Ezekiel is depicted sitting in his own house, with the elders of Judah seated before him. The same format occurs in and ; theologian Julie Galambush suggests that "apparently the community recognized Ezekiel's prophetic status and regularly sought YHWH's oracles through him".
Verse 5
"Son of man" : this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel.
"Image of jealousy" : statue that rouses God's jealousy; image provoking to anger of God against men
Verse 11
"Jaazaniah" : the son of Shaphan. If he is indeed the son of Shaphan, the secretary of King Josiah, then he has not followed his father's ways.
Verse 14
"Weeping for Tammuz": an "ancient ritual of Sumerian origin," "counterpart of Sumerian Dumuzi, the fertility-god associated with shepherding and vegetation". The weeping is to commemorate the death of seasonal fertility, and the cult stresses for the mourning aspect of it. The Phoenicians called it "Adon", from where the Greek cult "Adonis" took root. The cult of Ishtar and Tammuz may have been introduced to the Kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Manasseh and the Old Testament contains numerous allusions to them. Ezekiel's testimony is the only direct mention of Tammuz in the Hebrew Bible, but the cult of Tammuz may also be alluded to in :
"Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow."
This passage may be describing the miniature gardens that women would plant in honor of Tammuz during his festival.,, and all denounce sacrifices made "in the gardens", which may also be connected to the cult of Tammuz. Another possible allusion to Tammuz occurs in : "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all." The subject of this passage is Antiochus IV Epiphanes and some scholars have interpreted the reference to the "one desired by women" in this passage as an indication that Antiochus may have persecuted the cult of Tammuz. There is no external evidence to support this reading, however, and it is much more probable that this epithet is merely a jibe at Antiochus's notorious cruelty towards all the women who fell in love with him.
Verse 16
"Worshipping the sun": This practice in Israel is mentioned in and also "evidenced by artifacts".
