This article was taken in part from Men of Renown – Weeping Women.
The greater abomination was the worship of the imagination of their evil hearts as the five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD . . . worshipped the sun. The greater abomination became and IS the expansion of the ultimate spiritual corruption: the rejection of God. What began in the house of Israel when they rebelled against God’s Order created the worship of idols and the influence of spiritual contamination through ‘silly women’ reinforced the counterfeit priesthood to form the ultimate rejection of God and that was and is the worship of creation, the worship of the created, the worship of self.
Why five and twenty men? There is a message connected with this number that relates to man turning their backs to the temple of the LORD. Remember that the physical tangible Temple as the Tabernacle in the wilderness represented the spiritual Temple of God who is Christ. These five and twenty men turned their backs not only to the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they turned their backs to the Temple of the LORD which is Christ Jesus.
● Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19) Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? (John 2:20) But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:21)
● And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Revelation 21:22) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23)
Side Note: The Number Five and Twenty. Our study phrase of five and twenty men occurs twice in Scripture, and both are found in Ezekiel, and both refer to two different men by the same name . . . Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, (Ezekiel 8:11) and in Ezekiel 11:1 Jaazaniah the son of Azur. The name of Jaazaniah means ‘Jehovah hears‘ or ‘Jehovah will give ear.‘ Shaphan means ‘to conceal‘ and/or ‘to hide,’ and Azur means ‘helpful‘ and/or ‘helped.’ In Ezekiel 8:11, Jaazaniah had a censer in his hand as did every man, and in Ezekiel 11:1 Jaazaniah is called as one of the princes of the people.
And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. (Ezekiel 8:11)
And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. (Ezekiel 8:16)
Although the words five and twenty appears twenty five times in the Old Testament this phrase was connected to the time of the reign of Hezekiah, and to the measurements of the millennial Temple, but twice it is connected to men who gave wicked counsel and devised mischief among the people.. ◆ End of Side Note. The Number Five and Twenty.
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