Ezekiel 8:3

Ezekiel 8:3-6 . And he put forth the form of a hand — He appeared so to do. This, and all that follows, to the end of Ezekiel 8:16 , was done in vision only, as appears from the expression here used: and brought me in the visions of God, &c. — In a similar manner, it was represented to the Prophet Elisha’s mind, ( 2 Kings 5:26 ,) what Gehazi was doing when he took the presents from Naaman, which the prophet there calls being present with Gehazi. To Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate — To the entrance that goes into the inner court, called the court of the priests, where the altar of burnt-offerings stood; where was the seat of the image of jealousy — “An image set up within the precincts of the temple, to provoke God to jealousy, by setting up a rival against him in the place dedicated to his own worship.” This was most probably an image of Baal, for that, we find, was the idol they chiefly worshipped. As it was exceedingly provoking to God to set up another object of worship besides him; so it was still more so to do this in the place which had been built for, and was dedicated to, his worship only. To speak in the figurative sense in which God is spoken of, with regard to the Jewish nation, namely, as being a husband to it, it was just the same as if the adulterer were brought into the house of the husband whom he had injured, in his very sight; therefore it is very properly called here, the image of jealousy, or that exciteth jealousy.

That I should go far off from my sanctuary — Which are provocations sufficient to cause me to forsake my sanctuary, and deliver it up to be profaned by the heathen, Ezekiel 7:21-22 . This is significantly represented by the departing of the divine glory from the threshold of the temple, Ezekiel 10:18 .

(3) Took me by a lock of mine head. —Not, of course, literally, in the body, but in vision. Ezekiel did not actually leave Chaldæa at all, as is shown by Ezekiel 11:24 . The door of the inner gate.—This is one of the gates which led from the court of the people to the court of the priests which was on a higher level. In the account of the building of the temple there is no mention of gates leading from the one to the other, but they would naturally have been placed there, as we know they were in the later temple of Herod. The particular gate was the one “which looketh toward the north,” as the one by which the priests went directly to the great altar. The image of jealousy is explained in the following clause, “which provoketh to jealousy.” It is not necessary to consider “jealousy” as a proper name—the name of any particular heathen divinity—but rather as a descriptive name, an image which aroused the Divine indignation. It has even been thought that it is not meant to indicate any particular idol, but is only a picture to set forth the prevailing idolatry. It is, however, altogether probable that at this time there actually were heathen idols set up in the temple, and nothing could give a more vivid picture of the corruption of priests and people alike than the mention of their presence. Idolatry had been growing more general and more bold from the time of Solomon.

He built places of worship for the various idols of his wives “in the hill that is before Jerusalem” (1Kings 11:7); but Ahaz, under the influence of the Assyrian king, had placed an idolatrous altar in the temple itself, removing the brazen altar to make room (2Kings 16:10-16), and Manasseh afterwards did the same (2Kings 21:4). All the subsequent kings of Judah, except Josiah, were wicked men, and although this particular sin is not distinctly recorded of Zedekiah, yet it seems altogether likely that he too made use of the temple for idolatrous worship, and that Ezekiel in vision now saw his idols standing in the court.

Verse 3. - The form of an hand (comp. Ezekiel 2:9 ; Daniel 5:5 ). For the mode of transit, see Bel and the Dragon, ver. 36. as probably a direct imitation. The touch of the "hand" was followed by the action of the Spirit, in visions which he knew to be more than dreams, visions that came from God (comp. Ezekiel 1:1 ; Ezekiel 40:2 ). The word is not the same as that commonly used by Daniel ( chazon ), and often by Ezekiel himself ( Ezekiel 7:13 ; Ezekiel 12:22, 23 , et al. ), but mareh , which implies a more direct act of intuition. The word appears again in Ezekiel 11:24 ; Ezekiel 43:3 , and in Daniel 8:26, 27 , et al. To the door of the gate, etc. From the first we trace the priest's familiarity with the structure of the temple. He is brought, as it were, after his journey in the spirit, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looketh towards the north (Revised Version). This is identified in ver. 5 with the "gate of the altar." It may probably also be identified with the "upper gate" of Ezekiel 9:2 ; the "high gate" of Jeremiah 20:2 ; the "higher gate" of 2 Kings 15:35 , built by Jotham; the "new gate" of Jeremiah 36:10 . Obviously it was one of the most conspicuous portions of the temple, where the people gathered in large numbers. And here the prophet sees what he calls the image of jealousy .

The words that follow probably give his explanation of the strange phrase, not found elsewhere, though it might naturally be suggested by Deuteronomy 32:16, 21 ; Psalm 78:58 . What this image was we can only conjecture. The word for "image" is a rare one, and is found only here and in Deuteronomy 4:16 ; 2 Chronicles 33:7, 15 . It may have been the Asherah (the "grove" of the Authorized Version), or conical stone, such as Manasseh had made and placed, with an altar dedicated to it, in the house of the Lord ( 2 Kings 21:3 ; 2 Chronicles 33:3 ), or one of Baal, or of Ashtaroth, or even of Tammuz (see ver. 14). As the word "grove" does not occur in Ezekiel, it may be sufficient to state that the Ashera was a pillar symbolical either of a goddess of the same name, or, as some think, of the Phoenician Astarte. The worship seems to have first become popular under Jezebel ( 1 Kings 18:19 ), and took deep root both in Israel and Judah. The cultus, as in 2 Kings 23:7 , seems to have been connected with the foulest licence, like that of the Babylonian Mylitta (Herod., 1:199; Baruch 6:43). The work of Josiah had clearly had but a temporary success, and the people had gone back to the confluent polytheism of the reign of Manasseh. In such a state of things the worst was possible. For recent discussions on the Ashera , see Kuenen. 'Relig. Isr.' (Eng. transl.), 1:88; Schrader; Robertson Smith, 'Relig. of Semites,' p. 172; and T.K. Cheyne, in the Academy of December 14, 1889. Ezekiel 8:3

