Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 8:5
Then 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.
5. gate of the altar ] Is probably the northern inner gate. The northern entrance was the most frequented, partly because the royal palace and buildings lay to the south and east, and the west was closed by the buildings of the temple itself. In Lev 1:4 the sacrificial victims are commanded to be slaughtered on the north side of the altar.
in the entry ] The image was situated on the north of the altar gate, and the words in or at the entry are to be taken somewhat generally. The words are wanting in LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then; when he had in vision brought me hither.
Lift up thine eyes; observe diligently and exactly every thing which thou mayst see northward first.
The gate of the altar; so called, because Ahaz had removed it from the middle of the court, where by Gods command it was placed by Solomon; but now Ahaz setting it near this north gate, it gave name to the gate or possibly because of an altar erected there to some idol by Manasseh.
Image of jealousy: see Eze 8:3, &c.
In the entry; in the very midst of the court, in the very passage to the temple, to affront the worship of God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. gate of . . . altartheprincipal avenue to the altar of burnt offering; as to the northernposition, see 2Ki 16:14. Ahazhad removed the brazen altar from the front of the Lord’s house tothe north of the altar which he had himself erected. The locality ofthe idol before God’s own altar enhances the heinousness of the sin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said he unto me, son of man,…. That is, the glorious Person described above in this vision, the glorious God of Israel, seen by the prophet in the temple, he spoke unto him, calling him son of man; a name by which he often goes in this prophecy:
lift up thine eyes now toward the north; of the mountain of the house without the court, as Jarchi interprets it:
so I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north: being obedient to the heavenly vision:
and behold northward at the gate of the altar; at the northern gate of the inner court, where was the altar of burnt offering, brought by Ahaz; to the north of the altar he built in imitation of that at Damascus,
2Ki 16:10; and here stood
this image of jealousy in the entry; or the image of this jealousy; the image before mentioned, which provoked the Lord to jealousy; this stood at the entry of the northern gate, which led into the inner court, and to the altar.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
First Abomination-Picture
Eze 8:5. And He said to me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now towards the north. And I lifted up my eyes towards the north, and, behold, to the north of the gate of the altar was this image of jealousy at the entrance. Eze 8:6. And He said to me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? great abominations, which the house of Israel doeth here, that I may go far away from my sanctuary; and thou shalt yet again see greater abominations still. – As Ezekiel had taken his stand in the inner court at the entrance of the north gate, and when looking thence towards the north saw the image of jealousy to the north of the altar gate, the image must have stood on the outer side of the entrance, so that the prophet saw it as he looked through the open doorway. The altar gate is the same as the northern gate of the inner court mentioned in Ezekiel 3. But it is impossible to state with certainty how it came to be called the altar gate. Possibly from the circumstance that the sacrificial animals were taken through this gate to the altar, to be slaughtered on the northern side of the altar, according to Lev 1:4; Lev 5:11, etc. , contracted from , like from in Exo 4:2. The words “what they are doing here” do not force us to assume that at that very time they were worshipping the idol. They simply describe what was generally practised there. The setting up of the image involved the worship of it. The subject to is not the house of Israel, but Jehovah. They perform great abominations, so that Jehovah is compelled to go to a distance from His sanctuary, i.e., to forsake it (cf. Eze 11:23), because they make it an idol-temple.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
FOUR ABOMINATIONS OF THE TEMPLE
Verses 5-12:
Verse 5 introduces the first abomination of the temple. At the gate of the temple, by the inner court, Ezekiel was commanded of the Lord before him. There in front of him, and all who approached the brazen altar area of the temple court, stood the “image of jealousy.” Whether it was one of Baal, Moloch, Astarte, or some other idol embracing the three, and other idols of the land, is not known. But that such an appearance defied the law of Israel’s God was very clear, Exo 20:4-5.
