3 And He putteth forth a form of a hand, and taketh me by a lock of my head, and lift me up doth a spirit between the earth and the heavens, and it bringeth me in to Jerusalem in visions of God, unto the opening of the inner gate that is facing the north, where `is' the seat of the figure of jealousy that is making jealous,
4 and lo, there the honour of the God of Israel, as the appearance that I saw in the valley.
5 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes the way of the north.' And I lift up mine eyes the way of the north, and lo, on the north of the gate of the altar this figure of jealousy, at the entrance.
6 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, art thou seeing what they are doing? the great abominations that the house of Israel are doing here, to keep far off from My sanctuary; and again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations.'
7 And He bringeth me in unto an opening of the court, and I look, and lo, a hole in the wall;
8 and He saith unto me, `Son of man, dig, I pray thee, through the wall;' and I dig through the wall, and lo, an opening.
9 And He saith to me, `Go in, and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.'
10 And I go in, and look, and lo, every form of creeping thing, and detestable beast -- and all the Idols of the house of Israel -- graved on the wall, all round about,
11 and seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel -- and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst -- are standing before them, and each his censer in his hand, and the abundance of the cloud of perfume is going up.
12 And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man, that which elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each in the inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, Jehovah is not seeing us, Jehovah hath forsaken the land?'
13 And He saith unto me, `Again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations that they are doing.'
14 And He bringeth me in unto the opening of the gate of the house of Jehovah that `is' at the north, and lo, there the women are sitting weeping for Tammuz.
15 And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man? again thou dost turn, thou dost see greater abominations than these.'
16 And He bringeth me in unto the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and lo, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, about twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces eastward, and they are bowing themselves eastward to the sun.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 8
Commentary on Ezekiel 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
God, having given the prophet a clear foresight of the people's miseries that were hastening on, here gives him a clear insight into the people's wickedness, by which God was provoked to bring these miseries upon them, that he might justify God in all his judgments, might the more particularly reprove the sins of the people, and with the more satisfaction foretel their ruin. Here God, in vision, brings him to Jerusalem, to show him the sins that were committed there, though God had begun to contend with them (v. 1-4), and there he sees,
Eze 8:1-6
Ezekiel was now in Babylon; but the messages of wrath he had delivered in the foregoing chapters related to Jerusalem, for in the peace or trouble thereof the captives looked upon themselves to have peace or trouble, and therefore here he has a vision of what was done at Jerusalem, and this vision is continued to the close of the 11th chapter.
Eze 8:7-12
We have here a further discovery of the abominations that were committed at Jerusalem, and within the confines of the temple, too. Now observe,
Eze 8:13-18
Here we have,