Ezekiel 8:7-9

‘And he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked behold a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, “Son of man, now dig in the wall.” And when I had dug in the wall, behold there was a door. And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they do here.” '

‘The door of the court.' A vague description which us to us conveys little information. Thus we do not know which wall it would be.

But Ezekiel was still in vision. These were visionary activities. Whether there really was a large secret chamber (holding at least seventy men) connected with the Temple court, or whether it was simply depicting the idea of secret and abominable behaviour throughout Jerusalem, which was in vision here seen as connected with the Temple because these men did also pretend to worship Yahweh in the temple (see Ezekiel 8:12), we cannot be certain.

‘A hole in the wall.' Possibly a breaking down of the fabric of the building which humanly speaking sparked off the thoughts in Ezekiel's mind, or possibly simply a visionary hole.

‘Then he said to me, “Son of man, now dig in the wall.” And when I had dug in the wall, behold there was a door.' We would not expect to find a door hidden behind masonry, although the hole in the wall may suggest that the door was there and had been hidden behind a covering of stone and earth. If it was so, the fact that it was so hidden would point to the degradation taking place in the room behind in that it had to be kept secret even from the debased worshippers in the Temple, and was possibly only used at night (‘in the dark' - Ezekiel 8:12). But the secret activities may have taken place in secret chambers elsewhere in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:12) and be connected with the Temple simply in a visionary way for Ezekiel's benefit.

(But we can certainly not rule out the idea that such a secret chamber did exist in Solomon's Temple, known only to the few, possibly initially for use as a treasure room).