I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 5-8.

Ezekiel prophesied among the first set of Exiles who had been taken to Babylon before the fall of Jerusalem.  We know from the Book of Jeremiah that there were false prophets who were telling them that Jerusalem would not fall and that they would soon return home.  Ezekiel warned them that it would not happen that way.  Indeed, he prophesied that Jerusalem would fall because of the idolatry and other sins of its people.  His prophecy was designed to counter those who claimed otherwise and to turn those already exiled from the sins which had led to their exile.  His prophecy also serves to remind us today that, if we continue in sin and idolatry, we will suffer the same fate as the people of Jerusalem.

Then Ezekiel has a vision about the idolatry and other detestable practices in Jerusalem.  Ezekiel describes idolatry committed by those who claim to be religious in Jerusalem.  First, he describes an idol which is set up in the courtyard of the Temple.  Next, Ezekiel describes how the leaders of Jerusalem (or, at least, a large group of them) worshiped disgusting things in secret, things which even the idolatrous general public would have found horrifying.  Next, Ezekiel witnesses a group of women weeping over the death of a Mesopotamian god.  Finally, he describes how even the religious leaders, those with access to the Temple sanctuary, had turned their backs on God to worship the East.  

I really think this vision is relevant today, although I am not sure I can make a coherent whole out of the various ways in which I think this is true.  First, all of this idolatry took place among those who either thought they were worshiping God or who presented themselves as worship God.  Those who the common people turned to for guidance on what it means to be righteous directed them to idolatry rather than to God.  The first part of the vision shows that there was nothing subtle about that idolatry.  When people went to the Temple, they were confronted by an idol front and center.  To what degree are we doing the same thing today when our Churches encourage people to be politically active?  All too often that political activism places government where God belongs.  We need to be careful that we, who consider ourselves Christians do not allow idolatry to replace our worship of God.

But there is more to it than that.  When I read the part about the leaders worship detestable things in a hidden room I was reminded of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.  Not so much those individuals as the people around them, the people who were aware of and took part in their depravity.  Many of these people are among those who form the opinions which are held up as what we should believe.  They guide public thought about what it means to be “righteous” in our society (although they would never use the word “righteous”).  Related, and abetting, this group are the “women” weeping for the god Tammuz.  They are caught up in “the feels”.  They do not want to talk about facts and logic because they feel the sadness of the death of Tammuz and that is more important than anything else.  These are the people caught up in the emotional.  They want to avoid confrontation and go into their safe space.  Finally, there are the religious leaders who instead of pointing people towards God point them away towards self-destructive behavior.

I want to close this out by pointing out that our society has two competing groups which are trying to lure us into idolatry.  One tries to get us to throw away Christianity all together, and most of those who read this are on to them.  But the other group is more subtle and attempts to convince us to set up the Church, or “traditional values”, or other positive things as idols in place of God.