Ezekiel 8:17

17. They put the branch to their nose This seems to be the particularly objectionable feature connected with the sun worship just described, which may indicate that it was a debased and impure form of such worship. The gesture referred to is one common to ancient rituals and was the symbol of life and fructification. Flowers and trees played a great part in the religious symbolism of all ancient religions. (See Fraser’s Golden Bough.) In the tombs of Egypt almost every deceased person and the mourning friends are represented smelling the lotus. Even to-day the lotus is the most favored religious emblem in Japan. Tell a Buddhist that his heart is corrupt and cannot be cleansed, and he will answer, “The lotus springs from the mud” ( Asiatic Quarterly Review, viii, p. 441). The custom of holding a bundle of twigs to the nose by the Magi during prayer is reported by Strabo (xv, 3, 14). This is the beresma of the Avesta, and is still done by the Parsi priests. Astarte-Aphrodite or Tammuz-Adonis is represented on an ancient vase in front of the Asherah tree with flowers in both hands, one bouquet of which is held to the nose. On the Assyrian monuments earlier than Ezekiel’s day the priests are represented carrying a spray in one hand, and in one case at least the priest is seen lifting the spray to his nose just before he offers sacrifice. This same gesture is seen in another representation of a priestess or goddess who stands before the symbol of the sun; it is common everywhere in the adoration of the flower god Tammuz-Adonis. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter points out that the smelling of a flower or a flowering branch or the holy tree itself was a most solemn ceremonial in the ancient ritual in Cyprus. In various statues the priest or worshiper is represented adoring the sun, while in his left hand he holds the flowering spray to his nose ( Kypros, Bible, and Homer, 1893, p. 136, etc.). Perrot and Chipiez describe thus a Phoenician temple: “The air was full of perfume, of soft and caressing sounds… the voluptuous cooing of the dove mingled with the rippling notes of the flute.… Here sat the slaves of the goddess covered with jewels and dressed in rich stuffs with bright-colored fringes… necklaces of gold, amber, and glass hung between their swelling breasts; with the pigeon, the emblem of fertility, in one hand and a flower or myrtle branch in the other, these women sat and waited” ( Phoenicia and Cyprus, ii, pp. 108, 138, 332). A class of male prostitutes were connected with the Baal worship, and a class of priestess prostitutes ( Kadishti) with the Ashtoreth, Ishtar, and Tammuz cults. “The recent revelations concerning the hideous meaning of this seemingly inoffensive symbol and the ritual connected with it perfectly explain the strong words contained in the Bible text. This ‘fills the cup!’ God is now determined to punish, and the following chapter brings before the eyes of the seer the judgment according to its various phases.” Orelli.