Text -- Ezekiel 8:14-18 (NET)
Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley: Eze 8:14 - -- Of the outer court, or court of the women, so called, because they were allowed to come into it.
Of the outer court, or court of the women, so called, because they were allowed to come into it.
Wesley: Eze 8:14 - -- Performing all the lewd and beastly rites of that idol, called by the Greeks, Adonis.
Performing all the lewd and beastly rites of that idol, called by the Greeks, Adonis.
Wesley: Eze 8:15 - -- These later wickednesses may be accounted greater, because acted in a more sacred place.
These later wickednesses may be accounted greater, because acted in a more sacred place.
The innermost, that which was next the temple, called here the Lord's house.
Wesley: Eze 8:16 - -- Before he saw abominations in the gates of the courts, now he is come to the very house itself.
Before he saw abominations in the gates of the courts, now he is come to the very house itself.
Wesley: Eze 8:16 - -- That stately porch, beautified with the curious and mighty brass pillars, Jachin and Boaz.
That stately porch, beautified with the curious and mighty brass pillars, Jachin and Boaz.
Wesley: Eze 8:16 - -- The brazen altar for burnt-offerings, which was placed in the court before the front of the temple, and is here represented in its proper place.
The brazen altar for burnt-offerings, which was placed in the court before the front of the temple, and is here represented in its proper place.
In contempt of God, and his worship.
Wesley: Eze 8:16 - -- In imitation of the Persians, Egyptians, and other eastern idolaters; these Jews turn their back on God who created the sun, and worship the creature ...
In imitation of the Persians, Egyptians, and other eastern idolaters; these Jews turn their back on God who created the sun, and worship the creature in contempt of the Creator.
Wesley: Eze 8:17 - -- All injustice is here meant towards all sorts of men, whom they first despise and next destroy.
All injustice is here meant towards all sorts of men, whom they first despise and next destroy.
From injustice against man they return to impiety against God.
Wesley: Eze 8:17 - -- As the worshippers of Bacchus waved their Thyrsus, the stalk wreathed with ivy, and bowed their bodies and often kissed the branches, so did these ido...
As the worshippers of Bacchus waved their Thyrsus, the stalk wreathed with ivy, and bowed their bodies and often kissed the branches, so did these idolatrous Jews.
Wesley: Eze 8:18 - -- The time was, when God was ready to have heard, even before they cried: but now they cry aloud, and yet cry in vain. It is the upright heart which God...
The time was, when God was ready to have heard, even before they cried: but now they cry aloud, and yet cry in vain. It is the upright heart which God regards, and not the loud voice.
JFB: Eze 8:14 - -- 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 wome...
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.
JFB: Eze 8:14 - -- From a Hebrew root, "to melt down." Instead of weeping for the national sins, they wept for the idol. Tammuz (the Syrian for Adonis), the paramour of ...
From a Hebrew root, "to melt down." Instead of weeping for the national sins, they wept for the idol. Tammuz (the Syrian for Adonis), the paramour of Venus, and of the same name as the river flowing from Lebanon; killed by a wild boar, and, according to the fable, permitted to spend half the year on earth, and obliged to spend the other half in the lower world. An annual feast was celebrated to him in June (hence called Tammuz in the Jewish calendar) at Byblos, when the Syrian women, in wild grief, tore off their hair and yielded their persons to prostitution, consecrating the hire of their infamy to Venus; next followed days of rejoicing for his return to the earth; the former feast being called "the disappearance of Adonis," the latter, "the finding of Adonis." This Phœnician feast answered to the similar Egyptian one in honor of Osiris. The idea thus fabled was that of the waters of the river and the beauties of spring destroyed by the summer during the half year when the sun is in the upper heat. Or else, the earth being clothed with beauty, hemisphere, and losing it when he departs to the lower. The name Adonis is not here used, as Adon is the appropriated title of Jehovah.
JFB: Eze 8:15-16 - -- The next are "greater abominations," not in respect to the idolatry, but in respect to the place and persons committing it. In "the inner court," imme...
