Ezekiel 8

And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month: I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me. We read that the preceding vision came to the prophet in the fifth year of the exile of Jeconiah, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month. But this one, which we now wish to expound, is recorded to have taken place in the sixth year of the same king, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month. From this it is clear that these things which are written took place a year and two months later, and that either the prophecy was interrupted for a year and two months, or the things which the preceding discourse wove together were carried out over the whole fourteen months. Now, that the prophecy was made in the sixth year and the sixth month and on the fifth day of the month (numbers which refer to the making of the world and to the fleshly senses, which look upon earthly things and do not yet contemplate heavenly ones) will not surprise anyone who has understood that the discourse is directed to the presbyters of Judah, and to those among whom seventy were holding censers and twenty-five were worshiping the sun in the temple. And the prophet was sitting in his house, fleeing the throng of the multitude, and the elders of Judah were sitting before him, either eager to hear the prophet's words or lying in wait for his sayings. And it is significant that they are called the elders of Judah, so that we may understand that nothing is said to Israel, that is, to the ten tribes which had been taken captive earlier, but to those of the tribe of Judah who had been led into captivity with Jeconiah.

And the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there, and I saw: and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire, and from his loins and upward as the appearance of brightness, as the vision of electrum. (LXX: "And the hand of Adonai the Lord came upon me there, and I saw, and behold, a likeness as the form of a man; from his loins and downward, fire; from his loins and upward ※ as the vision of a breeze: as the vision of electrum.") The Hebrew text does not contain 'man'; and the 'vision' 'of a breeze', which is not found in the Seventy, we have added from Theodotion; and where we said: The hand of the Lord fell upon me, Symmachus translated: The hand of the Lord befell me, which in the Hebrew is said 'thephphol' [it fell]; and the hand signifies ἐνέργειαν, that is, 'working', so that he might be able to know the mysteries of the vision.

And this must be considered: that he does not see the truth itself but the likeness of fire, since from the loins downward fire appeared, and from the loins upward as the appearance of brightness, as the vision of electrum. For 'brightness', which in the Hebrew is called 'zor', Theodotion translated 'breeze', so as to show the refreshments of God in the upper parts. Indeed, in the volume of Kings too, blessed Elijah beholds the coming of the Lord not in the storm and the whirlwind, not in the blazing of fire, but in the appearance of a breeze, thin and most gentle, so as to prove the mildness of almighty God. Now the works of intercourse, which are signified by the loins, downward, are purged by fire, and the works of the virtues, which rise from the loins to the higher parts, have brightness and splendor; and yet neither is the fire said to reach to the feet, nor the brightness of electrum to the head, but only 'downward' and 'upward', so that, in sinners as well as in saints, according to the diversity of merits, one may reach as far as this or that member, another as far as these or those. And just as those who hold the perfection of holiness reach all the way to the crown of the head, so those who are in the depth of sins must be believed to hold the soles of the fiery feet.

And the likeness of a hand, sent forth, took hold of me by a lock of my head (LXX: "And he stretched out the likeness of a hand and took me up by the fringe of my crown.") Here too it is the likeness of a hand, not the hand itself, that is stretched out: for there is nothing bodily in God; and a hand is seen, as a member of the human body, so that by its familiarity it may in no way terrify him who is taken up and seized: for if it had touched the prophet in the likeness of a snake or of any other of the beasts, the very unlikeness of the members would have terrified the one taken up. And a part of the hair is seized, because human nature cannot bear the grasping of the whole head. For 'lock' the Seventy translated κράσπεδον, that is, 'fringe', of which the one is usually taken of hair, the other of garments.

And the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven. First he is seized by the likeness of a hand; afterwards he is lifted up by the spirit, and the spirit does not raise him at once to heaven, but between earth and heaven, so that, leaving earthly things behind for the time being, he may hasten toward heaven. We can also say this: that the prophet was seized by the likeness of God's hand on account of good works, and is lifted up by the spirit on account of the knowledge of spiritual things.

And he brought me to Jerusalem, in the vision of God, near the inner door that looked toward the north, where the idol of jealousy had been set up to provoke rivalry. And behold, there was the glory of the God of Israel, according to the vision that I had seen in the plain. (LXX: "And he brought me into Jerusalem, in the vision of God, to the vestibule of the gate that looks toward the north, where was the statue of the possessor." But this, which is found in certain codices, ※ And in the statue the image of jealousy: has been added from Theodotion. The rest likewise.) When he says: He brought me to Jerusalem in the vision of God, he shows that he was carried over not in the body, but in the spirit. According to this kind of vision we too can behold both the heavens and the depths of the sea and the lower regions, while we embrace in thought the principles of each. First, however, he comes to the vestibule that looks toward the north, so as to see there the statue of the idol of jealousy, to provoke rivalry, so that from that place he may penetrate to the inner parts and discern the rest, which are described afterward; and history relates that a statue of the idol Baal was placed in the temple of God; and it is aptly called 'the idol of jealousy', because it provokes the Lord to rivalry and jealousy, according to what is said in Deuteronomy: They provoked me to jealousy with that which was not God; and I will provoke them to jealousy with a nation which is not; further, because 'jealousy' and 'possession' are called by the same name, which in Hebrew is said 'cena', for 'the statue of jealousy' the Seventy translated 'the statue of the possessor'; indeed, when Cain was born, his parent said: I have possessed, a man through God, alluding by the possession of a man to the name Cain.

