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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds.
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This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast. Powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the.
Dr. Manny Arango
Entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes.
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Or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan.
Dr. Manny Arango
And join the journey.
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Dr. Manny Arango
Welcome to day two, 29. We're in Ezekiel, chapters eight through 11. It's gonna be a good one. Gonna try to give you as many nerdy nuggets as possible, but really we're.
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Gonna focus on chapters eight and chapters ten.
Dr. Manny Arango
All right, so we're not gonna give nerdy nuggets for all of the chapters, but I'm gonna give you a lot of nerdy nuggets for the two chapters that we are gonna go in depth on. Like always. I'm gonna start out with some context clues, then I'll give you as many nerdy nuggets as I can. And we're always gonna leave off with a timeless truth because we' history. We're studying the character and the nature of God. And God doesn't change. The way that he deals with his people here in the Old Testament is actually a clue into how he deals.
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With you and I. And guess what else doesn't change.
Dr. Manny Arango
Humanity doesn't change. Okay? So the Bible also helps us to understand our own nature, human nature. So if you have done the reading.
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Today, everything I'm gonna say is gonna make total sense.
Dr. Manny Arango
If you haven't done the reading today, then you may be a little lost. A little confused, so you may wanna stop the video, pause the audio, and get the reading done. We're in Ezekiel chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11 today, so let's dive in. Context is actually really, really, really simple. Today we're just a year later than we were in Ezekiel chapters one through seven. Okay, so just a year. So you look at Ezekiel, chapter eight. It says this.
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In the sixth year, in the sixth.
Dr. Manny Arango
Month, on the fifth day, while I.
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Was sitting in my house and the.
Dr. Manny Arango
Elders of Judah were sitting before me.
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The hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there.
Dr. Manny Arango
I looked and I saw a figure.
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Like that of a man.
Dr. Manny Arango
Anyway, so he gets a vision, and we got a precise date. And if we translate that date into our current calendars, that is September 17th, 591 BC. So Ezekiel's ministry starts five years after the deportation. That happened in 597, which puts us at 592. And this Ezekiel chapter eight is one year later after the start of his ministry. So we are in 591 B.C. and that's all the context that we need for today's reading. Let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. Now, the vision that Ezekiel's gonna get, and we're gonna focus heavily on chapters 8 and 10 are highly connected to the original vision that he got in Ezekiel, chapter one. Remember, Ezekiel sees the glory of the Lord, and it's like, this is dope, this is cool. But what is the glory of the Lord doing here? The glory of God belongs in the temple in Jerusalem. Okay, so, so Ezekiel chapter 8, this entire section, really, but Ezekiel chapter 8 and Ezekiel 10 are really gonna answer that question. So I also say this. These chapters feel like a prequel, right? So although the context of this vision is a year in the future. Right. A year later than Ezekiel 1 through 7. What Ezekiel's gonna see is actually something from the past. Okay, so we're going. We're moving forward in time. But what Ezekiel's going to see is actually a prequel. It's the thing that happened that led up to him seeing the glory of the Lord appearing to him in Babylon. Okay, so we're going to fill in some gaps. I like to say we're going to get the backstory, we're going to get the origin story.
Audience Member / Listener
Okay?
Dr. Manny Arango
I love a movie that has a good origin story.
Audience Member / Listener
Okay.
Dr. Manny Arango
That got a good backstory.
Audience Member / Listener
Okay?
Dr. Manny Arango
You've been. You've been. You fall in love with a character, you love their character, and then they get a flashback, and you get to fill in the Blanks on. On how this character got to be who they are. And so if we're wondering, okay, this is dope, that Ezekiel got this vision on his 30th birthday. He gets commissioned to being a prophet. He gets called into ministry. There's this. We got whirling wheels and living creatures and a throne and the likeness of the appearance of the glory of Yahweh. And this is cool. But why is God's glory here when God's glory belongs in the holy of holies, above the mercy seat, like above the Ark of the Covenant. Okay, that's where God's glory belongs. What's God's glory doing here? This is the backstory. Okay? Ezekiel, chapter eight. Ezekiel's going to get a vision of the temple in Jerusalem, and he's going to see that there is idolatry happening not just on the mountains, on the high places that surround Israel, but. No, there's also idolatry happening in the temple. In Yahweh's temple. Right in Yahweh's house. Okay, so the first is going to be the image of jealousy. There's actually going to be four.
