Ezekiel 8:16

8:13-18 The yearly lamenting for Tammuz was attended with infamous practices; and the worshippers of the sun here described, are supposed to have been priests. The Lord appeals to the prophet concerning the heinousness of the crime; and lo, they put the branch to their nose, denoting some custom used by idolaters in honour of the idols they served. The more we examine human nature and our own hearts, the more abominations we shall discover; and the longer the believer searches himself, the more he will humble himself before God, and the more will he value the fountain open for sin, and seek to wash therein.

And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house,.... The court of the priests, where they offered sacrifice, and into which none might come but themselves: and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar; the porch that led into the temple, and the brasen altar, the altar of burnt offerings, which was a very sacred place, and reckoned more holy than the court of the priests (g). were about five and twenty men; the number, more or less, not being exactly known; who they were, whether the priests or princes of the people, is not certain; probably some of both: with their backs towards the temple of the Lord; that is, the most holy place, which they were obliged to, in order to do what is afterwards affirmed of them; for the sanctuary was built to the west, that in their worship the Jews might not look to the east, as the Gentiles did; wherefore these men, that they might imitate the Gentiles in their idolatry, turned their backs to the most holy place; which is an aggravation of their impiety; casting the utmost contempt on God, his worship, and the place of it: and their faces towards the east: when the sun rises: and they worshipped the sun towards the east; as many nations did, though forbidden the Jews by an express law of God, Deuteronomy 4:19; yet this they fell into, and had horses and chariots devoted to this idolatry; see 2 Kings 21:3.

The word rendered "worshipped" is compounded of two words; one signifying to "corrupt", the other to "worship": showing that, by worshipping the sun, they corrupted themselves, and the house of God; and so the Targum renders it, "and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping in the east the sun;'' and so it is explained in the Jerusalem Talmud, "they corrupted the temple, and worshipped the sun;'' but Kimchi thinks the word (h) consists of the verb in the past tense, and of the participle; and that the sense is, when the prophet saw the men worshipping the sun to the east, as amazed at it, put this question to those that went in, "do ye worship also?" (i) so Ben Melech. (g) Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 7. fol. 184. 4. (h) (i) Vid. Hottinger. Smegma Orientale, l. 3. par. 1. c. 24. p. 154. who rather is of opinion that the word is compounded of the participle and the particle or the pronoun

(16) Between the porch and the altar. —Ezekiel now returns to the court of the priests, and there sees—not about, but as it were (referring to the nature of the vision)—“twenty-five men.” These are probably the high priest and the heads of the twenty-four courses, representing the whole body of the priests, as the elders represented the whole body of the people. They were standing between the altar and the Temple, therefore in the most sacred part of the court, and there, turning their backs upon the Temple of the Lord, worshipped the sun. The adoration of the sun, probably the earliest form of false religion, was the especial worship of Persia, but had been long since practised by the kings and people of Judah ( 2Kings 23:5 ; 2Kings 23:11 ). Thus all classes of the nation are seen to be involved in common sin; and the priests particularly, the especial guardians of true religion, are found practising this sin under circumstances of peculiar insult to God. That the “chief priests” did pollute the sanctuary at this time is expressly asserted in the history at 2Chronicles 36:14 .

