Ezekiel 8

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Ezekiel’s Vision of Abominations in the Temple

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. God sees the wickedness of His people.

  2. God exposes the wickedness of His people.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Would you let God hold an open house in your life today?


QUESTIONS

  1. How many months following Ezekiel’s great vision in chapter 1 did this vision of abominations in the Temple occur? Where was Ezekiel when he had this vision?

  2. Were the elders who came to see Ezekiel in verse 1 the elders mentioned in verses 11 and 12?

  3. Describe the similarities of Ezekiel’s vision of a likeness of a man in verse 2 and his first vision mentioned in chapter 1, verses 26b and 27.

  4. Was the glory of the Lord still present in His Temple in Jerusalem when God gave Ezekiel this vision of chapter 8?

  5. What were the 4 areas of idolatry and wickedness exposed to Ezekiel in verses 5-16?

ANSWERS

  1. Ezekiel’s vision of the abominations here in chapter 8 occurred 14 months after his great vision of chapter 1. The vision came as Ezekiel was sitting in his house in Babylon with the elders who had come to see him.

  2. The elders who came to see Ezekiel at his house (v 1) were not the same elders mentioned in verses 11 and 12. The elders of verses 11 and 12 are the unfaithful Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who Ezekiel sees in this vision. They are involved in idolatry in the Temple area.

  3. The descriptions in both visions of a likeness of a man included the appearance of the color of amber, brightness and fire, with some form of division at his waist.

  4. 4. The glory of the Lord was still present in His Temple in Jerusalem when Ezekiel received this vision (ch 8). The departure of the glory of the Lord from the Temple is recorded in chapters 10 and 11 of Ezekiel.

  5. The 4 areas of idolatry and wickedness in the Temple and exposed to Ezekiel were: a. The idol of jealousy was standing in the north entrance to the inner court of the Temple. Ezekiel called it the idol of jealousy because it provoked the Lord to jealousy. b. The 70 elders were offering incense to the images of beasts and even creeping things that were carved on the walls in the Temple complex. c. The women were weeping for Tammuz. He was a pagan deity who supposedly died each year and was mourned until he came back to life again in the Spring of the year when he brought the life-giving rains. d. A group of 25 men, probably priests, were worshiping the sun in the east with their backs to the Temple. This was a deliberate turning of their backs on the work that the Lord had given them to do.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Consider and discuss this thought: Your character is revealed by what you do behind closed doors or in the dark.

CHALLENGE

  1. Are you not concerned about God’s reaction to the hidden sin in your life? Are you unconcerned because you believe that God can not see your hidden sin, or because you believe that He won’t expose and judge the sin, or because you don’t care about God’s judgment of the sin? The book of Ezekiel, a portion of God’s inspired Word, should convince you to openly confess your hidden sins, call upon the Lord for the strength to overcome them, escape His judgment and rejoice in His forgiveness.

KEY VERSES

  • “And He said to me, ‘Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there . . . Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.’” Ezekiel 8: 9,18



Ezekiel, Old Testament, TalksDeb HarmsEzekiel 8