Verse 6 continues the message of the Lord to Ezekiel as “son of man,” God’s spokesman of His word and will. He was told to behold this idolatrous image yet standing in the Holy Temple area, as an abomination to the Holy God of Israel, Deu 31:16; 2Ch 36:14-17; Jer 26:6; Lam 2:6-7. It was a sin that stirred the jealous wrath of God, so that Jerusalem and all the land of idolatrous Judah and Israel were yet to be as surely judged as those already carried captive into Babylon. Ichabod (departed glory) was to come to all the land, Eze 10:18; Eze 11:23.
Verse 7 introduces the second abomination as Ezekiel was carried to the outer door of the court, the inner court, v. 3, where he beheld a “hole” in the wall, but too small for him to pass through. It had been put there for ulterior or degrading purposes, for the priests to peep through at the idolatrous shrines.
Verse 8 directed Ezekiel to dig in the wall, dig away the enclosure about the hole in the wall. He did; and there he found an hidden door, concealing further sins committed by priests in privacy, away from the people’s view, but not from the Lord, Ecc 12:14; Rev 20:11-14.
Verse 9 charged Ezekiel to go through and behind that secret door and get an eyeful of the abominations hidden and done behind the peephole and hidden door in the wall in that area of the temple. Behind that wall elders of Israel held secret worship, where the figures of various animals, representing gods of nature were scrolled upon the walls, in abomination of God’s house and all the land of Judah and Israel, Joh 3:20; Jer 7:30; Jer 32:34.
Verse 10 continues to report that Ezekiel entered the room in visions and was shocked to behold “every form of creeping things, and abominable (unclean) beasts, as worshipped in Egypt, and all the idols of the house of Israel, “across the land,” upon the wall round about. “Thus the former people of God had come to worship the creatures of the earth, rather than the creator, much as the Greeks did in Paul’s day, near Mars Hill, Act 17:24-34; Rom 1:22-23. Those two were incentives to superstitions.
Verse 11 describes Ezekiel’s vision of the seventy elders of the aged of Israel. He saw them with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, standing in their midst, increasing the guilt, 2Ki 22:10-14. Each of the seventy elders held a censer in his hand, with a thick cloud of incense smoke ascending from them, before the idol figures of the creatures upon the walls, v. 10. These men of unpriestly lineage stood in the holy temple, imposing themselves into the ministry of the priesthood, without excuse, Psa 25:14; Gen 49:6.
Verse 12 inquires of Ezekiel whether or not he had seen, or really comprehended, what the elders of Israel did in secret chambers, Isa 29:15. For they were saying, by their actions, that God was dead, blind, no longer omniscient. And had abandoned the earth. They tried to blame God for their own failures, their evil choices and deeds, their willful breach of His law and their positional trusts, Exo 20:4-5. Israel had degraded their worship by compromise and union with heathen gods, corrupted the moral attitude and behavior of their land, so that God responded by forsaking their land for a time of judgment purging.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here one profanation of the temple, is shown to the Prophet, namely, the idol erected at the entrance of the area near the altar. It may happen that the worship of God is but slightly vitiated, so that the corruption is scarcely apparent. But while the Prophet repeats that the idol was that of jealousy, lie points out the gross and shameful disgrace of that spectacle, so that they could not gloss over their impiety by any pretense, after they had so openly and confessedly revolted from the law of God. But when he is ordered to raise his eyes to the way of the north, this also avails for the confirmation of his teaching. For if the Prophet had turned his eyes that way of his own accord, his looking that way would have been of less moment, but when God directs his eyes by express command, the reproach which afterwards follows has more weight. This, therefore, is the reason why the Prophet did not cast his eyes of his own accord towards the idol, as he might have done, but was admonished by God to do so. Meanwhile it appears with what docility he obeyed God’s commands. He puts these two things together, that he was ordered to raise his eyes, and that he immediately did so We see here that he was so obedient to God’s command, that he did not delay but instantly obeyed it. He says, the idol was near the gate of the altar, which circumstance exaggerates the crime. If the idol had been erected in any remote corner it would have been an intolerable sacrilege, though the modesty of the Jews had been greater: but when they erected the idol before the altar they flew as it were in the very face of God. If an immodest woman runs after an adulterer, her husband is justly enraged; but if she brings him before her husband, and wantons with him before his eyes, and prostitutes herself to all crimes, then certainly such wanton lust cannot be endured. But such was the audacity of the people, that when the idol was erected before the gate of the altar it seemed like wishing to dethrone the Almighty, and to contaminate his altar by the sight of the idol. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. The Abominations of Jerusalem 8:516
