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Ezekiel 8:12
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10 So I went in and saw, and there—every asort of bcreeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel,1 portrayed all around on the walls.  
11 And there stood before them aseventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up.  
12 Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, a‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”  
13 And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.”
14 So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for1 Tammuz.  
15 Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.”
16 So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, abetween the porch and the altar, bwere about twenty-five men cwith their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping dthe sun toward the east.  
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?
<< Ezekiel 8:11   Ezekiel 8:13 >>

What Does Ezekiel 8:12 Mean?



Ezekiel 8:5-12

In verse 5, he sees the "image of jealousy" that had been set up in the Temple, an image that had caused God to go far away from the sanctuary (verse 6). This is probably some type of abomination that makes desolate, a pagan idol that had actually been set up in the gate of the Temple courtyard in Jerusalem.

At the end of verse 6, God tells Ezekiel he will see "greater abominations." He spies a hole in a wall in the court of the Temple (verse 7) and obeys God's command to dig around that hole (verse 8). Behind it, lo and behold, he finds a doorway. The door admits him into a very private, hidden inner chamber, the walls of which are engraved with pagan idols, which are, as it says in verse 10, "all the idols of the house of Israel."

In this idol-bedecked room are seventy elders of Israel, "each man had a censer in his hand." Ezekiel is witnessing some kind of pagan worship service going on behind closed doors right there in the Temple! It is very clandestine. Note that the worshippers are not extremists on the fringes of Israelite society, but they are the elders, the leaders of the land! They might be considered the preachers of Judah.

Did Ezekiel witness the movers and shakers of American society in a satanic Skull-and-Bones-type service attended by the President of the United States? That would be a modern, contemporary version of this type of vision, for the leaders of Ephraim and Manasseh today are deeply involved in the occult, witchcraft, and pagan practices to this day. They are all abominations, all very furtive, secret, and surreptitious.

Charles Whitaker
The Torment of the Godly (Part One)

Related Topics: Abomination of Desolation | Abomination that makes Desolate | Abominations | Ezekiel' s Prophecies | Image of Jealousy | Occultism | Pagan Religious Practices | Pagan Religious Service | Skull-and Bones-type service | Torment of the Godly | Witchcraft



Ezekiel 8:12

Their sins did not slip by God, did they? God says their sins done "in the dark . . . filled the land with violence." Their lives affected the whole nation! The result was God's unsparing judgment descending upon Judah, and thousands of lives ended in death or captivity.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Little Things Count!

Related Topics: Judah's Captivity | Judah's Punishment | Judah's Sins | Secret Sins | Sins Done in the Dark



Ezekiel 8:12

This is a mind at an exceedingly low spiritual level. It does not believe that God is aware of what is going on in His creation. "Because I'm just such a small entity here, He surely couldn't be concerned about what is going on in my life. And what I do doesn't even matter! So I can sin."

John W. Ritenbaugh
Every Action Has a Reaction

Related Topics: Every Action Has a Reaction | God's Awareness | God's Awareness of His Creation | Ripple Effect of Morality | Ripple Effect of Sin




Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Ezekiel 8:12:

1 Corinthians 10:12


 
<< Ezekiel 8:11   Ezekiel 8:13 >>

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