Ezekiel 8:3

The spirit lifted me up. We need not suppose that Ezekiel was literally transported in body. The movements were doubtless in vision (see on Dan. 8:2). But like Paul, Ezekiel could probably not tell whether he was out of the body or in the body (see 2 Cor. 12:3).

The door of the inner gate. This is one of the gateways that led from the court of the people to the court of the priests. The account of the building of Solomon’s Temple does not mention gateways leading from one of these courts to the other, but there is evidence of such in the later Temple of Herod. It was probably one of the most conspicuous portions of the Temple, where the people gathered in large numbers.

Image. Heb. semel, a word occurring only here and in v. 5; Deut. 4:16 (translated “figure”); 2 Chron. 33:7, 15 (translated “idol”). Various conjectures have been made as to the identity of this image, such as, that it represents Baal, Molech, or Astarte. But perhaps “image of jealousy” was not designed as a proper name designating a particular heathen deity, but rather as a descriptive name of an image that provoked the Lord to jealousy. The setting up of a rival god in the place dedicated to the worship of Yahweh would produce such an effect. There may have been heathen idols in the Temple at this time. A growing propensity toward idolatry had been evident since the days of Solomon, who had erected places of worship for the various idols of his wives “in the hill that is before Jerusalem” 1 Kings 11:7. Possibly pressure of the Assyrian king, Ahaz had placed an idolatrous altar in the Temple itself, moving the brazen altar to the north to make room for it (see on 2 Kings 16:10-16). Later Manasseh “built altars in the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 21:4). With the exception of Josiah, subsequent kings of Judah were wicked. It is altogether possible that they used the Temple area for idolatrous worship.