3 . He does not even say that it was the divine hand that carried him; spirit carried him, the form of the divine hand was merely symbolical. the visions of God ] i.e. shewn him by God, ch. Ezekiel 1:1 . door of the inner gate ] Rather: door of the gate of the inner court looking toward the north, i.e. the northern gate of the inner court. The word “inner” is wanting in LXX. The general opinion has been that the prophet was set down in the inner court, at the inner door of the northern gateway into that court. The term “door,” however, seems in usage to mean the outside entrance; and if the prophet had stood in the inner court he would have had to look northward through the gateway in order to see the image of jealousy, which was certainly not in the inner court. It is more natural to suppose him set down in the outer court, in front of the gateway leading into the inner court. In front of this gateway, in the outer court, stood the image of jealousy, near the entrance. Having seen this the prophet is next brought into the gateway ( Ezekiel 8:7 ), where he enters the chamber of imagery, some one of the cells in the gateway building. From there he is carried outside the sacred enclosure altogether to the north door of the outer court ( Ezekiel 8:14 ), where he finds the women bewailing Tammuz. And finally he is transported into the inner court where he beholds the sun-worship practised in front of the temple-house itself.

Previous to this he had not been in the inner court, for when being shewn the idolatries he is always taken to the precise place where they are practised. image of jealousy ] Not an image of “jealousy” itself, considered as a deity, but an image which because it provoked to jealousy was named image of jealousy. The “jealousy” of God is a violent emotion or resentment arising from the feeling of being injured ( Deuteronomy 32:21 ). It is uncertain what this image was. The word occurs again, Deuteronomy 4:16 , in the sense of similitude or “figure,” and in Phenician with the meaning of “statue,” e.g. in an inscription from Idalion ( Corp. Ins. Sem ., vol. i. 88, 3, 7, &c.). According to 2 Kings 21:7 Manasseh put a graven image of Ashera in the house of the Lord, which Josiah brought out and burnt ( 2 Kings 23:6 ; 2 Chronicles 33:7 ; 2 Chronicles 33:15 ). In earlier times the Ashera (A.V. grove) was a tree or pole planted beside an altar. It is not quite certain whether the pole or stock was a substitute for the evergreen tree, when this could not be had, or whether like the sun-image it was the symbol of a goddess. In later times the term seems used as the name of a goddess. The expression “in the house of the Lord” is hardly to be pressed so far as to imply that Manasseh placed the Ashera in the temple proper, “house” is used of the whole temple buildings, including the courts.

And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the {d} visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner {e} gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of {f} jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. (d) Meaning that he was thus carried in spirit, and not in body. (e) Which was the porch or the court where the people assembled. (f) So called, because it provoked God's indignation, which was the idol of Baal.

In the visions of God - Ezekiel was not transported "in the body," but rapt "in spirit," while he still sat amidst the elders of Judah. The inner gate - Or, the gate of the inner court. This gate, leading from the outer to the inner court (the court of the priests), is called Ezekiel 8:5 "the gate of the altar," because it was from this side that the priests approached the brass altar. The prophet is on the "outside" of this gate, so that the "image of jealousy" was set up in the outer or people's court over against the northern entrance to the priest's court. This image was the image of a false god provoking Yahweh to "jealousy" Deuteronomy 32:16, Deuteronomy 32:21; 1 Kings 14:22. It may be doubted whether the scenes described in this chapter are intended to represent what actually occurred. They may be ideal pictures to indicate the idolatrous corruption of priests and people. And this is in accordance with the symbolic character of the number "four;" the four idolatries representing the idolatries in all the four quarters of the world. The false gods of pagandom are brought into the temple in order that they may be detected and exposed by being brought face to face with the God of revelation. Still history proves that the ideal picture was supported by actual facts which had occurred and were occurring.

He put forth a hand; Christ. This was acted visionally, not corporally or actually, and so all that is here spoken of to the end of the 16th verse. The spirit; which indeed is the hand which took him by the head, gently, but with mighty strength. Lifted me up; very probably in the sight of the elders who were with him. Between the earth and the heaven; he seemed to fly as a swift bird through the air. Brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem; carried me to see Jerusalem, where in visions strange and glorious I beheld what was done there. This was no delusion, but a revelation from heaven; though all was done in an ecstasy, yet he was fully assured of every particular he saw done in the temple, whither he was carried in his spirit, not body, by the hand or Spirit of Christ. To the door of the inner gate; to the door of the gate of the inner court, or court of the priests, 2 Chronicles 4:9 . The temple courts had four gates towards the four quarters of the world, and this was the north gate, which opened into the great court, where Ahaz had set up his Damascene altar, 2 Kings 16:11 , and where the idols were set up too. The image, Baal, which Manasseh had set up, 2 Kings 21:7 , and Josiah had destroyed, and succeeding kings had again set up. Of jealousy; because it was so notorious an affront to God, who had married Israel to himself, that above all other it provoked him to anger against this people.