Ezekiel 8:16-18 – Show proper regards for God.

From the scene of women weeping for Tammuz, Ezekiel was brought into the inner court of the house of the Lord. Verses 16 said that “…between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.”  In 2 Kings 21 we are told that King Manasseh brought back idolatry which his father King Hezekiah removed. Verse 5 explicitly said that “he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.” During Josiah’s reform, 2 Kings 23:12 tells us that this godly king broke and smashed the altar that Manasseh built in the courts of the house of the Lord made them into dust and threw into the brook Kidron.  Yet the worship of the sun and starry host of heaven was not eradicated.

Here 25 men were seen bowing down, probably semi-prostrate, venerating the sun. They were said to be facing the east. We surmise that it was referring to the time when the sun was rising. Could these 25 men be priests? Very likely. What horrendous was as the face the sun they turned their back on Yahweh! How silly to turn their back on God!

In describing their abominable acts, verse 17 also describes God saw how little they had valued him.  Appalled by their activities, here’s God’s summation of them.  “‘Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger?’ Behold, they put the branch to their nose.” They were insulting God to His face. So, God declared in verse 18 saying, “Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” With that announcement, Israel should anticipate calamities which we will see as we progress in our reflection.

Never treat God with disrespect! We should not expect God to hear us when we blatantly disregard Him. If we desire God to respond to us, we must not regard iniquities in our heart. Psalm 66: 18 says, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”   But if we delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart. So let us pray like David did in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”