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Ezekiel

About this book
Chapter 8

1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord seized me. 2 As I watched, I noticed a form that appeared to be a man. From his waist downward was something like fire, and from his waist upward something like a brightness, like an amber glow. 3 He stretched out the form of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem by divine visions, to the door of the inner gate that faces north where the statue that provokes to jealousy was located. 4 Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley. 5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.⁠ 6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the people of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!” 7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway. 9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.” 10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure of creeping thing and beast—detestable images—and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.⁠ 12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’” 13 He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!” 14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed women sitting there weeping for Tammuz.⁠ 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!” 16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about 25 men with their backs to the Lord’s temple,⁠ facing east—they were worshiping the sun toward the east!⁠ 17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose!⁠ 18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 16:46 and Ezekiel 8:11

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Numbers 16, Aaron’s incense burner stops a deadly plague and saves Israel. Ezekiel inverts the same priestly gesture with seventy elders raising incense burners in secret to idols, making the ritual that stopped wrath now the cause of it.

Passages

Numbers 16:46

Hebrew Bible
45 “Get away from this community, so that I can consume them in an instant!” But they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. 46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord—the plague has begun!” 47 So Aaron did as Moses commanded and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Ezekiel 8:11

Hebrew Bible
10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure of creeping thing and beast—detestable images—and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward. 12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’”
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

… Were the elders in this liturgical netherworld offering incense to Egyptian deities to enlist their support (see Ezekiel 17:15; Jeremiah 37:5, 7, 11)? Were they warding off terrible demonic powers, identified with an imminent enemy assault? The latter suggestion is provocative, given that there is an ironic reversal of Numbers 16:41–50 (the Masoretic Text 17:6–15) here in Ezekiel. The episode of liturgical censing in Numbers 16 aimed to drive away a terrible plague. Numbers 16:41–50 is an episode within a story of rebellion in the wilderness authored by priests of the same theological stripe as Ezekiel. In the episode, the congregation of Israel faces a massive punishment from God on a par with the threat facing Judah in Ezekiel’s time. Like the elders in Ezekiel 8:11, Aaron engages the crisis by sending up incense from a censer. As Everett Fox translates Numbers 16:11, “Moshe said to Aharon: Take [your] pan and place upon it fire from the altar and put smoking-incense [there]; go quickly to the community and effect-appeasement for them, for the fury is [still] going-out from the presence of Yhwh—the plague has begun!” Ironically, the seventy elders of Ezekiel 8:11 manage to turn Aaron’s successful rite of censing completely on its head. As a priest, Aaron lights his incense at the public altar, a sacral point of interconnection with heaven. As laity, the elders offer clandestine incense, connecting with Sheol and death …
Stephen L. Cook, “Irony in Ezekiel's Book,” in Irony in the Bible: Between Subversion and Innovation, ed. Tobias Häner (Leiden: Brill, 2023), 234–235.

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Numbers 16:46 and Ezekiel 8:11

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