Ezekiel 8-11 covers the departure of God from Jerusalem and the reason why His glory left the city.
In the previous chapter, we saw a man dressed in linen, tasked with marking the foreheads of those who mourned and grieved over the abominations committed by the people of Jerusalem. In Chapter 10, this same man is now sent to carry out God’s judgment on the unrepentant and unremorseful citizens of the city.
He said to the man clothed in linen, “Go within the wheelwork underneath the cherubim; fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went in as I looked on (Ezekiel 10.2).
The same God who loved the world so much that He gave His only Son to experience the horror of the Cross, so that everyone who trusts their lives to Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16), is also the God who sent the man in linen to bring judgment upon an unrepentant city.
No being in the universe feels deeper sorrow than the Creator when He must bring judgment upon His creation.
It is one thing to suffer while knowing that God is holding your hand and providing comfort. It is entirely different to suffer under the hand of God, knowing that He has abandoned your city.
When God’s glory departed from Jerusalem, the people were left to endure both suffering and the pain of abandonment.
Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.
Then the glory of the Lord rose up from the cherub to the threshold of the house; the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the Lord.
The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks (Ezekiel 10.3-5).
Verses 6-17 describe the heavenly beings that are God’s chariot. When Ezekiel first encountered them, it was part of his commissioning as a prophet. In this instance, these beings represent God’s judgment as He departs from the city, bringing punishment upon its inhabitants.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, it was known as the triumphal entry. People laid their cloaks in front of the donkey He rode, and those without cloaks spread palm branches. He was welcomed with shouts of “Hosanna.”
However, in 592 B.C., Ezekiel prophesied not of a triumphal entry, but of a tragic exit, as the glory of God departed from the city.
Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house and stopped above the cherubim.
The cherubim lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight as they went out, with the wheels beside them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them (Ezekiel 10.18-19).
During the time Samuel was serving as a prophet in Israel, Eli, the high priest, lost his two sons in battle. When Eli heard the news of their deaths, he also died.
Phinehas, one of Eli’s sons, had a wife who gave birth to a son during this tragic time. In her grief, she named the child Ichabod, meaning “the glory has departed from Israel.”
The Ark of God had been captured, and her family was devastated (see 1 Samuel 4).
Although the word “Ichabod” is not used to describe God’s glory departing from Jerusalem, the glory of God had indeed left, leaving the people in grief and devastation.
Reflections
No one grieves more over God’s judgment than God Himself. No one feels the pain of separation from His creation more deeply than God, the loving Father who made us all.
Yet, there are times when our actions lead to both His judgment and the withdrawal of His presence from our lives.
The messages of the prophets were not written to ruin our day; they were written to remind us of eternal truths. When God reveals impending judgment, repentance is the right response.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 