Chapter 8

Vs 1 gives a specific date.  Ezekiel has a vision, of the Holy of Holies I think, and the glory of Israel was there, as the glory he saw at Chebar, by the river. 

2022 - Ezekiel is so very careful to say that the things he is seeing are "forms", that is visions, and not the real things.  He is not claiming that he was taken physically to Jerusalem, but he has a vision of what was going on there.  Perhaps a real time vision.

2024 - Note that the vision that appeared had the form of a man, is very similar to the one on the sapphire throne in Chapter 1:26-28.  So close that it seems unnecessary to consider any other. 

He is still in Chebar when he sees this vision of the Temple in Jerusalem.  What is this "image of jealousy"?  (2020 MSB note says this image was the one that provoked God to jealousy.  Perhaps the "last straw" idol that was brought into His holy temple?  This was to the north.  Then, in the entrance of the court, he is shown engravings of all sorts of creeping things on the very walls of the Temple. 

2022 - This verse:

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. ... 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. [Eze 8:8, 10 ESV]

Per MSB, and pretty clearly once you've read it, the idea here is that these engravings of animals of all kinds were in a hidden place.  The "public" of Jerusalem did not realize just how corrupt their leadership had gotten.  MSB suggests a sort of secret society that gathered and worshiped gods remembered from Egypt, and they had gone back to them, just as the people did in the desert with the golden calves.  The idol of jealousy was bad enough, but at least all could see, and perhaps protest its presence. But through this hole in the wall to a secret enclave of idolatry, worse things were being worshiped.

In the vision, Ezekiel sees 70 elders of Israel are worshiping these. 

2022 - This is the same number as the Sanhedrin.  Could the whole of that group actually be worshiping idols?  Is this what brought down the double destruction of Jerusalem - the fact that they ALL rebelled?  Not one good elder in the whole of the Sanhedrin? 

2024 - I note that the number is clearly 70 at this point.  There are some NT places where they are not sure whether it is 70 or 72 that are in mind.  Remember that 70 people went down to Egypt when Joseph was in charge there.  Remember that there are 70 countries in the Table of Nations.  I'm going to go with 70 everywhere.

This terrible awful verse below:

This verse:

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.'" [Eze 8:12 ESV]

2022 - In the dark.  Even with all 70 committed, they recognized that they were so far out of bounds that they had to hide in the darkness to do it.  Knowing, planned, purposeful rejection of the God of their Fathers.  And yet, "You will see still greater abominations that they commit."  How could this get worse?

Then the entrance to the north gate.  There are women weeping for Tammuz.  2022 - This is worded as if we are now outside the north gate entrance to the inner court. 

There is an MSB note about it.  It is a Babylonian god, sort of based on the cycle of vegetation:  birth, death, rebirth.  Note says basest immorality is associated with this god.  2022 - And then Ezekiel is told that it gets STILL WORSE.

Between porch and altar, 25 men.  Their backs are to the Temple, they face east, and they worship the rising sun.

2022 - They have turned their backs to the living God, and worship the sun that God created.

All this pagan worship is occurring in the very Temple that Solomon built.

2020-so in this chapter also we get sort of a checklist of the idolatry for which God is about to unleash His wrath on Judah.  It is not about there being just a few idols.  It is not corruption of the common man.  It is corruption through and through, and they are worshiping anything and everything EXCEPT the God of Israel who brought them out of Egypt.  It is hard to imagine this level of corruption, this level of rebellion.  It is no wonder the punishment is double.  It is no wonder it lasts so long.  It is no wonder all other peoples except Israel are made recipients of God's salvation for thousands of years, while the descendants of Israel herself are blinded and cut off almost - but not quite - entirely.  This is truly a punishment that is unique, without precedent, and that will never ever come again.

2022 - I believe Ezekiel is transported in vision to the court outside the entrance to the Holy Place.  This would be an "inner court", as opposed to the much larger and more public court outside, where Solomon's porch is located.  The main door faces East, so as you enter the inner court, the north door is on the right.  The laver - the big one - and the main altar would be ahead on your left and right.  I think this is where this was, not actually inside the Holy place.  Ah...vs 5 says he was told to look north, toward the altar gate...So that confirms what court we are talking about.  There is an idol of some kind there, that should never ever be there. 

2022 - This closing verse:

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." [Eze 8:18 ESV].  This is what happens when God's own patience runs out.  Wrath for those who are worshiping the sun, worshiping Tammuz, worshiping Egyptian gods, worshiping idols - and ALL of this is happening within a few yards of the Mercy seat where God Himself resides.  They are under His very nose, and spurning his presence as if it is inconsequential.  As if he cannot see outside the walls of the Holy of Holies.  Not only will the instigators be punished, but all who allow it, who don't scream about it, who don't take action to maintain the Temple as the place to worship Jehovah, and NO OTHER.  May not have been any in the city who still worshiped God alone, but if there were, they will be collateral damage.  At this stage, God will not spare the pure if it means any of the corrupt survive.  The pure have no "zone of protection" about them at this point.  They are as condemned as the most extremely corrupt elder.  National sin, national devastation.

2024 - We may see this chapter as God's "bill of indictment" against Israel, and he brings exhibits showing their guilt on each charge.  It is not just that they are worshiping other God's, and so flaunting the very first commandment, spoken directly to their fathers and not through Moses.  Worse, they are breaking this commandment in the very Temple that was constructed for the exclusive worship of Jehovah.  They have move in idols, they have desecrated the temple walls with idols, and they are worshiping the sunrise with their backs to the Holy of Holies. 

2024 - There were 70 elders, and now we see 25 men.  Is that significant?  It would seem so.  Did a search on "twenty-five" and it shows up 22 times.  Here is the first that popped up:

24 "This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. [Num 8:24 ESV].  It was the age at which the Levitical priest began their service.  Looking further, I see that a good number of the kings of Israel and Judah began their reigns at the age of 25.  I do not think all their predecessors just happened to die when the new king reached the age of 25.  So when we see this number, we ought to consider that the previous king might still have been alive, but is "passing the scepter" to the son they've chosen to follow them.  It would take some time to research all these - since some of them will surely be accounts of the same king coming to power, once in Kings and again in Chronicles.  Twenty-five also shows up many times as the dimensions of Ezekiel's temple are specified, such as here:  13 Then he measured the gate from the ceiling of the one side room to the ceiling of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits; the openings faced each other. [Eze 40:13 ESV].  Interestingly, it is listed as a dimension exactly seven times.  So here is another research project.  Did 25 show up a lot in the tabernacle or in Solomon's temple?  The answer is no.  Only in Ezekiel's Temple - a still future temple.  Why so different?  Maybe because it built by the "wrong" people, to human specifications.  Remember that this temple is already built when it is shown to Ezekiel.  He just tells us how big it was.  I believe the Temple that John measures in heaven is the same.  It was already there, in heaven.  Wouldn't Satan want to build his own temple on earth as he tries to set up his kingdom here in opposition to God at the end times?  Aren't the beast, the false prophet and the image sort of an unholy trinity devised to "look like" the true trinity?  This again fits pretty well with my theory that the SoP builds Ezekiel's Temple, and then half way through, he profanes it by declaring it his own temple and himself the object of worship there.  That is why it is not in Jerusalem, and won't fit there.