Major Prophets · Chapter 8 of 48

Ezekiel 8

Transported in vision to Jerusalem's temple, Ezekiel is shown escalating abominations: an image of jealousy at the gate, elders offering incense before creatures painted on the walls, women weeping for Tammuz, and twenty-five men worshipping the sun with their backs to the temple. Though the glory of God is present, they say the Lord does not see. Judgment without pity is announced.

What happens in Ezekiel 8

In the sixth year, as the elders of Judah sit before him, God's hand falls on Ezekiel. A fiery figure lifts him by a lock of hair and carries him in vision to Jerusalem, to the inner gate where an idolatrous image of jealousy stands, though the glory of Israel's God is present. God asks whether he sees the abominations driving Him from His sanctuary, then shows him worse. Through a hole in the wall Ezekiel digs to find a door; inside, every creeping thing and idol is portrayed on the walls, with seventy elders, censers in hand, offering incense in the dark, saying the Lord does not see.

Turning again, he sees women weeping for Tammuz. Greater still, in the inner court twenty-five men face east, backs to the temple, worshipping the sun. God declares He will deal in fury, His eye will not spare, and though they cry aloud He will not hear.

Ezekiel 8 in context

Dated to 592 BC, about a year after his call, this vision opens a unit spanning chapters 8 to 11 in which Ezekiel, though in Babylon, is shown the corruption inside the Jerusalem temple. Tammuz was a Mesopotamian fertility god mourned in seasonal rites.

Sun worship faced east, literally turning worshippers' backs on the Lord's house. The vision justifies the departure of God's glory that follows.

Main themes of Ezekiel 8

Ezekiel 8 (KJV)

1And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me. 2Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. 3And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. 4And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. 5Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 6He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. 7And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. 8Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 9And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 10So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. 11And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. 13He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. 16And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. 17Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

Verses to carry from Ezekiel 8

“He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.”Ezekiel 8:6

“Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.”Ezekiel 8:12

“And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.”Ezekiel 8:16

Reflection

What do you do in the chambers of your imagery, believing no one sees? Ezekiel's vision insists that God sees the hidden shrine as clearly as the public one. The remedy is not deeper hiding but honest light. Turn your face back toward Him, for the God who sees all still invites you home.

A prayer from Ezekiel 8