seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ezekiel 8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. 2 I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man.[a] From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. 3 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. 4 And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.
5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.
6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”
7 Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.
9 And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11 In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
12 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”
14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”
16 He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
17 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 18 Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
a. Ezekiel 8:2 Or saw a fiery figure
Well it looks like there are a couple people to find out about..... the fiery guy and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. And.... who are the seventy and what in the world are they doing? Although I liked the commentaries this morning.... I'm sticking with the commentary at the easy English site...
Ezekiel records the exact date of this vision. That was during September in the year 592 BC. At the end of the vision, the Lord tells of the punishment that will happen. After it happens, the people will be able to see this record. Then they will know that God brought about these events.
The leaders of the exiles came to the house of Ezekiel. They had come to the prophet in order to hear from the Lord. But Ezekiel could bring no message of comfort to them. He told them about the vision that God had given to him. But that was all that he could do.
Ezekiel felt the power of God. It was as if God laid his hand upon Ezekiel. It was so sudden and he seemed to rise up with the Lord. God raised him up into this vision.
Since Ezekiel had to cut off all his hair (Ezekiel 5:1), it had now grown again. God grasped him by his hair. The Spirit of God lifted Ezekiel into the air. In the vision, they flew to Jerusalem.
They went to the temple’s north gate. This gate was by the inner area at the north side of the Temple. In this area, there was a large image of a false god. Such an image ought not to be there. It caused God to be angry. This place was to be holy for the Lord. It was a terrible sin to erect there the image of a false god.
The Lord told Ezekiel to look toward the north. And he saw the image of a false god. Here the people worshipped the false god. But they still would say that they worshipped God as well. But they cannot worship false gods and the real God. God’s command is that his people must worship him alone. They must have no other gods. (See Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7.)
The Lord brought Ezekiel near to the entrance of the area about the temple. Here was a secret room. All that Ezekiel could see was a hole in the wall. God told him to open up the wall. As he did so, he found a door.
The Lord told him to go in. He went into the room. He saw there the 70 leaders of Judah. He watched them. And he saw what they were doing.
There were awful pictures all over the walls. These were of things that crawl and of unclean animals. Also, the false gods of Israel were there.
These 70 men were the leaders of Judah. They stood in front of the false gods. This means that they worshipped the gods.
Shaphan had been a good man. He served King Josiah. When the builders found the book of God’s law in the temple, he took it to the king. He read it. He helped to bring the people back to the Lord God. (2 Kings 22:3-14). Now one of his sons, Jaazaniah, worshipped false gods.
The name Jaazaniah means ‘the *Lord hears.’
In the worship of God, only the priests would have incense. These men were not priests. They burned incense to the false gods. In the proper worship of God, incense was a sweet smell that the priests offered to him. Here the leaders took what belonged to the Lord. And they offered it up to their false gods.
In this secret room, Ezekiel saw what the leaders did. Each one of them worshipped his false god. The Lord God sees all that happens, even in secret. We cannot hide anything from him. Yet, these men said that God did not see them. They said that God had gone from the country. But God is always there and he is everywhere. However, the glory of God would not remain in that place. Soon the glory of God would leave. And then the army from Babylon would destroy Jerusalem.
The leaders’ secret sins were worse than anything that Ezekiel had seen before. But God said that Ezekiel would see even worse sins.
Tammuz was a false god that the people had brought, long before this time, from Babylon. Another name for him was Dumuzi. This name means ‘the son of life.’ At first, he was the sun god. But later he became the god of the spring. His parents were the gods Ea and Sirdu. His wife was the female god Ishtar. His home was under the tree of life. And this tree was in the garden of Eridu. Eridu was between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
There were many stories about him. They tell of the death of Tammuz and how Ishtar wept for him. Then in the story Tammuz became alive again.
Tammuz became the name of a month in the year. This is about our months of June and July. In that month, the people who worship Tammuz weep for his death. They weep as people weep after the death of their only son. This is what the women were doing at the north gate of the *emple.
It was not just the men who were worshipping false gods. The women too had turned away from the Lord.
The inner area of the temple was a holy place for the worship of God. Here there were 25 men. These men would have been priests who served in the Temple. Yet, they had turned their backs to the temple. They had turned away from the real God. They worshipped the sun as it rose in the east. They were worshipping Shamas, the sun god of Babylon. It is not possible to worship false gods and the real God.
Oh I remember the story about them finding the "book of God's law". King Josiah worked to bring the people back to God based on Shaphan's find. It's a real shame that Shaphan's own son [Jaazaniah] was one of those who had once again jumped ship to worship fake gods. Now..... I have to admit.... while reading Jeremiah and Ezekiel..... I have been blaming men for making women go through the siege, rape, cannibalism, and captivity. I figure.... the men are the ones running things..... so women are victims. According to Ezekiel, though, women were just as involved in worshiping fake gods as the men were. Oh brother.....
Apparently they replaced God altogether...... that sun god Shamas was supposed to be a judge. This is from ancientpages.com.
As a powerful solar deity, Shamash, whose consort was the goddess Aya, exercised the power of light over darkness and evil. In this capacity he became known as the god of justice and equity and was the judge of both gods and men. At night, Shamash became judge of the underworld.
They replaced God with a fake.... no wonder God grabbed Ezekiel by the hair and drug him to Jerusalem to show Ezekiel what they were doing in secret. They though God didn't know! Stupid humans. God is fiery hot angry and those stupid humans think God isn't watching them. 