Ezekiel 8:11

Ezekiel also saw 70 of the elders of Israel (cf. Numbers 11:16-17), including Jaazaniah (lit. "Yahweh hears") the son of Shaphan, with censers containing burning incense in their hands worshipping these images (cf. Romans 1:23). These "laymen" were acting like priests. Jaazaniah appears to have been the son of Josiah’s godly Secretary of State, Shaphan (cf. 2 Kings 22:8-14; 2 Chronicles 34:15-21; Jeremiah 26:24; Jeremiah 29:3; Jeremiah 36:10; Jeremiah 40:5; Jeremiah 40:9; Jeremiah 40:11; Jeremiah 41:2; Jeremiah 43:6). If so, this would indicate the spiritual deterioration of leadership in Judah. Another of Shaphan’s sons, Ahikam, was a defender of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 26:24). [Note: See the diagram of Shaphan’s descendants near my comments on Jeremiah 26:24 in my notes on Jeremiah.] Some commentators believed that the gods they were worshipping were Egyptian in view of what these gods were and since the men were worshipping in secret. [Note: E.g., Craigie, p. 61; Feinberg, p. 50.] Some of Judah’s leaders advocated reliance on Egypt. If they were Egyptian gods, it was ironic that 70 elders of Israel had earlier confirmed the Mosaic Covenant after God delivered them from bondage to the gods of Egypt (Exodus 24:1; Exodus 24:9). Now Israel’s leaders appear to have been appealing to those same gods for help against the Babylonians.