Read Judges 19, Ezekiel 8, and Acts 25.
In Scripture, God spoke to men in various ways. When God spoke to someone in a dream, that person was asleep. When God spoke to someone in a vision, that person was wide awake already and, often, with other people at the time of the vision. The man having the vision sees and hears things as if they are really happening, but they are all happening inside his mind. The other people around him see and hear nothing, but they realize that the one seeing the vision is not really “with” them anymore.
Today’s passage, Ezekiel 8, records a vision that Ezekiel had–one of many he had during his life. In this vision, we are told that Ezekiel is at home and is hosting “the elders of Judah” (v. 1). Although scripture doesn’t say this exactly, it is reasonable to assume that these men, Judah’s elders, came to see Ezekiel because they were seeking answers from God.
During their conversation, God suddenly grabbed Ezekiel’s attention and consciousness. Verse 1c says, “…the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there.” What Ezekiel saw was someone who looked like a man but was emitting a bright light that Ezekiel compared to fire and burning metal (v. 2). Ezekiel wrote that this man–whom he recognized as an angel grabbed him “by the hair of my head” and “took me to Jerusalem” (v. 3b).
Remember that Ezekiel had been taken to Babylon as part of the group of Jews who were exiled there, as we read in Ezekiel 1:1. Jerusalem was something like 900 miles away on ancient roads, so–again–this was all happening in his mind. God did not actually fly Ezekiel there like some ancient Superman. But his vision was as real to him as it would have been if it had actually happened.
What Ezekiel saw in Jerusalem was four distinct scenes of idolatry:
- First, in verses 3-6 he saw an idol that had been set up in an inner court of Solomon’s temple. This was a public, direct rejection of the true God who had been replaced by a false god’s image.
- Second, in verses 7-13, Ezekiel’s vision showed him 70 elders of Israel worshipping unclean animals and idols in secret. We know they were doing this in secret because Ezekiel had to dig through a wall in the temple to see them, according to verse 7.
- Third, in verses 14-15, God showed Ezekiel a group of women worshipping the god Tammuz. Verse 14 says that these women were “mourning” Tammuz.
- Finally, in verses 16: 25, Ezekiel saw men worshipping the sun in the east.
Let’s focus on verses 7-13 for this devotional. In those verses, Ezekiel was still having a vision of the temple in Jerusalem because verse 7 says that the Holy Spirit took Ezekiel to “the entrance to the court.” Ezekiel saw a hole in the wall and God commanded him to dig further in that hole (v. 8). After digging he found a doorway in verse 8, and God commanded him to enter that doorway in verse 9 to see “the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” What Ezekiel saw was that all over the walls of this room someone had either drawn or carved “all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel” (v. 10). The 70 elders of Israel were assembled in that room and they were offering incense to all of these forbidden things. Offering incense is an act of worship and it symbolizes prayer. When prayer is offered to God, it pleases him as much as great smelling incense pleases us, so that’s what incense portrays in scripture. So these men were praying and worshipping, but they were not offering that to YHWH God but to the things God had made, the things that God had forbidden them from eating and from worshipping.
Remember that these were Israel’s elders. Ezekiel was watching the oldest men in Judah–the people who were supposed to be the wisest and who should be offering a godly example and godly advice. But here they were worshipping everything but the true God. Remember, too, that back in verse 1 we were told that Judah’s elders had come to see Ezekiel when this vision began. Were the elders in verse 1 the same men who are described here in verse 11? One commentator I checked said, “No” because elders who were left in Judah would not travel the 900 miles it would take to see Ezekiel.
But It think that’s wrong. I don’t think the Lord would have given this vision to Ezekiel while elders were with him if he was seeing a vision of different elders. Remember that this is a vision; none of it was literally happening. So I think the elders in verse 1 are the same men as the ones in verse 11.
So why did Ezekiel see them in Jerusalem in the temple worshiping false gods? The answer is to communicate something to Ezekiel. By showing them in some hidden room in the temple, God was telling Ezekiel that these men–who supposedly came to him for spiritual guidance–were actually serving false gods. But they were doing it secretly; that’s why Ezekiel had to dig through a wall to find a hidden room. The point isn’t that these men were serving idols in some room in the temple 900 miles away in Jerusalem. The temple and the hidden room are meant to convey to Ezekiel and to us that these men acted like they were worshipping YHWH God–that’s why they’re shown in the temple. But, in secret, they were worshiping idols.
They came to Ezekiel in verse 1 seeking a word from the Lord but, at the end of this chapter, YHWH God said, “Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them” (v. 18).
Here’s the point: many people who look like respectable, even godly leaders, are putting on a show. They pretend to worship God and might even pray and seek his guidance on the outside. But inside, they are worshipping someone else.
God sees what is done in every hidden room and in every human heart. He is not fooled if we come to church faithfully but spend all our time in the worship service lusting after other people in the room, or looking on them in envy, or thinking about some new thing we want to buy.
God also sees everything we do and hears every word and even every thought that we have. You may think you are alone when you send that text message or look at those images on your phone or take something that doesn’t belong to you, but God sees it all.
If you’re Christian life is a show but not a real relationship, turn from that in repentance and faith today. If you’re hiding sin in some secret room of your life, bring it to light, confess and forsake it. This is what YHWH God is looking for from us. Let’s be honest about our relationship with God and deal truthfully with our sins.