John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 8:7-11

"And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up." — Ezekiel 8:7-11 (ASV)

Now the Prophet is brought to another place, where another kind of abomination is shown. If an idol had been erected in some recess of the temple only, even that impiety, when joined with sacrilege, could not have been endured. But when all parts of the temple were contaminated with such filth, from this we gather that the people were utterly desperate.

For the Prophet says that he was led into a more secret place; and since there was a hole there, he dug through it by God’s command, so that it became a door by which he could enter. This is to be understood only as a vision. For the Prophet had brought nothing with him with which he could dig through a wall, but when he could only see that hidden abomination through a crack, God opened the wall.

But the Prophet seems to himself to make a door of entrance by his own hand. He says there were painted birds, reptiles, and animals; then he adds, an abomination and all the idols of the house of Israel. We see that there was not only one idol, but a great number.

Indeed, as soon as the true worship of God is neglected, people place no bounds on themselves: they are not content with one or two errors, but they heap up for themselves countless delusions. So the children of Israel fell away from one idol to a great multitude. Meanwhile, it must be noted that the idol he has mentioned was detestable beyond all others.

For it was not called a provocative of jealousy without reason, since it inflamed God to jealousy. It is therefore probable that this idol was more noble than others, and held in greater esteem and veneration, since the unbelievers had greater and lesser deities. But now the Prophet refers to common idols, of which there was a great abundance, but not such great honor.

For he says that part of the temple was full of pictures all around. It is indeed certain that the use of painting was always plentiful, but God wished His temple to be pure from images, lest people, being captivated by such enticements, should turn aside directly to superstition. For if we see a man or an animal painted in a secular place, a religious feeling does not creep into our minds, for all acknowledge it as a painting. Indeed, idols themselves, as long as they are in taverns or workshops, are not worshipped.

If the painter’s workshop is full of pictures, all pass them by; and if they are delighted with the sight of them, they do not show any sign of reverence to the paintings. But as soon as the picture is carried to another place, its sacredness blinds people and so stupefies them, that they do not remember that they had already seen that picture in a secular dwelling.

This therefore is the reason why God did not admit any pictures into His temple; and surely when the place is consecrated, it must happen that the painting will astonish people just as if some secret divinity belonged to it. Although the Prophet here does not say simply that the walls were full of pictures, yet he says that an abomination and the idols of the house of Israel were there. We see therefore not only that the walls were so decorated for the sake of ornament, but because the people desired to celebrate all the deities whose names they knew to be famous among the pagan nations.

Now, as to the Prophet’s being ordered to dig through the wall, we gather from this that superstitions are sometimes so hidden in secret places that they escape our eyes even while we look at them. For such is the weakness of the human mind that it does not easily perceive how abominable it is to corrupt the worship of God.

Thus the Prophet only looked through a crack, so that he could not form a correct judgment concerning those pollutions; therefore, he is ordered to dig through the wall, just as if God assured him that a narrow and obscure view was not sufficient, but that a door must be opened by which he should look in and thoroughly consider what would otherwise be concealed beneath those coverings.

Now he says that he entered and saw the likeness of everything, and we must remember what I have recently touched upon: that the Jews are here condemned for heaping to themselves a multitude of gods, for it was very disgraceful to worship reptiles and beasts. The worship of a human figure has a specious pretext, for the Greeks, who always seemed to themselves wise above others and thought the rest of the world barbarians, were deceived by idols referring to the human figure; but it was too base and crude for them to worship an ox, a dog, or a donkey as a god.

We see therefore how basely the Jews were blinded, who mingled beasts and reptiles as gods. But it is no wonder that they were so deluded, because Egypt was near, where we know that dogs and oxen, and even cats, were considered deities; indeed, they even worshipped all kinds of herbs.

Since therefore the Egyptians imagined that the deity resided in reptiles and unclean animals, as well as in herbs, it is no wonder that the Jews were drawn into these delusions due to their proximity. But since heavenly teaching had shown them the way, such blindness was inexcusable, because they could not err so wretchedly without suffocating and thereby extinguishing the light which had been set before their eyes.

But we see how people’s audacity breaks forth when they do not restrain themselves within obedience to God’s teaching. He says that pictures were painted all around on the wall, which again confirms our observation that the Jews were inflamed with such desires that they left no space empty, because they wished their eyes to fall upon those figures, which increasingly inflamed their superstition.

He also says that seventy elders of the house of Israel made incense for their idols. I do not think that the seventy who were chosen for ruling the people are referred to here, though I suppose the Prophet alludes to this number. For we know that from the beginning seventy were set over the people, chosen from each tribe, and united together.

But with regard to this passage, I think the number seventy is used for those whom, although they were not officials, they called elders in respect to their office, not only because of their age. Meanwhile, we must remember that the Prophet refers to that established order, because from the beginning God had wished the seventy to bear rule and hold the government (Numbers 11:16).

Thus the Prophet signifies that the leaders of the people, who ought to have guided others by their counsel, were prominent in corrupting the worship of God. He mentions Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, who was probably a man of great reputation. Therefore, since he excelled in his reputation for prudence and piety, the Prophet wished to emphasize his crime, because he also, among others, offered incense to idols.

What then could remain pure among the people, when he who was esteemed a holy man so profaned himself among the rest! Thus we see that the Prophet means that the whole people, from the least to the greatest, was so corrupt that those who were superior to the rest prostituted themselves to idolatry.

He says, then, that they stood before them, and each had a censer in his hand. Incense was a sign of the greatest veneration, and this form of reverence was commonly employed. Thus, at the beginning of Christianity, when the ungodly wished to seduce Christians to idolatry, they only offered them two or three grains of frankincense to burn; that was a sign of apostasy. They did not order them to bend the knee before idols, nor to offer sacrifices, but only to offer a few grains of incense.

Therefore, as a sign of veneration, the seventy men are said to bear censers or incense dishes. The Prophet adds, and the incense ascended in a thick cloud. Here understand the particle of likeness: the incense ascended as a thick cloud.

I do not doubt that they were profuse, or rather prodigal, in their madness, sparing no expense, since idolaters rashly squander everything when the intemperance of their zeal seizes them. And this prodigality was not marked by sufficient prudence.

The Prophet therefore says that it was not common incense but was dense like a cloud, since they offered it in great abundance, so that the offering might be more substantial and richer. It is as if he had said that they were so intemperate in their superstitions that they wasted an abundance of incense, incurring all their expense for nothing, merely to satisfy their idols.