The next are "greater abominations," not in respect to the idolatry, but in respect to the place and persons committing it. In "the inner court," immediately before the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, where the priests advanced only on extraordinary occasions (Joe 2:17), twenty-five men (the leaders of the twenty-four courses or orders of the priests, 1Ch 24:18-19, with the high priest, "the princes of the sanctuary," Isa 43:28), representing the whole priesthood, as the seventy elders represented the people, stood with their backs turned on the temple, and their faces towards the east, making obeisance to the rising sun (contrast 1Ki 8:44). Sun-worship came from the Persians, who made the sun the eye of their god Ormuzd. It existed as early as Job (Job 31:26; compare Deu 4:19). Josiah could only suspend it for the time of his reign (2Ki 23:5, 2Ki 23:11); it revived under his successors.
JFB: Eze 8:16 - -- In the Hebrew a corrupt form is used to express Ezekiel's sense of the foul corruption of such worship.
In the Hebrew a corrupt form is used to express Ezekiel's sense of the foul corruption of such worship.
JFB: Eze 8:17 - -- Proverbial, for "they turn up the nose in scorn," expressing their insolent security [Septuagint]. Not content with outraging "with their violence" th...
Proverbial, for "they turn up the nose in scorn," expressing their insolent security [Septuagint]. Not content with outraging "with their violence" the second table of the law, namely, that of duty towards one's neighbor, "they have returned" (that is, they turn back afresh) to provoke Me by violations of the first table [CALVIN]. Rather, they held up a branch or bundle of tamarisk (called barsom) to their nose at daybreak, while singing hymns to the rising sun [STRABO, 1.15, p. 733]. Sacred trees were frequent symbols in idol-worship. CALVIN translates, "to their own ruin," literally, "to their nose," that is, with the effect of rousing My anger (of which the Hebrew is "nose") to their ruin.
Clarke: Eze 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 sat...
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 Adonrdes. 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 honor 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: "We had the good fortune to see what is the foundation of the opinion which Lucian relates, viz., that this stream at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody color, proceeding from a kind of sympathy, as the heathens imagined, for the death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountain out of which this stream issues. Something like this we saw actually come to pass, for the water was stained to a surprising redness; and, as we observed in travelling, had stained the sea a great way into a reddish hue."This was no doubt occasioned by a red ochre, over which the river ran with violence at this time of its increase. Milton works all this up in these fine lines: -
"Thammuz came next behind
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allure
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer’ s day
While smooth Adonis, from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, suffused with bloo
Of Thammuz, yearly wounded. The love tal
Infected Sion’ s daughters with like heat
Whose wanton passions in the sacred porc
Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led
His eye surveyed the dark idolatrie
Of alienated Judah.
Par. Lost, b. 1:446
Tammuz signifies hidden or obscure, and hence the worship of his image was in some secret place.
Clarke: Eze 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 th...
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.
Clarke: Eze 8:17 - -- They put the branch to their nose - This is supposed to mean some branch or branches, which they carried in succession in honor of the idol, and wit...
They put the branch to their nose - This is supposed to mean some branch or branches, which they carried in succession in honor 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 carried branches of trees in their sacred ceremonies is well known to all persons acquainted with classic antiquity; and it is probable that the heathen borrowed those from the use of such branches in the Jewish feast of tabernacles. There are many strange, and some filthy, interpretations given of this clause; but the former are not worth repeating, and I abominate the latter too much to submit to defile my paper with them. Probably the Brahminic Linga is here intended
It really seems that at this time the Jews had incorporated every species of idolatry in their impure worship, - Phoenician, Egyptian, and Persian. I might add that some imagine the image of jealousy to be a personification of idolatry itself.
Calvin: Eze 8:15 - -- Here the Prophet refers to another profanation of the temple, since the chief citizens of Jerusalem and those who ought to point out the way to other...
