Sorry about the same photo—I need new light photos! Who knew there would be so much “light” in Ezekiel’s message. For anyone who has recently joined in this read-along, notes from previous chapters are available here on this blog.
Separately, this week, I studied and wrote brief talks based on Paul’s second letter to Timothy, including the passage that includes this verse,
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
This is why we read God’s Word—to learn how we should live. Even if passages written to Israel on the eve of their exile to Babylon don’t appear at first to apply today. Back to the second half of chapter eight.
“He said to me, ‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, “The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land”’” (Ezekiel 8:12).
- God asked Ezekiel if he had seen—to learn and know what Israel’s leaders did.
- They did evil in secret.1
- Each elder had a shrine to his own idol(s!) in his room, as in, in his house.
- Individual as well as corporate idol worship—evil that permeates their entire lives.
- We talk about carrying our worship and spiritual nourishment beyond Sunday into the rest of the week for our sustenance.
- This is the exact opposite—in a bad way.
- Their idol worship took place in darkness; evil deeds love the cover of darkness.
Don’t you love what they said?
“The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.”
- If it’s dark, no one can see what I do.
- If I hide, (my parent, co-worker, friends) won’t know what I did.
- In this situation, God abandoned people because of their sin.2
- Only with God can we hope for true change.
- Discipline (prayer, study, confession, and worship, among other things) in our walk with Jesus allows “us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us.”3
*How does idol worship or evil permeate our entire lives?
*What is the connection between darkness and sin?
*How has God helped you experience positive change in your life?
Again, he said, “you will see them doing things that are even more detestable.” Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz” (Ezekiel 8:13-14).
- God reminded Ezekiel again that he would see things even more detestable.
- Envision the worst kind of amusement ride or nightmare in which Ezekiel spirals downward into a deep, dark hole of wickedness. Along about now I bet part of Ezekiel wants to exit this vision!
- In the first half of this chapter, the Lord positioned Ezekiel near the entrance to the north gate of the inner court, such that he could also look north to the idol of jealousy. Then he entered the inner court through a doorway.
- The Lord brought Ezekiel out from the inner court back to the north gate.
- Women mourned for Tammuz, a popular fertility god.
“He said to me, ‘Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.’ 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” (Ezekiel 8:15-16).
- This is the third time in this chapter God told Ezekiel he would see “things even more detestable.”
- In these phrases, Ezekiel wrote a word that emphasizes the greatness, or significance, of how much more evil their actions would be.
- From the gate, back into the inner court, such that Ezekiel had a view of the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar.
- This time, Ezekiel stood near the altar, the place of sacrifice.
- We considered last week how often there’s a narrow space between holiness and worship, between sin and turning away from God.
- These men turned their backs to the temple.
- They faced east to worship the sun, as people did in Egypt and the Semitic nations.
- This portrays direct opposition to worshiping, bowing down to honor and respect the One True God.
Fortunately, this is only one scene in God’s whole plan. We read elsewhere in Scripture of the balance of God’s mercy and justice.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
*How did the Israelites’ past affect their present?
*How can we rely on God to help us through those times?
“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!” (Ezekiel 8:17)
- Glimpses into dialogue between God and His people are always amazing, because they are real conversations.
- Again God said, “Do you see this?” Do you hear the incredulity in His voice?
- He emphasized to Ezekiel the serious nature of their sin. “Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do [these] things?”
- In the context of teaching about Satan, Jesus said,
“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31).
- “Must they do these things?”
- We shake our head when our children make the same wrong choices again and again.
- We wonder at co-workers who more than once seek to stir up trouble.
- We ask why situations, relationships, our and others’ actions and reactions do not change.
- The Israelites decisively turned their backs on God.
- They filled the land with violence, which also implies cruelty, damage, and injustice.4
- They made a conscious decision to worship other gods.
- God knew they had no intention of turning back.
- They “angered the Lord more and more than they had already angered Him” with their “pagan rituals.”5
- The phrase “branch to their nose” described “obscene rituals associated with the worship of Asherah or Ishtar.”6
*When have you experienced a conversation with God?
*How can we change direction away from wrong choices, actions, and thought patterns?
“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” (Ezekiel 8:18).
- There came a time when God would no longer listen to them.
- He poured out his wrath on them in judgment.
- He would not show pity, mercy, or compassion in the situation.
- They would cry out to God and summon Him as one might call out for relief.
- There comes a time when the consequences of our actions can no longer be reversed—even if we repent and receive forgiveness.
But God does promise to show compassion to those who truly repent.
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend you heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity” (Joel 2:12-13).
God calls us to come out of the darkness into His glorious light. 
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Jason Gray wrote a song that offers a different perspective of leaving the darkness for God’s light.
*How have you experienced God’s compassion, mercy, and forgiveness?
*How does God call us to leave the darkness and enter His light?
*How can we lead others into God’s wonderful light?
- Warren Baker, D.R.E., Eugene Carpenter, Ph.D. The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: Old Testament. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003). 388
- Ibid., 819
- Richard Foster. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. (San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1978), 6.
- Baker, 612
- Ibid., 1109
- Warren Baker, D.R.E. The Complete Word Study Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1994). 1979