Ezekiel 8:10

So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things,.... As beetles and others, worshipped for gods: and abominable beasts; unclean ones; not only oxen, but dogs and cats, and other impure

So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

So I went in, according to the vision. Of creeping things; of such creatures as the Egyptians, or any others with whom the Jews had acquaintance, did worship. Abominable beasts; the beasts are here called abominable, because idolaters had abused them to unlawful uses, making idols of them. The idols of the house of Israel; the Jews had multiplied to themselves idols of their own, besides those borrowed from their neighbours. Or they are called the idols of the house of Israel, because they had adopted them, and because Israel’ s idolatry was so much more brutish and provoking than that of the other nations, who had not the law of God given to them as to the Jews. Portrayed upon the wall: possibly they did thus picture their idols on the wall, vainly thinking. this was not a breach of the law, which forbade graven images, and molten images; but every likeness of any thing made for to worship is forbidden, and such pictures are to be destroyed, . Possibly they had the same set of idols, by different givers, and by different painters, drawn on the walls of the chamber or house of idols.

Ezekiel 8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.Ver. 10. And behold every form of creeping things.] These, belike, were their dii minorum gentium, their petty deities, their common idols, whereof as there was great number, so not so great respect given unto them. This piece of idolatry the Jews had learned of the Egyptians, who madly worshipped oxen, asses, goats, dogs, cats, serpents, crocodiles, the bird ibis, &c. Procter impietatem ingens stultitiae exuperantia ostenditur, saith Theodoret on this text; Besides their impiety, were these men in their wits, think we? And what shall we say of Popish superstition? Do not they religiously worship Agnus Dei’ s, relics of saints, painted doves resembling the Holy Ghost, the ass whereon Christ rode, they say, on Palm Sunday? The tail of that ass they show still at Genoa, and require low obeisance to be done thereunto. Wolph. Mem. Lect.

(10) Every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts.—The description of the idolatrous rites here practised clearly indicates their Egyptian origin. Creature worship was indeed practised among other nations, and the painting of idolatrous objects upon walls is expressly mentioned in Ezekiel 23:14-16, as introduced by the Jews from Chaldæa; yet the combination is so thoroughly Egyptian, and the political relations of the time also point so strongly in the same direction, that the origin seems settled. It was during this period that Jeremiah was obliged to contend strenuously against the desire of a considerable part of the court to enter into an alliance with Egypt against Chaldæa. The party among the Jews who sought an Egyptian alliance, as abundantly appears from Jeremiah, was also the party most unwilling to submit to the Divine commandments. They were the persons who engaged in this creature-worship; and they are here represented as constituting the leaders of the nation. As if this were not enough, “all the idols of the house of Israel,” gathered from every quarter, were also portrayed upon the walls.

Verse 10. And saw - every form of creeping things] It is very likely that these images pourtrayed on the wall were the objects of Egyptian adoration: the ox, the ape, the dog, the crocodile, the ibis, the scarabaeus or beetle, and various other things. It appears that these were privately worshipped by the sanhedrin or great Jewish council, consisting of seventy or seventy-two persons, six chosen out of every tribe, as representatives of the people. The images were pourtrayed upon the wall, as we find those ancient idols are on the walls of the tombs of the kings and nobles of Egypt. See the plates to Belzoni's Travels, the Isaic Tomb in the Bodleian Library, and the Egyptian hieroglyphics in general. Virgil speaks of these, AEn. lib. viii.: - Omnigenumque Deum monstra, et latrator Anubis. "All kinds of gods, monsters, and barking dogs."

10. The construction is difficult: lit. “and behold every likeness (Ezekiel 8:3; Deuteronomy 4:17-18) of creeping things and beasts (cattle), abomination, and all,” &c., the term “abomination” being descriptive both of creeping things and beasts. The term “beasts” is employed of the larger domestic animals, though also of the beasts of prey; it seems nowhere used of the smaller vermin. On the other hand the word “abomination” is chiefly used in regard to the smaller creatures that swarm, whether in the waters or on the land, in the latter case winged and creeping things being included (Leviticus 11), and nowhere of the animals called “beasts.” LXX. omits “likeness of creeping things and beasts,” and it is possible that these words are a marginal gloss explanatory of “abomination.” It has usually been supposed that the reference is to the debased forms of Egyptian superstition. This is possible, for the other practices mentioned, the lamentation for Tammuz and the sun-worship came from abroad. Israel appears to have fallen into the idolatries of the nations about her when she came under their influence, particularly when they became paramount over her, and their gods were thought to be stronger than her own God. The Egyptian influence had been powerful from the days of Isaiah downwards, and even after the battle of Carchemish (b.c. 604) the hope of Egyptian support induced Jehoiakim in his last years and Zedekiah toward the close of his reign to renounce their allegiance to Babylon. On the other hand the practices here mentioned may be rather a revival of ancient superstitions which, during the prosperity of the kingdom and amidst the vigour of the national religion, had fallen into disuse or maintained themselves only as a secret cult, but which, amidst the disasters of the time, when Jehovah appeared to have forsaken the land and men looked to every quarter for aid, again became prevalent (see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 338). If the LXX. reading be followed the passage may have less significance than has been attributed to it. and all the idols] the block-gods, see ch. Ezekiel 6:4. The fact that the “idols,” which according to ch. 6 (Ezekiel 8:4; Ezekiel 8:6; Ezekiel 8:9; Ezekiel 8:13) are to be found over all the mountains of Israel, are represented as portrayed upon the wall is peculiar, and suggests that the whole is symbolical. In ch. Ezekiel 23:14 Jerusalem sees images of the Chaldeans portrayed upon the wall and falls in love with them, but such portraits can hardly have been a reality.

There is clearly a reference to the idolatry of Egypt. Many subterranean chambers in rocks upon the shores of the Nile exhibit ornamentation and hieroglyphical characters, some of which are

10. Every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts — Literally, every likeness of creeping things and beasts, abominations (Davidson).