Here the Prophet refers to another profanation of the temple, since the chief citizens of Jerusalem and those who ought to point out the way to others, prostituted themselves to impious worship, lie says, therefore, that he saw about five and twenty men, and it is probable, that there were as many as this among the first rank of citizens. But a certain number is put for an uncertain, and I think that the Prophet. was not so scrupulous on this point, or rather the Spirit of God, who showed that number in the vision; whatever it was, they not only worshipped the sun in private houses, but in the temple itself, and that not without gross and pointed contempt of God. For when they turned their back upon the sanctuary, they made a laughing-stock of God. It hence appears, that they were of so daring a front, that they openly boasted in their superstitions, and purposely polluted God’s temple. This, indeed, was monstrous, to see the elders of the city, and those practiced in the teaching and worship of the law, so alienated from all piety as to worship the sun. For this could not happen through either error or ignorance. For God in his law when he forbids the worship of the sun and stars, adds as a reason, that the whole celestial host was created for our use. (Deu 17:3.) Since, therefore, the sun is our servant and the moon our handmaid, and the stars also were created to serve us, it is preposterous to depart from the divinely ordained order, that the sun which was given us to spend his time in our service should be to us a god. Since, therefore, God has borne witness to this in his law, there was no excuse for error when the Jews adored towards the east.
Now he adds also another grosser dishonor done to God, when they turned their backs upon his sanctuary. They could, as I have said, pollute themselves at home and in conceal-merit with such defilements. But while they came of their own accord into the temple, it is just as if they provoked God by open daring, Now, when they turn their back, this is not only a foul denial but a contempt of God, as if they had said, that he was unworthy of their respect. Now, therefore, we see the whole force of the passage. But he says, turn yet again, and thou shalt see great abominations: some translate greater, as I have formerly mentioned, but I do not think it suitable. I do not contend for it, but if a reason is asked why this abomination is greater than others, it is not clear to me; hence I prefer to take it more simply in the positive degree. Nor is it an objection to this that
Calvin: Eze 8:17 - -- God complains as formerly of the wickedness of the people, especially of their perfidious and wicked revolt, because they so defiled the temple which...
God complains as formerly of the wickedness of the people, especially of their perfidious and wicked revolt, because they so defiled the temple which ought to be sacred to God alone. He adds besides another complaint, that they were not content in their wickedness, which tended to violate human society and common rights, and the pursuit of mutual equity, unless even religion should be weakened by them. For under the word
As to the latter part of the verse, some, as I have said, take
Calvin: Eze 8:18 - -- This seems to me a confirmation of the last clause. For he had said, that they sent forth their boughs or east them forth, but yet to their destructi...
This seems to me a confirmation of the last clause. For he had said, that they sent forth their boughs or east them forth, but yet to their destruction. He now repeats the same thing in other words. Therefore I will also act in, my turn — that is, as they now boldly increase their superstitions, and so continually provoke me, at length I will act, says he. There is a tacit contrast, since God forsooth had ceased for a long time, because there is a certain form of rest when he ceases from his judgments: God seems to rest when he does not take vengeance on man’s wickedness, when he indulges them and passes them by for a time. Since, therefore, he had so suspended his judgments against the Jews, he seemed to cultivate ease in heaven: with this view he says, that he would do it in his anger, and he adds, that his vengeance would be so dreadful that there would be no place for pity. This ought indeed to strike us when God pronounces himself implacable. For what is more formidable than to have God hostile, and to be verily without any hope of pardon? As often as God withdraws his mercy he shows us material for trembling, nor is it wonderful that he threatened the Jews so harshly, because he had proved by all methods that they were desperate in their wickedness. For truly nothing had been omitted towards curing them, unless they had been of an abandoned disposition and of most obstinate manners. Since, therefore, they were such, it is not surprising that God was extremely enraged against them, so that he left them no hope of pardon. But this ought to be referred generally to the whole body of the people: meanwhile it is by no means doubtful, as we shall afterwards see, that God excepts his elect from the ordinary multitude. If any one object, that God always hears prayers, I reply that he never rejects prayers which spring from faith: but here that tumultuous clamor is alluded to which necessity occasions to unbelievers. For although they fly to God as their natural sense impels them, yet they do not this with composed minds, nor even relying upon the promises of God: but because the torture of their minds does not suffer them to rest, so that by a natural impulse they are carried to God and cry to him without any faith or sincere affection. He speaks, therefore, concerning that kind of ejaculation which is described to us in the case of Esau, and hence he says with a loud voice, (Gen 27:34; Psa 3:4; Psa 22:2; and Psa 32:3, and elsewhere often.) Although the faithful also raise their voice: nay even cry out loudly, as David testifies of himself, yet it is peculiar to the incredulous to utter their clamor with full cheeks though the mind is void of faith, and is even obstinate in its wickedness. Hence they do not open the heart when they thus cry to God. Hence it is not wonderful if God rejects them and is deaf to their complaints. Now it follows —
Defender: Eze 8:14 - -- Even Jewish women were participating in the phallic cult of Tammuz, a Babylonian nature god who supposedly died and rose again every year, correspondi...
