CONDITION OF THE TEMPLE Having spoken to the mountains of Israel, proclaiming the desolation of the temple, the destruction of the cities, and the fall of the people under the sword, the famine, and the scattering; confirming that the end is near; He begins, after about a year from the previous prophecies and visions, to introduce a new series of messages (Chapters 8 to 11); in which God calls His people to repent, before the coming of these desolation. In this chapter, the prophet Ezekiel finds himself in the Spirit in the city of Jerusalem, and the Lord proclaims to him the condition of the Temple, to clarify that the cup of evil is full; and there is no possibility of postponing the chastisement. He spoke of: 1- The image of jealousy 1-4. 2- The fall of the elders of the house of Israel into idolatry 5-12. 3- Women weeping for Tammuz 13-15. 4- Worshipping the sun in the outer court 16-18. 1- THE IMAGE OF JEALOUSY After 14 months of his call (Ez 1:12), the Spirit carried him in a vision, to discover by himself what became of the Temple. He was sitting in his house by the River of Chebar, with the elders of Judah; probably following the end of the 390 days during which he lied on his left side, and prophesied about the sins of Israel. And before he starts lying for 40 days on his right side, to prophesy about the iniquity of Judah; He says: “The hand of the Lord God fell upon me... and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire (man LXX) - 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” (Ez 8:1, 2). He was granted to behold the appearance of “the incarnate Word of God,” that is the “likeness of the appearance of Man;” He saw Him as fire from His waist downward; and full of splendor from His waist upward. It is as though, carrying the prophet to the Temple, to reveal to him the extent of abominations reached by worshippers, on all levels. The Lord, anticipating that the prophet may break down or may fall into despair, presented him with this vision, to ensure him that the incarnate Word of God, will surely act; being the Fire that consumes every evil and abomination. Filled with glory and splendor, He will bring His people into His eternal glories. If the Temple has been defiled, yet the Lord of the Temple will come to grant purification and inner enlightenment to believers. “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” (Ez 8:3). The Spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven; It was not possible for him while sitting with the elders of Judah in captivity, to behold what was going on inside the Temple; nor while confined in the body (the earth), to behold the secrets of worshippers and their inner intentions. The Lord set him forth to what is beyond the bodily limits (the earthly limits). At the same time, he is not in heaven, as he did not enter into the perfection of its glory. By that He probably intended to say what the apostle Paul expressed about himself: “I know a man in Christ... whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows - such a one was caught up to the third 5 heaven” (2 Cor 12:2). The Spirit brought him to the entrance of the temple to see the seat of “the image of jealousy which provokes to jealousy.” By the ‘seat’ he probably means the caved-in arches, in the houses and temples of the people of the east, in which they used to place the images of their gods. As to the image of jealousy, it probably means the image of ‘Asherah,’ the mother goddess of the Canaanites, that was put by Manasseh (2 Kings 21:7); and removed by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:6); although some believe it to be the image of ‘Tammuz,’ with which we shall deal in this chapter. It may also refer to any idolatrous image that may provoke the jealousy of God or His zeal for His glory; saying: “You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exod 20:5). That is probably why the glory of God appeared to Ezekiel, according to the vision that he previously saw; as though God intended to proclaim His glory, to ruin the vainglory of idolatrous worship. The image here, is a symbol of the jealousy of God; as it is said, “I the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exod 20:5). This divine jealousy is not an emotional reaction like that of man, that destroys the heart; but it is a jealousy whose goal is to bring us back to God, to accept Him as our heavenly Groom. Such jealousy, He grants to His children and ministers, to say together with the apostle:“ For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2). 2- THE FALL OF THE ELDERS OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL IN IDOLATRY Beholding that image, the depths of Ezekiel were troubled, and became filled with bitterness; then he heard the divine admonishment: “Son of Adam, 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?” (Ez 8:6). What an amazing divine admonition; when the Holy Father sees how His children do their best to drive Him away. He brought them to the Promised Land, and prepared for them a place in the heavenly places; and here they are, rejecting Him and driving Him away, even from His sanctuary! That is what we do when we proclaim our rejection of His fatherhood, by accepting that of the devil, and bringing his works and abominations even into our hearts - the holy temple of God! In order to show him greater abominations, God led Ezekiel to the door of the court. There the prophet saw a hole in the wall. By a divine command he dug into the wall, and there was a door, through which he entered, to see 70 men of the elders of the house of Judah, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan offering incense before every sort of creeping abominable beasts, in the dark; saying: “The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land” (Ez 8:12). Accusing God of forsaking the land, they resort to worship creeping abominable beasts; when they are actually driving the Lord away from His temple. Shaphan was probably that famous scribe who helped