Ezekiel Chapter 8 – “When God Pulls Back the Curtain: The Hidden Things in the Temple”
Okay, so let’s just sit down with this for a minute, because Ezekiel chapter 8 is one of those chapters where things start to feel like a whole hidden camera show is unfolding in real time, and the prophet Ezekiel, poor guy, is pulled right into the middle of it. Like imagine sitting in your home, just minding your business, maybe sipping on something warm and thinking about your exile-life in Babylon, when all of a sudden the glory of God shows up—again—and literally grabs you by the hair and lifts you up into a vision. I mean, what even? It’s wild. But more than that, it’s deeply sad and very confronting.
This chapter is the beginning of a long section (chapters 8 through 11) where God shows Ezekiel what’s really going on back in Jerusalem. It's like God is saying, “Let me show you why judgment had to come. Let me reveal the spiritual rot.” And oof, it’s dark. It’s not just about messed-up kings or corrupted politics anymore—it’s the temple itself, the place that was supposed to be holy and pure and the center of worship to Yahweh, that has become full of secret sins and idol worship. And God ain’t having it.
Let’s walk through this chapter slowly, trying to feel it and see it with Ezekiel, like we’re standing right there next to him, stunned and confused and heartbroken.
Verses 1–4: The Hand of the Lord Again
It starts in Ezekiel’s house, and it says elders of Judah were sitting before him. That’s kind of interesting, right? Like, even in exile, these community leaders were gathering around Ezekiel, possibly to listen, or maybe out of curiosity about what this strange prophet might say next. But just as they’re there, boom—the hand of the Lord falls on him.
And then there’s that same vision of the glory of God that Ezekiel saw back in chapter 1. Except this time, it’s not the full crazy wheels-within-wheels and four-faced creatures thing—it’s more focused. He describes a figure like fire from the waist down and like brightness from the waist up. It’s that same divine being. And this figure reaches out and takes Ezekiel by a lock of his hair, and the Spirit lifts him between heaven and earth.
Now, let’s not miss the intensity of that. Being grabbed by your hair and yanked into the air—that’s not gentle. This isn’t a sweet little whisper from the Spirit; it’s forceful. Urgent. Ezekiel is being transported in visions of God to Jerusalem, specifically to the entrance of the inner gate that faces north.
And there’s where things start going wrong.
Verses 5–6: The Image of Jealousy
Ezekiel sees something horrifying. There’s an idol set up right at the entrance to the gate—an “image of jealousy.” We don’t get a name for this idol. Scholars guess it might’ve been an Asherah pole or something else, but the point is clear: it’s something that provokes God to jealousy. And not the petty kind of jealousy we humans have, but holy, righteous jealousy—like a spouse seeing their partner cheat, and not just once, but repeatedly and shamelessly.
God asks Ezekiel, “Do you see what they’re doing? The great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make me go far away from my sanctuary?” And then He says, “You’ll see even greater abominations than this.”
Pause for a second.
This is the temple. The dwelling place of God’s presence on earth. And it’s being defiled by idols. The very place where people were supposed to worship the one true God has become a space for other gods, other loves, other affections.
It’s heartbreaking. And God is saying, “This is why I’m leaving. This is why judgment came. Because they made it so that I had to go.”
Verses 7–12: Secret Sins in the Dark Room
Next, God takes Ezekiel to a different part of the temple—into a wall. Like, literally through a hole in the wall. And He tells Ezekiel to dig into it. There’s something very symbolic here—God is saying, “If you just scratch beneath the surface, you’ll see the truth.” So Ezekiel digs through the wall, and what does he find? A doorway. A hidden chamber.
And inside that chamber—get this—there are all kinds of drawings and images of creeping things, abominable beasts, and idols. And seventy elders of the house of Israel are standing there, each one with a censer in his hand, burning incense to these disgusting images.
This is a whole secret worship service. In the temple.
These are the leaders. The ones who should’ve been leading the people in righteousness. And here they are, hidden away in a dark room, offering worship to crawling creatures and idols on the walls. Like ancient spiritual graffiti that mocks the holiness of God.
And they say to themselves, “The Lord doesn’t see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.”
Wow.