Even Jewish women were participating in the phallic cult of Tammuz, a Babylonian nature god who supposedly died and rose again every year, corresponding to the emergence of spring out of winter."
Defender: Eze 8:16 - -- In effect, these worshipers had chosen to worship Satan, under the figure of the sun god, turning their backs on the temple of the true God."
In effect, these worshipers had chosen to worship Satan, under the figure of the sun god, turning their backs on the temple of the true God."
TSK: Eze 8:16 - -- the inner : Eze 10:3, Eze 40:28, Eze 43:5, Eze 45:19
at the door : 2Ki 16:14; 2Ch 7:7; Joe 2:17
about : Eze 11:1
with their : Eze 23:35; 1Ki 8:29; 2Ch...
the inner : Eze 10:3, Eze 40:28, Eze 43:5, Eze 45:19
at the door : 2Ki 16:14; 2Ch 7:7; Joe 2:17
about : Eze 11:1
with their : Eze 23:35; 1Ki 8:29; 2Ch 29:6; Jer 2:27, Jer 32:33
their faces : Deu 4:19, Deu 17:3; 2Ki 23:5, 2Ki 23:11; Job 31:26-28; Jer 44:17; Act 7:42, Act 7:43
and they : It seems that the Jews had incorporated every species of idolatry into their worship, Egyptian, Phoenician, and Persian; for this evidently was the Magian worship of the sun.
TSK: Eze 8:17 - -- Is it a light : etc. or, Is there anything lighter than to commit, etc
for : Eze 7:23, Eze 9:9, Eze 11:6; Gen 6:13; 2Ki 21:16, 2Ki 24:4; Jer 6:7, Jer ...
Is it a light : etc. or, Is there anything lighter than to commit, etc
for : Eze 7:23, Eze 9:9, Eze 11:6; Gen 6:13; 2Ki 21:16, 2Ki 24:4; Jer 6:7, Jer 19:4, Jer 20:8; Amo 3:10, Amo 6:3; Mic 2:2, Mic 6:12; Zep 1:9
they put : So the Vulgate has, applicant ramum ad nares suas ""they apply the branch to their nose;""which Jerome explains by ""a branch of the palm tree with which they adored the idols;""and it seems plainly to allude to the Magian fire-worshippers, who, Strabo tells us, held a little bunch of twigs in their hand, when praying before the fire.
TSK: Eze 8:18 - -- will I also : Eze 5:11-13, Eze 7:4-9, Eze 9:5, Eze 9:10, Eze 16:42, Eze 24:13; Nah 1:2
and though : Jdg 10:13, Jdg 10:14; Pro 1:28; Isa 1:15, Isa 59:2...
collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes: Eze 8:14 - -- The seer is now brought back to the same gate as in Eze 8:3. It is not certain that this verse refers to any special act of Tammuz-worship. The mont...
The seer is now brought back to the same gate as in Eze 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 Jer 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 stream, becoming stained by mountain floods, was popularly said to be red with the blood of Adonis. From Byblos it spread widely over the east and was thence carried to Greece. The contact of Zedekiah with pagan nations Jer 32:3 may very well have led to the introduction of an idolatry which at this time was especially popular among the eastern nations.
This solemnity was of a twofold character, first, that of mourning, in which the death of Adonis was bewailed with extravagant sorrow; and then, after a few days, the mourning gave place to wild rejoicings for his restoration to life. This was a revival of nature-worship under another form - the death of Adonis symbolized the suspension of the productive powers of nature, which were in due time revived. Accordingly, the time of this festival was the summer solstice, when in the east nature seems to wither and die under the scorching heat of the sun, to burst forth again into life at the due season. At the same time there was a connection between this and the sun-worship, in that the decline of the sun and the decline of nature might be alike represented by the death of Adonis. The excitement attendant upon these extravagances of alternate wailing and exultation were in complete accordance with the character of nature-worship, which for this reason was so popular in the east, especially with women, and led by inevitable consequence to unbridled license and excess. Such was in Ezekiel’ s day one of the most detestable forms of idolatry.
