with meditations by my mother, Poetess Gertrude Sanborn
August 31
Ezekiel
6:7–Ezekiel 10:21
EZEKIEL'S VISION OF A DESECRATED TEMPLE
Ezekiel 8:1
"And it came to pass . . . that the
hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me."
One day, Ezekiel was sitting in his
house with some of the elders of Judah. It was on the
fifth day of the sixth month (Ezekiel 8:1). That would
be the Jewish month "E’LUL," which is comparable to our
August/September. It is interesting that E’LUL is right
around the time of the year we are in now. The weather
during the sixth month is very hot and there is much
heat lightning, but little rain. It was the time of
reaping (See II Kings 4:18-20). While enjoying himself
with his friends, "the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon
him." I wonder what that was like!
A very strange thing occurred here.
EZEKIEL had a vision. Now I don’t know if the "elders"
that sat in front of him saw what Ezekiel saw or not. I
tend to believe it was only Ezekiel, but I do not really
know. It was a weird and unbelievable vision. There was
"the appearance of fire." (The color of "amber" is
mentioned again.) That means it was not fire, but looked
like fire. Remember Moses and the burning bush? Remember
the fiery pillar that led Israel from Egypt to the
Promised Land? Remember the wheels in chapter one?
EZEKIEL seemed to be looking at the
Lord GOD! (Perhaps it was a Theophany or a CHRISTOPHANY.)
Then a form of a hand grabbed him by his hair. He must
have had long enough hair to grab. All of a sudden the
frightened prophet was in the air! It was like an
helicopter ride without the helicopter. There, in
Ezekiel’s vision, he was dropped right in front of the
Northern inner gate. From where he tumbled, he could see
the horrible image called JEALOUSY! It was there that
Israel committed disgusting abominations that should not
be practiced anyplace, let alone in the House of the
Lord. But, EZEKIEL was not alone. Ezekiel 8:6 says "The
glory of the God of Israel was there." What a comfort
for the man to know that he was not alone during this
frightening experience.
At the court’s door there was a
"hole." How the Temple had been ignored! Ezekiel crawled
in that hole. His eyes could not believe what they were
seeing. The beautiful building that David longed for,
and like what we call today a "crack-house," was filled
with sinful pictures and practices. Graffiti of hateful
beasts, doing hateful things, and idols portraying
wicked immoral deeds were painted on the marred walls.
To make matters worse, EZEKIEL saw
seventy of the "ancient" men of Israel. There in the
middle of the degraded "spiritual" leaders was JAAZANIAH.
This man was the leader of the seventy elders if Israel.
There he was, offering idolatrous worship to a false
god. To make matters worse, every elder was waving
censers that gave forth thick clouds of incense. It was
an unbelievable sight. "A form of godliness but denying
the power thereof . . ." (II Timothy 3:5) In what a
backslidden condition were the priests and Levites in
the Land of Promise! How God’s heart must have grieved!
No wonder He forsook them for a season.
Wherever Ezekiel looked, the sight of
sin was worse than the last look. There were several
women weeping for Tammuz. (He was an ancient Babylonian
deity.) He was the god of pasture, vegetation, flocks,
and subterranean water. One of the yearly rites of
Tammuz was for a temple priestess to marry the king, in
honor of the fertility goddess.
When EZEKIEL thought things could not
get much worse, he was taken into the inner court of the
Temple. That was between the porch and the altar.
Stunned, he observed twenty-five men facing the EAST
worshipping the sun. As we remember, Egyptians were "sun
worshippers"
Such defilement of the HOUSE OF GOD
was more than EZEKIEL could stand. Quickly he organized
six men to get their "slaughter weapon" and stand by the
brazen altar. It was noted that "the glory of the Lord"
was no longer there. One man was dressed in linen,
holding an inkwell. He was supposed to put a mark on the
foreheads of those who were sickened at such temple
abomination. All the others-–men, women, and
children--were to be killed. Slaughter would start at
the House of God (I Peter 4:17). "The iniquity of Israel
is exceedingly great!" God’s eye would not spare. God
had no pity! (ysw)
"LET GOD
ESTABLISH YOUR THOUGHTS"
(Proverbs 16:3)
"Commit thy
works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be
established."
Use this rule of
faith in all writing and speaking.
In writing
letters, in poems, in stories, we should desire that He
establish our thoughts!
(ggs)
And Sarah
heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he
said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly
return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo,
Sarah thy wife shall have a son. (Genesis 18:10)
AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE:
Make plans now to attend the 33rd annual meeting of the Dean Burgon Society.
The theme of this years conference is the four hundred anniversary of the King
James Bible. The date for the meeting is July 27-28, 2011. The place is
Collingswood, New Jersey. This is a meeting you do not want to miss. Please
arrange your schedule to be there in person. To view the 2010 conference please
follow this link: http://www.deanburgonsociety.org/Videos/dbs2010.htm
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