Bible Commentaries

CHAPTERS 8-11

Visions in Relation to Jerusalem

1. The vision of abomination in the temple (Ezekiel 8:1-18)

2. The vision of the linen-clothed man with the inkhorn (Ezekiel 9:1-11)

3. The vision of the coals of fire (Ezekiel 10:1-22)

4. The vision concerning the leaders: The glory departs (Ezekiel 11:1-25)

Ezekiel 8:1-18. This vision shows the abomination which prevailed in the temple of Jehovah.

In the visions of God, Ezekiel is brought to the door of the inner gate that looks to the north. Here was the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. Some have taken this and the following visions to be retrospective. It has been said, “It was as if he were translated back to Jerusalem, and to the time when these things were occurring.” Such is the view of some critics; however, it is untenable. These visions would lose their meaning if the prophet seemed to be translated back to Jerusalem and to the time when these abominations had happened in Israel’s past history. Later we find the names of persons given, whom he saw. They certainly were living persons known to the prophet Ezekiel and his contemporaries. One of them died while Ezekiel prophesied (Ezekiel 11:13). What was the image of jealousy which provoketh to jealousy? It was an idol. The word is used in Deuteronomy 4:16, where it is translated “graven image.” It is also found in 2 Chronicles 33:7; 2 Chronicles 33:15, where it refers to the idol, which Manasseh had made and put up in the temple.

After Manasseh’s idolatry came Josiah’s great reformation. After his death, Judah plunged into greater wickedness under the reign of wicked kings, and a revival of idolatry followed once more. Such a wrath-provoking idol was beheld by the prophet. This image they worshipped. “Son of man, seest thou what they do?” They must have lain prostrate before that idol. And yet the glory of the God of Israel was still there.

That there will be a similar scene enacted in a future temple, during the great tribulation, is well known to all students of prophecy. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 and Revelation 13:1-18.)

The prophet saw creeping things and beasts worshipped; the elders and the people were practising Egyptian idolatry of the most degrading kind. Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, is especially mentioned. Shaphan was the scribe, who received from the high priest, Hilkiah, the book of the law, and read it before King Josiah 2 Kings 22:8-20; Jeremiah 39:14. The son of this God-fearing scribe was the leader of the idolators. And these idol worshippers, each in his chamber of imagery (probably individual cells), said: “This LORD seeth us not; the LORD has forsaken the earth.” They denied His omniscience and omnipresence. The apostasy in Christendom is going the same road.

The women wept for Tammuz, the Babylonian “Dumuzi,” the god of spring, who dies, and revives each year. It was a vile, obscene cult, for with the worship of Tammuz were connected immoral, licentious ceremonies. Sun-worship was the crown of all these abominations. (See Ezekiel 8:16-18).