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Okay, that.
Dr. Manny Arango
Four what? I would say temple abominations are gonna be seen by Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 8. The first is the image of jealousy. This is most likely a pillar image of the goddess Asherah or Astarte, sometimes referred to as an Asherah tree. In the Old Testament, a similar pillar had been erected by Manasseh. This is an evil king who's the son of Hezekiah. That this image is described as one of jealousy, that it is probably because it is being treated as a wife of Yahweh. So Asherah is being treated as Yahweh's wife. And so people are worshiping this Asherah pole or this Asherah image as if it's Yahweh's wife. And why does that spark jealousy within Yahweh? Well, simple. Israel and Judah and had been influenced so much by pagan religious ideas that forms of religious syncretism developed, such as Yahweh having a wife like the pagan gods did. This is why. This is ridiculous. We've got elders offering incense. Ezekiel next sees elders of Jerusalem worshiping in the temple, but not to Yahweh. So they're in Yahweh's temple, but not worshiping Yahweh, but instead they're offering incense before BAAL reliefs on the walls of human animal hybrids. This is a similar idea to the living creatures, the cherubim that Ezekiel saw in chapter one. However, they're totally pagan. They are not described, but were common throughout the temples and palaces of the ancient Near East. So this is another example of foreign pagan worship entering the temple and distorting Judah's worship number three. This one's really, really sad. And without this nerdy nugget, you may not understand, like, what you're reading, but we're going to have women worshiping for Tammuz. T A M M U Z Tammuz. Next, Ezekiel is going to see women not worshiping this time, but weeping. They are weeping for Tammuz, who was the Sumerian version of baal. Baal, in turn, is similar to Osiris in Egypt. And what these gods have in common is that every single year, annually, they die in the wintertime.
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Okay?
Dr. Manny Arango
So they experience a death and then a resurrection. They die in the wintertime, but then they come to life again in the spring. So the seasons, according to this ancient pagan worldview, the seasons are actually reflecting the life of the gods. So remember, spring is a time of rain. BAAL is the rain God or the storm God. So they believe that during winter, he's dead.
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Okay?
Dr. Manny Arango
In a lot of pagan mythology, BAAL is killed by death and chaos called mote M O T. Anyway, I don't want to get too nerdy on us, but BAAL dies. But then every single spring, BAAL is resurrected. BAAL comes back to life in the spring. This weeping then would be part of that death ritual of Tammuz as the year comes to an end. So what the women are doing is they're weeping because Tammuz is dead, okay? And they're hoping that Tammuz is going to return again or resurrect. This would be the same as the women weeping at the tomb of Jesus.
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Okay?
Dr. Manny Arango
This God that I love is dead. All right, so the weeping is actually worship.
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Okay?
Dr. Manny Arango
They're weeping as a form of worship. And so Ezekiel sees an image of jealousy. He sees elders offering incense. He sees women weeping for a false idol named Tammuz. And then last, men are worshiping a God by the name of Shamash. Shamash. The last group he sees are men facing the east. They are. They're actually worshiping the God Shamash, who is the sun God. All right, so four abominations that are all happening where, in the temple.
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Okay?
Dr. Manny Arango
Not just out on the high places, but this is actually happening in the very place where God's presence, God's glory is supposed to dwell. And so this gets us to Ezekiel, chapter 10. And Ezekiel, chapter 10 says this.
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We're actually going to start reading in verse 18.
Dr. Manny Arango
Ezekiel, chapter 10, verse 18, it says, Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. Verse 19. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground. And as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. What is Ezekiel seeing? He's seeing the backstory of the vision he got in Ezekiel, chapter one. What does he see in Ezekiel, chapter one? He sees the whirling wheels. He sees the cherubim. He sees. He sees the living creatures, and he sees throne of Yahweh. He sees what is supposed to happen, what's supposed to be seen in the holy of holies, but he sees it in Babylon. Now, In Ezekiel, chapter 10, he gets the backstory that because of the idolatry happening in the very temple that Yahweh was dwelling in, Yahweh essentially went, yeah, I'm out. If you want to worship Asherah and Astarte and Tammuz and BAAL in my temple, I'm not staying in this temple anymore. I'm out of here. And so what do we see In Ezekiel, chapter 10? We see the glory of the Lord departing from his own temple. This is helping us to create the worldview of the people who are reading or listening to Ezekiel, because, remember, they're thinking to themselves, we have the glory of God living in our temple. No way Nebuchadnezzar could defeat us. No way Nebuchadnezzar could siege Jerusalem and break down these walls. God's gonna protect us. Even though you're worshiping Asherah and BAAL and Tammuz in the same temple that God is in.