Barnes: Eze 8:16 - -- The inner court - The court of the priests. About five and twenty men - Rather, as it were five etc. This was the number of the heads of ...
The inner court - The court of the priests.
About five and twenty men - Rather, as it were five etc. This was the number of the heads of the 24 courses (shifts) with the high priest presiding over them. These then were the representatives of the priests, as the seventy were of the people. In the temple the seat of the Divine Majesty was at the west, perhaps appointed for this very purpose, to guard against the idolatrous adoration of the rising sun. Therefore the idolatrous priests must in worshipping the false sun-god turn their backs upon the True. The worship of the heavenly bodies was one of the earliest forms of idolatry Job 31:26-27 and was expressly forbidden in the Law Deu 17:3. In its earliest form, it was conducted without the intervention of images, the adoration being addressed to the heavenly bodies themselves: this form, continued among the Persians, seems to have been introduced afresh into Jerusalem at the time of Ezekiel. Compare, also, 2Ki 23:11-12. The images (compare Eze 6:4, Eze 6:6) were probably columns set up in honor of the sun, not images in human form. This simpler mode of sunworship was soon changed. The sun, or the god supposed to preside over it, was represented as a person, whose image was set up and adored.
Barnes: Eze 8:17 - -- "Violence"represents sin against man, "abominations"sins against God. These went hand in hand in Jerusalem. And have returned - After the refo...
"Violence"represents sin against man, "abominations"sins against God. These went hand in hand in Jerusalem.
And have returned - After the reformation effected for a time by Josiah’ s zeal, they have gone back to their old state.
They put the branch to their nose - An allusion to a then familiar practice, of which we find no clear traces elsewhere. Ezekiel is describing the attitude usual in such devotions, the branch held before the mouth, but wishing to represent it in contemptuous and derogatory terms, he substitutes the word "nose"for "mouth."
Poole: Eze 8:14 - -- He brought me not by real and corporal change of place, but in vision and by representation.
Of the gate of the outer court, or court of the women,...
He brought me not by real and corporal change of place, but in vision and by representation.
Of the gate of the outer court, or court of the women, so called because they were allowed to come into it, as were all the laity of the Jews: but it is more likely the gate of the inner court, the court of the priests, next to the house of God, whither none save priests might come; but in this very great corruption of the state others were admitted into it, which makes this sin the greater.
Towards the north he enters at first by the north gate, and so passeth on to what places were next to the temple on that side.
There sat women: contrary to the law were they come thither, led by their blindest, because the vilest and most impudent, superstition, and waiting (expressed by
sitting ) ready to commit most lewd wickednesses, as part of their obscene and beastly rites. Weeping: this is the only part which is specified of their irreligious religion, commemorating with tears an infamously lustful and unclean whoremonger, or votary of Venus, snatched from her by an unhappy wound of a boar, say some; this weeping implieth all the beastly rites of that idol.
Tammuz a magician, say some; a handsome young man, but notorious for love of women, say others; an adulterer (say some) slain by his brother, king of Egypt, and mangled in pieces, whose torn members were thrown into the river, but gathered up by the fond adulteresses, and rites of worship fitted to so lewd an idol; whose adulteries, lascivious practices, and immodest gestures these she priests acted over before the idol with men of like lewdness, of whom what they received, as rewards of their prostituting themselves, was offered to Venus. By this means God’ s temple was turned into a lewd stews.
Poole: Eze 8:15 - -- Besides these thou hast seen, thou shalt again see great abominations. Or if the expression be strictly comparative, then these latter wickednesses ...
Besides these thou hast seen, thou shalt again see great abominations. Or if the expression be strictly comparative, then these latter wickednesses may be accounted greater, because acted in a more sacred place.
Poole: Eze 8:16 - -- The inner court the inmost, that which was next to the temple, called here the Lord’ s house.
At the door of the temple: before he saw abomina...
