Behind Closed Doors: Secrets, Shadows, and Seventy Elders
Today I read Ezekiel chapters 5 through 8, and one scene in particular caught my attention: the vision in chapter 8 where Ezekiel is brought to the temple and shown what's happening in secret. He's led through various areas, each more disturbing than the last, until finally he's shown a hidden chamber. Inside, seventy elders are worshiping carved images in the dark.
Not Just Any Secret Society
What stood out to me wasn’t just the idol worship itself, but the secrecy of it. In Ezekiel 8:12, God says, "Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us; he has deserted our land!'” This feels more psychological than theological. It's not just about worshiping other gods; it's about doing it in secret, while still maintaining a public identity as religious leaders.
I found myself wondering: what do people hide in their own inner chambers today? Even without carved idols or temple courts, the idea of compartmentalizing our values seems familiar. There’s the public self—what we post online, what we say in meetings, how we present to our communities. And then there's the private self, where insecurities, habits, desires, and judgments take shape away from view. Is that comparison fair to make? Maybe not exactly, but it felt relevant.
Lights Off, Filters Off
There's also something revealing about the excuse the elders give: "The Lord doesn’t see us." Whether or not someone believes in God, the assumption that no one is watching often changes behavior. It's an old idea, echoed in psychology experiments and everyday situations—people act differently when they think they're unobserved. That part of Ezekiel’s vision feels surprisingly contemporary.
The whole scene made me wonder whether Ezekiel's vision is less about judgment and more about exposure. It doesn't say the idols jumped out and started destroying anything. The damage seems to be internal—a disconnect between appearance and reality, between public loyalty and private longing. The vision seems designed to force a confrontation with that gap.
We All Have a Back Room
I’m not trying to moralize or suggest we all have a hidden idol we need to identify. But this chapter raised questions for me about how we divide ourselves, and what we choose to keep hidden, even from those closest to us. Not because we're evil, but maybe because we're afraid, or disillusioned, or just unsure.
Ezekiel 8 is dramatic and surreal, but beneath all that, it seems to describe something very human: the urge to hide, the fear of being seen, and the complicated mix of belief, doubt, and desire that plays out behind closed doors.