Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 8:16

"And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah`s house; and behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east." — Ezekiel 8:16 (ASV)

The inner court – The court of the priests.

About twenty-five men – Rather, it was, so to speak, twenty-five men. This was the number of the heads of the 24 courses (or shifts), with the high priest presiding over them. These men were then the representatives of the priests, just as the seventy were of the people.

In the temple, the seat of the Divine Majesty was at the west, perhaps appointed for this very purpose: to guard against the idolatrous adoration of the rising sun. Therefore, the idolatrous priests, in worshipping the false sun-god, must turn their backs on the True.

The worship of the heavenly bodies was one of the earliest forms of idolatry (Job 31:26–27) and was expressly forbidden in the Law (Deuteronomy 17:3). In its earliest form, it was conducted without the intervention of images, the adoration being addressed to the heavenly bodies themselves. This form, which continued among the Persians, seems to have been introduced anew into Jerusalem at the time of Ezekiel.

Compare also 2 Kings 23:11–12. The images (compare Ezekiel 6:4 and Ezekiel 6:6) were probably columns set up in honor of the sun, not images in human form. This simpler mode of sun worship was soon changed. The sun, or the god supposed to preside over it, was represented as a person, whose image was set up and adored.