Ezekiel 8:1-9:11
Good morning, we are
turning another corner in the book of Ezekiel.
First, Ezekiel had a vision of God.
Then, he was given certain sign acts to perform in front of the people. After that, he was given messages to relay to
the exiles most likely telling or speaking these things though he will also
write them down.
In our passage today
beginning with chapter 8, we start another vision journey that Ezekiel
experienced. It will continue in the
next two weeks and through the end of chapter 11.
Tim noted that following
“the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” in chapter 1, Ezekiel
was faced with a terrifying realization: “The glory of God is appearing to him
in Babylon.” From that revelation,
several questions emerge:
What is the shekinah glory doing in this pagan land, when
Ezekiel had always associated it with the Holy of Holies in the temple in
Jerusalem? Ezekiel probably had some vague sense of the omnipresence of God. …
But this specific expression of God’s presence would be very upsetting. Did it
mean that the glory had left the temple? What was God up to? Ezekiel was no
doubt hoping against hope that someday he would be able to return to Jerusalem
and some “new normal” in terms of his life as a priest. Would God even be there
when he got back? Ezekiel was having to face the fact that there would be no
going back; his world was changing forever.
Beginning today and over
the next couple of weeks, we will get more perspective and understanding of the
departure of the divine glory from the thoroughly corrupted temple in Jerusalem
as well as answers about “what God is up to.”
Let us take a moment and
pray, and we will start with Ezekiel chapter 8.
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. Ezekiel 8:1
This is the second of 13
specific dates mentioned in Ezekiel. My
study bible said it works out to September 17, 592 BC if you are interested in
that level of detail. In chapter 1,
Ezekiel had also given a specific date as part of the introduction of his
vision of the Lord then. It is more than
a year from that first vision and calling.
It may be easily
overlooked, but this gathering indicates that the exiles in Babylon had freedom
of movement, assembly, and even worship, at least to some extent. This is not trivial in light of oppression
that we have seen at other places and times in Scripture as well as in many
places in the world even today. God has
provided the exiled Jews with something special at this moment. God is our provider.
The elders who had been
exiled are together with Ezekiel. I take
some comfort here that the elders were there to listen to Ezekiel. Some if not all of these elders are a part of
that remnant that will be saved.
“The hand of the Lord” coming
on Ezekiel is an expression he uses several times to describe his overpowering
experiences of divine revelation.
I
looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his
waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as
glowing metal. 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. And there before me was
the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain. Ezekiel
8:2-4
Although the description
here of a man is similar to the appearance of God in chapter 1, this person is
an angel. We similar descriptions of
angels in Daniel as well as the New Testament like the angel at the tomb in
Matthew 28.
As you remember from the previous
messages, Ezekiel had been given sign acts and words of judgment against
Jerusalem and Israel. Now, he is
transported to the city to see for himself the reasons behind the judgments. In Jerusalem, he also sees the appearance of
the Lord.
About 30 years earlier,
during the reign of Josiah, II Kings tells that there had been an idol to
Asherah in the temple. Thankfully,
Josiah took action. “[The king] took the
Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem
and burned it there.” (II Kings 23:6) Based on all the other things we will
hear about today; more than one idol has been placed in the temple courts since
Josiah’s reign.
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. 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."
Ezekiel 8:5-6
As we noted last week, the
people of Israel are continuously breaking the first two of the Ten
Commandments. They are worshiping other
gods and they have idols in the temple courts and even the temple itself. Their utterly detestable acts are separating
the Israelites from God.
I do not often associate
jealously with God because jealousy has a negative connotation. We do not think of the possibility of
righteous jealousy. And yet, we know
that God is holy and perfect. Deuteronomy
32:4 says plainly, “He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are
just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.”
It is equally true that “the
LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus 34:14) God’s jealousy
comes up directly in relationship to the worship of false gods. God’s people are in what is similar to a
marriage relationship. It is a spiritual
relationship, not a physical one. But
scripture is clear that worshiping other gods has parallels to adultery. Think of how one spouse would feel betrayed
when the other spouse goes outside the bounds of marriage to a relationship
with someone else. It would be
devastating. It would evoke a strong
sense of jealousy. That kind of jealousy
is not wrong.