TRANSLATION
(5) And he said unto me, Son of man, set, I pray you, your eyes to the way of the north, and behold, north of the altar gate was this image of jealousy in the entrance. (6) And He said unto me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? the great abominations which the house of Israel are doing here that I should go far away from My sanctuary? But You shall yet see greater abominations. (7) And He brought me unto the entrance of the court; and I looked, and behold, a hole in the wall. (8) And He said unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And I dug in the wall, and behold, a door. (9) And He said unto me, Go in, and see the evil abominations which they are doing here. (10) So I went in, and I saw, and behold, every form of creeping thing and detestable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about. (11) And standing before them were seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan was standing in their midst, each man with his tenser in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense was going up. (12) And He said unto me, Son of man, have you seen that which the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each in his chamber of imagery? for they are saying, The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land. (13) And He said unto me, Again you shall see yet greater abominations which they are doing. (14) And He brought me unto the door of the gate of the house of the LORD which was upon the north; and behold, there the women were sitting weeping over Tammuz. (15) And he said unto me, Son of man, do you see this? You shall again see yet greater abominations than these. (16) And He brought me unto the inner court of the house of the LORD, and behold, at the door of the Temple of the LORD between the porch and the altar were about twenty-five men, with their backs towards the Temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.
COMMENTS
1. The image of jealousy (Eze. 8:5-6). Ezekiel was told to look to a place outside the Temple courtyard within the great court and there he saw another image of jealousy. The original image of jealousy mentioned in Eze. 8:3 may have been the graven image of Asherah which King Manasseh had erected (2Ki. 21:7). Such an image was an outrage. Israels God was provoked by all images (Exo. 20:3-5). The presence of the image in the vicinity of the Temple provoked the Lord to jealousy; i.e., the desire to vindicate His own exclusive rights.
This image was associated with popular religion, for it was located outside the north gate of the Temple in the great public court. The old Canaanite paganism was flourishing in Jerusalem though perhaps without official support. The image was probably the Canaanite goddess Asherah. It may be that they were thinking of this goddess as the wife of Yahweh.[210] If so, the image of jealousy would represent a Canaanization of Israelite worship. This debased concept must have dominated the popular mind in Jerusalem although the image had not been officially reinstated in the Temple. Divine interrogation called the prophets attention to men worshiping before the image. Such practices justified, yea compelled, Gods withdrawal from the Temple (Eze. 8:6).
[210] Cf. 1Ki. 15:13; 2Ki. 21:7, In the fifth century Jewish cult at Elephantine in Egypt, Yahweh was represented as having a wife. In most pagan cults the chief deity had a consort.
2. The secret animal cult (Eze. 8:7-13). Ezekiel was now led onward as through successive stages of an inferno of idolatry.[211] He was first escorted through the door of the gate which opened from the inner to the outer court. His court was surrounded by chambers or cells (Jer. 35:4). There he discovered a hole in the outer wall of the Temple (Eze. 8:7). This hole he was told to enlarge until he could crawl through it. Digging is still a metaphor for searching out the truth. Inside the side chambers of the Temple he saw a door which was used by those who were involved in illicit worship (Eze. 8:8). The divine voice commanded Ezekiel to pass through the door so that he might observe firsthand the abominations secretly being practiced by the leaders of the nation (Eze. 8:9).
[211] Plumptre, PC, p. 144.
