Ezekiel 8:3

“And he put forth the form of an hand, &c.] That is, he that appeared in the likeness of a man, and with so much glory and splendour, out of the midst of the fire and brightness which were about him, put forth the form of a hand, that looked like a man’s hand; for this appearance was not real, only visionary; and this seems to design the Spirit of God sent forth by Christ, sometimes called the finger of God, (<421120>Luke 11:20); as appears by what follows: and took me by a lock of mine head; without hurting him, showing his power over him; and by this means raising him from his seat, as it seemed to the prophet: and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and heaven; took him off of his…”

“Instead of prompting him to address directly the elders before him, the Spirit carried him away in vision (not in person bodily) to the temple at Jerusalem; he proceeds to report to them what he witnessed: his message thus falls into two parts: (1) The abominations reported in Eze. 8:1-18. (2) The dealings of judgment and mercy to be adopted towards the impenitent and penitent Israelites respectively (Eze. 9:1-11:25). The exiles looked hopefully towards Jerusalem and, so far from believing things there to be on the verge of ruin, expected a return in peace; while those left in Jerusalem eyed the exiles with contempt, as if cast away from the Lord, whereas they themselves were near God and…”

“In the visions of God - Ezekiel was not transported “in the body,” but rapt “in spirit,” while he still sat amidst the elders of Judah. The inner gate - Or, the gate of the inner court. This gate, leading from the outer to the inner court (the court of the priests), is called Ezekiel 8:5 “the gate of the altar,” because it was from this side that the priests approached the brass altar. The prophet is on the “outside” of this gate, so that the “image of jealousy” was set up in the outer or people’s court over against the northern entrance to the priest’s court. This image was the image of a false god provoking Yahweh to “jealousy” Deuteronomy 32:16, Deu 32:21; 1 Kings 14:22. It may be doubted…”

“And - This, and all the passages to the end of the 16th verse, was done in vision only. Inner gate - To the door of the gate of the inner court. The north - The temple courts had four gates towards the four quarters, and this was the north gate, which opened into the great court where Ahaz had set up his Damascen altar, and where the idols were set up. The image - Baal, which Manasseh had set up, Josiah had destroyed, but succeeding kings had again set it up. Jealousy - Because it was so notorious an affront to God, who had married Israel to himself. Ezekiel 8:5”

“8:3-16 God showed Ezekiel four scenes of increasing abomination from the false worship that the people of Israel were performing in the Lord’s Temple. The comprehensiveness of Jerusalem’s defilement may be seen from the varied locations of their acts of idolatry, the kinds of people involved, the deities worshiped, and the varied cultures from which these deities had been imported. It was the ultimate eclectic worship service, with abomination piled upon abomination. 8:3-6 In the first abomination, the large idol was probably an image of the Canaanite goddess Asherah that had been placed at this gate to guard the city from attack. Most of Jerusalem’s historic enemies came against her from…”

“he put: Eze 2:9; Dan 5:5, Dan 10:10, Dan 10:18 the spirit: Eze 3:14, Eze 11:1, Eze 11:24, Eze 40:2; Kg1 18:12; Kg2 2:16; Act 8:39; Co2 12:2-4; Rev 1:10-20, Rev 4:2-11 to the door: Eze 8:5; Kg2 16:14 the image: Eze 5:11, Eze 7:20; Kg2 21:7; Jer 7:30, Jer 32:34 provoketh: Exo 20:5, Exo 34:14; Deu 4:24, Deu 5:9, Deu 6:15, Deu 32:16, Deu 32:21; Jos 24:19; Psa 78:58; Co1 10:21, Co1 10:22 Ezekiel 8:4”