And the glory of the God of Israel was there, not because it took delight in such a neighbor, but so that by its presence it might destroy the idol of jealousy and the temple; hence the overthrow of the city and of the temple also follows after a short time; and it is written in Isaiah that a narrow bed can by no means hold two, and a short cloak cannot cover both, Scripture signifying that saying of the Apostle: What agreement has Christ with Belial? The temple of God with an idol?

And he said to me: Son of man, lift up your eyes toward the way of the north. And I lifted up my eyes toward the way of the north, and behold, to the north of the gate of the altar, the idol of jealousy in the very entrance. (Where we have put: To the north of the gate of the altar, the idol of jealousy in the very entrance, the Seventy translated: From the north toward the eastern gate, which is not found in the Hebrew, leaving out the other things which are written there.) 'He said to me,' he says, '(either the glory of God which I had seen in the plain, or the spirit which lifted me up between heaven and earth), and he spoke to me after he had carried me over into Jerusalem and made me see either the city or the temple, and he commanded me to lift up my eyes toward the way of the north; for there the statue of Baal had been set, which he calls the idol of jealousy, in the very entrance of the gate'. But those who refer the idol of jealousy, or of the possessor, to the glory of God or to the spirit act impiously, interchanging the person of the idol with the majesty of God.

And he said to me: Son of man, do you think you see what these are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, so that I should withdraw far from my sanctuary? And turning again you will see greater abominations. 'Lest you think,' he says, 'that I abandon the temple unjustly and leave the city to be overthrown, look at what they do in the temple; and when you have beheld those things, do not think that this is the end of their crimes: you will behold still greater things'. This can indeed also be understood of our Jerusalem and our temple, when, after the example of Hophni and Phinehas, we work the crimes of idols in the tabernacle of God, and commit fornication with those women who have vowed themselves to the warfare and ministry of God, and pluck off the first portions of his sacrifices, giving them for the use of clients and servants, and do everything for the sake of gain. But if these things which we see are so great, how much greater must those be reckoned which escape human awareness?

And he brought me in to the door of the court, and I saw, and behold, one hole in the wall; and he said to me: Son of man, dig through the wall; and when I had dug through the wall, one door appeared. And he said to me: Go in, and see the most wicked abominations which these are doing here. (This which I translated: And I saw, and behold, one hole in the wall, is not found in the Seventy.) And because everything is shown as if in an image and a painting, he says that he saw one hole in the wall, and that he was ordered to dig it through and make it larger, so that, the hole having been opened, he might enter more widely and see what he could not see while placed outside. By this it is shown that, in the churches as well as in each of us individually, greater vices are revealed through small ones, and that through certain holes, as it were, one arrives at the greatest abominations: for by the fruits the tree is known, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Words that burst out are a sign of the inner man, just as a foul word sometimes exposes the lustful man who cunningly hides his vices, and desire for a trifling thing betrays the avarice lurking within: for greater things are revealed by lesser ones, and the conscience cannot be disguised by face and eyes, since a wanton and lascivious mind shines out in the face, and the secrets of the heart are disclosed by the movement of the body and by gestures.

And I went in and saw, and behold, every likeness of creeping things and of animals, an abomination, and all the idols of the house of Israel were painted on the wall round about, throughout. Not only did the idol of jealousy stand at the entrance of the north gate, but all the walls of the temple too were painted with various images of idols, so that there was no beast which the painting on the wall did not show. This we see to this day in the shrines of idols and the temples of the Gentiles: that a foolish religion worships every kind of beast; whence Vergil too: And of every sort, he says, of gods the monsters and barking Anubis — as if those which he praises were not monsters too —, against Neptune and Venus and against Minerva. We too can point out idols painted on the walls of our temple, when we are subject to all vices and paint in our heart the consciousness of sins and various images, of which it is said in the psalm too: O Lord, in your city you will scatter their image, and in another place: Yet man walks about in an image. That is, there is no one among men who does not have some image, whether of holiness or of sin; for which reason it is said of the furious and the wrathful: Their fury is after the likeness of a serpent, like a deaf asp that stops its ears, which will not hear the voices of the charmers; and of wicked men: Generation of vipers, who showed you to flee from the wrath to come?; and of the shifty and deceitful: Go, tell this fox; and of lovers of women: They have become to me horses mad for females; each one neighed after his neighbor's wife; and also of the brutish and senseless: Do not become like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding; and again: With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who do not draw near to you; and many things of this kind. (But this which we have put: Behold, every likeness of creeping things and of animals, is not found in the Seventy.)