How shocked Ezekiel must have been when he walked through that door! The religious perversion was worse than he had ever imagined. Upon the walls of that chamber the prophet saw the representation of all manner of creeping things (small animals)[212] and beasts (larger domestic animals). The figures on the walls are said to be detestable either because they were animals declared to be unclean in the Law or because of the use to which they were being put as objects of veneration. It would appear that some of the leaders of Judah had adopted the Egyptian custom of animal worship.[213] Various Egyptian cults made idols of the cat, the crocodile, the hawk, the scarab beetle and other animals. This abomination may have come into Judah during the brief period when King Jehoiakim had been a vassal of Pharaoh Necho (608605 B.C.). At the very time when Ezekiel is said to have had this vision, King Zedekiah in Jerusalem was making political overtures to Egypt. Perhaps this vision is setting forth the idea that some of Judahs leaders were looking to Egypt for spiritual and political support.
[212] Creeping things (Heb., remes) designates all animals in Genesis 9-3, water animals in Psa. 104:25. However, usually the word indicates all creatures which appear to the observer to move close to the ground.
[213] Cooke, (ICC, p. 94) points out that certain aspects of Babylonian religion would fit this description equally well. Ellison (EMM, p. 42) thinks Ezekiel is referring to all the foreign cults, especially from Assyria and Babylonia that had poured into the country in the time of Ahaz and Manasseh, but which had influenced mainly the ruling classes.
Standing before the engraved images were seventy elders of the nation. The figure seventy is probably to be understood in contrast to the twenty-five of Eze. 8:16. Perhaps both figures are to be taken symbolically. Virtually all the elders were involved in this idolatry, whereas a smaller percentage of the priests had taken the final plunge into apostasy in Eze. 8:16. The seventy here are probably not to be understood as any official governing body.[214] Acting as their own priests, these leaders were offering to those pictorial gods the incense which none but the sons of Aaron were to offer and which none but Yahweh was to receive.
[214] From the earliest times Israel had a ruling body of seventy men. See Exo. 24:1; Num. 11:16. In the intertestamental period this body came to be known as the Sanhedrin.
Jaazaniah is singled out for special mention because of the prominence of his family. He was the son of Shaphan, the scribe who played such an influential role in the reform efforts of Josiah (2Ki. 22:10 f.). Jaazaniah[215] must have been the proverbial black sheep of this otherwise godly family.[216] (Eze. 8:11).
[215] Another Jaazaniah, the son of a certain Jeremiah, appears in Jer. 35:3; yet another, the son of Azur, in Eze. 11:1.
[216] Two other sons of Shaphan, Gemariah and Ahikam, apparently were pious Israelites (Jer. 36:10; Jer. 39:14).
In the actions of the seventy elders there is a combination of secrecy and despair.[217] These men were ashamed openly to go back on the covenant made under Josiah, but they had opened their hearts to the idolatries and memories of the past. Obviously they were not successful in hiding their abominations, for Ezekiel five hundred miles away knew what they were doing.
[217] Ellison, EMM p. 43.
Were the images literally upon the walls of the Temple chambers? Probably not. The wall engravings were the outward symbols of the idol worship engraved upon the hearts and lives of the elders.[218]
[218] Blackwood, EPH, p. 74.
The tour of the inner Temple chambers ended with a question and a declaration by the Lord. To underscore the tragedy of this scene the Lord asked the prophet if he had observed that which was taking place in those private chambers. Two additional details are added in Eze. 8:12. The elders were practicing the pagan rites in the darkness. Furthermore, it is pointed out that the pagan rites were being performed individually as well as collectively by the elders, each in his chamber of imagery. Apparently each worshiper had his own private cubicle where the Egyptian rites were performed.[219]
[219] Others interpret each In his chambers of imagery to refer to the imaginations of those concerned; still others, to the homes of the worshipers.
The Lord who knows the hearts of all men revealed to Ezekiel the inner attitudes of those apostate elders. They affirmed (in their heart, if not openly) that the Lord (Yahweh) did not see their actions. By this they meant either (1) that God was not omniscient; or (2) what is more likely, that God was totally disinterested in the affairs of His people. The very name of their leader, Jaazaniah the Lord is listening should have warned them that God heard their blasphemous boasts.
