I'm a novice to the scriptures and therefore seek guidence in my quest for understanding 'the inerrant Word of God'. I've noticed (in other discussions here and elsewhere) that certain apologists quite often refer/defer to the original Greek/Aramaic/Hebrew texts when trying to ascertain the meaning(s) most likely intended by the author(s) of a given passage. It is my hope that such knowledgeable individuals will see fit to chime-in and shed light upon some of the more perplexing scriptures the Bible has to offer.
To get the ball rolling, I offer-up Ezekial 23:20-21. The verses read as follows:
In all honesty, I find the process of exegeting via analogy/metaphor to be very compelling! Israel: the unfaithful wife; God: the doting and ever-faithful husband -- together forever in a marriage of necessity. It's all so poetic, it makes me wanna puke. Yet, given the degrading nature (WRT women) of so many scriptures, the analogy makes perfect sense here, ...doesn't it.20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21 Thus thou calledst to rembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.
What I find perplexing about this passage, though, is the degree of graphic detail to which God supposedly inspired Ezekial to write. Why do we need to know that the "paramours" were endowed like asses and ejaculated like horses? I mean, forgive me for asking, but let's face it: that's Bible!
So, what I'd like to know is this: regarding 20, what, exactly, did the author mean to accentuate, by "whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses"; and regarding 21, what historical correlary might there be, for "in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth."?
Might the original langauge paint a clearer picture?
Might the presumed analogy really be an invocation of actual events, such as the temple prostitution referred to later by Hosea?
