Pagan Practices in the Temple
August 14, 2021
Commentary
As the Lord took hold of Ezekiel and showed him unusual and symbolic visions, it was his responsibility to relay God’s word to the people to whom he ministered-and this was surely no easy task!
Some scholars believe the “image of jealousy” related to the Adonis-Festival which was a sex-oriented religion. The “women weeping for Tammuz” was also related to the fertility rites. Tammuz was probably the Syriac name for Adonis. According to the myth, the god died each year and was resurrected. His death was commemorated with weeping and his return was hailed with joy. The women, in their various activities, would yield themselves to prostitution.
Immorality and injustice go hand in hand. People who are depraved and licentious in their personal living standards do not really desire justice for all people. They may pretend to do so in order to “present a good front,” but their claims are only pretense. When people reject the God of righteousness, unbridled indulgences of all kinds usually follow closely.
The truth for today is that we become like that which we constantly admire and worship. If our God has no character, there is no constraint to personal morality. God’s command to his people was that they should be holy because He was holy. We must be careful not to spend so much time thinking about the benefits of creation that we lose sight of the Creator.
Application
The only way I will ever be able to keep my mind and thoughts pure and my actions right is to keep them washed in the Word of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel 8:7– 18 (NET)
7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.
9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.” 10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure of creeping thing and beast—detestable images —and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.
12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’” 13 He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!”
14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!”
16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, facing east—they were worshiping the sun toward the east!
17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! 18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
Illustration: The Reason Jim Jones Had so Many Followers
I believe that most everyone remembers Jim Jones of the Peoples’ Temple Church, or at least have read about him or saw the movie about him. It is said that the reason he had so many followers when he began his ministry was because he had concern for people; a genuine concern. He showed them acceptance, forgiveness, love. He helped with their needs. He made people who had been rejected by society and by their own families feel special and wanted. He was big on ministry. However, when it came to holiness and purity Jim Jones fell way short. His immorality and his thirst to be accepted and liked by others became His down-fall. All the good he had ever accomplished ended tragically in mass suicide and murder in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. (Fred Sigle – Sermon Central).