In the midst of a fierce storm with brilliant light and flashing fire, four bronze figures emerge with the faces of a man, lion, bull, and eagle. There is a profusion of extended wings, along with lightning, wheels, a scroll, and a prophet, who is commissioned to exhort Israel to repentance, warning about the forthcoming fall of Jerusalem.

The thunderous, cascading opening passages of the sixth-century BCE Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible led some twentieth-century commentators to speculate whether it was actually a description of an alien spaceship landing. What seems more reasonable to assume is that interpreting the sacred texts of great religious traditions requires acquaintance with the meaning and history of the people and cultures in which these texts took shape.