Ezekiel 8:14

The third abomination was that women were weeping for the god Tammuz at the north gate of the Lord’s temple.

Tammuz was a Babylonian god. He was also called Dumuzi. This ritual marked his death and descent into the underworld (the place of the dead). Each year, people believed that this god lost his power and later regained it. They connected this cycle to the yearly changes in nature, such as the dying and growing of crops.

The women mourned for Tammuz in a ritual ceremony. They believed that their mourning would help bring back fertility (the ability to produce crops and life) to the land.

Instead of praising and worshiping the true and living God, the people were grieving for a false god who was said to die each year.

God showed Ezekiel four scenes of increasing abomination (a deeply offensive act). In each scene, the people of Israel were worshiping false gods inside the Lord’s temple.

Jerusalem’s defilement (moral and spiritual uncleanness) was complete. Idolatry (the worship of false gods) took place in many parts of the temple. Different groups of people were involved. They worshiped different gods. These gods came from many foreign cultures.

This was not one small sin. It was a mixture of many false religions brought together in one place. One abomination was added to another.

In a vision, the prophet Ezekiel saw four ways the people defiled their land. This vision explains why the Lord's presence left his sanctuary.

This section describes how the people defiled (made unclean by sin) the temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8). Because of this sin, the Lord left the temple. After he left, the city and the temple were destroyed (9:1–11:13).

At first, this sounds like only bad news. But for those already living in exile, it was also good news. The Lord was not limited to the temple in Jerusalem. He would come to be with his people in exile.

By coming to dwell with them, the Lord showed that the exiles were not forgotten. They were the ones who carried hope for the future of God’s people.