ESOCS Devotional 20 March 2022
TEXT: EZEKIEL 8:1-3
MEMORY VERSE: “Now 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.” Ezekiel 8:1 KJV
0 And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted lace ”
From our text, Ezekiel was taken by means of a vision from Babylon to the Temple in Jerusalem to see the great abominable practices in it. The people and their religious leaders were idolaters and thoroughly corrupt. In Ezekiel’s first vision (Chapters 1- 3), he saw judgment from God. This one in our text showed that their sin was the reason for the judgment.
Judah’s sin here was spiritual idolatry. They compromised their total commitment to God and this
provoked jealousy in God. In this vision which took place in about 591 B.C., in the sixth year of the imprisonment of King Jehoiachin, the Spirit of God took Ezekiel to the idol that was placed at the entrance of the temple. If we read through Chapter 8, we see the many atrocities of the people.
In all these, they thought God would not see or know of their wicked abominations. For instance, there was a hole in the wall and images of animal in the inner part of the temple. According to commentary, the “image of jealousy” is mentioned in verse 3 and could be of Asherah, the Canaanite goddess of fertility, whose character encouraged sexual immorality and self-gratification, placed in the temple by King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:7). This practice was against God’s Sinai command to them (Exodus 20:3-5). Why? He is their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt. In Chapter 9, we read that the idolaters died, and in Chapter 10, the glory of God departed from them.
The lessons are clear – the sin of idolatry provokes God. It attracts His judgment – death.
- So many things are gods to many people today. Where is your own allegiance?
- Pray for steadfastness.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional here
FURTHER READING: Ezekiel 8:4-18; Ezekiel 9:10, 11
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ESOCS Devotional 20 March 2022
