Ezekiel 8--Abominations in the Temple

Ezekiel 8
English Standard Version

Abominations in the Temple
8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal. 3 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.

5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy. 6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9 And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.’” 13 He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.”

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

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Ezekiel was sitting in his house with the elders of the people of Judah when the LORD gave him another vision.  The LORD appeared to Ezekiel much like He did the first time with the form of a man, but with fire in the lower half of His "body" and bright light for the upper-half of His "body."  He led Ezekiel to the heavenly realm where Ezekiel could see through space and time and could see the spiritual dimension of things as well.

First, the LORD had Ezekiel look at how they had desecrated Jerusalem and the Temple with idols.  Even the LORD's altar had been displaced in favor of an altar to a false god.  Even though these abominations looked awful, the LORD promised Ezekiel that he would see visions of even worse abominations.  Because of these things, the LORD was provoked to anger and His wrath was kindled against His people because they had tried to push Him out of every area of their lives--even the place called His house.

Then the LORD showed Ezekiel all the vile and wicked things that the elders of the people (the very people that he was meeting with in his house) had been doing in secret.  They are pictured as all the unclean animals and idols, but the text seems to indicate that these are sins of their hearts and minds.  They think that no one can see them because they think only the LORD can see what is done in their hearts and minds, but they imagine that He has abandoned them and they are free to sin without His knowledge.  They even went as far as imagining themselves to be priests of their own making like in Korah's rebellion (notice how they are offering incense that is unauthorized--only the high priest is to do that to make atonement for the people).  Ab bad as this is, the LORD promises Ezekiel that he will see even worse things.  Ezekiel is beginning to understand why the LORD must judge the people so severely.

The LORD then shows Ezekiel a woman at the north gate crying for the false god Tammuz (probably because the idols were destroyed during the Babylonian conquest).  They are mourning the loss of their idols, but they never mourned over the loss of their relationship with the one true God.  They are so attached to this lie.  This is an even greater evil to see the hearts of the common people wedded to false gods and idols.

Then, the LORD finally took Ezekiel inside the gates of the Temple.  The gate faced towards the east on purpose so that each new day would shine light on the Bronze Altar and on the sanctuary, yet the men gathered there have their backs turned to the altar and the sanctuary and are gathered there to worship the sun.  Like it is said in Romans 1, they worship the creation rather than the Creator.  The LORD explains that it is because of their heart condition that the Land is filled with all kinds of bloodshed and violence.  Their hearts are so hard and their consciences so numb that it is going to take a heavy hand of correction to get their attention.  The LORD loves them and that is why He is disciplining them so harshly.  The devil would love to see the LORD just destroy His people so that His covenant of redemption would go unfulfilled (Messiah would never come to take care of the sin issue), but the LORD cares too much about saving His people to let them become like the Gentile nations.  Some serious pruning needs to be done to get rid of the part of the vine that is diseased and dead, but it is for the sake of trying to save the part of the vine that still remains healthy.