Audience Member / Listener
Okay, cool.
Dr. Manny Arango
No, we got. They're playing the God card. No, God's. God's got us. God's got us. And what Ezekiel is now gonna be able to say is, hey, guess what? The glory of God doesn't even live in that temple anymore. The glory of God left because God doesn't deal with any competition. The moment you place a competitor in God's arena, God doesn't sit there and try to compete with all of these other influences and voices. God leaves. But does God leave his people? No. God leaves his temple, and God goes out into exile with the people who have been deported who are in the worst possible scenario. God doesn't just leave all of his people. This is where you start to pick up on this remnant, on this idea of a remnant that God will stay with the righteous remnant. And at this point that righteous remnant is actually off in exile. And Ezekiel is the person who is not the priest that he wanted to be. But in a lot of ways he's actually performing a priestly function in the fact that he's pastoring and leading a people and helping them to understand that Jerusalem will indeed fall because the glory of Yahweh is no longer there. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is.
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Dr. Manny Arango
Our Thomas Shoes for the day is really trying to get into the nuance of what is idolatry. Because idolatry is not just relegated to the pages of scripture. We struggle with idolatry as well. And a lot of times we assume that that idolatry is just worshiping a false God. That's not what idolatry is. Idolatry can be worshiping the right God the wrong way. For our purposes today, idolatry is also syncretism. So it's believing that God is not enough. So now I need to add other things to my relationship with God. God's not enough. The thought behind this is I need to hedge my bets. I need to cover my bases to the people of Israel. The reason that they're adding all these other gods into the temple is because what they're saying is, you know what? God may come through sometimes, but when he doesn't, BAAL will come through. And sometimes BAAL don't be working. And if BAAL don't work, you know what? Ashtarte will work. And man, sometimes Asherah doesn't work, but when Asherah doesn't work, Ishtar works. And man, sometimes Ishtar doesn't work, but whenever Ishtar don't work, guess what does work, man? Tammuz. Tammuz. Be working. And this is a way in the ancient world for people to hedge their bets by worshiping all the gods. By appeasing all the gods. They don't know which God they may need, so they want to stay on the good side with all the gods. What they do not realize is that the God of the Bible doesn't do I'll be one of the gods in your cocktail of gods. He doesn't do salad bar gods. He does exclusivity. You don't get to cover your bases and worship God. You don't get to hedge your bets and worship God. You don't get to burn sage and worship God. You don't get to get your palms red and worship God. You don't get to use chakra stones and worship God. God says I am enough. I am more than enough. And if I am going to be God in your life, then there can be no competitors, no idols. Cleanse your life of all idolatry. I don't want you hedging your bets. I don't want you covering your bases. I want to be the only God who you trust. And I want you to trust me beyond your. Your own understanding. It is a very natural human condition to try to hedge our bets. It's funny, because my dad struggled with a drug addiction for most of my life. And I remember there was a season where, like my dad would go to the mosque on Saturdays. My dad would go to the church on Sundays. My dad would try Seventh Day Adventist, he would try a little Catholicism. He would go to the Pentecostal Church. And I remember. Think I remember asking my dad as a teenager, so what do you actually believe in? And my dad looked at me and he was like, man, I believe in whatever helps me not take crack. Man, I believe in whatever's going to make me sober. I believe in whatever works. And it's like, yeah, that's idolatry. See, we don't worship God because it works. We don't worship God because this just works. No, I worship God because I've pledged my allegiance to Him. Whether or not he heals me of cancer, he's worthy of my praise. I don't just worship him because of what I get out of it. I worship him because he deserves all glory, all honor, all praise, and he deserves it exclusively. I'm not doing a little of this, doing a little of that, doing a little of this, doing a little of that. Cause I don't really know what works. So let's do all of it. No. God says, I only work when I'm the only thing you do. That's the only time this works. And I don't do spiritual gold diggers. I do disciples. And if you're gonna lay down your life and pledge your allegiance to me, then I will actually give you the thing that matters more than anything. I'll give you my presence. Not just stuff, not just material blessings, not just deliverance and freedom and all that stuff. I'll give you me, that I am the goal, that I am the prize. And you'll only really worship me exclusively when my presence is. Isn't just enough for you, but it's more than enough for you. And that's not just true for the people of Ezekiel's day. That's not just true for Ezekiel, chapter 8, 9, 10, and 11. That's true for us as well. It's time to take away all the things that you have faith in, all the things that you've placed trust in, all the things that you've added in with Christianity. And decide what? That I'm gonna worship God exclusively, with no additions, accessories, additives, or anything else. I gotta get back to pure worship, exclusive worship man. The song that I think about, when I think about that is, you have no rivals, you have no equals. Sometimes what I really sing to God when I sing that song is this. I'm sorry for placing rivals in your. I'm I'm sorry for presenting you with rivals, but the reality is, when I sing, you have no rivals. That's actually a call to me to begin to tear down all the idols in my life that have become rivals.
