DAY 9: 31-Days Journey in Faith through the Book of Ezekiel

Ezekiel's Vision of Idolatry in the Temple:

Ezekiel 8:1-18:

Ezekiel has a second vision. He is taken by God ‘in the Spirit’ to Jerusalem and is shown the idolatry being practised in the LORD’s Temple.

“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 (NKJV).

"So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” 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" Ezekiel 8:7-10 (NKJV).

"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” Ezekiel 8:16 (NKJV)

Ezekiel 9-11: As a result of this idolatry, God’s glory – the ‘Shekinah’ or dazzling light of the LORD’s presence above the Ark of the Covenant in the Tent of Meeting (see Exodus 24:16 and 25:22) – leaves the Temple in Jerusalem and moves to "the mountain on the east side of the city.” "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. So the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city " Ezekiel 11:19-23 (NKJV).

Ezekiel's conception of the final triumph of the Israelite people over all of their enemies and the complete destruction of foreign nations contributed much toward the development of the religious doctrines that played such prominent roles in the religion of post-exilic Judaism. The idea that the whole human race is divided into two classes, known as the righteous and the wicked, and that the righteous can be identified as the ones who live in strict conformity with all of Yahweh's laws, while the wicked are those who do not obey these laws, is derived from Ezekiel's teachings. Although this position was not accepted by all of the post-exilic Jews (some parts of the Old Testament were written for the specific purpose of refuting it), nevertheless this doctrine appealed to a large number of people and served to characterize in a general way the attitude of late Judaism.

Ezekiel's plans for rebuilding the Temple and reorganizing the state were carried out to a considerable extent when the exiles returned to their own land. The high priest, rather than a king, assumed the greatest responsibility in political and religious affairs. The use of servants and foreign slaves to do menial tasks in the Temple was discontinued; only those people who belonged to the tribe of Levi were permitted to enter the Temple for this purpose. In earlier times, the entire tribe was regarded as having been set apart for the priesthood, but now only a select group within this tribe was allowed to officiate in the Temple's services.