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King James Version (KJV)
“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody
Scripture focus
And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Ezekiel 8:16 — KJV
Five and twenty. The LXX reads “twenty.” The significance of the number is not clear. Some have conjectured that it referred to the high priest and the heads of the 24 courses (see on 1 Chron. 24:1), thus representing the whole body of the priests. They were standing between the altar and the Temple, in a most sacred part of the court. There, turning their backs upon the Temple of the Lord, they worshiped the sun. The adoration of the sun, Shamash, was early practiced by the Canaanites and had found its way into the worship of the kings and people of Judah (2 Kings 23:5, 11; cf. Deut. 4:19; 17:3; Job 31:26). The fact that they stood in the inner court has led to the belief that they were probably priests, but others besides priests sometimes entered there (2 Kings 11:4—15). If they were the special guardians of true religion, their sin was a most flagrant insult to God. Thus it was marked as the greatest of the abominations (see 2 Chron. 36:14).
By SdaBc
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