The Lord Abandons the Temple

Ezekiel 8-11

            Ezekiel has a visionary experience of the temple. He sees one like a son of man, who transports him to temple—whether in reality or in vision, who knows?

            On Sunday, someone commented to me about the figure of the son of man. Ezekiel is called a son of man dozens of times in his book. I think it’s meant to emphasize the difference between Ezekiel, a mere mortal, and the Lord. Here in chapter 8, the one like a son of man seems to be an angelic being of some sort, and in Daniel the son of man will become a messianic figure. This matters because Jesus habitually refers to Himself as the son of man. Is he minimizing Himself or claiming some messianic credential? I think the answer is, “Yes.” I think Jesus means to be claiming messiahship for Himself, but He does it in an ambiguous manner because He is also redefining what messiahship means.

            Anyway, on to Ezekiel. He sees in the temple all sorts abominable, idolatrous things. The Lord, offended by what goes on in His temple, abandons His temple. It’s difficult to put into words how devastating this vision would have been for an Israelite. The best I can think is imagine if the 9/11 attacks had also destroyed the White House and your place of worship. The Temple was the center of Israel’s religious and national identity. “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him” (Deuteronomy 4:7)? If the Lord abandoned the Temple, He was abandoning their nation and them. It was utter loss across many spheres of life.

            Good news, though, at the end of chapter 11: the Lord intends to restore them. The new heart and the undivided spirit come up again later in the book. We’ll comment then.