Then said he unto me, son of man,.... That is, the glorious Person described above in this vision, the glorious God of Israel, seen by the prophet in the temple, he spoke unto him, calling him son of man; a name by which he often goes in this prophecy:

lift up thine eyes now toward the north; of the mountain of the house without the court, as Jarchi interprets it:

so I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north: being obedient to the heavenly vision:

and behold northward at the gate of the altar; at the northern gate of the inner court, where was the altar of burnt offering, brought by Ahaz; to the north of the altar he built in imitation of that at Damascus, 2 Kings 16:10; and here stood

this image of jealousy in the entry; or the image of this jealousy; the image before mentioned, which provoked the Lord to jealousy; this stood at the entry of the northern gate, which led into the inner court, and to the altar.

First Abomination-Picture

Ezekiel 8:5. And He said to me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now towards the north. And I lifted up my eyes towards the north, and, behold, to the north of the gate of the altar was this image of jealousy at the entrance. Ezekiel 8:6. And He said to me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? great abominations, which the house of Israel doeth here, that I may go far away from my sanctuary; and thou shalt yet again see greater abominations still. - As Ezekiel had taken his stand in the inner court at the entrance of the north gate, and when looking thence towards the north saw the image of jealousy to the north of the altar gate, the image must have stood on the outer side of the entrance, so that the prophet saw it as he looked through the open doorway. The altar gate is the same as the northern gate of the inner court mentioned in Ezekiel 3. But it is impossible to state with certainty how it came to be called the altar gate. Possibly from the circumstance that the sacrificial animals were taken through this gate to the altar, to be slaughtered on the northern side of the altar, according to Leviticus 1:4; Leviticus 5:11, etc. מהם, contracted from מה־הם, like מזּה from מה זה in Exodus 4:2. The words "what they are doing here" do not force us to assume that at that very time they were worshipping the idol. They simply describe what was generally practised there. The setting up of the image involved the worship of it. The subject to לרחקה is not the house of Israel, but Jehovah. They perform great abominations, so that Jehovah is compelled to go to a distance from His sanctuary, i.e., to forsake it (cf. Ezekiel 11:23), because they make it an idol-temple.

Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up thy eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the {h} altar this image of jealousy in the entrance.

(h) That is, in the court where the people had made an altar to Baal.

8:5 Northward - Ahaz had removed it from the middle of the court and set it near this north gate, to which it gave name. Entry - In the very passage to the temple, to affront the worship of God.

[2] Son of man

The combined purport of the four visions of profanation in chapter 8., is idolatry set up in the entire temple, even in the holy of holies Ezek 8:10,11 women given over to phallic cults Ezek 8:14 and nature-worship Ex 8:16.

5. gate of . altar-the principal avenue to the altar of burnt offering; as to the northern position, see 2Ki 16:14. Ahaz had removed the brazen altar from the front of the Lord's house to the north of the altar which he had himself erected. The locality of the idol before God's own altar enhances the heinousness of the sin.

8:1-6 The glorious personage Ezekiel beheld in vision, seemed to take hold upon him, and he was conveyed in spirit to Jerusalem. There, in the inner court of the temple, was prepared a place for some base idol. The whole was presented in vision to the prophet. If it should please God to give any man a clear view of his glory and majesty, and of all the abominations committing in any one city, he would then admit the justice of the severest punishments God should inflict thereon.