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To the true and living God.
Dr. Manny Arango
And that is true timelessly. That's true yesterday, today, and forever. All right, tomorrow we got day 230. We're gonna be looking at Ezekiel chapters 12 through 16. It's gonna be awesome. I obviously already know what I'm gonna talk about, and I'm looking forward to it. I'll see you right here tomorrow as we continue our trek, the Book of Ezekiel. Love you. So proud of you, especially if you're on a streak. See you tomorrow.
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Peace.
Dr. Manny Arango
Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast.
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You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and.
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On Instagram @thebible department.
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If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.
Host: Dr. Manny Arango
Date: August 17, 2025
In this episode, Dr. Manny Arango guides listeners through Ezekiel chapters 8–11, with a focus on chapters 8 and 10. He uncovers the context, explains the striking visions Ezekiel receives, and draws parallels between ancient idolatry and modern-day challenges. Dr. Arango provides "nerdy nuggets"—interesting historical and theological insights—and wraps up with a "timeless truth" about idolatry and exclusive worship of God.
[02:46]
“The glory of God belongs in the temple in Jerusalem… What’s God’s glory doing here [in exile]?”
— Dr. Manny Arango [03:38]
[05:23]
“If you love a character, and then they get a flashback—you get to fill in the blanks on how this character got to be who they are… this is the backstory [for why] God’s glory is no longer in the temple.”
— Dr. Manny Arango [05:29]
[06:44]
Dr. Arango breaks down the four shocking forms of idolatry Ezekiel witnesses inside the Jerusalem temple:
a) The Image of Jealousy
b) Elders Worshipping Pagan Images
c) Women Weeping for Tammuz
d) Men Worshipping Shamash (The Sun God)
“Four abominations… are all happening where? In the temple. Not just out on the high places, but this is actually happening in the very place where God’s presence, God’s glory, is supposed to dwell.”
— Dr. Manny Arango [11:03]
(Ezekiel 10, [11:21])
“The glory of God doesn’t even live in that temple anymore… The moment you place a competitor in God’s arena, God doesn’t sit there and try to compete… God leaves.”
— Dr. Manny Arango [13:18]
[17:06]
“God says, I am enough. I am more than enough. And if I am going to be God in your life, then there can be no competitors, no idols. Cleanse your life of all idolatry... I don't want you hedging your bets. I don't want you covering your bases. I want to be the only God who you trust.”
— Dr. Manny Arango [17:22]
“You don’t get to burn sage and worship God. You don’t get to get your palms read and worship God… I don’t do spiritual gold diggers. I do disciples.”
— Dr. Manny Arango [18:32–19:15]
Dr. Manny Arango’s tone is passionate, relatable, and occasionally playful (“nerdy nuggets”). He connects Scripture to modern experience, using vivid examples, personal stories, and memorable one-liners to drive home practical application. The episode closes with encouragement to “get back to pure worship, exclusive worship,” challenging listeners to demolish rivals to God in their own lives.
Ezekiel 8–11 isn’t just ancient history; it’s a lens for seeing how God responds to divided allegiances in any age. Dr. Manny challenges listeners: Don’t hedge your bets—worship God alone, with no rivals.
Next Episode Preview:
Tomorrow: Ezekiel 12–16 — more “nerdy nuggets” and spiritual insights on pure, undivided faithfulness.