..." of one creature, he
+apparently means the whole system of wings and attachments.
+
+
+_12. And they went every one straight forward: wither the spirit was
+to go, they went; and they turned not as they went._
+
+Again we have trouble with the "theys." Notice however, that the first part
+of this verse repeats the last part of verse nine. If we were right in that
+verse, the first "they" in this refers to the creatures again. The second
+part of this verse contains a new idea, "whither the spirit was to go ...",
+has an opposite meaning from "... they went ... straight forward ..."
+and, "... they turned not when they went." The first and last part sounds
+like the four creatures were marching purposefully in one direction. If
+then the second or middle part refers to the wings, we could read it:
+
+     "And _the creatures_ went every one straight forward:
+     whither the spirit was to go, _the wings_ went; and _the
+     creatures_ turned not when _the wings_ went."
+
+Again we have a picture of four men walking with their inoperative
+helicopters moving in several different ways as the breeze and the
+men's motions cause them to move slightly.
+
+Notice that Ezekiel seems to be more impressed with the wings and
+their motion than with any other feature of what he witnessed.
+
+
+_13. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was
+like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went
+up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and
+out of the fire went forth lightning._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Here he is describing their over-all appearance. We can assume that
+creatures that look like men but has a surface that resembles lights,
+coals and fire must be wearing suits with a brightly colored metallic
+surface. The modern anodized aluminium coatings glisten and sparkle
+with an effect like he describes. If these are space-suits, there is a
+good reason for making them gaudy. If they were worn in space while
+working on and around a ship, they should be as bright and
+eye-catching as possible, in the case the man became detached and
+floated away. He would be quite visible against the blackness of
+space.
+
+
+_14. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a
+flash of lightning._
+
+This might mean that they moved swiftly, but more than likely it means
+that they sparkled and shined on all sides, and this was visible as
+they moved about.
+
+This ends the description for a while. There are two later verses of
+description, but we will take this when we come to it. It is
+surprising that Ezekiel has organized his material so well. It reads
+like a scientific report. If he had headed the section that we just
+covered, "Description," we would not have been too surprised to find
+the following section headed, "Action":
+
+
+_15. Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the
+earth by the living creatures, with his four faces._
+
+If we read Ezekiel correctly and the creatures did have helicopter
+attachments on their backs, we can assume that one of them now
+started his helicopter, which would appear as a "wheel" to Ezekiel,
+and probably surprised him greatly.
+
+
+_16. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the
+colour of Beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance
+and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel._
+
+Here we must digress in order to put ourselves into the life and time
+of this man because he has mentioned the wheel. A wheel did not have
+quite the same meaning for him as it does for you and I, living in a
+mechanical age. The wheel in 600 B.C. in the area around the eastern
+end of the Mediterranean, the most civilized part of the world at that
+time, had only a few very limited uses.
+
+One use, old even in Ezekiel's time was the potter's wheel; a simple
+platform mounted on crude vertical bearings so that it could be turned
+with one hand while the clay was worked with the other. From this the
+grindstone and the lapidary wheel developed for working metal and
+stone. These early machines probably employed some form of foot
+treadle but even these could not turn the wheel very fast. If the
+stone had a large enough diameter, it was possible to get the speed at
+the outer edge high enough to produce sparks when grinding hard
+material. The "work" took place at some distance from the axis,
+usually at the edge of the stone.
+
+The wheel we usually associate with ancient times is the cart wheel.
+In its earliest form it was a solid wheel, like those still in use in
+primitive sections of Mexico. Even with the cart wheel, ancient man
+would associate the edge of the wheel with the "work" of the wheel.
+This was the part that left a track in the mud and dust, crushed an
+occasional rock and fractured an occasional toe.
+
+In order to increase the efficiency of military chariots it was
+necessary to build a wheel that was lighter, yet just as strong as the
+solid model. This was first done by cutting out "lightening holes"
+between the hub and rim. Pressing this invention to the ultimate
+produced a spoked wheel. The Egyptians used a six-spoked chariot wheel
+thousands of years before Ezekiel's time, and the Greeks and others
+had four-spoke models. This was quite an invention and in addition to
+its useful aspects, it produced some rather unusual, even magical
+side-effects. As every child knows, if you turn your tricycle
+upside-down and spin the wheel, the spokes seem to vanish. All that
+can be seen is the rim and the parts of the hub near the center of
+rotation. No matter what shape the hub actually is, it too looks round
+like a wheel. It is very likely that such an effect was referred to as
+"a wheel within a wheel."
