CHAPTER VIII _Here begins a section of prophecy extending to the_ twelfth _chapter. In this chapter the prophet is carried in vision to_ _Jerusalem_, 1-4; _and there shown the idolatries committed by the rulers of the_ _Jews, even within the temple. In the beginning of this vision,_ _by the no... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:2. _THE APPEARANCE OF FIRE_] Ezekiel 1:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:3. _THE IMAGE OF JEALOUSY_] סמל הקנאה _semel hakkinah_. We do not know certainly of what _form_ this image was, nor what _god_ it represented. Some say it was the image of Baal, which was placed in the temple by Manasses; others, that it was the image of _Mars_; and others, that it w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:4. _THE VISION THAT I SAW IN THE PLAIN._] Ezekiel 3:23; see also Ezekiel 1:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:7. _A HOLE IN THE WALL._] This we find was not large enough to see what was doing within; and the prophet is directed to dig, and make it larger, Ezekiel 8:8; and when he had done so and entered, he says,-... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:10. _AND SAW - EVERY FORM OF CREEPING THINGS_] It is very likely that these images pourtrayed on the wall were the objects of Egyptian adoration: the _ox_, the _ape_, the _dog_, the _crocodile,_ the _ibis_, the _scarabaeus_ or _beetle_, and various other things. It appears that these... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:11. _JAAZANIAH THE SON OF SHAPHAN_] Shaphan was a scribe, or what some call comptroller of the temple, in the days of Josiah; and _Jaazaniah_ his son probably succeeded him in this office. He was at the head of this band of idolaters.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:14. _THERE SAT WOMEN WEEPING FOR TAMMUZ._] This was _Adonis_, as we have already seen; and so the Vulgate here translates. My old MS. Bible reads, _There saten women, mornynge a mawmete of_ _lecherye that is cleped Adonydes_. He is fabled to have been a beautiful youth beloved by Ve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:16. _FIVE AND TWENTY MEN_] These most probably represented the _twenty-four courses_ of the _priests_, with the _high priest_ for the _twenty-fifth_. This was the _Persian_ worship, as their turning their faces to the east plainly shows they were worshipping the _rising sun_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 8:17. _THEY PUT THE BRANCH TO THEIR NOSE._] This is supposed to mean some branch or branches, which they carried in succession in honour of the idol, and with which they covered their faces, or from which they inhaled a pleasant smell, the branches being odoriferous. That the heathens... [ Continue Reading ]