14 Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”
16 Then He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, 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; and they were [e]prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 17 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. 18 Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”
God told Ezekiel he would see even greater abominations, so what do we see next? A bunch of women weeping… what? Okay, so they were weeping for a god, who had died. Their tears were in order to bring the about the rains of Spring, thus to resurrect this god Tammuz. There’s a bit more to it, but the worst was the immorality that accompanied their fertility festivals, and I’ll leave it at that for now.
Next, Ezekiel is brought into the inner court of God’s temple, where twenty-five men were bowing before the sun. These are thought to have been representatives of the priests, who ought normally to have been facing the temple to pray a blessing on it each morning. Instead, their backs were literally turned to the Creator, as they bowed before His very creation.
Truthfully, it’s hard to rank sin, as it all separates us from God. It would seem the violence committed in the land would rank right up there, but the separation becomes quite clear in this passage. They were so cold to God that they practiced their idolatry right in the temple itself. I’m sure glad that never happens today… That’s sarcasm, in case you missed it, because that sort of thing very much does happen.
In Israel, they had forsaken God’s ways, but the physical manifestation of that was they had forsaken the care of their brothers and sisters. Instead of caring for widows, orphans, and the poor, they wept over the fake deaths of false gods. Violent deeds accompanied their worship, as we see elsewhere, and their priorities were all out of whack.
It’s not difficult to get all worked up over any number of things today either. Many of them aren’t worth our time, but instead they rob our time and turn us away from our Creator God. We need to check our priorities, and check our rage also. Are we engaged in God’s work? Are we serving people with God’s heart, whether that is at work, or church, or our families–or all of the above as it should be?
Stop scrolling social media and take a stroll through real life to see how you can be God’s hands and feet to a world that is lost, lonely, and yes, even angry. Show love in a world filled with hate, and be the light God called you to be.