And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
He is brought to the door of the court where he finds a hole in the wall through which to look within, opening the way into dark chambers of imagery where sins are committed in secret. What is exposed there is Judah's and Israel's worst idolatry, leaders worshiping Tammuz, women weeping for Tammuz, and men with their backs on the Lord's temple worshiping the sun toward the east. Such worship turned its back on God and His temple, invaded His sanctuary with pagan and nature-worship in place of the worship of God as Creator and Upholder, and set aside His law and His Sabbath which commemorates His creative power. Together with chapter 9 this exposure typifies the great sealing work of Revelation 7:2-3, in which the faithful who sigh and cry for the abominations are marked in the forehead, the seat of the mind with which the law of God is served, while those judged worthy of condemnation are cut off. The warning is not to a people that know not God but to a people serving Him whose practice on some point of faith or life is not right, who turn from the abominations shown and are set right on the seal of His authority.
Vision Setting and Wording
The prophet is brought to the door of the court, where he looks and sees a hole in the wall. That hole is an opening through which one can look at what lies within. It begins the scene in which Israel's idolatry is exposed, including sun-worship, from which God's faithful people turn. Looking into it gives a pious mind a spiritually troubling prospect, and serves as an image for examining corrupt religious conditions. The detail of the hole in the wall is left without explanation.
The vision was given among the captives taken to Babylonia with King Jehoiachin in 597 B.C., while Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem. It belongs to what was seen on the banks of the Chebar concerning abominations practiced in Jerusalem, including women weeping for Tammuz and other heathen rites. The verse falls within Ezekiel 1-10, which presents a visible representation of the heavenly sanctuary and true tabernacle. It is to be read with Ezekiel 7-9.
The verse contains the same Hebrew word translated replenish in Genesis 1:28, used there in the sense of filling a place with anything. Its primary idea is abundance and overflow, to fill up empty space. It simply means to fill, not to fill again a second time. Therefore no proof for a race of beings on earth before Adam can be drawn from the word replenish.
Idolatry Exposed in Temple
Ezekiel 8:7 begins the exposure of the sins of Judah and of Israel and opens the way into dark chambers of imagery where sins are committed in secret. The hidden idolatry is thus brought where it can be seen, and the surrounding scene exposes the abominations from which the faithful turn. The abominations exposed include leaders worshiping Tammuz, women weeping for Tammuz, turning backs on the Lord's temple to worship the sun toward the east, and other heathen rites. They are identified as the nation's worst idolatry, worship of the sun under the name of the Phoenician god Baal, with practices connected with nature and an evil religious influence that had taken root in Judah.
Sun worship toward the east was idolatry and a grave abomination because those who turned east turned their backs on God and His worship. The sanctuary faced east, so worshipers entering it faced west and turned their backs on the sun, rejecting sun worship and its idolatry. The vision shows pagan and nature-worship invading God's sanctuary and replacing worship of God. It supplanted the truth of God and stood against Him as Creator and Upholder of all things, glorifying lust and making sexual depravity part of religion.
The false worship evidences departure from God's law and the harm that followed, and with its feasting and revelry was forbidden by God's law. Sun-worship with its rites set aside the Sabbath, which commemorates Jehovah's creative power. Transgression does not require carving or molding or casting a visible image and bowing to it, for the image concept is in the mind before it is made in concrete form, and God sees the cherished imaginings of sins and lusts in the soul with its pantheon of gods in the temple of the mind. Worship of farms, houses, automobiles, art, books, and the work of one's own hands is true idolatry, for whatever object a person daily bows to with homage he worships, even when it is not shaped as a man or ox or goat, and all such open or secret false worship breaks the second commandment, from which the grace of Christ can save. The idolatrous worship, including sun-worship, illustrates Israel's apostasy, backsliding, and captivity in Babylon.
Sealing Prophecy and Application
Ezekiel 8 together with chapter 9 typifies the great sealing work described in Revelation 7. In that typification Israel serves as a symbol of the last days in a striking prophecy of the future. The faithful are marked, and those judged worthy of condemnation are cut off. It is the same work as Revelation 7:2-3, the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads. The seal or mark is set in the forehead because the forehead is the seat of the mind, and with the mind the law of God is served.
The message is not to a people that know not God, but to a people serving God whose practice on some point of faith or life is not right. They are set right on the seal of His authority and marked as those that sigh and cry for all the abominations. They turn from the abominations shown in the surrounding vision, which begins with being brought to a court entrance to see a hole in the wall and exposes Israel's idolatry including sun-worship. The passage is an example of evil that should be brought to light rather than kept hidden. It serves as an image for examining corrupt religious conditions, the sight of which gives a pious mind a spiritually troubling prospect.
It shows men going from one cavern to another, cutting holes through walls to enter secret places where all kinds of loathsome things were worshiped where the sun was not allowed to shine. The hidden chambers picture little, scheming, contemptible men who forget the image of God, plot the downfall of the nation and deceive the people. They grope and stagger in ignorance toward a fearful day of judgment under the moving finger of God. Against such hidden evil the great movement of the armies of reform advances without halt until men forget God, because progress cannot be divorced from religion.