+
+In verse 16 Ezekiel says that, "wheels and their work was the colour
+of beryl ...", a blue-green color. This sounds like the emphasis is on
+the color at the _edge_ of the wheel. This could be from a flame
+coming from jets on the tips of the rotors.
+
+All of the creatures must have started their rotors. ("... they four
+had one likeness.") They looked like "... a wheel in the middle of a
+wheel." Or the spinning spokes of a wheel. Notice also that he never
+mentions "wings" and "wheels" at the same time, for when one appears
+the other vanishes.
+
+
+_17. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned
+not when they went._
+
+If four men were standing fairly close together on the ground with
+running helicopters, they would tend to spread out as they left the
+ground, so as to not run into each other. Moreover, with a helicopter,
+it is not necessary to _face_ the direction you intend to go. This
+sounds like four men lifting off the ground, spreading out slightly
+and starting up and away, in formation.
+
+
+_18. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful;
+and their rings were full of eyes round about them four._
+
+The four creatures are now high in the air above Ezekiel, a dreadful
+and awe-inspiring sight for a man of Ezekiel's time. Their "rings"
+obviously are the flames from their tip-jets, seen from below--the
+only part of the wheel now visible from far below. And the rings
+_would_ be full of eyes. When a jet or rocket motor is operating there
+is a shock wave generated in the tailpipe which tends to cut the
+exhaust gas into segments. Time exposures of jet aircraft at night
+often show this. When a tip-jet is operating, these bright, evenly
+spaced spots give it the appearance of a string of pearls, "... full
+of eyes round about them...."
+
+
+_19. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went up by them:
+and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the
+wheels were lifted up._
+
+Ezekiel makes it clear that he does not know whether the men are
+lifting the wheels or the wheels lifting the men, but both went up
+together.
+
+
+_20. Withersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their
+spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted over against them: for the
+spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels._
+
+This is a most sophisticated opinion. Although Ezekiel was describing
+only what he saw, he could not help but have some opinions about the
+creatures. In verse nineteen he makes it clear that he does not know
+whether man is lifting the machine, or the other way around, but here
+he makes it clear that whichever, there is no doubt that the creatures
+are _controlling_. They are not being carried off by the will of the
+wheel.
+
+
+_21. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood;
+and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted
+up over against them: for the spirit of the living creatures was in
+the wheels._
+
+This carries the idea of control one step farther. Not only are the
+men controlling the wheels, but they are self-controlled: They are
+flying in formation.
+
+
+_22. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living
+creatures was as the colour of terrible crystal, stretched forth over
+their heads above._
+
+Perhaps this verse was moved out of it's original position, for it
+returns to the description of the creatures. You may have noticed that
+many of the verses are written so that it is in part, an enlargement
+of the thought put forward in the preceding verse, and part new
+thought, to be enlarged upon in the following verse. Verses twenty-two
+and twenty-three _seem_ to go together. Both would fit the rest of the
+chapter better if they were between verses twelve and thirteen.
+
+What is meant by "firmament"? These people had no term for a
+hollow-sphere. Most spherical objects were not hollow. They had no
+soap, so they had no soap bubbles. The most common thing to compare a
+hollow sphere to was the sky, the bowl of the heavens--the firmament.
+This crystal-clear bubble was over the heads of the creatures, one on
+each creature.
+
+We will come to the word firmament again, but notice that this is,
+"... the _likeness_ of the firmament ...", not the firmament itself.
+Later verses speak only of the "firmament".
+
+
+_23. And under the firmaments were their wings straight, the one
+toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and
+every one had two which covered on that side, their bodies._
+
+If you changed "... under the firmament ..." to, "... below the sky"
+you would get a clearer picture. If you look at the picture of a
+house, the roof is, "below the sky," if you start at the top and work
+down. If you start at the ground and work up, the roof is, "at the
+top" of the house. Ezekiel's description of the wings, which is
+continued in this verse, concerns the wings "at the top." They are
+(connected), "... one toward the other, about like in figure one."