King Josiah in his reforms before 30 years (2 Kings 22:3-10; Jer 26:24; 29:3; 36:10-12; 39:14). That good man unfortunately begot the corrupt Jaazaniah who now shares with the 70 elders in that great abomination. This is a portrait of someone who, after beginning his life, dedicating his heart to God, ends it, dedicating it to evil, sharing with the others their corruption. The 70 elders remind us of the 70 elders who helped the prophet Moses to lead the children of Israel, according to the divine command by the Spirit of God; but here the devil is using 6 the leaders to corrupt the life of God’s people. How dangerous it is for the spiritual leadership to deviate from its mission; and instead of keeping the divine commandment, they get down to earthly things, crawl like creeping creatures, and preoccupy themselves with carnal lusts. Why should I speak of the good man who begets a corrupt son, and of the diverted elders of Israel; when this is what sometimes happen in the inner life of man; when man - by a divine command - digs a hole in the wall set inside him; to be brought by the Holy Spirit to his inner depths, to discover a Jaazaniah within himself; namely the ‘will.’ Instead of embracing the holy and living ‘will of Christ,’ working on the account of the kingdom of heaven; he embraced an evil will, that gets down to the worship of earthliness, and to the bondage of body lusts. The 70 elders are the inner energies, that instead of lifting man up to the heavenliness, they get him down to what is unfitting. The secret of that degradation is their saying: “The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land;” a feeling of isolation from God. “He does not see us” Putting the blame on Him, they say: “He has forsaken the land.” On the contrary, the source of strength in the life of believers, is feeling the company of God who sees us and never forsakes us, even in the moments of our wickedness. He does not forsake our land, because he is keen on continuously renewing it, to make of it His sanctuary. 3- WOMEN WEEPING FOR TAMMUZ Were the women weeping for the image of Tammuz because King Josiah threw it out; or they were partaking of the women of the Gentiles in weeping for it as a sort of worship? ‘Tammuz’ is most probably the god Sumerian Dumuzi, claimed to have fallen dead after wrestling with a huge ox. Or according to others, with a great dragon; and his sister, the goddess Inanna Ishtar descended to the lower world to restore her brother to life. Some believe that the Babylonian Tammuz is himself the Syrian god Adonis, that was centered in Gebal or Bablos, 12 miles north of Beirut. Celebrating his death and mourning for him, the Chaldeans offer human sacrifices, and perform sexual practices as a part of worship. The Jewish women used to share with those worshippers by weeping for him; then celebrating the restoration of life to him. The god Tammuz was mentioned in (Daniel 11:37) , and (Zechariah 12:1). It was a great shock to the feelings of the prophet, to see the women weeping for the calamity of an idol inside the house of the Lord, instead of weeping for their own sins. If the elders fell into offering incense to creeping animals and unclean beasts; those women fell into taking part in worshipping Tammuz. While the elders symbolize the fall of human soul and its diversion toward material and carnal lusts, the women symbolize the flesh that collapses because of evil. 4- WORSHIPPING THE SUN IN THE OUTER COURT What is more serious than the fall of the elders and the women, are the fall of the priests themselves. The prophet Ezekiel saw 25 men standing between the porch and the altar; with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; they were worshipping the sun. Those 25 men were probably the high priest and the 24 priests, the heads of the 24 Jewish priestly regiments. The weakness did not stop at the people, men and women, but extended to the priests; who instead of acting their role as intercessors for the people before God, they gave Him their backs; thus becoming a wall blocking the way to know God and to encounter with Him. The foremost spiritual 7 leadership, have been diverted! That was then, what aroused the wrath of God against the Jews. Instead of worshipping the living God, they set the image of jealousy; the people together with the priests on the highest levels have been diverted; both the spirit and the body were corrupted. That is why He said: “The land was filled with violence;” And instead of repentance, “They have returned to provoke Me. Indeed they put the branch to their nose” (Ez 8:17). Some believe that putting the branch to the nose, was a custom in the east, where the priests used to hold branches in their hands before their faces and close to their noses; While others believe that to be a common saying, that referred to provoking others. 8 AN INSPIRATION FROM THE BOOK OF E ZEKIEL 8 THE SANCTUARY OF YOUR TEMPLE IS WITHIN ME When I behold what Your people did, I get terrified. They presumed that You do not see them, care for them, nor for the whole land. So they resorted to worshipping creeping creatures and unclean beasts. How lowly are our thoughts! How great is our denial! The elders have forsaken You and worshipped animals. The women wept for the image of the god Tammuz inside Your temple, Instead of weeping for themselves! The priests gave you the back instead of the face. They became worshippers of the sun; disregarding that You are its Creator! Instead of praying for the people, they became the cause of curse! My soul is embittered! Who are the elders, but my mind and my depths... I became utterly corrupted! Who are the women, but the emotions of my body, and its feelings that became defiled! Who are the priests, but the spirit of leadership that deviated within me! Sanctify Your sanctuary, O the Holy One! Sanctify my mind, my thoughts, my emotions, and my feelings! Sanctify the gifts You granted me, O my Savior! Sanctify my whole being; I am your temple!
Welcome