Ezekiel 8:3

And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. THE SPIRIT LIFTED ME UP ... AND BROUGHT ME IN THE VISIONS OF GOD TO JERUSALEM. Instead of prompting him to address directly the elders before him, the spirit carried him away in vision (not in person bodily) to the temple at Jerusalem. He proceeds to resort to them what he witnessed. His message thus falls into two parts: (1) The abominations reported in Ezekiel 8:1; (2) The...

The Prophet here relates that he was carried to Jerusalem that he might behold the foul superstitions by which the Jews had defiled the temple. But first he says, _that the form of a hand was put forth _Whence again we collect that the body was not solid or substantial which the Prophet had seen; but was only a visible figure as a symbol of God’s presence. This explains the word likeness or figure, for it was not a real hand which seized the Prophet by the locks or hair of the head, but it was the likeness of a hand, and therefore he adds_, in the visions of God it was done. He _says indeed that he was carried up between heaven and earth, but let no one imagine that this was really done, for he explains himself and says, _in the visions of God _By _visions of God _he understands a revelation free from all doubt: for there is a silent opposition between these divine revelations and the sp...

1-6 The glorious personage Ezekiel beheld in vision, seemed to take hold upon him, and he was conveyed in spirit to Jerusalem. There, in the inner court of the temple, was prepared a place for some base idol. The whole was presented in vision to the prophet. If it should please God to give any man a clear view of his glory and majesty, and of all the abominations committing in any one city, he would then admit the justice of the severest punishments God should inflict thereon....

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 was the image of _Tammuz_ or _Adonis_. _Calmet_ supports this opinion by the following reasons: - 1. The _name_ agrees perfectly with him. He was represented as a beautiful youth, beloved by Venus; at which Mars, her paramour, being incensed and filled with _jealousy_, sent a large boar against Adonis, which killed him with his tusks. Hence it was the image of him who fell a victim to _jealousy_. 2. The prophet being returned towards the northern gate, where he had seen the _image of jealousy_,...

IN THE VISIONS OF GOD - Ezekiel was not transported “in the body,” but rapt “in spirit,” while he still sat amidst the elders of Judah. THE INNER GATE - Or, the gate of the inner court. This gate, leading from the outer to the inner court (the court of the priests), is called Ezekiel 8:5 “the gate of the altar,” because it was from this side that the priests approached the brass altar. The prophet is on the “outside” of this gate, so that the “image of jealousy” was set up in the outer or people’s court over against the northern entrance to the priest’s court. This image was the image of a false god provoking Yahweh to “jealousy” Deuteronomy 32:16, Deu 32:21;...

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,...

AND HE PUT FORTH THE FORM OF AN HAND,.... That is, he that appeared in the likeness of a man, and with so much glory and splendour, out of the midst of the fire and brightness which were about him, put forth the form of a hand, that looked like a man's hand; for this appearance was not real, only visionary; and this seems to design the Spirit of God sent forth by Christ, sometimes called the finger of God, Luke 11:20; as appears by what follows: AND TOOK ME BY A LOCK OF MINE HEAD; without hurting him, showing his power over him; and by this means raising him from his seat, as it seemed to the prophet: AND THE SPIRIT LIFTED ME UP BETWEEN THE EARTH AND HEAVEN; took him off of his seat, and out of his house, lifted him up in the air, and carried him through it, as he thought; for this was not real and local; in like manner as the spirit caught away Philip,...

VISIONS Visions, that is, of former profanations of the temple, and of the wickedness because of which Israel was then in Babylon, show the prophet that he might justify to the new generation born in Assyria and Babylonia during the captivity, the righteousness of God in the present national chastening. The visions are retrospective; Israel had done these things, hence the captivities. This strain continues to (Ezekiel 33:20). It is the divine view of the national sinfulness and apostasy, revealed to Ezekiel in a series of visions so vivid that though the prophet was by the river Chebar, (Ezekiel 1:1); (Ezekiel 1:3); (Ezekiel 3:23

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

EZEKIEL 8-13. OTHER VISIONS OF SIN AND JUDGMENT. Ezekiel 8. The Idolatry of Jerusalem Illustrated. Ezekiel 8:1. The Jealousy Image. The visions which fill chs. 8- 11 occurred about a year after those that precede (Ezekiel 1:1), _i.e._ in 591 B.C. This chapter gives concrete illustrations of the kind of sin that justified the doom already announced: significantly enough, they all centre round idolatry (_cf._ Ezekiel 8:6), and most horrible of all the scene of it is the Temple itself. Thither, on the occasion of a visit of certain Judæ an elders to his house Ezekiel had been transported in ecstatic trance by the Divine Being, whose glory he had seen and described in ch. 1: there he had witnessed some think by a