Ezekiel 6:4 - Exposition

Your images, etc. The "sun images" of the Revised Version shows why these are mentioned as distinct from the "idols." The chammanim were pillars or obelisks identified with the worship of Baal as the sun god, standing on his altars ( 2 Chronicles 34:4 ), coupled with the "groves," or Asherim ( Isaiah 17:8 ; Isaiah 27:9 ), and with the "high places" in 2 Chronicles 14:5 . I will cast down your slain men before your idols. As in the prophecy against Bethel ( 1 Kings 13:2 ), and in Josiah's action (2 Kings 33:16), this was the ne plus ultra of desecration. Where throe had been the sweet savour of incense there should be the sickening odour of the carcases of the slain. The word for "idols" ( gillulim ) , though found elsewhere, notably in Ezekiel's favourite textbooks (Le 26:30; Deuteronomy 29:17 ), is more prominent in his writings (where it occurs thirty-six times) then in any other book of the Old Testament, and means, primarily, a cairn or heap of stones, which, like the "sun images," came to be associated with Baal. Ezekiel repeats both words in verse 6, with all the emphasis of scorn. He predicts the coming of a time when the work of destruction should be done more thoroughly than even Josiah lind done it. When that time came, the familiar formula, "Ye shall know that I am the Lord," should receive yet another fulfilment.