Paul also mentions his own
jealousy in this context. He tells the Corinthians,
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to
Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him.” (II Corinthians 11:2) The church is the bride
of Christ. We should seek to live in a
right relationship to God, pure and devoted, as spouses should relate to one
another.
Then
He brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the
wall. He said to me, "Son of man, now dig into the wall." So I dug
into the wall and saw a doorway there. And He said to me, "Go in and see
the wicked and detestable things they are doing here." 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. 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. 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.' " Again, He said, "You will
see them doing things that are even more detestable." Ezekiel 8:7-13
The Israelites had
multiple pantheons of idolatrous images to draw from, and they did. There were Canaanite gods, the Ammonite god
Molech, the Moabite god Chemosh, Aramean gods (I Kings 20 talks of their
military strategy in relation to the Israelite “gods,” and God delivered the
Israelites because of the incorrect Aramean view of the God of Israel.), the
Phoenician god Ashtoreth, the many Egyptian gods (theologians have shown how
the ten plagues were each a demonstration of God’s power in areas that the Egyptian
gods were said to have control), Assyrian gods, Babylonian gods including
Tammuz mentioned later in chapter 8.
There are examples of Israel worshiping all these and more throughout
their existence as a nation. No wonder
God, their Provider, their Rock, their Deliverer was jealous.
I tried to find a picture
of it, but I was not successful. I had
the opportunity to go to the Louvre Museum in Paris several years ago. There were many amazing things to see there
with connections to biblical times. In
relationship to this passage in Ezekiel, I remember going into a rather small
and low ceiling room. In it, there was
case after case of idols, shelves of them.
There was a sense of spiritual darkness in that room and almost a
palpable sense of grief. Some of those
gods had no doubt been worshiped by the people of Israel, God’s chosen people.
Even the leaders of Israel
had their own shrines where they betrayed the Lord. Ironically, the name Jaazaniah means “the
Lord hears,” but they said the Lord does not see or hear.
God asks Ezekiel,
confirming, “Have you seen?” That is the
title of our message. It is God’s intent
in bringing Ezekiel there. Take note,
Ezekiel. This is important. This is why the judgments will come, but
there is still more.
This attitude that God
does not see is a dismissal of God. This
attitude is prevalent in our time but far from new. Friedrich Nietsche the nihilistic philosopher
famously wrote, “God is dead, and we have killed him,” in 1882. Of course, it is not true, but certainly
people have carried this out in their minds, cutting themselves off from God.
At the same time the
Israelite leaders worshiped false gods in the darkness, they disguised themselves
with morality in public. It is not
surprising but Nietsche did not seem to know or did not make a distinction
between false morality based on legalism and appearances, and godly morality
based on the desire to “be holy as God is holy.” But he did write something about the false
morality that is quite striking.
Initially, he drew a parallel between clothing and morality, that false
morality could be used as a kind of covering, saying that someone might try to
disguise himself with morality “because he has become a sick, sickly, maimed
animal which has good reasons for being ‘tame’; because he is almost a
monstrosity, something half, weak, awkward…”
This application of false morality would be an attempt to dress
themselves up to try fool others that they are “something nobler, grander,
goodlier, something ‘divine.’”
It sounds awful,
right? But, I don’t think it is far from
the mark about these elders. Apart from
Christ, that is where we all must stand.
Without Jesus we are something half, or less. Without Jesus, we are dead. Without the Lord guiding us, it is impossible
to stay on the right path. If we, the
church, are God’s body on earth, what is God’s desire for what should be going
on in our minds and our hearts?
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. He said to me, "Do you
see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than
this." Ezekiel 8:14-15
Tammuz was a Babylonian
fertility god who in their mythology spent 6 months each year in the underworld
and 6 months heaven. His “death” was an
annual observance of midsummer as vegetation began to wilt and die in the
extreme summer heat of the Middle East.
This was detestable that
they worshiped and mourned this cyclical dying god when they should have only
worshiped the eternal everlasting God. Genesis
21:33 says, “Abraham … called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.” Isaiah
40:28 is familiar, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the
everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired
or weary.”
What about Jesus? He died.
Yes, but Jesus died once for all and was raised. (Romans 6:9-10) “He
cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” Jesus conquered death.
Worshiping Tammuz in the
temple courts was like mocking God.
