Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 8
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezekiel 8
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezekiel 8
"And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me." — Ezekiel 8:1 (ASV)
The elders of Judah - The prophet’s fellow-exiles are no longer unwilling to hear him (Ezekiel 2:1–10). They sat as mourners. The message here is not as in (Ezekiel 6:2), but distinctly to Judah, that portion of the people whose exile Ezekiel shared.
"Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal." — Ezekiel 8:2 (ASV)
The appearance of fire - In the margin reference, seen as the appearance of a man enthroned upon the cherubim. Here He stands apart from the throne, revealing Himself to His servant. Compare the note on Daniel 3:25.
Amber - See the margin reference note.
"And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner [court] that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy." — Ezekiel 8:3 (ASV)
In the visions of God - Ezekiel was not transported “in the body,” but rapt “in spirit,” while he still sat among 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 opposite the northern entrance to the priest’s court.
This image was the image of a false god provoking Yahweh to “jealousy” (Deuteronomy 32:16, 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 represent the idolatries in all the four quarters of the world. The false gods of the pagan world are brought into the temple so that they might 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.
"And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain." — Ezekiel 8:4 (ASV)
The glory of the Lord, having departed from His seat between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies , rests in the threshold of the temple to execute vengeance before it leaves the house altogether (Ezekiel 10:18). That "there" is in the inner court, which was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory (Ezekiel 10:4), and at the gate of which Ezekiel stands.
"And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall." — Ezekiel 8:7 (ASV)
The door of the court - The seer is brought to another spot. In Ezekiel’s time, there were various buildings on the space around the inner court which formed a court or courts, probably enclosed by a wall. The idolatries here were viewed as taking place in secret, and it is more in accordance with the temple arrangements to suppose that chambers that could accommodate these rites should belong to the outer rather than the inner court.
The seer is now outside the wall of the outer court, by the door leading from it out of the temple boundary. By breaking through the wall, he enters a chamber that stands in the outer court against the wall near the gate.
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