1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.
Ezekiel lay on one side for 390 days, then the other side for 40 days for a total of 430 days (or a little more than 14 months). He began this in the fifth year of King Jehoachin’s captivity. It is now six and a half years since Jehoachin was captured, or about four months after God let Ezekiel get up.
2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of His loins even downward, fire; and from His loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber.
Amber is a dark, golden yellow color.
3 And He put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.
This Being Ezekiel saw grabbed him by the hair and carried him to Jerusalem (all in a vision. He is still physically sitting in his house with the Elders of Israel all around him).
ANY idol would provoke God to jealousy, since idol worship is to God the same as adultery would be to a husband or wife.
Some believe, however, that this particular idol was of the god of jealousy, Tammuz. This god was supposed to have had an affair with Venus after which her husband, Mars, killed him.
4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
The Being Ezekiel saw in chapter one is there speaking to him.
5 Then said He unto me, "Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north." So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
6 He said furthermore unto me, "Son of man, see thou what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shall see greater abominations."
"You see them worshiping this god? I’ll show you that they are doing even worse."
7 And He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
8 Then said He unto me, "Son of man, dig now in the wall:" and when I had dug in the wall, behold a door.
9 And He said unto me, "Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here."
We think what we do in private goes unseen, but God knows everything. He is showing Ezekiel what is being done in secret in the Temple in Jerusalem.
10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.
The walls of the secret chamber in the Temple were painted with unclean animals. It is likely these were animals that were being worshiped. It was common in Egypt to have such paintings and they often worshiped those animals God called unclean.
11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
The ruling body of Israel was the Sanhadrian made up of six men from each tribe. The Jewish Bible often shortens this seventy-two to seventy, since it is so much easier to write.
This is, by the way, proof that all twelve tribes were represented (both the northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern kingdom, Judah), not just Judah and Benjamin (the southern kingdom).
These leaders of Israel were burning incense to these unclean animals in worship in secret. They were worshiping the creatures instead of the Creator.
12 Then said He unto me, "Son of man, have thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, 'the Lord sees us not; the Lord has forsaken the earth.'"
Many today also will tell you they believe there is a God, but they do not live their lives as if they believe He is watching them. Like these ancient Israelites, they seem to think He has gone on vacation.
13 He said also unto me, "Turn thee yet again, and thou shall see greater abominations that they do."
This isn’t the worst of Israel’s sin.
14 Then He brought Me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
The women of Jerusalem were participating in the pagan ceremony of mourning for this god that seduced Venus. These were likely women who had committed adultery and thus chose this god as the one they wanted to worship; their patron god so to speak.
15 Then said He unto me, "Have thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shall see greater abominations than these."
As bad as what we have seen so far is, we haven't seen the worst yet.
16 And He brought Me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.
Again, we have people turning their backs on God and worshiping nature instead. This is the path today’s enviro-theists are taking.
17 Then He said unto me, "Have thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose."
In addition to the idolatry, the Israelites have oppressed the poor and committed violence. They snub their noses at God and His commandments.
18 "Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them."
God is fed up. He is going to punish them. No amount of begging on the part of the Israelites will stop that now.