“And he said to me, “‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house 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
Hi James and Ellen,
It is September 17, 592 B.C. You are an elder who is living in the land area that was allotted to Judah tribal clan’s guys and gals. You are visiting the home of a prophet-priest. The prophet-priest’s name is Ezekiel. Ezekiel had a vision fourteen months earlier. Ezekiel saw in his vision what looked like a chariot and some strange looking creatures. Ezekiel was able to comprehend what he saw in his vision. You have often spent time with Ezekiel over the past fourteen months to hear what Ezekiel has to say about the quality of spiritual life that the guys and gals have who are living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem. Other elders have oftentimes joined you over the past fourteen months to listen to what Ezekiel has to say. Ezekiel was just thirty years old when he had his initial vision. You – as an elder who is visiting Ezekiel in his house, are as old as your grandpaa. As you are sitting today with several of the other local elders in Ezekiel’s house – listening to Ezekiel talk, you see Ezekiel suddenly flinch. Ezekiel is acting like he just had his hair grabbed by someone or something. You wonder what it is that he is doing as Ezekiel suddenly seems to be in another world. It looks to you as if Ezekiel has fallen asleep.
It is September 17, 592 B.C. You have been for fourteen months one of God’s prophet-priests. You are living in a house that is in a town that is located in the land area that was allotted to Judah tribal clan’s guys and gals. You often get visits from the old guys – the local elders, who are living in your town. You do not mind talking for hours with these old guys. The quality of spiritual life that the guys and gals have who are living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem is really concerning you – and the old guys. You already have had one visit from God. God’s first visit with you was fourteen months ago. God visited you through a vision. You saw in your vision God’s glorious presence radiating above something that kind of looked like a chariot. You also saw some very different looking creatures in your first vision. You were able to comprehend the message that God sent to you through that vision. As you are talking to the old guys who had stopped by today to hear what you have to say, you suddenly feel yourself being moved to another world. You see a being who looks like a man. This being who you see is nothing but fire from the waist down. You know that you are having another vision. You know that this being is an angel who has been sent to you by God. The being’s blinding brightness confirms to you that the being is a messenger from God. You feel your hair being pulled. This being who was sent to you by God in the vision carries you by your hair to the city of Jerusalem. You are taken by the being to the north gate of the inner court of the temple of God. The being who was sent to you by God shows you things that God can see which you did not know were happening.
Ezekiel recorded in Ezekiel 8 the details of his September 17, 592 B.C. vision. Ezekiel was given a glimpse of the sick, awful things that were taking place in God’s house. God’s house was His temple that had been built in the city of Jerusalem years earlier. Ezekiel saw at the north gate of the temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem an idol god. The idol was a statute of Asherah. Asherah was the Canaanite goddess of fertility. Josiah – a king who ruled over the guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem, had thirty years earlier removed Asherah from the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel finds out in this vision that the idol god Asherah has been placed back in the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem. After Ezekiel was told by the angel like being to dig into the wall at the court’s entrance of the temple of God, Ezekiel dug out a doorway. Ezekiel is then told to go through the doorway and to look at the walls of the room that the doorway led into. The walls of the room were covered with all kinds of crawling things, detestable animals and idols. These crawling things, detestable animals and idols were what the Egyptian guys and gals worshipped. Facing the walls of the room with censers in their hands were seventy elders from God’s specially chosen guys who were living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem. Fragrant clouds of incense came out of the censers as these seventy elders worshipped the false, repugnant, abhorrent deities that lined the walls of the room. An Israelite people group’s guy – whose name was Jaazaniah, was leading this ‘worship’ time in the temple of God. Jaazaniah name means ‘the Lord hears’. These elders who are with Ezekiel believed what the angel told Ezekiel in verse 12, “And he said to me, “‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house 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.””’ The angel was not done with Ezekiel. Ezekiel was taken back by the angel to the north gate entrance where he saw gals mourning before the Babylonian god of fertility. The angel then took Ezekiel to the inner court of the temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem where Ezekiel saw twenty-five or so guys praying towards the east towards the sun. These guys were worshipping the sun. What do you think that God is seeing today inside His holy temples? God’s holy temples today are the lives of His specially elected guys, gals and kids. Are you putting your trust in God or are you putting your trust in things? Are you lining the walls of your lives with God-given promises and God answered prayers or are you lining the walls of your lives with dreams of self-worth and worldly accomplishments? As God looks at you from heaven today, does He see two kids who are doing everything to honor and bless Him or does He see two kids who are trying to get through life without His help because they think that they do not need His help?
Ezekiel 8 (531)