+
+
+_24. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the
+noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, the voice of
+speech, as the noise of the host: when they stood they let down their
+wings._
+
+If you have ever stood near a running tip-jet, or any jet engine, I
+think you will know what Ezekiel means. The last statement is most
+interesting. It seems that when the creatures landed again they
+detached the helicopter mechanisms and set them down, as anyone will
+with a heavy back-pack who is resting or waiting.
+
+
+_25. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their
+heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings._
+
+This voice, or sound, was not from the _likeness_ of the firmament,
+but from the sky, as they stood there with their wings off.
+
+This is the end of Ezekiel's attention to the four creatures.
+
+
+_26. And above the firmament that was over their heads was the
+likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon
+the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man
+above upon it._
+
+Out of the sky comes a man on a green seat. But a throne is more than
+a chair. It is usually associated with a platform. This may be some
+kind of flying platform similar to those being tested for the
+transporting of infantry.
+
+
+_27. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round
+about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and
+from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the
+appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about._
+
+Since this thing was high over their heads, and he saw fire round
+about it, the fire may have been on the under side. What he says about
+the man is very like what he said about the other four, except that he
+describes the man from the waist, up and down, as if he could not see
+the area near the man's waist.
+
+
+_28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of
+rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was
+the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I
+saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one who spake._
+
+What prismatic effect, brighter than the outdoor desert sunshine is
+hard to imagine, but a large shining object close at hand would be
+pretty terrifying. It seems strange that Ezekiel would not throw
+himself upon the ground, after withstanding all he had seen up till
+now, but we must remember that a man seated on a throne, a flying
+throne at that might have a lot more meaning for him than it would for
+you and me. If this object happened to come down closer to him than
+the other creatures had, he might well have broken.
+
+We have now covered every verse of the first chapter quite thoroughly.
+Since the Book of Ezekiel contains forty-eight chapters, we might fear
+that this is just the beginning of a long and tiring study.
+Fortunately or unfortunately this is not the case. The second chapter
+begins:
+
+
+_804._
+
+_And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon they feet, and I will
+speak to thee._
+
+_2. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me
+upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me._
+
+_3. And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of
+Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and
+their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day._
+
+This typically prophetic writing goes on for many pages, telling the
+woes and sins of the Israelites. Reference is made in a few places to
+the material in the first chapter, but even this dies out before the
+end of the book.
+
+No mention is made again of the living creatures till chapter three
+where the following verse is found:
+
+
+_13. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that
+touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them,
+and a noise of great rushing._
+
+This combines some of the ideas of earlier verses without adding any
+new information. Notice that writer has the notion that the wings of
+one creature touched those of another, or that the creatures touched
+one another.
+
+This verse is typical of several more scattered throughout the first
+third of the book. All the verses mentioning the living creatures
+after the first chapter are more dramatic and all fail to continue the
+style of a careful reporter. No new ideas are advanced, but some
+rather unusual contradictions are introduced, by using several parts
+of several verses of Chapter One. Chapter Ten reads like an attempt at
+rephrasing Chapter One and Chapter Eleven is the last mention of the
+living creatures in the entire book.
+
+Although it contains no further information on the living creatures,
+Chapter Three has a verse that should be mentioned. Verse fifteen
+sounds like a fitting conclusion to the first chapter:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_15. Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-Abib, that dwelt by
+the river Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there
+astonished among them for seven days._
+
+Just what do we have? We have a description of four spacesuited and
+helicopter-equipped men, getting off of, or out of something that
+landed in a cloud of dust or smoke. The four men start their
+helicopters, take off and fly to some height. On returning to the
+ground they remove their flying gear and wait. They are met by a fifth
+man, riding on a flying platform. Such an event would cause some
+interest in any community today, but in those times it could only be
+interpreted as supernatural--a miracle. The miracle may well be that
+the story has been preserved for us, twenty-six centuries later.
+
+A word for word interpretation is only part of the oddity of this
+chapter. Several other aspects are worth pondering. The whole chapter
+has a well-worn feeling, as though the author had told and re-told it
+many times. It reads like a deposition, taken down by a police
+officer, after the witness, who prides himself on truthfulness, has
+told the story over and over to his incredulous friends. It has a
+certain poetic beauty. It has the style of one who is telling you the
+truth, no matter whether you are going to believe it or not. It is
+the presentation of a tableau that makes no sense to the man who
+witnessed it, or to those to whom he is describing it.
