Ezekiel 10

Ezekiel 10:1-22

The temple was the earthly place where the Lord’s glory dwelled among his people. This was one of the greatest blessings of the covenant.

But this blessing depended on the people being holy (set apart for God and living in obedience to him). When they filled the temple with sin and idolatry, they defiled it.

Because of their unfaithfulness, the Lord left his house. Once his presence departed, the temple and the city were left unprotected. They became vulnerable to the coming attack by the Babylonians.

Ezekiel 10:1-2

• This vision of God’s fearful and holy glory was almost the same as the one Ezekiel had seen earlier in Babylonia (Ezekiel 1). Now he saw it again, but this time in the temple in Jerusalem.

  The temple was filled with symbols of heaven. In this vision, Ezekiel understood clearly that the living creatures he had seen before were cherubim. Cherubim are powerful heavenly beings who guard God’s holiness and carry out his judgment (Genesis 3:24).

• A priestly figure was told to gather burning coals from among the cherubim. This action showed that Jerusalem, which had become unclean because of sin, would be destroyed by fire. This judgment was like what happened to the city of Sodom (see Ezekiel 16:46–50).

  The vision also showed that the Lord was leaving his city. Later, this became a reality in history. A few years after this vision, King Nebuchadnezzar burned Jerusalem and filled the city with dead bodies.

Ezekiel 10:3-22

The glory of the Lord did not leave the temple all at once. It moved slowly, step by step, almost as if it was unwilling to depart (Ezekiel 10:4).

First, the glory of the Lord moved from above the cherubim in the Most Holy Place. Then it went to the entrance of the temple and stopped there for a time. After that, it rose above the cherubim again (Ezekiel 10:18) and moved to the east gate of the courtyard, where it paused once more (10:19). Eventually, the glory of the Lord left the city completely (11:23).

Ezekiel 10:12

full of eyes: The elders' earlier statement that "The LORD does not see us" (Ezekiel 8:12) was both foolish and false.

Ezekiel 10:19-22

From this point on, the city was doomed.

God had shown his powerful and fearsome glory in the opening chapter of Ezekiel. Now that same God had left the city.

Without his presence, Jerusalem no longer had protection or hope. Judgment would surely come.

Aquifer Open Study Notes © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.