Ezekiel: For His GlorySample

If you go online, you can find virtual tours of potential houses for rent or sale. In this chapter, Ezekiel is given another vision, a virtual tour of God’s house. It’s a tour of the abominations taking place in the temple in Jerusalem, with four locations:  

1. Northern inner court (vv. 1–6). Here is an idol that provokes God to jealousy. Israel was meant to be faithful to God because they were in an exclusive covenant relationship with Him (see Exod. 20:1–6). Instead, they had been unfaithful, and so provoked God to jealousy and anger. Yet there’s more.  
2. Entrance to the outer court (vv. 7–13). Ezekiel is asked to dig into the wall and finds a secret entrance. Why so secretive? Because seventy elders are committing vile abominations, worshipping their creepy-crawly gods. Their excuse? They claim that God has forsaken them, that God can’t see what they are doing. Yet there’s more.  
3. North gate of the temple (vv. 14–15). Here the women are involved in mourning the death of a Babylonian god, hoping to speed the return of fertility for crops and livestock. Yet there’s more.  
4. The inner court of the temple (v. 16). The last stop is right in the heart of the temple. Here we find twenty-five men with their backs to the temple, worshipping the sun in the east! The men have turned away from God, both literally and symbolically. 

So what we see are various acts of spiritual adultery, committed from the front gate of God’s house to the master bedroom. Yet there’s more. The people’s final act of defiance, either another form of false worship or a gesture of insult to God, provokes God to anger (v. 17). Frighteningly, He is implacable in His anger; nothing will stop His judgment (v. 18). 

This tour highlights the syncretism in Israel: merged together are Canaanite, Egyptian, and Babylonian worship, and perhaps even worship of God. Yet God will not tolerate this mix-and-match religion. 

Reflection

Do you add other religions or superstitions to your faith? We belong to God alone (1 Pet. 2:9), so we need to be careful not to provoke Him to jealousy (1 Cor. 10:22).