| is unfortunate that the parable was used in such fashion, as it describes, very well, the difficulties experienced by dichotomous man, in understanding and finally promoting a trichotomous nature. If we consider the period that Jesus was in exile as a baby, as the imprisonment period ( not dichotomous in His case ), then everything else in the parable fits a discussion of His efforts to show the world the true light. Or, a more likely application of the parable would start with the story of Ruth, the Moabitess, who was descended from Lot through his oldest daughter. We see in Ruth, a person in the dichotomous dark of the cave, who is released from her bondage through marriage to one of Naomi's sons. Not until Ruth 1:16 does she begin to show comfort with the light, but from there forward she progresses straight as an arrow to set up the lineage of David, hence, our Lord Jesus Christ. What could be more fitting, than for the Lord to spring from the dichotomous side of man in his quest to save man from dichotomy? Thus through Mary, He fulfilled the dichotomous side of the parable of the cave. His time in the wilderness fits the total enlightenment period, while the rest of His pre-crucifixion life matches the return to darkness part of the parable of the cave. I know that not all stories, parables, and writings that were repeated within the societies of the children of Israel were carried forward into the Old Testament. Is it also possible for the parables of one society to spring as an adulteration of another society's writings? I wonder. About 594 B. C., approximately 200 years before the publication of the parable of the cave in Republic, we see in chapter 8 of Ezekiel , an account of Ezekiel's vision of the chambers of imagery: "And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me 109 ______________________________________________________________________________ up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem to the door of the inner gate that looketh to the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there according to the vision I saw in the plain. Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way to the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then he said unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and 110 ______________________________________________________________________________ |
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