Ezekiel 8:3

And he put forth the form of an hand ,.... That is, he that appeared in the likeness of a man, and with so much glory and splendour, out of the midst of the fire and brightness which were about him, put forth the form of a hand, that looked like a man's hand; for this appearance was not real, only visionary; and this seems to design the Spirit of God sent forth by Christ, sometimes called the finger of God, Luke 11:20 ; as appears by what follows:

and took me by a lock of mine head ; without hurting him, showing his power over him; and by this means raising him from his seat, as it seemed to the prophet:

and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and heaven ; took him off of his seat, and out of his house, lifted him up in the air, and carried him through it, as he thought; for this was not real and local; in like manner as the spirit caught away Philip, Acts 8:39 ; but in vision, as follows:

and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem ; so it was represented to him in a true vision, which was of God, and not of Satan, that he was carried from Chaldea to Jerusalem; not that he really was, for he was still in Chaldea; and here in vision was he brought again, and found himself to be when that vision was over, Ezekiel 11:24 ; but things so appeared to him, as if he was actually brought to Jerusalem by the power of the Spirit of God:

to the door of the inner gate : not of Jerusalem, but the temple, or rather the court, the inner court; see Ezekiel 10:3 ; and so it should be rendered "to the door of the gate of the inner court" F19 אל פתח שער הפנימית "ad ostium portae interioris, sub. atrii", Pagninus, Vatablus, Piscator. ; and thus it is explained by Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech:

that looketh toward the north ; for there were gates on every side:

where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy ; some graven image, perhaps the image of Baal; so called, because it provoked the Lord to jealousy, Deuteronomy 32:21 . Gussetius F20 Ebr. Comment. p. 903. suggests, that סמל , "Semel", here may be the same with Semele; who, in the opinion of the Heathens, made Juno jealous.