Though Ezekiel was already in Babylon as part of the first wave of the Exile (Ezekiel 1:3), God gave him a vision of religious life back in the land of Israel: the hand of God “took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions from God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north” of the temple (8:3).

Everywhere Ezekiel looked he saw idolatry. There was an Image of Jealousy prominently displayed in the entrance (8:5-6). There were elders offering worship to all kinds of idols in dark rooms below the temple (8:9-11). Out at the north gate there were women weeping for Tammuz (8:14). And in the inner court there were twenty-five men bowing down to the east, offering worship to the Sun (8:16). One abomination after another; and God kept telling Ezekiel, “Have you seen this, O mortal? You will see still greater abominations than these” (8:6, 13, 15).

What motivated all this idolatry? Two things, apparently: “The Lord does not see us” and “the Lord has forsaken the land” (8:12). That is, (1) we don’t think God is paying close attention to our actions and attitudes, so it’s up to us to set our own standards, according to how we feel. And (2) if the God of Abraham has abandoned us and isn’t going to rescue us from the Babylonians, let’s try some other gods to see if we have better luck with them.

This mindset of idolatry, along with the way they “fill the land with violence” (8:17), provoked God’s anger: “I will act in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; and though they cry in my hearing with a loud voice, I will not listen to them” (8:18). Though we often presume that God will always shrug and forgive us as soon as we show even the slightest repentance, the story of Judah going into the Exile teaches us it is not wise to make that presumption.

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Ah Lord God! We, too, pretend that you do not see us; we, too, pretend we might find answers to warfare and famine if we just bow down before other sources of power – political, military, or economic – things we imagine might save us. But you are the only answer: save us, O God of our salvation!

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