Ezekiel 8

In Ezekiel 7, the Lord has told us that the end has come and He will judge us according to our conduct and detestable practices. The Lord seems to be really angry, and indeed He is angry, to certain people who do not behave according to His will and who do practices that are detestable to His eyes.

Now, in Ezekiel 8, the Lord tells us about the kind of behaviour that He detests the most – IDOLATRY. In this chapter, the Lord tells Ezekiel about the idolatry in the temple. In verse 5, God showed him the idol of jealousy at the entrance north of the gate of the altar. In verse 6, God told him how utterly detestable that idol is; yet, the Lord said that there are still things and practices in the temple that are even more detestable.

THINGS THAT ARE EVEN MORE DETESTABLE:

Verse 9-11:  And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

Why is it more detestable?

Because the elder of the house of Israel are worshipping those idols. Imagine this, the elders themselves are the ones doing those detestable practices.

Yet again, there is still something that is worse.

VERSE 14: Then He brought me to the entrance to the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz.

WHO IS TAMMUZ?

Tammuz is a deity. Tammuz was the name of a Sumerian god of food and vegetation. In cult practice, the dead Tammuz was widely mourned in the Ancient Near East. Locations associated in antiquity with the site of his death include both Harran and Byblos, among others. (information from Wikipedia)

 

Still, that is not the worst.

VERSE 16:  He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

 Then God told Ezekiel how angry He is.

VERSE 17: He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!

 And He told Ezekiel what He will do to them.

VERSE 18: “Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

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IDOLATRY

What is idolatry?

Idolatry is a blind or excessive devotion to a person or a thing. It is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. (Read more here.) 

FORMS OF IDOLATRY

• Worshiping images, statues, portraits that are man-made
• Worshiping nature
• Loving money more than God
• Loving people more than God
• Loving this world and anything in it more than God

Do you have an idol? Is that idol capable of saving you and loving you like God can?

Why does God hate idolatry?

Because God, alone, is the one worthy of our praise. He hates it when we bow down and idolize others. He becomes furious when we love others better than Him. As you know, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)

Why do we need to love God like that?

Because He loves us too. He loves us a lot that He sacrificed His son for us. (John 3:16) God wants us to have a good life here on earth. And a truly good life can only be acquired if we live our lives for God and if we seek His kingdom and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33)

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“How mental it is to praise the creation when far far greater is the Creator.”