John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 8:3

"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)

The Prophet here relates that he was carried to Jerusalem so that he might behold the foul superstitions by which the Jews had defiled the temple. But first he says, that the form of a hand was put forth. From this again we gather that the body which the Prophet had seen was not solid or substantial, but was only a visible figure, a symbol of God’s presence.

This explains the word 'likeness' or 'figure', for it was not a real hand that seized the Prophet by the locks or hair of his head, but it was the likeness of a hand. Therefore, he adds, in the visions of God it was done. He says indeed that he was carried up between heaven and earth, but let no one imagine that this was actually done, for he explains himself and says, in the visions of God. By visions of God he understands a revelation free from all doubt, for there is a silent opposition between these divine revelations and the specters that often deceive men’s senses.

Those who interpret 'visions of God' simply as prophecy weaken what the Prophet wished to express emphatically; and those who think God’s name is used here as an epithet (as the Hebrews call anything remarkable, divine) also depart from the genuine sense of the Prophet. There is no doubt, therefore, that he contrasts the visions of God with all specters, for Satan, as we know, deludes men’s senses with his prodigies and his wonderful arts of fascination, because it happens that the children of God are sometimes deluded.

Hence the Prophet, to take away all doubt from his teaching, says that he was carried to Jerusalem in visions of God, and adds, that he was carried to the northern gate. We know that there were many gates of the large area, so that the people’s entrance would be more convenient.

For if there had been only one gate open, they would have been more tumultuous, as a multitude usually is. The area of the temple then had an eastern and a northern gate; then it had other gates, which gave easy entrance to the people as well as to the priests.

The priests indeed had a distinct inner area, but when they offered victims on the altar, they mingled with the people. This, therefore, was the reason why the floor of the temple had different gates. Now the Prophet says, that he was carried to the porch of the gate, so that he did not enter directly into the secret part of the temple, but seemed to himself to be standing before the doors, until God informed him of what was happening within.

He says, there was the seat of the idol. We do not know what the idol was, except that the Prophet says it was abominable. He first calls it the idol of jealousy, and then adds the participle, provoking God to jealousy. But although the noun as well as the verb is often taken in a bad sense, yet God applies the emotion of jealousy to Himself, and in this sense He says in Deuteronomy,

They provoked me: they made me jealous with what is not God: therefore will I make them jealous (Deuteronomy 32:21).

He alludes to the jealousy between husband and wife. For example, if the wife prostitutes herself, the husband burns with indignation, and that outbreak of his anger is most flagrant. Likewise, when the wife in her turn knows that her husband is an adulterer, she is carried away with intemperance and excess.

Hence God, when He shows how He esteems His glory and worship, compares Himself to a jealous man when we turn aside to idolatrous and adulterous worship.

In this sense, the idol that was in the porch or entrance of the temple is called the idol of jealousy, and the idol which causes jealousy.

Although we may also translate it as, "it was the seat of the idol causing jealousy," since the noun, קנאה, kenah, is taken in the ablative case.

It is said that this idol provoked to jealousy because the Jews, by erecting this idol, trod their God underfoot or at least endeavored to prostrate His glory.