The inner court the inmost, that which was next to the temple, called here the Lord’ s house.
At the door of the temple: before he saw abominations in the gates of the courts, now he is come to the very house itself.
The porch that stately, large porch, beautified with the high, curious, and mighty brass pillars, Jachin and Boaz, of which see 1Ki 6:3 7:15,21 .
The altar the brazen altar for burnt-offerings, which was placed in the court before the front of the temple, and is here represented in its proper place, 2Ki 16:14 . This is not contradictory to Eze 8:5 , which speaks of the place where Ahaz had wickedly placed the altar, but this, Eze 8:16 , speaks of the same altar, as supposing it to be where it ought, as God commanded it should be, and Solomon placed it, 2Ch 8:12 .
About five and twenty an indefinite and undetermined number.
Five and twenty men either some principal men, or else some priests. If these, the greater sin in them to turn idolaters; if the other, the idolatry committed by them in a place they should not have entered appears presumptuous and greatly wicked.
With their backs toward the temple in contempt of God, with an open and designed abrenunciation of God and his worship.
Worshipped the sun: though God had prohibited this, Deu 17:3 , with Deu 4:17-19 ; yet, in imitation of’ the Chaldees, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and the Eastern idolaters, these Jews turn their back on God, who created the sun, and worship the creature in contempt of the Creator.
Poole: Eze 8:17 - -- Then after the prophet had seen all, and had time to consider all he saw.
He said unto me God appeals to the prophet. Doth the house of Judah think...
Then after the prophet had seen all, and had time to consider all he saw.
He said unto me God appeals to the prophet. Doth the house of Judah think these no sins, or but little sins, or that I account not those provocations to anger? Do they so sottishly undervalue me and my law and ordinances, &c.? These idolaters, as others of the same stamp, are great oppressors; every where their oppressions may be found in great and high degrees.
Violence all injustice is here meant towards all sorts of men, whom they first despise, and next destroy.
Have returned from injustice against man, they return to impiety against God.
They put the branch to their nose consecrate first these branches in the sun, and then next prize them, as what had touched the idol, and was bettered by it. Or, perhaps, took some branches out of the garland, wherewith they decked the idol, the altar, the victim, or themselves; and as the Orgyasts, i.e. worshippers of Bacchus, did wave their Thyrsus, the stalk or stem wreathed with ivy about it, carrying it in their hands whilst they danced, bowed their bodies, and often kissed the branches, so did these idolatrous Jews.
Poole: Eze 8:18 - -- What I will do is greater than to be expressed; they with a furious heat for their idols provoked me, and I will with a just indignation provoke the...
What I will do is greater than to be expressed; they with a furious heat for their idols provoked me, and I will with a just indignation provoke them, nay, destroy them.
Mine eye shall not spare: see Eze 7:4,8,9 .
Though they cry: the prophet doth not give it the name of praying, but it is a cry, a loud cry, after the manner of other idolaters, who think to be heard for the noise they make.
I will not hear them yet doth not this at all prejudice the truth or the mercy of God to those that pray, nor may it discourage from the duty, but it should awaken us that we pray with heart, and not only cry loud with voice.
Haydock: Eze 8:14 - -- Adonis, the favourite of Venus, slain by a wild boar, as feigned by the heathen poets, and which being here represented by an idol, is lamented by th...
Adonis, the favourite of Venus, slain by a wild boar, as feigned by the heathen poets, and which being here represented by an idol, is lamented by the female worshippers of that goddess. In Hebrew the name is Tammuz, (Challoner) which means "concealed," as Adonis signifies "my lord." This idol, which the Egyptians called Osiris, was placed in a coffin, and bewailed till it was pretended he was come to life, when rejoicings took place. Obscene pictures were carried about; and the more honest pagans were ashamed of these practices, which began in Egypt, and became almost general. Moses alludes to them, Leviticus xix. 27., and Deuteronomy xiv. 1. (Calmet) ---
David and Solomon say that the image was made of brass, with eyes of lead, which seemed to weep, melting when it was hot. (Worthington) ---
But this is destitute of proof.
Haydock: Eze 8:16 - -- Men. Twelve priests and as many Levites officiated daily. The high priest made the twenty fifth, 1 Paralipomenon xxiv. ---
Sun. They prayed to G...
