1And it came to pass in the sixthH8345 yearH8141, in the sixthH8345 month, in the fifthH2568 day of the monthH2320, as I satH3427 in mine houseH1004, and the eldersH2205 of JudahH3063 satH3427 beforeH6440 me, that the handH3027 of the LordH136 GODH3069 fellH5307 there upon me. 2Then I beheldH7200, and lo a likenessH1823 as the appearanceH4758 of fireH784: from the appearanceH4758 of his loinsH4975 even downwardH4295, fireH784; and from his loinsH4975 even upwardH4605, as the appearanceH4758 of brightnessH2096, as the colourH5869 of amberH2830. 3And he put forthH7971 the formH8403 of an handH3027, and tookH3947 me by a lockH6734 of mine headH7218; and the spiritH7307 lifted me upH5375 between the earthH776 and the heavenH8064, and broughtH935 me in the visionsH4759 of GodH430 to JerusalemH3389, to the doorH6607 of the innerH6442 gateH8179 that lookethH6437 toward the northH6828; where was the seatH4186 of the imageH5566 of jealousyH7068, which provoketh to jealousyH7069 . 4And, behold, the gloryH3519 of the GodH430 of IsraelH3478 was there, according to the visionH4758 that I sawH7200 in the plainH1237. 5Then saidH559 he unto me, SonH1121 of manH120, lift upH5375 thine eyesH5869 now the wayH1870 toward the northH6828. So I lifted upH5375 mine eyesH5869 the wayH1870 toward the northH6828, and behold northwardH6828 at the gateH8179 of the altarH4196 this imageH5566 of jealousyH7068 in the entryH872. 6He saidH559 furthermore unto me, SonH1121 of manH120, seestH7200 thou what they doH6213 ? even the greatH1419 abominationsH8441 that the houseH1004 of IsraelH3478 committethH6213 here, that I should go far offH7368 from my sanctuaryH4720? but turnH7725 thee yet again, and thou shalt seeH7200 greaterH1419 abominationsH8441. 7And he broughtH935 me to the doorH6607 of the courtH2691; and when I lookedH7200, behold aH259 holeH2356 in the wallH7023. 8Then saidH559 he unto me, SonH1121 of manH120, digH2864 now in the wallH7023: and when I had diggedH2864 in the wallH7023, behold aH259 doorH6607. 9And he saidH559 unto me, Go inH935, and beholdH7200 the wickedH7451 abominationsH8441 that they doH6213 here. 10So I went inH935 and sawH7200 ; and behold every formH8403 of creeping thingsH7431, and abominableH8263 beastsH929, and all the idolsH1544 of the houseH1004 of IsraelH3478, pourtrayedH2707 upon the wallH7023 round aboutH5439. 11And there stoodH5975 beforeH6440 them seventyH7657 menH376 of the ancientsH2205 of the houseH1004 of IsraelH3478, and in the midstH8432 of them stoodH5975 JaazaniahH2970 the sonH1121 of ShaphanH8227, with every manH376 his censerH4730 in his handH3027; and a thickH6282 cloudH6051 of incenseH7004 went upH5927 . 12Then saidH559 he unto me, SonH1121 of manH120, hast thou seenH7200 what the ancientsH2205 of the houseH1004 of IsraelH3478 doH6213 in the darkH2822, every manH376 in the chambersH2315 of his imageryH4906? for they sayH559, The LORDH3068 seethH7200 us not; the LORDH3068 hath forsakenH5800 the earthH776. 13He saidH559 also unto me, TurnH7725 thee yet again, and thou shalt seeH7200 greaterH1419 abominationsH8441 that they doH6213 . 14Then he broughtH935 me to the doorH6607 of the gateH8179 of the LORD'SH3068 houseH1004 which was toward the northH6828; and, behold, there satH3427 womenH802 weepingH1058 for TammuzH8542. 15Then saidH559 he unto me, Hast thou seenH7200 this, O sonH1121 of manH120? turnH7725 thee yet again, and thou shalt seeH7200 greaterH1419 abominationsH8441 than these. 16And he broughtH935 me into the innerH6442 courtH2691 of the LORD'SH3068 houseH1004, and, behold, at the doorH6607 of the templeH1964 of the LORDH3068, between the porchH197 and the altarH4196, were about fiveH2568 and twentyH6242 menH376, with their backsH268 toward the templeH1964 of the LORDH3068, and their facesH6440 toward the eastH6924; and they worshippedH7812 the sunH8121 toward the eastH6924. 17Then he saidH559 unto me, Hast thou seenH7200 this, O sonH1121 of manH120? Is it a light thingH7043 to the houseH1004 of JudahH3063 that they commitH6213 the abominationsH8441 which they commitH6213 here? for they have filledH4390 the landH776 with violenceH2555, and have returnedH7725 to provoke me to angerH3707 : and, lo, they putH7971 the branchH2156 to their noseH639. 18Therefore will I also dealH6213 in furyH2534: mine eyeH5869 shall not spareH2347, neither will I have pityH2550 : and though they cryH7121 in mine earsH241 with a loudH1419 voiceH6963, yet will I not hearH8085 them.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Eze. 8:1-18)
sixth year--namely, of the captivity of Jehoiachin, as in
Ezek 1:2, the "fifth year" is specified. The lying on his sides three hundred ninety and forty days (
Ezek 4:5-
Ezek 4:6) had by this time been completed, at least in vision. That event was naturally a memorable epoch to the exiles; and the computation of years from it was to humble the Jews, as well as to show their perversity in not having repented, though so long and severely chastised.