Verse 16. - He brought me into the inner court. The last and the worst form of desecration follows. It was the "inner court" ( Joel 2:17 ) which, after the exile, was entered only by the priests. During the monarchy, however, it seems to have been accessible to kings and other persons of importance, as in the case of Solomon ( 1 Kings 8:22, 64 ; 1 Kings 9:25 ) in the revolution against Athaliah ( 2 Kings 11:4-15 ), and Hezekiah ( 2 Kings 19:14 ), and Josiah ( 2 Kings 23:2 ). Ezekiel does not say that the men whom he saw were priests, though the number twenty-five suggests that they were taking the place of the high priest and the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood ( 1 Chronicles 24:4-19 ), and so symbolized the whole order of the priesthood as the seventy elders represented the laity. In 2 Chronicles 36:14 the chief of the priests is spoken of as having been prominent in "polluting the house of the Lord." They were seen turning their backs to the temple of Jehovah, i.e. the sanctuary. The very act was symbolical of their apostasy ( 2 Chronicles 29:6 ; Isaiah 1:4 ; Jeremiah 7:24 ). And they did this in order that they might look to the east and worship the rising sun. That, and not the temple ( Daniel 6:10 ), was the Kiblah of their adoration. The sun worship here appears to have had a Persian character, as being offered to the sun itself, and not to Baal, as a solar god.

16 . The sun-worshippers in the inner court 16 . about five and twenty ] LXX., about twenty. These men were seen adoring the sun with their faces to the east, and their backs to the temple house. Their position between the temple and the altar seems to imply that they were priests ( Joel 2:17 ), and it is not decisive against this view that they are called “elders” in ch. Ezekiel 9:6 , for Jeremiah 19:1 refers to “the elders of the priests.” They may be supposed representatives of the priesthood. worshipped the sun ] The worship of the sun, the queen of heaven, and the host of heaven, was adopted by Israel from their eastern conquerors: cf. 2 Kings 23:5 ; 2 Kings 23:11 ; Jeremiah 44:17 ; Job 31:26 ; Deuteronomy 4:19 . (The Heb. is to be read mishtaḥavim.)

And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

The inner court - The court of the priests. About five and twenty men - Rather, as it were five etc. This was the number of the heads of the 24 courses (shifts) with the high priest presiding over them. These then were the representatives of the priests, as the seventy were of the people. In the temple the seat of the Divine Majesty was at the west, perhaps appointed for this very purpose, to guard against the idolatrous adoration of the rising sun. Therefore the idolatrous priests must in worshipping the false sun-god turn their backs upon the True. The worship of the heavenly bodies was one of the earliest forms of idolatry Job 31:26-27 and was expressly forbidden in the Law Deuteronomy 17:3. In its earliest form, it was conducted without the intervention of images, the adoration being addressed to the heavenly bodies themselves: this form, continued among the Persians, seems to have been introduced afresh into Jerusalem at the time of Ezekiel. Compare, also, 2 Kings 23:11-12. The images (compare Ezekiel 6:4, Ezekiel 6:6) were probably columns set up in honor of the sun, not images in human form. This simpler mode of sunworship was soon changed. The sun, or the god supposed to preside over it, was represented as a person, whose image was set up and adored.

The inner court; the inmost, that which was next to the temple, called here the Lord’s house. At the door of the temple: before he saw abominations in the gates of the courts, now he is come to the very house itself. The porch; that stately, large porch, beautified with the high, curious, and mighty brass pillars, Jachin and Boaz, of which see 1 Kings 6:3 7:15,21 . The altar; the brazen altar for burnt-offerings, which was placed in the court before the front of the temple, and is here represented in its proper place, 2 Kings 16:14 . This is not contradictory to Ezekiel 8:5 , which speaks of the place where Ahaz had wickedly placed the altar, but this, Ezekiel 8:16 , speaks of the same altar, as supposing it to be where it ought, as God commanded it should be, and Solomon placed it, 2 Chronicles 8:12 . About five and twenty; an indefinite and undetermined number. Five and twenty men; either some principal men, or else some priests. If these, the greater sin in them to turn idolaters; if the other, the idolatry committed by them in a place they should not have entered appears presumptuous and greatly wicked. With their backs toward the temple; in contempt of God, with an open and designed abrenunciation of God and his worship.

Worshipped the sun: though God had prohibited this, Deu 17:3 , with Deu 4:17-19 ; yet, in imitation of’ the Chaldees, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and the Eastern idolaters, these Jews turn their back on God, who created the sun, and worship the creature in contempt of the Creator.