| A Jealous God
The vision Ezekiel had of God and the inner court gives us the reason God brought such a severe judgment upon Israel. God is a jealous God, and He will not share the hearts of His people with idols (8:1-12). Jealousy is often seen as something negative: a sin rather than a virtue. It therefore seems impossible that God could ever act in response to that jealousy. However, the truth of the matter is jealousy, like so many of our God-given emotions, can be an expression of sin or of righteousness. Consider love. It can be for good or bad. It can be for God and humanity or for self-made idols and sin. Hate and anger can be directed toward what destroys the object of God's love and will, or it can be directed toward God, His people, and His will. This principle is true about everything that God has given. It can be used for good or for evil. So it is with jealousy. God's jealousy is rooted in His perfections and His love for His people. It is only because He loves us so much that He has made us the object of His limitless love. When we set up idols in the inner sanctuary of our heart that He has made for Himself, it pollutes our inner being with the most wicked of all sins: spiritual adultery (14:2-3). When this is our choice, as God's people, as His bride, God has every right to remove and destroy the source of this violation of our hearts that were first and foremost created for Him. We are the object of His love, created for the purpose of love. The first and greatest commandment is what it is for a reason. We are to love God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul for a reason. Israel had turned the blessings God had given them into their gods. The wealth, the land, and even the Temple of God had become things that replaced God as the object of their love. This became true in regard to their families, their gifts, their talents, and their sexuality as they worshiped the gods and goddesses of fertility. In response to Israel's spiritual adultery, God removed His presence from the Temple and His protection and blessing for Israel. They will reap the consequences of worshiping lesser gods. God will give them over to their idols. Then they will be forced to see how little these lesser gods can do, and how powerless and unworthy they are as the supreme object of their love. Their corpses will be lain before the idols that brought only destruction (6:4-6). The wealth they put their faith in will be of no value to them (7:19). The beauty they had will appear as trash (7:19-20). When we put ourselves, anyone, or anything else in the place reserved for God we will be forced to face how weak and foolish it is to try and serve two masters. It's a strange paradox that we all struggle with. When God owns our heart, He freely will give us all other things. When we give our heart to these "things" rather than God, they will prove to not hold any real value. They can never be or do what is reserved for God alone to do. To this day, God's people have shown this to still be true. God's jealous heart will deal with us as His bride. He will not sit back. He will act that we will know who our hearts were made for (7:4, 24). | |
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Ezekiel 7:1-8:18  Judgment on Israel Is Near 1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 "And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: 'An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end has come upon you, 4 My eye will not spare you, 5 "Thus says the Lord GOD: 6 An end has come, 7 Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land; 8 Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury, 9 'My eye will not spare, 10 'Behold, the day! 11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; 12 The time has come, 13 For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, 14 'They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, 15 The sword is outside, 16 'Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains 17 Every hand will be feeble, 18 They will also be girded with sackcloth; 19 'They will throw their silver into the streets, 20 'As for the beauty of his ornaments, 21 I will give it as plunder 22 I will turn My face from them, 23 'Make a chain, 24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles, 25 Destruction comes; 26 Disaster will come upon disaster, 27 'The king will mourn, 1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire—from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the color of amber. 3 He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain. 5 Then He said to me, "Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north." So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance. 6 Furthermore He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations." 7 So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then He said to me, "Son of man, dig into the wall"; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. 9 And He said to me, "Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there." 10 So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12 Then He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.'" 13 And He said to me, "Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing." 14 So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then He said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these." 16 So He brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house; and there, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 And He said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them." | |