elders--namely, those carried away with Jehoiachin, and now at the Chebar.
sat before me--to hear the word of God from me, in the absence of the temple and other public places of Sabbath worship, during the exile (
Ezek 33:30-
Ezek 33:31). It was so ordered that they were present at the giving of the prophecy, and so left without excuse.
hand of . . . Lord God fell . . . upon me--God's mighty operation fell, like a thunderbolt, upon me (in
Ezek 1:3, it is less forcible, "was upon him"); whatever, therefore, he is to utter is not his own, for he has put off the mere man, while the power of God reigns in him [CALVIN].
2 likeness--understand, "of a man," that is, of Messiah, the Angel of the covenant, in the person of whom alone God manifests Himself (
Ezek 1:26;
John 1:18). The "fire," from "His loins downward," betokens the vengeance of God kindled against the wicked Jews, while searching and purifying the remnant to be spared. The "brightness . . . upward" betokens His unapproachable majesty (
1Tim 6:16). For Hebrew, eesh, "fire," the Septuagint, &c., read ish, "a man."
colour of amber--the glitter of chasmal [FAIRBAIRN], (see on
Ezek 1:4, "polished brass").
3 Instead of prompting him to address directly the elders before him, the Spirit carried him away in vision (not in person bodily) to the temple at Jerusalem; he proceeds to report to them what he witnessed: his message thus falls into two parts: (1) The abominations reported in Eze. 8:1-18. (2) The dealings of judgment and mercy to be adopted towards the impenitent and penitent Israelites respectively (Eze. 9:1-11:25). The exiles looked hopefully towards Jerusalem and, so far from believing things there to be on the verge of ruin, expected a return in peace; while those left in Jerusalem eyed the exiles with contempt, as if cast away from the Lord, whereas they themselves were near God and ensured in the possessions of the land (
Ezek 11:15). Hence the vision here of what affected those in Jerusalem immediately was a seasonable communication to the exiles away from it.
door of the inner gate--facing the north, the direction in which he came from Chebar, called the "altar-gate" (
Ezek 8:5); it opened into the inner court, wherein stood the altar of burnt offering; the inner court (
1Kgs 6:36) was that of the priests; the outer court (
Ezek 10:5), that of the people, where they assembled.
seat--the pedestal of the image.
image of jealousy--Astarte, or Asheera (as the Hebrew for "grove" ought to be translated,
2Kgs 21:3,
2Kgs 21:7;
2Kgs 23:4,
2Kgs 23:7), set up by Manasseh as a rival to Jehovah in His temple, and arresting the attention of all worshippers as they entered; it was the Syrian Venus, worshipped with licentious rites; the "queen of heaven," wife of Phśnician Baal. HAVERNICK thinks all the scenes of idolatry in the chapter are successive portions of the festival held in honor of Tammuz or Adonis (
Ezek 8:14). Probably, however, the scenes are separate proofs of Jewish idolatry, rather than restricted to one idol.
provoketh to jealousy--calleth for a visitation in wrath of the "jealous God," who will not give His honor to another (compare the second commandment,
Exod 20:5). JEROME refers this verse to a statue of Baal, which Josiah had overthrown and his successors had replaced.
4 The Shekinah cloud of Jehovah's glory, notwithstanding the provocation of the idol, still remains in the temple, like that which Ezekiel saw "in the plain" (
Ezek 3:22-
Ezek 3:23); not till
Ezek 10:4,
Ezek 10:18 did it leave the temple at Jerusalem, showing the long-suffering of God, which ought to move the Jews to repentance.
5 gate of . . . altar--the principal avenue to the altar of burnt offering; as to the northern position, see
2Kgs 16:14. Ahaz had removed the brazen altar from the front of the Lord's house to the north of the altar which he had himself erected. The locality of the idol before God's own altar enhances the heinousness of the sin.
6 that I should go far off from my sanctuary--"that I should (be compelled by their sin to) go far off from my sanctuary"-- (
Ezek 10:18); the sure precursor of its destruction.
7 door of the court--that is, of the inner court (
Ezek 8:3); the court of the priests and Levites, into which now others were admitted in violation of the law [GROTIUS].
hole in . . . wall--that is, an aperture or window in the wall of the priests' chambers, through which he could see into the various apartments, wherein was the idolatrous shrine.
8 dig--for it had been blocked up during Josiah's reformation. Or rather, the vision is not of an actual scene, but an ideal pictorial representation of the Egyptian idolatries into which the covenant-people had relapsed, practising them in secret places where they shrank from the light of day [FAIRBAIRN], (
John 3:20). But compare, as to the literal introduction of idolatries into the temple,
Ezek 5:11;
Jer 7:30;
Jer 32:34.
