Ezekiel Chapter 7-8 Lecture

Introduction

In 2 Kings 23, we find Josiah, the reformer has completely driven out the pagan activities of Israel. However, it is the following kings’ rebellion to God that un-did all of Josiah’s reforms—leading the nation into the state we currently find it in Ezekiel’s book. It looks more like the reign of Manasseh than the times of Josiah.

The presence of idolatry and Yahweh’s war against the gods cannot be ignored here. It’s what makes everything sensible. The reality is, for Israel, Yahweh is not trusted over the other gods of the land. Yahweh has not earned their faith and his jealousy is being provoked.

Explanation of the Passage

Ezekiel 7:2: A Message to the Land of Israel

The content we are going to discuss in this lecture requires a destination and designation. The prophecies that Ezekiel gives are geocentric. It is important that we identify such practices as before in this chapter, because the following verse may be used in other ways, otherwise.

The end is a common reference and prophecy given by the prophets of the Old Testament. The word end means the point in time at which something ends. It is not the end of time, but the point in time in which something ends.

Amos 8:1-2 directly illustrates what the end is and who it is for. Likewise, we should refer back to the first part of verse 2’s designation of the land of Israel and realize that this end is for them.

Unlike Amos, who’s end is focused on the people, Ezekiel focuses the end on the land. The contrast between God’s wrath falling on the people and God’s wrath falling on the land is one to be recognized. When God says He wants to bring an end to the land, it is stating that the land will not hold the significance it once held. However, the end of the land means the end of the people, and therefore the end of the world.

The end that Ezekiel gives here is local; it is not universal or global. The term land is a territory that is understood as a separate geographical entity over which control may be exercised by one or more political entities. The mention of the earth should not be disconnected from the reference to land earlier. But, why does he use the word earth? He used the earth, because the land of Israel covers the entire nation of Israel—both Judah and Israel.

Ezekiel 7:3-4: Imminent Destruction

The reference to the you refers to imminent destruction. It is not a chance that this destruction would be prolonged. Rather, it was coming upon those who are receiving the prophecy. These verses refer to the land’s ways, detestable practices, and detestable practices. However, the land does not perform these things on their own. Rather, there’s a people group within these lands that are causing the land to be detestable. The behavior of a people always determines the destiny of a geographic location.

The interesting thing about this text is that God destroys geographic locations because of the behavior of its inhabitants. The things that are found here are comparable to what we find in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah and the days of Noah. When God made an end of those territories, the “world” did not end. Rather, their world ended. The intent is to put an end to the land which leads to such offensive behavior.

Ezekiel 7:5-19: The Coming Disaster

There’s a link between the end, disasters, and an appointed day. The appointed day is a theme that has been used by other prophets and will be used in the New Testament. We should understand that the day of the Lord is a reference to the judgment that will come in the form of literal catastrophes as mentioned in Deuteronomy 28.

In vs. 5, a disaster is referring to an event that leads to loss and misfortune. Vs.6 reminds us of John the Baptist and Jesus’s repentance preaching. Jesus and John the Baptist have used the strategy of the Old Testament prophets who spoke to an imminent coming and hand of God’s wrath, which would change the entire landscape of the the territory once occupied as the Promised Land. Vs. 7 speaks of doom, which speaks on the destiny of Israel’s land. It is doomed! There’s an unpleasant experience awaiting Israel. Here it is quite explicit that the inhabitants will be the recipients of this doom. That is, the inhabitants are held responsible for their actions and state of the land they possess.

Vs. 12-13 speaks of the social institutions and their struggle due to the things experienced through God’s wrath.

Ezekiel 8:1-4: Ezekiel’s Visit to Jerusalem

Ezekiel has this vision in what would be for us, September 18, 592 B.C. Vs. 1 indicates that the housing setting was a living quarters for more than one family. During this time, king Jehoiachin and the official leaders were already exiled. Therefore, there would have been “elders” left to lead the tribes according to each clan. However, the text nor does any historical explanation demonstrate whether these elders lived with Ezekiel or whether they were just visiting. It should be noted, however, that the elders knew Ezekiel and the fact that he was the Lord’s prophet is not a question.

Vs. 2 takes us back to the vision Ezekiel had in Ezekiel 1:26-28.

In vs. 3 the figure in verse 2, reaches out and takes Ezekiel, in the spirit, from Babylon to Jerusalem. This vision shows the peculiarity of Ezekiel who almost solely, amongst other prophets, have these sort of visions where he is “taken by the spirit”, to include a sort of transportation.

The statue that the Israelites were a means of distraction. These distractions should cause us to reflect on the idols we have in private. They are not obvious, they are behind closed quarters.

The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 1. Preamble to the First Temple Vision (8:1–4)

When Ezekiel arrives, two sights seize his attention. The first is a semel, “statue,” located at the gate entrance. Its significance may be determined by referring to the only two other occurrences of the word in the OT. In Deut. 4:16 the phrase pesel tĕmûnat kol-sāmel, “the sculptured form of any semel,” refers to physical images of deity that detract from the Israelites’ required exclusive devotion to Yahweh.

