Ezekiel 8:7

And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. HE BROUGHT ME TO THE DOOR OF THE COURT - i:e., of the inner court (); the court of the priests and Levites, into which now others were admitted, in violation of the law (Grotius). BEHOLD, A HOLE IN THE WALL - i:e., an aperture or window in the wall of the priests' chambers, through which he could see into the various apartments, wherein was the idolatrous shrine....

Here now the Prophet is brought to another place, where another kind of abomination is shown. If an idol had been erected in some _recess _of the temple only, even that impiety when joined with sacrilege could not have been borne. But when all parts of the temple were contaminated with such filth, hence we collect that the people was utterly desperate. For the Prophet says, _that he was led into a more secret place, _and since there was a hole there, he dug it by God’s command, so that it became a door by which he could enter. This only ought to be understood of a vision. For the Prophet had brought nothing with him with which he could so dig a wall, but when he could only behold that hidden abomination through a chink, God opened the wall. But the Prophet seems to himself to _make _a door of entrance by his own hand. But he says, _there were painted birds, reptiles, and animals: _then h...

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 8:7. _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,-...

THE DOOR OF THE COURT - The seer is brought to another spot. In Ezekiel’s time there were various buildings on the space around the inner court which formed a court or courts, not improbably enclosed by a wall. The idolatries here were viewed as taking place in secret, and it is more in accordance with the temple arrangements to suppose that such chambers as would give room for those rites should belong to the outer than to the inner court. The seer is now outside the wall of the outer court, by the door which leads from it out of the temple-boundary. By breaking through the wall he enters into a chamber which stands in the outer court against the wall near the gate....

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 BROUGHT ME TO THE DOOR OF THE COURT,.... Of the inner court, the court of the priests and Levites. Dr. Lightfoot x says this was the east gate, and most common way of entrance; and in that gate the sanhedrim used to sit in these times; and there the prophet sees their council chamber painted about with imagery: AND WHEN I LOOKED, BEHOLD A HOLE IN THE WALL; of one of the chambers of the priests and Levites, where they lay. x Prospect of the Temple, c. 28. p. 2018....

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.)...

A. one: i.e.. single, or certain; as _though_ it were mysterious or remarkable....