Men. Twelve priests and as many Levites officiated daily. The high priest made the twenty fifth, 1 Paralipomenon xxiv. ---
Sun. They prayed to God, turning their faces to the west: but here they despised him, and adored the sun, Job xxxi. 26. (Calmet) ---
This posture was common. Illi ad surgentem conversi lumina solum. (Virgil, ֶneid xii.) (Serv.) ---
Christians did the like, though the reason is not ascertained. (Calmet) ---
It might be because Christ is the orient, and not to resemble the Jews. There was no danger of their being taken for idolaters. (Haydock)
Haydock: Eze 8:17 - -- Nose, to hide their faces respectfully, (Calmet) when they look at the sun rising. (Haydock) ---
A thyrsus was used in honour of Bacchus, who is ...
Nose, to hide their faces respectfully, (Calmet) when they look at the sun rising. (Haydock) ---
A thyrsus was used in honour of Bacchus, who is often confounded with the sun. Various improbable versions of this text are given. It may signify Hebrew, "they threw their instruments down before their faces," like the twenty-four elders, Apocalypse v. 8. (Calmet)
Gill: Eze 8:14 - -- 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, ...
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. Jarchi says this was an image, which they heated inwardly, and its eyes were of lead; and these being melted with the heat, it seemed to weep; wherefore (the women) said, it asks for an offering: but not the idol, but the women, wept. Kimchi relates various interpretations of it;
"some (he says) expound it by an antiphrasis, "making Tammuz glad"; in the month of Tammuz they made a feast to the idol, and the women came to make him glad: others say, that with great diligence they brought water to the eyes of the idol called Tammuz, and it wept; signifying that it desired they would worship it: others interpret the word Tammuz as signifying "burnt"; (from the words in Dan 3:19;
but, leaving these interpretations, Tammuz was either the Adonis of the Grecians; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it Adonis; who was a young man beloved by Venus, and, being killed by a boar, his death was lamented by her; and, in respect to the goddess, an anniversary solemnity was kept by men and women lamenting his death, especially by women. So Pausanias, speaking of a certain place, there (says he) the women of the Argives (a people in Greece) mourn for Adonis b. Lucian c gives a particular account of this ceremony, as performed at Byblus, a city in Phoenicia, not far from Judea; from whence the Jews might have borrowed this custom.
"I have seen (says he), in Byblus, a large temple of Venus Byblia, where they performed the rites unto Adonis, and I was a spectator of them. The Byblians say the affair relating to Adonis (or his death) by a boar happened in their country; and, in memory of it, every year they beat themselves, lament and offer sacrifice, and great mourning goes through the whole country; and when they beat themselves and mourn, they sacrifice to Adonis as dead; but the day following they pretend he is alive; and they shave their heads, as the Egyptians do at the death of Apis;''
and indeed it is thought by some that this Tammuz is the Osiris of the Egyptians; the same with Mizraim, the first king of Egypt, who, being slain in battle, his wife his ordered that he should be worshipped as a god, and a yearly lamentation made for him; and indeed Osiris and Adonis seem to be one and the same, only in different nations called by different names. Mention is made in Plato d of Thamus, a king that reigned at Thebes over all Egypt, and was the god called Ammon; no doubt the same with this Tammuz; and who is here called, in the Syriac and Arabic versions, Thamuz or Tamuz; he seems to be the same with Ham; and Egypt was called, the land of Ham, Psa 105:27; and it is most probable the Jews borrowed this piece of idolatry from the Egyptians their neighbours; with whom they were now very familiar, and from whom they expected help against the Chaldeans; but as there were such shocking obscenities used in this idolatrous service, it is most amazing that the Jewish women, who had been instructed in the law and worship of God, should ever go into it. Gussetius e thinks that Bacchus, the god of wine, is meant; and gives several reasons for it; and among the rest observes, that in the fourth month, called Tammuz from him, the vine was forming in ripe grapes; near the beginning of a fifth month, it was pressed out, and tunned up; and by the next month, having done fermenting, it was stopped up, which represented him buried; and for which the weeping was in this month.