And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing in the midst of them, who were standing before the paintings, and each one had a censer in his hand, and a vapor of cloud was rising up from the incense. When he says that there were seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel who held censers in their hands, he shows that there were many other presbyters too who were not doing this, but were perhaps held fast by other sins, and that one, Jaazaniah son of Shaphan by name, stood in their midst, as the prince of the crime and sacrilege of those who, having abandoned the worship of God, were worshiping idols, and in the temple were adoring not God, whose temple it was, but the paintings on the walls. And it is aptly said: Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing, that is, of his own 'judgment' and 'condemnation', in the midst of the standing presbyters, because both the prince and those whose prince he was stood with a firm step in their crimes, and did not waver in evil, but persisted most stoutly; and the vapor of cloud, of confusion and of whirlwind, which rose from the incense, displayed the sacrileges of those who offered it. Let this have happened at that time according to the letter. But we too must pray that the elders of the house of Israel, multiplying the number seven, which is holy, into seven decades, may not stand in their errors and adore the paintings of idols, and that the vapor of sacrilege may not ascend, or rise up, resisting God. When we see a most wicked people gathered together, of which it is written: I have hated the church of evildoers, and overseers worse than the people, and a still more wicked prince, who has been set over the people and the presbyters, let us say that Jaazaniah is standing before the paintings, and that each one has a censer in his hands, adoring not the majesty of God but their own opinions, and that it is by no means an odor of good fragrance that reaches God, but a stench that reaches the idols.

And he said to me: Surely you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each one in the secret of his bedchamber; for they say: The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the earth. 'From what they do in the temple when gathered together,' he says, 'it is shown what each one does in his own chamber'. But according to the ἀναγωγὴν [anagogy, the higher sense] it can better be understood that some princes of the churches do in darkness things which are shameful even to speak of. This is the hidden man of the heart, of whom it is said: Enter into your chamber, and again: He who sees in secret will repay you. Let each one call his conscience to mind and recall the works of darkness in darkness, and let him know that it is written: Everyone who does evil hates the light, lest he be reproved by the light, and he will understand that this has been fulfilled in himself: He who is drunken is drunken by night, which cannot stand according to the letter: for how many are drunken at luncheons and banquets by day?; but because the drunkenness of the heart, which offends God, belongs to darkness and not to light, therefore: Whoever is drunken is drunken in the night. And when the elders of the house of Israel have done evil in darkness and in the secret of their chambers, and have thought that they could hide from God, then they will consequently say: The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the earth. And many are sinners, walking according to their own thoughts, who do not reckon that God cares for mortal things, or that our vices concern him. Certainly, when we sin, if we thought that God sees and is present, we would never do what displeases him. Further, what follows, The Lord has forsaken the earth, is also the opinion of certain philosophers, who, from the course and substance of the stars, suppose that there is providence in heavenly things, but that it despises earthly things, since nothing right or according to order is done on earth.

And he said to me: Turning again you will see greater abominations which these are doing. And he brought me in through the door of the gate of the house of the Lord which looked toward the north, and behold, women were sitting lamenting Adonis. What we have translated 'Adonis', both the Hebrew and the Syriac language call 'thamuz'; hence, because according to the pagan fable the lover of Venus, a most beautiful youth, is said to have been slain in the month of July and afterwards to have come back to life, they call that same month of July by the same name and celebrate an annual festival for him, in which he is lamented by women as though dead, and afterwards, coming back to life, he is sung of and praised. And consistently, after it has been shown what the princes and elders of the house of Israel did in the temple and in darkness and in their chambers, the vices of the women too are described, who lament when deprived of the company of their lovers, and exult if they have been able to obtain them. And since that same paganism interprets subtly fables of the poets of this kind, which contain shamefulness, accompanying the slaying and the resurrection of Adonis with lamentation and with joy (of which it thinks the one is shown in the seeds that die in the earth, the other in the crops in which the dead seeds are born again), let us too call women those who are either saddened or exultant at the evils and goods of the world, being of a soft and effeminate mind, and let us say that they lament 'thamuz', that is to say, those things which are reckoned most beautiful in the affairs of the world.