It was also the conviction of these apostate elders that the Lord has forsaken the land of Judah.[220] (Eze. 8:12). To them Yahweh was no more than a local deity who had abdicated. They were free to do as they pleased without fear. They saw in the tragedies which so recently had befallen the land abundant proof that God had abandoned His people. Why continue to worship a God who would not care for His people? Such is the logic of the carnal mind. Sorrows should not cause a man to question whether God has forsaken him, but rather whether he has forsaken God.
[220] Here is the first of a series of popular half proverbs thirteen all told which are cited in Ezekiel. See Eze. 11:3; Eze. 12:22; Eze. 18:2; Eze. 18:19; Eze. 33:10; Eze. 37:11.
The first phase of Ezekiels sight-seeing tour of the Jerusalem Temple ended with the assurance that other abominations were yet to be observed (Eze. 8:13).
3. The Tammuz cult (Eze. 8:14-15). The prophet was next conducted into the inner court in front of the northern gate of the Temple. There he observed a group of women weeping for Tammuz (Eze. 8:14). This is the only reference to this ancient Babylonian cult in Palestine. Whereas the name Tammuz may have been a new importation, the cult itself was ancient in Palestine. Tammuz (or Dumuzi) was the son and/or lover of Ishtar, He was a vegetation god who was thought to die and go to the nether world each year in the fall, only to make his return to the land of the living in the spring. As the vegetation withered and rivers dried up, the annual death of Tammuz was lamented with public dirges. Women joined Ishtar in mourning a dead lover in the intense drought of summer. The fourth month of the Hebrew calendar still bears the name Tammuz. Ezekiels vision, it will be recalled, dates to mid August when Palestine is parched by the summer sun. Tammuz worship survived into the Middle Ages and vestiges of it can still be observed among the Yezidis of Kurdistan.[221]
[221] Fisch, SBB, p. 44.
Tammuz worship involved sexual rites promoting the fertility of fields and herds. The worst immoralities were associated with the worship of this god. Fertility cult theology was diametrically opposed to the Mosaic and prophetic concept of God. The God of the Bible controlled nature. He was quite independent of a heavenly consort and of stimulation by the sexual activity of His people. Yahweh was the eternally self-existing One who was absolutely holy and who demanded holiness as a condition of those who would approach Him.
Women seem to have led out in religious exercises in this period of Bible history.[222] Women were the most conservative element in Oriental religious life. If the women of the nation had fallen into the cesspool of filthy idolatry and false theology, could there be any hope for the nation? As terrible as it was to find the women of Judah participating openly in such perverse practice, the prophet was still to observe greater abominations (Eze. 8:15).
[222] According to 2Ki. 23:7 women wove hangings for Canaanite female deity Asherah. Jeremiah conducted a lively debate with some apostate female worshipers in the land of Egypt (Jer. 44:9; Jer. 44:15-19),
4. The worship of the sun (Eze. 8:16). In the final phase of his Temple tour Ezekiel was brought again into the inner court. This time, however, he was brought from the northern gate to the eastern side of the Temple between the porch and the sacrificial altar, This was a sacred area to which only the priests had access. There Ezekiel discovered twenty-five men facing the rising sun and worshiping before it. Facing eastward, their back would be toward the Temple of the Lord.[223] This was not merely the debasing of Yahweh worship by linking it with pagan ritual. This was the outright rejection of Yahweh and the enthronement of the Babylonian god Shamash, the sun god.[224] By their actions these men were proclaiming that the gods of Babylon had defeated Yahweh. That created object which should have reflected the glory of God was actually detracting from His glory.
[223] Normally priests prayed facing the Temple.
[224] Moses had warned against this worship (Deu. 4:19). Josiah had attempted to eliminate it from the land (2Ki. 23:4-5).
It is reasonable to assume that those participating in this sun worship were priests and/or Levites. In Eze. 9:6 they are called elders so they must have held senior standing. Ezekiel estimated that about twenty-five were participating in the sunrise service, If there is any significance in this number it may be as follows twenty-four of the men may represent the twenty-four priestly courses (1Ch. 24:4-19) with the high priest at their head.[225] The thrust of the passage would be that apostasy prevailed in the ranks of the priesthood as well as among the tribal leaders and women.
