Ezekiel 8:14

Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. THEN HE BROUGHT ME TO THE DOOR OF THE GATE OF THE LORD'S HOUSE ... TOWARD THE NORTH. From the secret abominations of the chambers of imagery, the prophet's eye is turned to the outer court at the north door; within the outer court women were not admitted, but only to the door. BEHOLD, THERE SAT WOMEN - the attitude of mourners (Job 2:13; Isaiah 3:26). TAMMUZ - [perhaps contracted for Tamªzuwz, from a Hebrew root, 'to melt down;' taamaaz the same as maacac (H4549), referring to the river Adonis, fed by, the...

13-18 The yearly lamenting for Tammuz was attended with infamous practices; and the worshippers of the sun here described, are supposed to have been priests. The Lord appeals to the prophet concerning the heinousness of the crime; "and lo, they put the branch to their nose," denoting some custom used by idolaters in honour of the idols they served. The more we examine human nature and our own hearts, the more abominations we shall discover; and the longer the believer searches himself, the more he will humble himself before God, and the more will he value the fountain open for sin, and seek to wash therein....

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 Venus, and killed by a wild boar in Mount Lebanon, whence springs the river _Adonis_, which was fabled to _run blood_ at his festival in August. The women of Phoenicia, Assyria, and Judea worshipped him as _dead_, with deep lamentation, wearing _priapi_ and other obscene images all the while, and they prostituted themselves in honour of this idol. Having for some time mourned him as _dead_, they then supposed him revivified and broke out into the most extravagant rejoicings. Of the appearance of the river at this season, Mr. _Maundrell_ thus speaks: ...

The seer is now brought back to the same gate as in Ezekiel 8:3. It is not certain that this verse refers to any special act of Tammuz-worship. The month in which the vision was seen, the sixth month (September), was not the month of the Tammuz-rites. But that such rites had been performed in Jerusalem there can be little doubt. Women are mentioned as employed in the service of idols in Jeremiah 7:18. There is some reason for believing that the weeping of women for Tammuz passed into Syria and Palestine from Babylonia, Tammuz being identified with Duv-zi, whose loss was lamented by the goddess Istar. The festival was identical with the Greek “Adoniacs.” The worship of Adonis had its headquarters at Byblos, where at certain periods of the year the stre

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,...

THEN HE BROUGHT ME TO THE DOOR OF THE GATE OF THE LORD'S HOUSE, WHICH [WAS] TOWARDS THE NORTH,.... By "the Lord's house" no doubt is meant the temple, which the Targum here calls the house of the sanctuary of the Lord; that gate of the temple (for the temple had several gates) which was to the north was the gate called Teri or Tedi, and was very little used y. In this part of the temple were the sacrifices offered; and therefore it was the greater abomination to commit idolatry where the Lord was more solemnly worshipped: AND, BEHOLD, THERE SAT WOMEN WEEPING FOR TAMMUZ: they were not in the court of the women, where they should have been; but at the northern gate, near the place of sacrifice; and they were sitting there, which none but the kings of the house of Judah, and of the family of David, were allowed in the temple z; but, what was the greatest abomination, they were weeping for...

TAMMUZ That is, the Greek "Adonis"....

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 WORSHIP OF TAMMUZ. Then follows a scene in which the women lament for Tammuz a clear allusion to a Babylonian cult. Tammuz (pp. 631 f.), impersonation of the fructifying, gladdening sun, god of the spring vegetation, is represented as later in the year descending to the realm of the dead. Thither he was followed by the goddess Ishtar, and this accounts for the part here taken by the women in the cult. Here we strike upon the danger-point in the old nature religions; they easily developed licentious features. Whether these were practised in Israel in Ezekiel's time or not, such a cult constituted a grave menace. (For an illuminating account of Tammuz, who roughly corresponds to Adonis, see J. F. McCurdy, _History, Prophecy, and the Monuments,_ §§ 1186- 1190.)...

TAMMUZ. With Art. An idol personifying vegetable and animal life, worshipped in Phoenicia and Babylonia....