Bible Studies
The Glory of the Lord Departs from the Temple (Ezek. 10:1-5)
Series: God Speaks to Our People In ExileIntroduction:
1. It is five years (8:1; 591 B.C.) before the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple (586 B.C.). 2. Ezekiel continues to prophesy of these coming events. 3. God has shown him the “idol of jealousy” that has provoked the wrath of God. He has seen the seventy elders of Israel offering incense to their idols. He has seen the women weeping for the fertility god Tammuz. He has even seen 25 men with their backs to the temple and their faces toward the east worshiping the sun. 4. And now God’s wrath is coming upon them. Ezekiel has seen six executioners and a man clothed in linen with a writing case. The executioners destroy so thoroughly that Ezekiel asks, “Lord God! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?” 5. The vision of chapter 10 describes cherubim and whirling wheels that accompany the departure of the glory of the Lord from the temple. 6. God’s presence had been with the people of Israel since the Exodus from Egypt. The glory of the Lord was associated with the tabernacle and when Solomon constructed the temple the glory of the Lord dwelt in the most holy place with the Ark of the Covenant.Discussion:
I. What Ezekiel saw in chapter 10 is representative of the greatness of the glory of God.A. The whole tenth chapter is used to describe the magnificence of the glory of God.
B. What Ezekiel saw.
1. He saw cherubim.
a. There is a great deal of debate about who these cherubim are.
b. The meaning of the term is uncertain.
c. Some describe them as a rank of angelic beings, like archangels.
d. They were associated with the tabernacle and temple in the O.T. The veils in the temple had cherubim on them. The mercy seat had two cherubim whose wings over-shadowed the mercy seat their wings touching above it. We are left with the impression that this represents the very throne of God.
e. What did they look like? Various artists have tried to depict them, but from the descriptions given in Scripture it is hard to know exactly how they should be depicted.
f. Such difficulty is understandable in light of the description given by Ezekiel.
g. They had some human elements: faces, hands. But Ezekiel describes them as having four faces (1:5-14). Ezekiel associates the “living beings” of chapter 1 with the cherubim of chapter 10 (v. 15).
h. Ezekiel describes them has having wings and also wheels (10:9-17).
2. The significance of these living beings is their association with the God of Israel. They are beneath God in the vision as they accompany Him in His departure from the temple (10:20-22).
C. While the cherubim occupy a place of preeminence (this is but the descriptive side of the vision) it is the departure of the glory of God that is of primary significance here.
1. God’s relationship with the people is changing.
2. He is abandoning the temple.
3. He is abandoning the people.
4. Judgment is on its way.
II. The leaders of the people are devising iniquity and giving evil advice (11:1-13).A. Is this a new vision or perhaps a continuation of the same?
1. Perhaps the phrase “the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house,” is meant to imply a new vision, maybe it is just a new element in the same vision.
2. It is unclear, but it does not matter.
3. What is happening is consistent with the pattern of predicting the coming judgment and then explaining why (see chaps. 4-8).
B. Ezekiel sees Jaazaniah and Pelatiah, leaders who devise iniquity and give evil advice.
1. That these men are mentioned by name is powerful. Surely the people would recognize them.
2. God prohibited self-centered leadership (Deut. 17:16-20).
3. Instead of using their power for the common good and using their positions to model the highest standards of morality, they were corrupt. Instead of mourning over the sins of Jerusalem they had piled the city high with their own victims (11:6-10).
C. The imagery of the city being a pot and their being the flesh is not clear. Nor is their statement that is not time to build houses.
1. My guess is that they were saying the city protected them, no worry about building houses. We are important.
2. The Lord turns it around. “Those you have slain are the meat in the pot.” You may think you are prime cuts stored away safely, yet in fact you are butchers who have made stew out of the citizens. Cf. Micah 3:1-3.
3. Additionally, “I will bring you out of the pot.” And not only that “I will judge you to the border of Israel.” See 11:8ff.
4. When Pelatiah died Ezekiel cried out, “Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end?”
III. Even though some are scattered, God will assemble them (11:14-21).A. It seems that those left in Jerusalem spoke harshly to those in exile. “Go far from the Lord; this land has been given us as a possession.”
B. God’s message to those in exile “even though I have scattered you, I will gather you and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered.”
C. “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel” (11:17).
D. They will repent (18-20).
E. But for the unrepentant—judgment (21).
F. So here is the message of hope and the message of judgment.
1. They did return to Jerusalem after the exile (Ezra/Nehemiah).
2. But I believe the prophecy looks beyond that.
a. Hebrews 4:8-11 looks beyond physical Jerusalem.
b. Abraham was looking beyond a physical country (Heb. 11:13-16).
c. The writer of Hebrews focused his readers on what he called “the heavenly Jerusalem” (12:22-23a).
d. Other N.T. writers speak of a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem (e.g. Rev. 21).
3. The language suggests a new covenant (Ezek. 11:20; cf. Jer. 31:31ff; Heb. 8).
Conclusion:
1. Ezekiel’s summary statement is remarkable (11:23-25). 2. The glory of the Lord went up from the city. 3. And Ezekiel is swept away to the exiles. 4. The vision closes and it is as if the exiles are left waiting… 5. God will act to gather His people. The N.T. opens with them waiting (cf. Lk. 2:25ff; Acts 1:6).