[225] Feinberg, PE, p. 52
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) The way toward the north.This shows that Ezekiel in his vision was within the court of the priests, as otherwise he could not have looked toward the north to see the idol in the north gate. He had already seen this; but now his attention is directed to it particularly. It was not enough that he should see it; it was to be especially pointed out as a part of the reason for the Divine judgments. The expression, Gate of the altar, may find an additional explanation in the fact mentioned in 2Ki. 16:14, that Ahaz removed the altar towards the north, and thus would have placed it very near this gate.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
EZEKIEL SEES IN VISION THE WICKEDNESS OF THE CITY, AND HEARS THE SENTENCE OF JEHOVAH UPON IT, Eze 8:5-18.
5. Lift up thine eyes toward the north “The northern entrance was the most frequented, partly because the royal palace and buildings lay to the south and east, and the west was inclosed by the buildings of the temple itself.” Davidson. It was the north gate which Ezekiel had entered (Eze 8:3) and he is now commanded to pause and look back to the gate through which he had just come and once more consider the heinousness of the abomination of placing within the sacred precincts that which Jehovah had expressly forbidden (Exo 20:2).
The gate of the altar This probably was a technical name for the northern gate. The altar was within the next court, but from this gate the view would perhaps be unimpeded. The law provided that the sacrifices should be slain on the north side of the altar (Lev 1:5; Lev 1:11), and probably it was through this gate that the victims were brought into the temple. (See Temple Plan, p. 209.)
In the entry It was in the most prominent place and in full view. There was an “entry” connected with each court (Jer 38:14).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way towards the north.” So I lifted up my eyes the way towards the north, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry. And he said to me, “Son of man. Do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other abominations.” ’
As Ezekiel gazed at the splendour of Yahweh, God turned his attention to the false idol just outside the northern gate. Let him consider it well, for this was one reason why He was deserting His Temple. If it was an Asherah image, mother goddess and reproductive wife of Baal, it would be the cause of sacred prostitution within the Temple surrounds, and of subsequent sacrifices and offerings, to rouse the reproductive powers of nature.
‘Do you see what they do?’ This may refer simply to the placing and replacing of the idol after every reform, or it may refer to the activities of its devotees taking place in full view. ‘Abominations’ is a word regularly applied to idols and idol worship. It included the greatest of all abominations, the demand for the sacrifice of their children to Molech and to Baal in the valley of Hinnom (Jer 7:31; Jer 19:5; Jer 32:35).
‘That I should go far off from my sanctuary?’ Their behaviour was what was driving Him away. God wanted Ezekiel to be aware of why He was about to act as He would. We too can turn God away by the disgracefulness of our behaviour in terms of His demands.
‘But you will again see yet other abominations.’ There was not just one but many abominations. Compare Eze 8:13; Eze 8:15.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Various Abominations
v. 5. Then said He unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north, v. 6. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? v. 7. And He brought me to the door of the court, v. 8. Then said He unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall, v. 9. And He said unto me, Go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here, v. 10. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, v. 11. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, v. 12. Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, v. 13. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
v. 14. Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north, v. 15. Then said He unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? v. 16. And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, v. 17. Then He said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? v. 18. Therefore will I also deal in fury; Mine eye shall not spare,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
It should seem by what is said in those verses, that the Lord meant his servant the Prophet should be enabled by such facts brought before his eyes, to tell the elders that sat before him, in what justice the Lord’s punishments on Israel were founded. How tender, but yet cutting is the Lord’s expostulation. Son of man seest thou what they do. Was it not enough to make the Lord depart, when such dunghill gods were set up against him; but yet, as if these provocations were not enough, the Lord will show Ezekiel greater, or as it might be rendered, more of the like abominations. Reader! let us not in Israel’s history, overlook our own. What are the chambers of imagery in our hearts, is the question? Lord! I would say with one of old, cleanse thou me from my secret faults. Psa 19:12 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 8:5 Then 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.
Ver. 5. The way toward the north. ] Where was the greatest concourse of idolaters.
At the gate of the altar.
