Charles Ellicott 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)

Between the porch and the altar. —Ezekiel now returns to the court of the priests, and there sees—not about, but as it were (referring to the nature of the vision)—“twenty-five men.” These are probably the high priest and the heads of the twenty-four courses, representing the whole body of the priests, as the elders represented the whole body of the people. They were standing between the altar and the Temple, therefore in the most sacred part of the court, and there, turning their backs on the Temple of the Lord, worshipped the sun.

The adoration of the sun, probably the earliest form of false religion, was the particular worship of Persia, but had long been practiced by the kings and people of Judah (2 Kings 23:5; 2 Kings 23:11). Thus all classes of the nation are seen to be involved in common sin; and the priests particularly, the particular guardians of true religion, are found practicing this sin under circumstances of peculiar insult to God. That the “chief priests” did pollute the sanctuary at this time is expressly asserted in the history at 2 Chronicles 36:14.