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| Ezekiel 7:1-8:18 v. 2 land of Israel – The soil of Israel. Soil/land creates a parallel image with the mountains of chapter 6 linking the two sermons. This one is concerned with the specifics of the judgment and is more lyrical in its form. v. 3 I will judge you according to your ways and I will repay you for all of your abominations – This formula is first found in Deuteronomy 18:1 and is a warning repeated throughout Israel's history. It is found 41 times in Ezekiel. v. 4 My eye will not spare you, Nor will I have pity; But I will repay your ways – This phrase is used six times in Ezekiel (5:11). God will repay the abominations and will utterly eliminate everyone associated with them. v. 5 Behold, it has come! – Ezekiel is not giving new information but announcing the fulfillment of warnings and prophecies that have repeatedly been given to Israel but were unheeded. He wants them to understand the cause and effect relationship. v 10 The rod has blossomed, Pride has budded – Again the cause and effect relationship is seen using the image of a tree producing its natural fruit. v. 11 Nor shall there be wailing for them – The destruction will be so complete there will be no none left to mourn the dead. v. 13 the seller shall not return to what has been sold – Verses 12-13 refer to the property laws in Israel (Lev. 25:26-27). Land that has been sold will not be able to be redeemed because everyone will be dead. v. 14 They have blown the trumpet – The call to battle will not be heeded as everyone will be dead or decimated by famine and pestilence. v. 16 All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity – Those who survive will connect their sufferings as judgment for their sin v. 19 They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse – Riches will be worthless and unable to deliver them. Their desire for and their security in riches are their stumbling block of iniquity. v. 20 But they made from it the images of their abominations – God has set up a beautiful system of Temple worship and approach to God but these people had used the riches, ornaments and the Temple itself for idol worship and abominations. v. 22 For robbers shall enter it and defile it – All of the Temple wealth was looted and carried off to Babylon. v. 26 they will seek a vision from a prophet – There will be no divine revelation and no wise counsel. This judgment was also given by Jeremiah during this time (Jer. 18:18). Ezekiel 8v. 1 in the sixth year – The date equates to September of 592 BC, about a year after his first vision. The elders of Israel are there and God speaks to them through Ezekiel. v. 2 there was a likeness – The same image description as in 1:27. God has no form and is Spirit. He appears here to speak to Ezekiel and the prophet can only describe what he sees by saying "likeness" or "appearance." v. 3 in visions of God to Jerusalem – Ezekiel was still physically seated with the elders but he is given a vision of the reality of what is going on in the spiritual life of God's people. seat of the image of jealousy – Unlike other idolatry in chapters 5-6, this idolatry is not on a pagan site on a hill or under trees, but is actually present in the nation's worship of God. The specifics of the image are not described because the main focus is God's outrage and jealousy at the presence of another object of worship in their "worship" of God. v. 4 like the vision that I saw in the plain – The presence of God appears as in 1:28. v. 6 to make Me go far away from My sanctuary – God will not share His glory or abide the worship of anything alongside Him (Is. 42:8). Any idolatry causes God to depart. v. 7 a hole in the wall – Probably the inner court of the Temple. The digging uncovers what is hidden by man but seen by God. v. 9 Go in, and see – God leads Ezekiel to where He already knows the sin is, and exposes it. v. 10 all the idols of the house of Israel – Though this was the Temple of God, there is literal idolatry, and hidden idolatry in the hearts of the elders, priests, and people which God is exposing. v. 11 a censer in his hand – A censer burns incense and is the symbol of prayer and worship (v. 12). v. 12 The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land – God exposes the hearts of the people. They believe God has forsaken them will not see their sin. Instead of remaining faithful and obedient, they take His withdrawal as an opportunity for greater abominations (v. 13). God is not unfaithful or unseeing; He has withdrawn because of their sin, and will now judge it. v. 14 women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz – Tammuz was a god of a Mesopotamian fertility cult. The cyclical death and resurrection of Tammuz celebrated the fertility cycle, and its worshipers would celebrate a "sacred marriage" to Tammuz involving ritual prostitution. The weeping women are practicing this at the gate of the temple. v. 16 faces toward the east…worshiping the sun – Another ancient cult of idolatry, also being practiced between the porch and the altar, a space reserved for priests. Psalm 26:6-7 and Joel 2:17 give examples of what the priests were supposed to do here. v. 18 My eye will not spare nor will I have pity – The repeated announcement of the unyielding judgment of God against this sin (5;11, 7:4, 9). | |
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| He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. –Ezekiel 8:3 We understand, Lord, that there are consequences when we chose to love other things more than we love You. We understand, Jesus, that we were made to worship You, made for Your pleasure, to be Your bride. And we also understand that, just as a husband would not share his wife, that You will not share us with the things of this world. Forgive us, Lord, where we put other things in the place that should be for You alone. Reveal those things to us, God, by Your Spirit, and remove them. | |
8:3 He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy.
