Similarly, when considering the many references to His Holy Word in our ritual, we use them symbolically (in most cases), not literally. Yes, there are some *historical* references, and those, I submit, are literal.  The ones about King Solomon's Temple, in particular.   However, the rest are strictly symbolic.  Equally applicable to Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Wiccan, Buddhist and anyone I have inadvertently omitted.  For example, those references to the individual's own Holy Writings.  In that same manner, references to anything in our laws, rules and regulations are necessarily literal,, uniform and specific.