Ezekiel 8:11

11 Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense.

Ezekiel 8:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 8:11

And there stood before them
Before the pictures, as the Vulgate Latin version expresses it, praying, sacrificing, and offering incense unto them: seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel;
the whole sanhedrim, or great court of judicature among the Jews, as Kimchi; or at least there is an allusion to that number, which were appointed in Moses' time to be officers over the people, and govern and direct them, ( Numbers 11:16 ) ; which shows how sadly depraved and corrupted the state was, that not the common people only, but the civil magistrates, the chief rulers and governors, were given to idolatry; and those that should have taught the people the right way led them wrong; and it is still a further aggravation of their crime that they should do this in the chambers of the priests and Levites, where they ought not to have been: and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan;
who was either the prince of the sanhedrim, or at least a person of great note and esteem; and shows the corruption to be general, from the least to the greatest: Shaphan was a scribe in Josiah's time, who had a son named Ahikam, perhaps the father of this, ( 2 Kings 22:3 2 Kings 22:12 ) ; in ( Ezekiel 11:2 ) ; he is said to be the son of Azur, and one of the princes of the people: with every man his censer in his hand;
to offer incense to the idols portrayed on the wall; and which they did, for it follows: and a thick cloud of incense went up;
there were many that offered; and perhaps they offered a large quantity, being very liberal and profuse in this kind of devotion to their idols.

Ezekiel 8:11 In-Context

9 He told me, "Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there."

10 So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals, and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping.

11 Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense.

12 God asked me, "Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: "The Lord doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.' "

13 Then the Lord said to me, "You are going to see them do even more disgusting things than that."