He is brought to the door of the court where he finds a hole in the wall through which to look within, opening the way into dark chambers of imagery where sins are committed in secret. What is exposed there is Judah's and Israel's worst idolatry, leaders worshiping Tammuz, women weeping for Tammuz, and men with their backs on the Lord's temple worshiping the sun toward the east. Such worship turned its back on God and His temple, invaded His sanctuary with pagan and nature-worship in place of the worship of God as Creator and Upholder, and set aside His law and His Sabbath which commemorates His creative power. Together with chapter 9 this exposure typifies the great sealing work of Revelation 7:2-3, in which the faithful who sigh and cry for the abominations are marked in the forehead, the seat of the mind with which the law of God is served, while those judged worthy of condemnation are cut off. The warning is not to a people that know not God but to a people serving Him whose practice on some point of faith or life is not right, who turn from the abominations shown and are set right on the seal of His authority.
Vision Setting and Wording
The prophet is brought to the door of the court, where he looks and sees a hole in the wall. That hole is an opening through which one can look at what lies within. It begins the scene in which Israel's idolatry is exposed, including sun-worship, from which God's faithful people turn. Looking into it gives a pious mind a spiritually troubling prospect, and serves as an image for examining corrupt religious conditions. The detail of the hole in the wall is left without explanation.
The vision was given among the captives taken to Babylonia with King Jehoiachin in 597 B.C., while Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem. It belongs to what was seen on the banks of the Chebar concerning abominations practiced in Jerusalem, including women weeping for Tammuz and other heathen rites. The verse falls within Ezekiel 1-10, which presents a visible representation of the heavenly sanctuary and true tabernacle. It is to be read with Ezekiel 7-9.
The verse contains the same Hebrew word translated replenish in Genesis 1:28, used there in the sense of filling a place with anything. Its primary idea is abundance and overflow, to fill up empty space. It simply means to fill, not to fill again a second time. Therefore no proof for a race of beings on earth before Adam can be drawn from the word replenish.
Idolatry Exposed in Temple
Ezekiel 8:7 begins the exposure of the sins of Judah and of Israel and opens the way into dark chambers of imagery where sins are committed in secret. The hidden idolatry is thus brought where it can be seen, and the surrounding scene exposes the abominations from which the faithful turn. The abominations exposed include leaders worshiping Tammuz, women weeping for Tammuz, turning backs on the Lord's temple to worship the sun toward the east, and other heathen rites. They are identified as the nation's worst idolatry, worship of the sun under the name of the Phoenician god Baal, with practices connected with nature and an evil religious influence that had taken root in Judah.
Sun worship toward the east was idolatry and a grave abomination because those who turned east turned their backs on God and His worship. The sanctuary faced east, so worshipers entering it faced west and turned their backs on the sun, rejecting sun worship and its idolatry. The vision shows pagan and nature-worship invading God's sanctuary and replacing worship of God. It supplanted the truth of God and stood against Him as Creator and Upholder of all things, glorifying lust and making sexual depravity part of religion.
The false worship evidences departure from God's law and the harm that followed, and with its feasting and revelry was forbidden by God's law. Sun-worship with its rites set aside the Sabbath, which commemorates Jehovah's creative power. Transgression does not require carving or molding or casting a visible image and bowing to it, for the image concept is in the mind before it is made in concrete form, and God sees the cherished imaginings of sins and lusts in the soul with its pantheon of gods in the temple of the mind. Worship of farms, houses, automobiles, art, books, and the work of one's own hands is true idolatry, for whatever object a person daily bows to with homage he worships, even when it is not shaped as a man or ox or goat, and all such open or secret false worship breaks the second commandment, from which the grace of Christ can save. The idolatrous worship, including sun-worship, illustrates Israel's apostasy, backsliding, and captivity in Babylon.
Sealing Prophecy and Application
Ezekiel 8 together with chapter 9 typifies the great sealing work described in Revelation 7. In that typification Israel serves as a symbol of the last days in a striking prophecy of the future. The faithful are marked, and those judged worthy of condemnation are cut off. It is the same work as Revelation 7:2-3, the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads. The seal or mark is set in the forehead because the forehead is the seat of the mind, and with the mind the law of God is served.
The message is not to a people that know not God, but to a people serving God whose practice on some point of faith or life is not right. They are set right on the seal of His authority and marked as those that sigh and cry for all the abominations. They turn from the abominations shown in the surrounding vision, which begins with being brought to a court entrance to see a hole in the wall and exposes Israel's idolatry including sun-worship. The passage is an example of evil that should be brought to light rather than kept hidden. It serves as an image for examining corrupt religious conditions, the sight of which gives a pious mind a spiritually troubling prospect.
It shows men going from one cavern to another, cutting holes through walls to enter secret places where all kinds of loathsome things were worshiped where the sun was not allowed to shine. The hidden chambers picture little, scheming, contemptible men who forget the image of God, plot the downfall of the nation and deceive the people. They grope and stagger in ignorance toward a fearful day of judgment under the moving finger of God. Against such hidden evil the great movement of the armies of reform advances without halt until men forget God, because progress cannot be divorced from religion.