This article is part of a series on Old Testament Christophanies. For important background information, see An Introduction to Old Testament Christophanies–with Justin Martyr.
At the opening of Ezekiel 8, a little over a year had passed since Ezekiel had his first two visions of the Lord. As Ezekiel was sitting in his house with the elders of Judah, the hand of Yahweh fell upon him “in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month” (v. 1), which is equivalent to September 17, 592 BC. It was then that Ezekiel saw a familiar sight:
Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal. He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain (Ezek 8:2–4).
Ezekiel saw the same “man”[1] he had previously seen on a throne in his first vision (Ezek 1:26–27). In the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary it is explained that the “man” was “Messiah, the Angel of the covenant, in the person of whom alone God manifests Himself ([Ezek] 1:26; John 1:18).”[2]
The man burned and glowed with Yahweh’s glory and majesty as He did before. Ezekiel didn’t physically leave his location. But within the vision’s reality, the man grabbed some of Ezekiel’s hair, and the Spirit lifted him into the sky and carried him to the temple in Jerusalem. The Lord needed Ezekiel to see things from His perspective. There was an idol that provoked the Lord to jealousy in the temple. The glory of the God of Israel was also there. It appeared like it had in the plain, which means it was like the appearance seen in Ezekiel’s first vision by the river Chebar (Ezek 3:23). Ezekiel, then, saw the fiery and glowing man with a rainbow around Him (Ezek 1:26–28). The Son of God was in the temple! His glorious presence stood in stark contrast to the idol.
The Lord showed Ezekiel the abominations that the people were committing, including the abominations that the elders of Israel were secretly committing in the temple. The elders foolishly said that the Lord didn’t see them. In and around the temple were men and women worshiping and honoring false gods. The Lord promised to respond in wrath (vv. 5–18). The nation’s idolatry would soon lead to the Lord removing His glory from the temple.
[1] In Ezekiel 8:2, the Hebrew reads “fire,” while the Septuagint reads “man.” Regardless, the idea is that Ezekiel saw what looked like a fiery man.
[2] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, Ezek 8:2, 471.
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