10 creeping things . . . beasts--worshipped in Egypt; still found portrayed on their chamber walls; so among the Troglodytć.
round about--On every side they surrounded themselves with incentives to superstition.
11 seventy men--the seventy members composing the Sanhedrim, or great council of the nation, the origination of which we find in the seventy elders, representatives of the congregation, who went up with Moses to the mount to behold the glory of Jehovah, and to witness the secret transactions relating to the establishment of the covenant; also, in the seventy elders appointed to share the burden of the people with Moses. How awfully it aggravates the national sin, that the seventy, once admitted to the Lord's secret council (
Ps 25:14), should now, "in the dark," enter "the secret" of the wicked (
Gen 49:6), those judicially bound to suppress idolatry being the ringleaders of it!
Jaazaniah--perhaps chief of the seventy: son of Shaphan, the scribe who read to Josiah the book of the law; the spiritual privileges of the son (
2Kgs 22:10-14) increased his guilt. The very name means, "Jehovah hears," giving the lie to the unbelief which virtually said (
Ezek 9:9), "The Lord seeth us not," &c. (compare
Ps 10:11,
Ps 10:14;
Ps 50:21;
Ps 94:7,
Ps 94:9). The offering of incense belonged not to the elders, but to the priests; this usurpation added to the guilt of the former.
cloud of incense--They spared no expense for their idols. Oh, that there were the same liberality toward the cause of God!
12 every man in . . . chambers of . . . imagery--The elders ("ancients") are here the representatives of the people, rather than to be regarded literally. Mostly, the leaders of heathen superstitions laughed at them secretly, while publicly professing them in order to keep the people in subjection. Here what is meant is that the people generally addicted themselves to secret idolatry, led on by their elders; there is no doubt, also, allusion to the mysteries, as in the worship of Isis in Egypt, the Eleusinian in Greece, &c., to which the initiated alone were admitted. "The chambers of imagery" are their own perverse imaginations, answering to the priests' chambers in the vision, whereon the pictures were portrayed (
Ezek 8:10).
Lord . . . forsaken . . . earth--They infer this because God has left them to their miseries, without succoring them, so that they seek help from other gods. Instead of repenting, as they ought, they bite the curb [CALVIN].
14 From the secret abominations of the chambers of imagery, the prophet's eye is turned to the outer court at the north door; within the outer court women were not admitted, but only to the door.
sat--the attitude of mourners (
Job 2:13;
Isa 3:26).
Tammuz--from a Hebrew root, "to melt down." Instead of weeping for the national sins, they wept for the idol. Tammuz (the Syrian for Adonis), the paramour of Venus, and of the same name as the river flowing from Lebanon; killed by a wild boar, and, according to the fable, permitted to spend half the year on earth, and obliged to spend the other half in the lower world. An annual feast was celebrated to him in June (hence called Tammuz in the Jewish calendar) at Byblos, when the Syrian women, in wild grief, tore off their hair and yielded their persons to prostitution, consecrating the hire of their infamy to Venus; next followed days of rejoicing for his return to the earth; the former feast being called "the disappearance of Adonis," the latter, "the finding of Adonis." This Phśnician feast answered to the similar Egyptian one in honor of Osiris. The idea thus fabled was that of the waters of the river and the beauties of spring destroyed by the summer during the half year when the sun is in the upper heat. Or else, the earth being clothed with beauty, hemisphere, and losing it when he departs to the lower. The name Adonis is not here used, as Adon is the appropriated title of Jehovah.
15 The next are "greater abominations," not in respect to the idolatry, but in respect to the place and persons committing it. In "the inner court," immediately before the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, where the priests advanced only on extraordinary occasions (
Joel 2:17), twenty-five men (the leaders of the twenty-four courses or orders of the priests,
1Chr 24:18-19, with the high priest, "the princes of the sanctuary,"
Isa 43:28), representing the whole priesthood, as the seventy elders represented the people, stood with their backs turned on the temple, and their faces towards the east, making obeisance to the rising sun (contrast
1Kgs 8:44). Sun-worship came from the Persians, who made the sun the eye of their god Ormuzd. It existed as early as Job (
Job 31:26; compare
Deut 4:19). Josiah could only suspend it for the time of his reign (
2Kgs 23:5,
2Kgs 23:11); it revived under his successors.
16 worshipped--In the Hebrew a corrupt form is used to express Ezekiel's sense of the foul corruption of such worship.
17 put . . . branch to . . . nose--proverbial, for "they turn up the nose in scorn," expressing their insolent security [Septuagint]. Not content with outraging "with their violence" the second table of the law, namely, that of duty towards one's neighbor, "they have returned" (that is, they turn back afresh) to provoke Me by violations of the first table [CALVIN]. Rather, they held up a branch or bundle of tamarisk (called barsom) to their nose at daybreak, while singing hymns to the rising sun [STRABO, 1.15, p. 733]. Sacred trees were frequent symbols in idol-worship. CALVIN translates, "to their own ruin," literally, "to their nose," that is, with the effect of rousing My anger (of which the Hebrew is "nose") to their ruin.
18 though they cry . . . yet will I not hear-- (
Pro 1:28;
Isa 1:15).