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Ezekiel 8
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| 8:1 And 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. |
"And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the
fifth day of the month...."
So when did it come to pass? The 6th year etc. of what?
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| 8:2
Then I beheld, and
lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward,
fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness,
as the colour of amber. |
Ezekiel gets to see God's loins again.
(See 1:27 for the first time.)
Can God be seen?
Does God have a body?
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| 8:3
And he put forth the
form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit
lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions
of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the
north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to
jealousy. |
Ezekiel sees God's hand come down and pluck out a hair from his head.
Can God be seen?
Does God have a body?
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| 8:4
And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the
vision that I saw in the plain. |
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| 8:5
Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward
the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold
northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. |
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| 8:6
He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the
great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should
go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see
greater abominations. |
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| 8:7
And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a
hole in the wall. |
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| 8:8
Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had
digged in the wall, behold a door. |
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| 8:9
And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they
do here. |
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| 8:10
So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and
abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon
the wall round about. |
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| 8:11
And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of
Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with
every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. |
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| 8:12
Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the
house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery?
for they say, the LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. |
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| 8:13
He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater
abominations that they do. |
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| 8:14
Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was
toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
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"There sat women weeping for Tammuz"
God shows Ezekiel a group of women weeping for Tammuz. Tammuz was the Sumero-Accadian god of plant life.
Each year after the summer solstice there was a period of ritual mourning for the loss of sunlight and
the decline of vegetation. God calls it an abomination.
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| 8:15
Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet
again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
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| 8:16
And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold,
at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were
about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD,
and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the
east. |
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| 8:17
Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light
thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they
commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned
to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. |
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| 8:18
Therefore will I also
deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and
though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
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"Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and
though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them."
God promises again to slaughter everyone. He says that he will ignore them when they plead with him
for mercy.
Will those who call on the Lord be delivered?
What the Bible says about God
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