This image of jealousy in the entry.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 8:5-6
5Then He said to me, Son of man, raise your eyes now toward the north. So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this idol of jealousy at the entrance. 6And He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.
Eze 8:6 great abominations This term (BDB 1072) is used in this literary unit in Eze 8:6 (twice),9,13,15,17 and Eze 9:4; Eze 11:18; Eze 11:21. See Special Topic: Abomination .
NASBthat I would be far from My sanctuary
NKJVto make Me go far away from My sanctuary
NRSVto drive Me far from My sanctuary
TEVdrawing me farther and farther away from my holy place
NJBto drive Me out of my sanctuary
The VERBAL (BDB 934, KB 1221, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) expresses the reason for YHWH’s departure (cf. Eze 11:22-23) from the temple, which He promised never to leave (cf. 2Sa 7:13; 2Sa 7:16, but Jeremiah saw this as future, cf. Jer 33:17; Jer 33:21).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Eze 8:5-6
Eze 8:5-6
“Then 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 of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entrance. And he said unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But thou shalt see yet again other abominations.”
THE IMAGE OF JEALOUSY
“The image of jealousy in the entrance …” (Eze 8:5). There are almost as many guesses as to the identity of this idol as there are authors discussing it; but we should not overlook the fact that the identity of the idol is immaterial. Any idol, made contrary to the Mosaic Law was offensive to God; and the placement of such an abomination within the sacred precincts of the Temple itself was an outrageous desecration.
The guess as to the idol’s identity which is most popular among the writers we have consulted is that it was an idol with an altar to the Ashera, Ashteroth, Astarte, or some other female fertility goddess of the ancient Canaanites. The worship of such idols was vile, licentious, depraved and disgusting.
“That I should go far off from my sanctuary …” (Eze 8:6). A better rendition of this was given by Eichrodt. “They are committing great abominations here to drive me from my sanctuary.” God’s removing his presence from the Jewish Temple is the principal theme of Ezekiel 8-11. Here the reason for that removal is clearly tied to the abominations practiced there by the apostate children of Israel.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Son of man
The combined purport of the four visions of profanation in Ezekiel 8, is idolatry set up in the entire temple, even in the holy of holies Eze 8:10; Eze 8:11 women given over to phallic cults Eze 8:14 and nature-worship Exo 8:16.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
lift: Jer 3:2, Zec 5:5-11
at the: Eze 8:3, Psa 48:2
Reciprocal: Lev 1:11 – he shall Deu 29:20 – his jealousy 2Ch 36:14 – polluted Jer 7:30 – they Jer 23:11 – in Jer 32:34 – General Eze 5:11 – thou hast Eze 9:6 – and begin Eze 23:38 – they have Eze 40:45 – whose
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 8:5. The idolatry of ancient times consisted of three principal forms, and all objects of false worship were under one or more of the three. One was the worship of manmade idols, another was the worship of invisible or imaginary beings, and the third was that of things in creation. The first were made of metals, wood and stone; the second consisted of such as Baal, Ashtoreth, Tamrauz, etc., and the third included animals, rivers, living trees, and planets (host of heaven). Our present chapter exhibits the three forms, and this and the preceding two verses include the first form.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
8:5 Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up thy eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the {h} altar this image of jealousy in the entrance.
(h) That is, in the court where the people had made an altar to Baal.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
At the Lord’s command, Ezekiel looked north from where he was in his vision and saw the idol that provoked the Lord to jealousy north of the north entrance into the inner court of the temple near the bronze altar of burnt offerings. Many expositors believe that this may have been an image of Asherah because King Manasseh had erected such an idol and then destroyed it (2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:7; 2Ch 33:15), and King Josiah had destroyed a later rebuilt version of it (2Ki 23:6). The people could have raised it up again after Josiah’s death. Any idol provoked the Lord to jealousy because He is the only true God (cf. Exo 20:1-4; Deu 4:23-24). God is jealous in the sense that He does not want people to pursue idols because idols divert people from the true God and destroy them eventually (cf. Deu 4:16; Deu 32:16; 1Ki 14:22; Psa 78:58).