Ezekiel 8:10

So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. BEHOLD, EVERY FORM OF CREEPING THINGS, AND ABOMINABLE BEASTS - worshipped in Egypt; still found pourtrayed on their chamber walls; so among the Troglodytoe there were cavern temples with mystic cells, of which the chamber walls were covered with imagery. POURTRAYED UPON THE WALL ROUND ABOUT - on every side they surrounded themselves with incentives to superstition....

7-12 A secret place was, as it were, opened, where the prophet saw creatures painted on the walls, and a number of the elders of Israel worshipped before them. No superiority in worldly matters will preserve men from lust, or idolatries, when they are left to their own deceitful hearts; and those who are soon wearied in the service of God, often grudge no toil nor expense when following their superstitions. When hypocrites screen themselves behind the wall of an outward profession, there is some hole or other left in the wall, something that betrays them to those who look diligently. There is a great deal of secret wickedness in the world. They think themselves out of God's sight. But those are ripe indeed for ruin, who lay the blame of their sins upon the Lord....

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 were privately worshipped by the sanhedrin or great Jewish council, consisting of _seventy_ or _seventy-two_ persons, _six_ chosen out of every tribe, as representatives of the people. The images were pourtrayed upon the wall, as we find those ancient idols are on the walls of the _tombs of the kings and_ _nobles of Egypt_. See the plates to _Belzoni's_ Travels, the _Isaic_ _Tomb_ in the Bodleian Library, and the _Egyptian hieroglyphics_ in general. _Virgil_ speaks of these, _AEn_. lib. viii.: -...

There is clearly a reference to the idolatry of Egypt. Many subterranean chambers in rocks upon the shores of the Nile exhibit ornamentation and hieroglyphical characters, some of which are representative of the objects of idolatrous worship. Such chambers fitted them for the scene of the ideal picture by which Ezekiel represented Egyptian idolatry. The Egyptian worship of animals is well known....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 8:1 AND IT CAME TO PASS, etc. We begin with a fresh date. One year and one month had passed since the vision of Chebar, and had been occupied partly by the acted, partly by the spoken, prophecies of the preceding chapters. In the mean time, things had gone from bad to worse in Jerusalem. In the absence of the higher priests, idolatry was more rampant, and had found its way even into the temple. It is probable that tidings of this had reached Ezekiel, as we know that frequent communications passed between the exiles and those they had left behind (Jeremiah 29:1, Jeremiah 29:9,...

SO I WENT IN AND SAW; AND BEHOLD EVERY FORM OF CREEPING THINGS,.... As beetles and others, worshipped for gods: AND ABOMINABLE BEASTS; unclean ones; not only oxen, but dogs and cats, and other impure creatures; for such were the gods of the Egyptians, from whom the Jews took their deities: AND ALL THE IDOLS OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL; which were many, even as numerous as their cities: PORTRAYED UPON THE WALL ROUND ABOUT; the pictures of them were drawn and placed around the wall of the room or chamber; and where they were worshipped by the priests and Levites, and members of the sanhedrim; and this was not in one chamber only, but in many, as appears from Ezekiel 8:12....

CHAPTER S 8-11 Visions in Relation to Jerusalem _ 1. The vision of abomination in the temple (Ezekiel 8:1) _ 2. The vision of the linen-clothed man with the inkhorn (Ezekiel 9:1) 3. The vision of the coals of fire (Ezekiel 10:1) 4. The vision concerning the leaders: The glory departs (Ezekiel 11:1) Ezekiel 8:1. This vision shows the abomination which prevailed in the temple of Jehovah. In the visions of God, Ezekiel is brought to the door of the inner gate that looks to the north. Here was the image o

THE MYSTERY CULT. Next, through a hole in the Temple wall, Ezekiel saw seventy elders headed by Jaazaniah (son, perhaps, of that very Shaphan who had been associated with the reform of the worship thirty years before, 2 K. 228ff.) indulging in mysterious animal worship, which some trace to Egypt, others to Babylon, while others, with more probability, regard it as a recrudescence of ancient Canaanitish practice (possibly totemistic). But the explanation of this, as partly of the other practices, lies in this (Ezekiel 8:12), that they believe both themselves and their land to be forsaken by their God, Yahweh, and they are therefore driven to seek the support of other gods. (The meaning and the text of the phrase chambers of imagery in Ezekiel 8:12 are uncertain.)...

ABOMINABLE. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 7 and Leviticus 11). Elsewhere only in Isaiah 66:17. App-92. BEASTS. This animal. worship was part of Egyptian idolatry. IDOLS. manufactured gods....

The construction is difficult: lit. "and behold every likeness (Ezekiel 8:3; Deuteronomy 4:17-18) of creeping things and beasts (cattle), abomination, and all," &c., the term "abomination" being descriptive both of creeping things and beasts. The term "beasts" is employed of the larger domestic animals, though also of the beasts of prey; it seems nowhere used of the smaller vermin. On the other hand the word "abomination" is chiefly used in regard to the smaller creatures that swarm, whether in the waters or on the land, in the latter case winged and creeping things being included (Leviticus 11), and nowhere of the animals called "beasts." LXX. omits "likeness of creeping things and beasts," and it is possible that the