Last King of Judah
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instructed to foretell, by means of a variety of symbols and solemn
messages, the siege and utter destruction of Jerusalem.
In the sixth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the Lord revealed to
Ezekiel in vision some of the abominations that were being practiced
in Jerusalem, and within the gate of the Lord’s house, and even in the
inner court. The chambers of images, and the pictured idols, “every
form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of
the house of Israel”—all these in rapid succession passed before the
astonished gaze of the prophet.
Ezekiel 8:10
.
Those who should have been spiritual leaders among the people,
“the ancients of the house of Israel,” to the number of seventy, were
seen offering incense before the idolatrous representations that had
been introduced into hidden chambers within the sacred precincts of
the temple court. “The Lord seeth us not,” the men of Judah flattered
themselves as they engaged in their heathenish practices; “the Lord
hath forsaken the earth,” they blasphemously declared.
Verses 11, 12
.
There were still “greater abominations” for the prophet to behold.
At a gate leading from the outer to the inner court he was shown
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“women weeping for Tammuz,” and within “the inner court of the
Lord’s house, ... at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the
porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs
toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and
they worshiped the sun toward the east.”
Verses 13-16
.
And now the glorious Being who accompanied Ezekiel throughout
this astonishing vision of wickedness in high places in the land of
Judah, inquired of the prophet: “Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is
it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations
which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence,
and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch
to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not
spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a
loud voice, yet will I not hear them.”
Verses 17, 18
.
Through Jeremiah the Lord had declared of the wicked men who
presumptuously dared to stand before the people in His name: “Both
prophet and priest are profane; yea, in My house have I found their
wickedness.”
Jeremiah 23:11
. In the terrible arraignment of Judah
as recorded in the closing narrative of the chronicler of Zedekiah’s
reign, this charge of violating the sanctity of the temple was repeated.