Context No. 3556 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 8:6-11: in context

6He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.” 7He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig now in the wall.” When I had dug in the wall, I saw a door. 9He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here.” 10So I went in and looked, and saw every form of creeping things, abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall. 11Seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel stood before them. In the middle of them Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan stood, every man with his censer in his hand; and the smell of the cloud of incense went up.

God brings Ezekiel through a hole in the temple wall into a hidden chamber, and there, portrayed on the walls, are all manner of idols and unclean creatures, and seventy of the elders of Israel standing before them, each with his censer, offering incense in the dark. These are the leaders of the people, carrying on secret idolatry within God's own house.

What is exposed here is idolatry hidden behind respectable walls, practiced by the very leaders who should have guarded true worship. And it is done in the dark, in a concealed room, with the same false confidence noted elsewhere, that the LORD does not see. But God brought his prophet right through the wall to look at it all; nothing was hidden from him. There is a sobering exposure here of the secret compromises and hidden idolatries even of religious leaders, and of the God from whom no hidden chamber is ever concealed. What is walled off from human eyes is fully open to his.

Are there hidden chambers of compromise or idolatry in my life, secret from others, and do I remember that God sees behind every wall into the rooms I think are hidden?

Sources

Ezekiel 8:10: "So I went in and looked, and saw every form of creeping things, abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall."
Ezekiel 8:11: "Seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel stood before them... every man with his censer in his hand."
Ezekiel 8:12: "Do you see what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark...? For they say, The LORD doesn't see us."