This right here is such a core part of the human condition, right? We sin in secret, thinking nobody sees. Thinking maybe God has turned away, or maybe He just doesn’t care anymore. And that lie opens the door for all kinds of corruption. These elders believed the lie, and they acted on it, and now the temple is full of darkness, not just physically, but spiritually.
Verses 13–15: Weeping for Tammuz
And just when you think it couldn’t get worse—God says, “You’ll see even greater abominations than this.”
Now Ezekiel is brought to the entrance of the north gate of the temple. And what does he see? Women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.
Tammuz was a Mesopotamian fertility god—kind of like a god of the cycles of life and death, planting and harvest. There was this myth that he would die and go into the underworld, and people would mourn and weep for him so he would return in the spring. It was a whole seasonal religious ritual.
But here’s the thing: this pagan mourning ritual is happening at the gate of the temple of the Lord.
What does that say about the spiritual state of the people? They’re emotionally invested in false gods. It’s not just casual idolatry—it’s deep, heart-level devotion to lies. They’re weeping for Tammuz, probably hoping he’ll come back and bless their land, while the true God is grieved, forgotten, pushed aside.
Verses 16–17: Sun Worship in the Inner Court
And again, God says, “You think that’s bad? Watch this.”
Now He brings Ezekiel into the inner court of the temple—closer than ever to where God’s presence was supposed to dwell. And there, between the porch and the altar, are about 25 men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, facing east, worshiping the sun.
Let that sink in.
They’ve literally turned their backs on God’s house. And they’re facing the rising sun, bowing down in worship to a created thing, instead of the Creator. It’s like the ultimate insult. Turning your back on God’s glory, choosing light from another source—one that doesn’t save, doesn’t love, doesn’t even live.
God says to Ezekiel, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a small thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they commit here?”
Nope. It ain’t small. It’s huge. It’s tragic.
And then God says they’ve filled the land with violence and provoked Him still more. And even when they stretch out their hands in prayer, He won’t hear them. That’s the end result of sin unchecked, of hearts that harden against truth.
Pulling It Together – So What Does All This Mean for Us?
Ezekiel 8 is like a spiritual diagnostic. God is pulling back the curtain and saying, “Look what’s really going on inside.” And it’s ugly. It’s painful. But it’s necessary.
Because before God brings restoration (and He will), He first has to expose the sickness. Before healing comes, truth has to shine into the hidden places.
This chapter is about idolatry, yes—but more than just golden statues or pagan gods. It’s about the heart. It’s about what we do when we think nobody’s watching. It’s about where our true affections lie. And it’s about what happens when we let our worship drift away from the living God.
Let’s be real—there’s a little bit of this in all of us. The “secret room” where we hide stuff. The false comforts we run to. The times when we maybe think God’s far away, so it doesn’t matter what we say or do. But it does matter. Not because God wants to crush us, but because He wants to cleanse us. He wants our hearts back. He wants us to be free.
And the temple—well, in the New Testament, we’re told we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Which means this chapter should hit real close to home. What’s going on inside our temple? What’s hidden behind our walls? What images are scribbled onto our spiritual chambers?
Are we weeping for idols? Are we bowing to the sun when we should be facing the Son?
That’s the call here—not to sit in condemnation, but to invite the Spirit of God to examine us, to cleanse us, to shine light into our hidden places.
Final Thoughts
Ezekiel chapter 8 is hard to read. But it’s necessary. It reminds us that God cares deeply about worship, about the purity of our devotion, about the sincerity of our faith.
And it also shows us that God sees everything. Even the hidden things. Especially the hidden things.
But here’s the hope: God doesn’t show us the darkness to leave us in despair. He reveals so He can redeem. He exposes so He can heal. And the story of Ezekiel doesn’t end in chapter 8. The glory of God will depart—but He’ll return again. There’s judgment, but there’s also restoration coming.
So let’s pray bold prayers today:
“Lord, search me. Show me what’s hidden in my heart. If there’s any image of jealousy, if there’s any place where I’ve turned my back on You, reveal it. And by Your mercy, cleanse it. I don’t want to hide in the dark. I want to walk in Your light.”
Because, y’all, it’s better to have the hard truth with God than to live in sweet lies far from Him.
And if Ezekiel can get pulled by his hair to see what’s real, maybe we can just bow our heads and ask God to show us gently. But either way—let’s see, let’s repent, and let’s come back to Him with whole hearts.
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