+
+The product of a man's imagination is tied to his own experience, his
+own time. A wonderful tale of the supernatural may sound very
+imaginative to the contemporary of the teller, but it will date itself
+to a later generation. The lives of the Greek gods are related to the
+lives of the early Greeks. An imaginative science-fiction writer such
+as Jules Verne is limited in the same way. As good as he was,
+experience has set an outer limit to his imagination. Ezekiel's tale
+is not in this class. To his contemporaries, it was out of step with
+reality. To us it is real enough, but out of step with time. The most
+credible explanation is that it really happened.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Perhaps there are some points of my interpretation that you do not
+agree with, but as a whole the story does hang together rather well.
+If you have the feeling that it would be easy to fit the words around
+an entirely different set of circumstances, I suggest that you try.
+
+It is interesting to know that some years ago a verbal battle raged in
+theological circles as to whether Ezekiel wrote the Book of Ezekiel.
+One school of thought held that he did, while the other school held
+that the first chapter was a "forgery," written in the third century
+before Christ, and tacked on as a sort of "leader" to Ezekiel's book.
+For our purposes it cannot be a forgery. It makes little difference
+how long ago it was written, so long as it was not since World War II!
+
+Suppose Ezekiel or some ancient man actually saw what I have proposed.
+What are the possible explanations? Is it possible that some ancient
+race, unknown to us, could have developed such equipment? It is not
+likely. During the last one hundred years we have been prodding about
+in the earth and finding so many ancient records that someone else
+besides Ezekiel would certainly have left us a report on them.
+
+The things that were science fiction twenty years ago are solid fact
+now. We know that a landing on the Moon is only a question of time, a
+few years at the most. The planets of our Solar System will follow, at
+least some before the turn of the century, probably. As for the
+planets of neighboring stars we cannot say. We have no way of
+exploring them at present, but that is not the same as saying that we
+never will. If the past performance of the human race is any measure,
+they will likely fall to exploration within two hundred years.
+
+If you concede that it is possible that we can visit other star
+systems in a future not too distant, why then could we not have been
+visited some time in the past? It may tend to deflate our ego to think
+that there may be intelligent beings not too different from us who are
+advanced beyond us. It need not. One of the most striking features of
+Ezekiel's story, if it has been decoded correctly, is that these
+beings are very much like we are, right at the present time. That puts
+them three or four thousand years ahead of us, a very small amount
+indeed when we consider the long sweep of human life and development
+before the dawn of written history.
+
+We are so used to stories of "Bug-eyed Monsters" coming to Earth, that
+the idea of beings from other worlds looking and acting human seems
+fantastic. It should not. There is good sound scientific reason to
+believe that there is little chance of it being any other way. Life is
+a delicate and fragile thing when compared to cosmic extremes of
+temperature and environment in our universe. If life formed on earth
+as science now believes that it did, we must have had just the right
+size planet at just the right distance from a particular type of star.
+While such extremely narrow limits are going to reduce the number of
+places in the universe where life can develop, it is also going to
+limit the _differences_. In our creation things operate by rule. The
+rule is that in similar circumstance there are similar solutions to a
+problem. Man is the solution of the problem of building the highest
+form of life on Earth. On a similar planet we can expect to find a
+similar solution. This is simply the extension of the theory of
+_parallel evolution_ to a cosmic scale.
+
+If then, we were visited by people from another world, what were they
+doing here? Strangely enough, there is considerable evidence of what
+they were up to from Ezekiel's own testimony. Let us suppose that
+these creatures were very much like we expect to be in five hundred
+years. They have come from some other star system in a ship whose
+principle of operation is as yet unknown to us. We can assume that it
+was a rather large ship, being that there were five beings on board at
+once, and we can presume that enough of a crew remained aboard to
+return it home in case something happened to the explorers. How would
+we proceed in such a case?
+
+It is not likely that such a large ship would be brought down to the
+surface of the earth. After arriving in the neighborhood of the earth,
+it would be put into orbit, and the surface of the earth would be
+studied through telescopes for days or weeks. The entire radio
+spectrum would be scanned to determine if there were inhabitants
+below, capable of operating electrical equipment. A small--manned or
+unmanned--flyer would be sent down into the upper atmosphere to
+determine the level of radioactivity, air components, spore and
+bacteria count and radio signals incapable of penetrating the
+atmosphere. From the ship the land areas would be mapped and studied.
