Ezekiel’s metaphor

[Khay See]

I wish I had the ability to articulate metaphors as well as Ezekiel. It is rich. It is full of pictorial messages. It is filled with images. When I read Ezekiel, it is as if I had been transplanted into the time of Ezekiel. The image of what Ezekiel saw or the situation he was in became so vivid. It became alive. I felt his intensity. I felt his pain. My mind was running through images and images of the disobedience of God’s people. But I wonder, does biblical metaphor, which is so rich and extensive in the Old Testament, come from personal suffering and out of their own hurting heart? Could it be that the pain and the ache of seeing God’s people running away from Him transposed into imagery and metaphor to convey a message to people? Nathan’s example of using shepherd imagery to rebuke David is another good example of this. Was pain and suffering the main drive to convey such a deep and rich metaphor that even today still touches many hearts? Or was it simply an imagination running wild creatively? I doubt it was the latter. But I would like to know. Does it begin from the very heart that cares to pen for readers to immerse in those situations?