8:3 to Jerusalem. Ezekiel 8–11 describes the remarkable visions of Ezekiel as he was translated by the Holy Spirit back to Jerusalem to see for himself the wickedness of the priests and the people still in the land. It is possible that he was even translated back in time to see their former sins.

8:5 image of jealously. Ezekiel 8:3 says this “image [i.e., idol] of jealousy” was one that provoked God to jealous fury. There at “the gate of the altar,” where God was to be worshipped through the sacrificial offerings, an idol had been set up to usurp the worship that should have been offered to the true God. This idol is believed to have been that of the so-called “queen of heaven,” condemned so strongly by God through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 44:24-27).

8:10 abominable beasts. Compare Romans 1:23-24, where the primeval descent of the Gentile world into evolutionary pantheistic idolatry is described, so God to “gave them up.” Here Israel is seen to have done the same, even though they had received the written Word of God condemning it.

8:14 weeping for Tammuz. Even Jewish women were participating in the phallic cult of Tammuz, a Babylonian nature god who supposedly died and rose again every year, corresponding to the emergence of spring out of winter.

8:16 worshipped the sun. In effect, these worshipers had chosen to worship Satan, under the figure of the sun god, turning their backs on the temple of the true God.