The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 1. Preamble to the First Temple Vision (8:1–4)

This image is further described as the outrageous statue of jealousy (haqqinʾâ hammaqneh, lit. “the jealousy that provokes jealousy”), an emphatic reference to the passion that the object ignites in Yahweh’s heart.

The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 1. Preamble to the First Temple Vision (8:1–4)

It is overtly idolatrous and poses a direct challenge to Yahweh, who is enthroned above the cherubim inside the temple.

The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 1. Preamble to the First Temple Vision (8:1–4)

Furthermore, this temple is his residence exclusively; to introduce other deities constitutes a violation of sacred space.

Ezekiel 8:5-18: God Takes Ezekiel on a Tour

Stage 1: The Altar Gate (vs. 5-6)

In the following verses, God takes Ezekiel on a tour to see the abomination of Israel in the temple of Jerusalem. This is the behavior that has made God so angry with “the land.” It is what has been done in the land that has led God to such judgment.

No matter how bad the current view is, what is to be seen next is most disturbing.

What picture would the prophet get of your life if the Lord took Him on a tour?

Vs. 5 shows that there’s seemingly a progression of detestable behavior, which worsens the further you go into the temple.

In vs. 6, the things seen has made God leave His own home. This is God’s way of telling Israel, “Though I built the house, I will not share it. You choose!”

Stage 2: The Court (vs. 7-13)

There’s a dark room where evil things were occuring.

The reference to Israel is replaced to the behavior of the 70 elders—Jerusalem only remaining leaders.

Jaazaniah, a member of Jerusalem’s leading family was a ring leader in the idolatrous acts. The highest seats of government has been corrupted.

Idolatry on the walls as found in Canaanite religious practices.

Stage 3: Entrance of the North Gate- The Weeping Women (vs. 14-15)

Tammuz, the Babylonian vegetation god dies at the onset of the dry season and must be brought back to life to inaugurate the rain. The mourning rituals of the women would bring aid Ishtar, the goddess who was to descend into the underworld to resurrect him.

The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 c. Scene III: The Women Weeping the Tammuz (8:14-15)

Tammuz (Dumu-zi) was an antediluvian shepherd king who ruled Bad-tibira for 36,000 years. The name reappears in the list, identifying a postdiluvian king of Uruk (predecessor to Gilgamesh), who is said to have reigned for one century.

Old Testament 8:1-11:25: Transported to Jerusalem in a Vision

The Mesopotamian ritual that formed part of his worship begged the gods to restore Tammuz and the land’s fertility. It included a series of laments (based on those initiated in the epic story by his wife Inanna and his mother and sister). The women who performed these laments would wail and shed tears (a symbolic gesture of the need for rain). The fact that Ezekiel describes women performing this ritual before the gates of the temple in Jerusalem may reflect either the adoption of this fertility god as a substitute for Yahweh or wailing for Yahweh as a dying and rising fertility god using Tammuz lamentation liturgy. This adds a Mesopotamian heresy to the Canaanite- and Egyptian-style heresies in the two previous scenes

Stage 4: The Inner Court (vs. 16-18)

The sun god would have been Shemesh/ Shamash. Shamash was the Babylonian god of law and justice. Israel would turn their back on the temple towards the east where the sun rises. During this time in September, the sun would rise just and beam into the temple causing Israel to worship Shemesh over Yahweh.

Old Testament 8:1-11:25: Transported to Jerusalem in a Vision

Evidence of official sun worship in ancient Israel seems to be tied primarily to the reign of Manasseh. The horses and chariots of the sun that he set up were destroyed by Josiah when he attempted to cleanse the temple complex of foreign religious influence (see comment on 2 Kings 23:11). Place names such as Beth Shemesh, Ein Shemesh and Mount Heres (Josh 15:7; Judg 1:35) also attest to the popularity of sun worship. Perhaps it is not coincidental that the chapter is dated to the time of the autumn equinox when the sun would be at the angle to shine directly into the temple at sunrise. While Egypt, Canaan and Mesopotamia all had sun gods (Amun-Re, Shemesh and Shamash respectively), it is more likely that this is syncretistic worship of Yahweh as a sun god. This would complete the series of scenes that portrayed Canaanite worship (v. 5), Egyptian worship (v. 10–11), Mesopotamian worship (v. 14) and syncretistic worship of Yahweh (v.16).

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge Embracing Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology and Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Biography from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Volume I–XII 4. Solar Deities Shamash

The powers attributed to Shamash in his two principal seats of Sippar and Larsa were such as belonged to the kindly god of light,—powers of healing and revelation, as well as of protection by detection and punishment of crime. He was given as consort Nin-A, a Sumerian deity originally male, who under Semitic misunderstanding was made to change his sex. Another explanation, less probable, is that the change of sex is a sign of subordination of the Sumerian to the Semitic god.

Vs. 17- …even putting the branch to their nose is a reference to the Israelites attempt to send perfumed incense as given to a pagan god to Yahweh. It is the act of using pagan practices for the worship of Yahweh. Therefore, it is not simply the actions towards other gods, but the conformity of worship altogether that is offensive.