Gill: Eze 8:15 - -- Then said he unto me, hast thou seen this, O son of man?.... This shocking piece of idolatry, women weeping for Tammuz:
turn thee yet again, and ...
Then said he unto me, hast thou seen this, O son of man?.... This shocking piece of idolatry, women weeping for Tammuz:
turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these; or, "great abominations besides these" f.
Gill: Eze 8:16 - -- And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house,.... The court of the priests, where they offered sacrifice, and into which none might come...
And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house,.... The court of the priests, where they offered sacrifice, and into which none might come but themselves:
and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar; the porch that led into the temple, and the brasen altar, the altar of burnt offerings, which was a very sacred place, and reckoned more holy than the court of the priests g.
were about five and twenty men; the number, more or less, not being exactly known; who they were, whether the priests or princes of the people, is not certain; probably some of both:
with their backs towards the temple of the Lord; that is, the most holy place, which they were obliged to, in order to do what is afterwards affirmed of them; for the sanctuary was built to the west, that in their worship the Jews might not look to the east, as the Gentiles did; wherefore these men, that they might imitate the Gentiles in their idolatry, turned their backs to the most holy place; which is an aggravation of their impiety; casting the utmost contempt on God, his worship, and the place of it:
and their faces towards the east: when the sun rises:
and they worshipped the sun towards the east; as many nations did, though forbidden the Jews by an express law of God, Deu 4:19; yet this they fell into, and had horses and chariots devoted to this idolatry; see 2Ki 21:3. The word rendered "worshipped" is compounded of two words; one signifying to "corrupt", the other to "worship": showing that, by worshipping the sun, they corrupted themselves, and the house of God; and so the Targum renders it,
"and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping in the east the sun;''
and so it is explained in the Jerusalem Talmud,
"they corrupted the temple, and worshipped the sun;''
but Kimchi thinks the word h consists of the verb in the past tense, and of the participle; and that the sense is, when the prophet saw the men worshipping the sun to the east, as amazed at it, put this question to those that went in, "do ye worship also?" i so Ben Melech.
Gill: Eze 8:17 - -- Then he said unto me, hast thou seen this, O son of man?.... Took notice of and considered this piece of idolatry, worshipping the sun toward the eas...
Then he said unto me, hast thou seen this, O son of man?.... Took notice of and considered this piece of idolatry, worshipping the sun toward the east:
is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? could these things, which are such dreadful abominations, committed here in the temple, be reckoned light things by them, as surely they cannot? yet these are not all that they have done:
for they have filled the land with violence; with rapine and oppression; doing injury to the poor and needy, the widow and the fatherless, in all places:
and have returned to provoke me to anger; by other instances of idolatry:
and, lo, they put the branch to their nose; a laurel, or olive, or vine branch, which idolaters carried in their hands, and put to their nose, in honour of the idol they worshipped; in like manner as they kissed their hand at the sight of the sun, Job 31:26; and which the Jews did in imitation of the Heathen. This is one of the eighteen places in which there is "tikkun sopherim", or a "correction of the scribes"; who, instead of "my nose", direct to read "their nose"; hence the words are differently interpreted by the Jewish commentators; who, by
""they send the branch to my wrath", or "to their own wrath"; that is, to what they have deserved; as if it was said, in the same manner that anyone puts wood to the fire, the branch of the wild vine, that it may the more quickly be burnt; so do these put the branch to my wrath, that it may burn the more fiercely; hence it follows, "therefore will I also deal in fury", &c.''
The Targum is,
"and, lo, they bring shame (or confusion) to their faces;''
what they do turns to their own ruin and destruction; as follows:
Gill: Eze 8:18 - -- Therefore will I also deal in fury,.... Being provoked by such abominable idolatries, and such horrid insolence, and most contemptuous treatment:
m...
Therefore will I also deal in fury,.... Being provoked by such abominable idolatries, and such horrid insolence, and most contemptuous treatment:
mine eye shall not spare: neither will I have pity: see Eze 5:11;
and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice; very pressingly and earnestly for help, being in great distress:
yet will I not hear them; as they turned their backs on him, he will turn a deaf ear to them, and not regard their cries. The Targum is,
"they shall pray before me, with a great voice, and I will not receive their prayer.''