Heartbreaking.
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. 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! 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." Ezekiel 8:16-18
The temple faced
east. In order to worship the sun as it
rose from the temple court, you would have to turn your back to it. Worshiping the sun was forbidden, God had
told Israel, “when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the
stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and
worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.”
(Deuteronomy 4:19)
“Putting the branch to
one’s nose” is not clearly understood among commentators. Obviously, it was something that was clearly
understood by Ezekiel and the people of his day. Based on the usage, they must have seen it as
contemptable because there is no further explanation. Some scholars say it was a ceremonial act of prohibited
nature worship. One writer pointed out
that the Hebrew word for nose is also synonym for anger. Like flaring your nostrils and blowing out your
nose. Putting the branch to their noses
could also be synonymous with thumbing your nose or making light of God’s
righteous anger.
Last week, I mentioned the
point of no return. Here in verse 18, we
see that spelled out. Even if they yell
in God’s ear, He will not turn back. As
they refused to listen to Him again and again, now God will not listen to them.
Then
I heard him call out in a loud voice, "Bring near those who are appointed
to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand." And I
saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north,
each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who
had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now
the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had
been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the LORD called to the man
clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, "Go
throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who
grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.
These men are angels. The normal resting place for God’s glory was
above the Ark of the Covenant. The lid
of the ark had two cherubim figures or statues with wings touching. The glory of God goes from this place now to
the threshold of the temple. It is
moving away from its resting place and out of the temple.
The instruction to mark
the foreheads is to put a tav on their foreheads. Tav is the last letter in the Hebrew
alphabet. In Ezekiel’s time, tav looked
like our letter x. In earlier times, tav
was a cross. God’s mark.
The response of the people
determined who got the mark. Do things
which are contrary to God’s ways grieve you?
The passage does not give any detail of any action they took. The people who were grieved by detestable
things were identified as belonging to God.
God then sends the other
six carrying weapons to execute his judgment on the city, old and young, men,
women, and children. He tells them to “begin
at My sanctuary,” and so the judgment begins with those in God’s house, the
temple. I Peter 4:17 speaks similarly, “For
it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with
us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
But God will spare those
who belong to Him, those who have His mark.
Ezekiel then laments,
While
they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out,
"Alas, Sovereign LORD! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of
Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?" He answered me,
"The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land
is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, 'The LORD has
forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.' So I will not look on them with pity
or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have
done." Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back
word, saying, "I have done as you commanded." Ezekiel 9:8-11
We know from earlier
passages that God has promised to preserve a remnant and to preserve Israel which
we have seen fulfilled in a dramatic way even in our time. God does not answer Ezekiel fully here. He will give an answer about the remnant in
chapter 11. Here, the emphasis is on
God’s judgment for the clear disobedience against, rebellion from, and
rejection of the Almighty God. And yet,
the man in linen has come back to report that he had done as commanded, he had
marked those who were grieved by the detestable things that were being done.
It is interesting that the
people had rejected God, but their blame shift was God had forsaken them. It is also important to note that the worship
of false gods is clearly linked to rampant social injustice. In the expression that He would bring down on
them what they had done, there is the idea of repayment. It is like Romans 6:23. The wages or payment
of sin is death.
That brings us to the end
of our passage. I have just a few more
thoughts in application. In preparation
for this message, I came across an editorial by Andree Seu Peterson. She wrote that wherever we might be, “Jesus'
question clots the air: ‘When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on
earth?’ (Luke 18:8). It is certain that He will find religion, but will He find
the childlike simplicity of trust?”
I mentioned the “God is
dead” ideology which still seems to continue in the west, but in the world, it
is essential to hold religion in view or you simply cannot understand the
majority of conflict occurring today.
But religion is not what Jesus is seeking. We enter into a relationship with him through
faith. Jude 1:20 gives us a good hint on
building faith. In short, it is to spend
time with God in prayer. “But you, dear
friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the
Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”
Let us conclude
there. “Draw near to God, and he will
draw near to you.” (James 4:8)
Lord God, we look to
You. We need You. Apart from You, we would be overwhelmed. God help us to be lights to a dark and dying
world. Keep us sensitive to the hurts we
see around us. May we be those who are
grieved and show compassion. Help us to
love one another like You love us. We
pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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