Ezekiel 8 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Ezekiel 8 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment


1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.

"And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month...."
So when did it come to pass? The 6th year etc. of what?
The what is clearly established in chapter 1:2. This is the sixth year of of the captivity of Jehoiachin. The sixth month was the month Elul, which answers to part of August, and part of September.

2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.

Ezekiel gets to see God's loins again. (See 1:27 for the first time.)
Can God be seen?
Does God have a body?

3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

Ezekiel sees God's hand come down and pluck out a hair from his head. Can God be seen?
Does God have a body?
God did not pluck out a hair, Ezekiel was taken by a lock of his hair. In a vision of course, not physically. On if God can be seen and if God has a body, see chapter 1:27.

4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.

7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.

8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.

10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

"There sat women weeping for Tammuz"
God shows Ezekiel a group of women weeping for Tammuz. Tammuz was the Sumero-Accadian god of plant life. Each year after the summer solstice there was a period of ritual mourning for the loss of sunlight and the decline of vegetation. God calls it an abomination.
It is intolerant that in the gate of God's temple people could not weep for some non existing entity? We're stretching the word tolerant here. But the crazy thing here is that this was a Babylonian god. Their own people, such as Ezekiel, were taken captive to Babylon, and back at home the remnants are praying to the gods of their captors.

15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, 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 worshipped the sun toward the east.

17 Then he said unto me, 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.

18 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.

"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."
God promises again to slaughter everyone. He says that he will ignore them when they plead with him for mercy.
Will those who call on the Lord be delivered?
What the Bible says about God
The word is not slaughter, but punishment. And that God will not hear them is because the measure of their sin was full. And the only reason they wanted God to hear them, was so they could continue in their sins.