8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there 3 at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, 4 were about twenty-five 5 men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, 6 facing east – they were worshiping the sun 7 toward the east!
11:1 A wind 8 lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 9
1 sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).
2 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.
4 sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).
5 tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.
6 sn The temple faced east.
7 tn Or “the sun god.”
8 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
9 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.