+Any large object on the ground that appeared to be of an artificial
+nature would be given particular attention. During the night-time
+hours below, these objects and areas would be very carefully observed
+for signs of light.
+
+In the case of our visitors of twenty-six centuries ago, this is what
+they would have found: Quite a few artificial works could be seen.
+Cultivated fields and large buildings would be easily visible in many
+places around the eastern end of the Mediterranean. The Pyramids were
+old even then. (The Great Wall in China probably had not been
+started.) There would be no radio sounds, except for an occasional
+lightning click. We do not know how well their cities were lighted at
+night, but they were probably too dim to see. Tiny orange pinpoints of
+light from outdoor bonfires could probably be seen around the globe,
+but there would be more of them around the Mediterranean and in the
+East and Near East than anywhere else. The radioactivity level would
+be low. Our visitors would conclude that the inhabitants were either
+in the early stages of civilization, or were once highly civilized and
+now sunk back to a primitive stage. They would know that this was due
+to something other than atomic war.
+
+We have to conclude that these were moral beings. If the conditions
+below were as they seemed to be, that of an early civilization, they
+would not want to interfere. They would want to observe without being
+observed, so even if it were technically possible they would not want
+to bring a large ship down. They would send down as small and
+inconspicuous a vehicle as possible.
+
+We usually picture such a craft as a small version of the larger ship,
+or a large--by our standards--rocket, or an aircraft similar to our
+Dyna-soar. For people this advanced technologically something a lot
+simpler might be used. It might be an open vehicle, similar to our
+flying platforms, but with vastly more powerful nuclear power plants.
+The men going down would have to wear air-tight suits--spacesuits, and
+would have to leave them on all the time they were below, for fear of
+becoming infected with molds and viruses that the natives would long
+since have become immune to. One man, the pilot, would stay with the
+platform while the others did the observing and recording.
+
+The flying platform would have no need for rapid forward motion, at
+least inside the atmosphere and therefore would have little need for
+streamlining or protective covering for the passengers, who would
+carry their equipment with them. Most of the equipment for the survey
+would be built into the suits. They would each carry a set of portable
+helicopter attachments so they could cover more ground in a hurry.
+Like small helicopters of our time, these probably would have a rather
+limited speed and range, but they would be extremely maneuverable.
+
+The platform on the other hand, being nuclear powered, would probably
+be very powerful and have almost unlimited range, but it would be less
+maneuverable. The products of its exhaust might be radioactive and
+therefore its operators would be reluctant to operate it above or
+near the natives of the planet, or places that they frequented.
+
+As they push away from the mother-ship the spacemen would be in
+free-fall and would tend to "float" nearby until they turned the
+bottom side of the platform toward the direction of their orbit and
+applied power. They would then drop toward the surface, but with
+almost unlimited power available they could keep the downward
+component of their fall within limits and prevent overheating. They
+could probably be on the surface in less than an hour.
+
+The first and most likely area of exploration would be Egypt. The
+platform could be landed a few miles back from the Nile and be in
+completely unoccupied desert. The four helicopter-equipped explorers
+could put on their rotating-wing backpacks and by keeping low, come up
+very close to some center of civilization without being seen. By going
+up to a few thousand feet they could observe a fairly large area. Even
+if they were spotted, they would be small and unrecognizable, and
+cause a minimum amount of excitement.
+
+Like any tourist in any age they would probably be most interested in
+the territory around the pyramids. When they had finished here they
+might want to look over the country around what is now Bagdad, but
+_then_ only near the capital city of Nebuchadnezzar's empire. This is
+about eight hundred miles away, an impractical trip by helicopter, so
+they would return to the platform, climb to a few hundred thousand
+feet, and scoot over in a few minutes. Here they would land again in
+some uninhabited spot and repeat the maneuver. This country was
+probably sprinkled with more people than they expected. Maybe that's
+why this is the legendary flying carpet country, or maybe not. At any
+rate, one lonely military prisoner, working by himself near the banks
+of a stream must have seen them. Even if they did notice him, what
+possible harm could he do? In the present state of the civilization
+who would remember what he said or even believe him? I do.
+
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Four-Faced Visitors of Ezekiel, by 
+Arthur W. Orton
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30252 ***