And since we read above, after the idol of jealousy which appeared at the north gate: Turning again you will see greater abominations, and, after the paintings of all the beasts had been shown along the wall, which the seventy presbyters and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan were adoring, holding censers in their hands, it is said a second time: Turning again you will see greater abominations which these are doing, because women were sitting lamenting Adonis, so after the third sin too it is said: Turning again you will see abominations greater than these. But what abomination is greater than the three preceding crimes? Clearly the fourth, which follows: And behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the vestibule and the altar, about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the rising of the sun, because, despising the Lord, that is, the Creator, they were adoring the sun, that is, the Lord's creature, although the Lord himself had commanded through Moses that they should by no means adore God facing the east after the custom of the Gentiles, but, in whatever part of the world they might be, whether to the east, or to the west, or to the south, or to the north, they should adore facing the temple, where the Lord was believed to inhabit the Holy of Holies; which indeed we know Daniel too did in Babylon, who, with the windows of his upper room open, adored the Lord facing the temple which stands in Jerusalem. No one doubts that this, according to the letter, was a matter of sacrilege. According to the ἀναγωγὴν, that all heretics are worse than the earlier things, that is, than the idol of jealousy and the figures of living creatures painted on the wall and the lamentation for Adonis, through which idolatry and pleasure are shown, he will be able to know who has understood the prophet saying: But you have hated discipline, and have cast my words behind you, and in another place: They turned their shoulders against me, departing; or are we ignorant that Marcion and the other heretics who tear the Old Testament to pieces, despising the Creator, that is, the righteous God, worship and adore some other, good God whom they have fashioned out of their own heart, and that all the heretics of our time, who preach the Son of God as a creature and yet adore him, having left the temple of the divinity and holding it behind their back, say by their own confession that they adore a creature? But we so adore the sun of righteousness that we adore God in the temple of the Old Testament, where the Law and the prophets are, where the cherubim and the mercy seat are. Where we translated 'twenty-five' men, the Seventy put 'twenty', and in certain copies the 'five' have been added from Theodotion.

And he said to me: Surely you have seen, son of man; turning again you will see abominations greater than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the vestibule and the altar, about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping toward the rising of the sun. What we have translated 'vestibule' following Symmachus, who put πρόπυλον [gateway], where the Seventy and Theodotion translated the Hebrew word itself, 'aelam', Aquila's first edition translated προστάδα [porch] and the second the 'aelam' of the temple; this we can express as the 'portico' of the temple, or the unroofed 'court' which was between the temple and the altar.

And he said to me: Surely you have seen, son of man; is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they should do these abominations which they have done here, because, filling the earth with iniquity, they have turned to provoke me? And behold, they put the branch to their nostrils. (Where we said: And behold, they put the branch to their nostrils, the Seventy translated: And behold, they themselves like men sneering, to which there was added from Theodotion: They stretch out the branch, so that the whole together reads: And behold, they themselves stretch out the branch as if sneering, for which Symmachus translated: As if sending out a sound in the likeness of a song through his nostrils.) It signifies that the twenty-five men, who are set firm in a square in a solid station and, from the five senses, by five times five form the figure of a square, not only have the temple behind their back in figure, but, after the manner of idols, put the branch to their nostrils — no doubt a branch of the palms which in the Greek language they call βαΐα —, so that by this it may signify that they adore idols. Indeed Job too says that among his other virtues he had this as well: that never, looking upon the sky and the sun and the moon and the shining stars, had he kissed his hand, that is, adored creatures. But Symmachus' translation signifies a foul and hoarse sound proceeding from the nostrils in contempt of God. And all heretics, who have filled the earth with iniquity and have turned to the knowledge falsely so called, so as to provoke the Lord to anger, must be reckoned, when they have wished to praise God, rather to blaspheme with a foul sound, or to hold the God of the Old Testament in low esteem, to deride, to despise.

Therefore I too will act in fury: my eye will not spare, nor will I have mercy, (and what follows:) and when they cry to my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them (is not found in the Seventy). 'For all these things,' he says, 'which they have done, I too will act in fury and my eye will not spare, nor will I have mercy'. Hearing this, the heretics of old slander the Creator as cruel and bloodthirsty, and do not consider that the apostle Paul, who is surely the apostle of the good God — as they themselves would have it —, writes to the Corinthians: If I come again I will not spare, so as to chastise offenders with the rod and draw back the erring to salvation; for those who do not understand what is profitable for them, and often pray for contrary things, it is expedient that they not be heard by the Lord. Hence in the prayer too we say: Your will be done; not our will, which is accustomed to err, but your will, which knows the things to come; and it is sometimes a great happiness not to merit mercy for the present. These, therefore, who are of the house of Judah and have withdrawn from the confession of the Church, the Lord will not spare; and when they cry out with a loud voice, of which the Lord said: Their cry has come to me, the Lord will nevertheless not hear them, so that, compelled by evils, they may understand what they have done.