[3] He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. [4] And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.
[14] Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. [15] Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.” ~ Ezekiel 8:3-4, 14-15
In the Book of Ezekiel, God takes Ezekiel to show him 4 abominations the house of Israel was committing in the Temple. With each abomination God showed Ezekiel, the abomination got worse. It started with an idol in the temple, moved to elders worshipping with incense carvings on a wall of beasts and creeping things in secret, then public worship of Tammuz, and finally open worship of the sun. Now, the worship of Tammuz is very interesting to me.
See, it’s 2nd on the list of worst abominations the Israelites were committing. Tammuz was the Babylonian shepherd god of fertility and the cycle of life. He was married to Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven. Now Ishtar goes to the Underworld and is killed. When she returns, she finds her husband, Tammuz, is not mourning her death but instead enjoying life, so she calls demons to drag him away to the Underworld to take her place. Every year for 6 months he remained in the Underworld and then was allowed on earth for 6 months. During those months he was in the Underworld, the people mourned his death, including the Israelites.
It got so bad that they even named their month corresponding with our June/July after him because it was the beginning of mourning for him. Now, this worship was considered the second most wicked abomination they were committing in the time of Ezekiel. But why?
I believe it’s because they had not just welcomed another god into the temple and their nation, but because they replaced the Messiah Himself with a false one. In Judaism, they believe there will be two Messiahs: the suffering servant (Messiah ben Joseph) and the redeemer or establisher of Israel (Messiah ben David). Now, the prophecy of the suffering servant dates back to the time of Isaiah, about 100 years before the people of Israel began worshipping Tammuz.
So, they were so spiritually blinded and believing the lie that the LORD had abandoned them (Ezekiel 8:12) that they corrupted their own prophecies from God for false hope in a false shepherd who was only the sacrifice as a punishment. Imagine God tells you, “I’m going to do this for you,” and you don’t see it in your lifetime and neither did your parents or grandparents, so you start trying to fulfill it yourself with pagan gods and rituals. This isn’t just idolatry or paganism—this is replacing God and His promises with false gods.
We do the very same thing today. When God takes too long, in our own eyes, to fulfill something, we try to force it to happen. Or if God isn’t working the way we feel He should work, we introduce outside sources. Or if God doesn’t move the way we expect Him to, we add in other acts of worship of other gods and repurpose them. God has promises for us. Promises of generality for all people. More specific promises for the church as a whole. Then specific unique-to-you promises—but the catch is, if you’re not willing, He will find someone who is.
The name of the LORD is jealous. It is our strong tower, our safe haven. When we try to go outside of the name of the LORD and dip into other religions, we are no different than the women of Ezekiel’s day who were mourning as an act of worship for a pagan god that neither hears them nor cares for them.
When things don’t go as planned, who do you turn to? Is God your constant? Is He your safe haven? Is He your source of life, or do you slowly replace and mix Him with paganism that you’ve deemed not really evil, but beneficial?
I challenge you today to truly and honestly examine yourself. Bring your heart before the LORD and ask Him if there is anything within you that needs to be removed. If there’s any false gods or idols you have accumulated over the years. If there’s any pagan rituals that you didn’t realize were separating you from the LORD God. Today is the day of salvation—tomorrow is promised to no man. Don’t put off getting right with God. Take the time today to do so.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop Mourning Tammuz.