Commentary - Ezekiel 8:5-6

Bird's-eye view

In this startling chapter, the prophet Ezekiel, though physically in exile in Babylon, is transported by the Spirit of God back to Jerusalem to witness the spiritual reality of what is happening in the Temple. This is not a mere fact-finding mission; it is the presentation of evidence in a divine covenant lawsuit. God is showing His prophet, and by extension His people, precisely why judgment is not only necessary but righteous. The chapter unfolds as a guided tour of escalating abominations, a four-part horror show of idolatry being practiced in the very precincts of God's house. What Ezekiel sees is the flagrant, high-handed spiritual adultery of Judah's leadership. They believe they are acting in secret, but God sees everything. The central theme is that Israel's worship has become so corrupt, so syncretistic, and so utterly profane that it is actively provoking God to abandon His own sanctuary. The glory of the Lord, which is the sign of His presence, is being driven out by the filth of their idolatry.

This passage serves as a stark reminder that God is not to be trifled with. He is a jealous God, and He will not share His glory with idols. The judgment that is coming upon Jerusalem, which Ezekiel has been prophesying, is not an arbitrary act. It is the just and holy response of a covenant-keeping God whose covenant has been grotesquely violated. The leaders of Israel thought God was either absent or indifferent, but Ezekiel is shown that He is an intensely interested spectator, and He is about to become the judge.

Outline

Context In Ezekiel

Ezekiel chapter 8 marks a significant turning point in the book. The first seven chapters have established Ezekiel's call and the initial messages of judgment against the rebellious house of Israel. He has performed symbolic acts depicting the coming siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Now, God provides the justification for that severe judgment. This vision of the Temple's defilement is the first in a series of visions that culminate in the departure of God's glory from the Temple (Ezekiel 10) and the city (Ezekiel 11). The book of Ezekiel is structured like a great legal case. God is the plaintiff and the judge, Ezekiel is the court reporter, and Israel is the defendant. Chapters 8-11 present the central evidence for the prosecution: Israel has committed egregious covenant violations in the very place dedicated to covenant faithfulness. This section demonstrates that the impending destruction of Jerusalem is not a failure of God to protect His people, but rather the necessary outworking of His holiness in the face of their persistent, unrepentant sin.

Key Issues

The Jealousy of God

We live in a therapeutic age that is deeply uncomfortable with the biblical doctrine of God's jealousy. To our ears, jealousy sounds petty, insecure, and controlling, like the sinful envy of a jilted lover. But we must allow Scripture to define its own terms. The Bible is clear that our God is a jealous God; in fact, His name is Jealous (Ex. 34:14). God's jealousy is not like our sinful envy. Envy wants what it does not have. God's jealousy is the righteous and zealous protection of that which is lawfully and joyfully His own. He created the world for His glory. He redeemed Israel to be His treasured possession. He entered into a marriage covenant with her at Sinai. Her worship, her devotion, her exclusive loyalty belong to Him and Him alone. When Israel turns to other gods, she is committing spiritual adultery. God's jealousy, then, is the fury of a betrayed husband. It is not a petty pique; it is the white-hot zeal of holy love that will not tolerate rivals. To see an idol set up in His own house is the ultimate provocation, a direct assault on His honor and His covenant rights. This is not an overreaction; it is the only possible reaction for a holy God who loves His people and His own glory.

Verse by Verse Commentary

5 Then He said to me, “Son of man, raise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this figure of jealousy at the entrance.

The tour of abominations begins. God directs Ezekiel's gaze to a specific location: the north. In the Old Testament, the north is often the direction from which judgment and invasion come. Here, it is the direction from which the provocation arises. At the entrance to the gate leading to the inner court, the altar gate, stands a "figure of jealousy." The Hebrew is literally an "image of the jealousy." The text doesn't specify what this idol looked like, and it doesn't matter. It could have been a representation of Asherah, the consort of Baal, or some other pagan deity. Its specific identity is irrelevant; its function is what's important. It is an idol designed to provoke jealousy. It is a rival lover set up in the very doorway of the husband's house. This was not a subtle syncretism tucked away in a corner; this was a flagrant, public defiance of the first and second commandments, placed where all the priests and worshippers would see it as they approached the altar of God. It was a deliberate statement that Yahweh was not enough, that He had to share His house and His people with another.

6 And He said to me, “Son of man, are you seeing what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.”

God's question to Ezekiel is heavy with pathos and righteous indignation. "Son of man, are you seeing this?" This is not for God's information; it is for Ezekiel's. God is making His prophet a witness to the crime. He defines their actions not as mere mistakes or cultural adaptations, but as "great abominations." An abomination is something utterly detestable to God, something that pollutes what is holy. And He states the consequence of their actions with chilling clarity: they are doing this "so that I would be far from My sanctuary." Their sin is literally driving God out of His own house. They are making it impossible for a holy God to dwell among them. The presence of God is not an unconditional reality that can be taken for granted. It is conditioned on the covenant, and their idolatry has shattered the covenant. Then comes the ominous promise. As bad as this public idol at the gate is, it is only the beginning. "But yet you will see still greater abominations." The corruption goes deeper. The first exhibit in this covenant lawsuit is shocking enough, but the prosecutor has more evidence to present, and it gets worse from here.

Application

It is easy for us to read a passage like this and thank God that we are not like those ancient Israelites, setting up crude idols in our church buildings. But idolatry is far more subtle than that, and this chapter is a perennial warning to the church. An idol is anything we substitute for God, anything we look to for life, security, or meaning that is not the Triune God of Scripture. Our hearts are, as Calvin said, perpetual idol factories.

We must ask ourselves what "figures of jealousy" we have set up at the entrance to our worship. Is it the idol of political power, where we trust in princes and parties more than in the King of kings? Is it the idol of cultural relevance, where we are so desperate for the world's approval that we trim the hard edges of the gospel and profane our worship with cheap entertainment? Is it the idol of tradition, where we worship our own forms and practices instead of the living God? Is it the idol of self, where our worship is ultimately about our feelings, our experience, and our preferences? Any of these things, when they take the place of God at the center of our affections and our worship, are abominations that provoke God to jealousy. They create a spiritual environment where the presence of God is quenched. The lesson of Ezekiel 8 is that God takes the purity of His worship with utmost seriousness. He is a jealous God, and He will not be mocked. The first step toward reformation and revival is always to follow the Spirit's leading on a tour of our own hearts and our own churches, and to see the abominations for what they are, and to repent.