A Branch to Their Nose?

And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose.” (Ezekiel 8:17)

As our family was reading Ezekiel 8 together recently, following our church reading schedule, my 11-year-old son asked me what God meant when he said, “Indeed they put the branch to their nose.” I gave his question a moment’s reflection and answered that I had no idea, but according to the general tenor of the verse, the people of Judah had stirred up God’s wrath by their idolatry and violence. Since that morning I’ve been puzzling over this strange phrase and wondering exactly what it meant.

The meaning of this verse in context is not difficult to understand or explain. After Yahweh had shown the prophet the idol that had been set up in the north gate of the temple’s inner court in direct violation of the 2^nd commandment (Ezek. 8:5), he showed him the 70 elders who ruled over and represented the entire population of Judah offering incense to “every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel” (v.9-12). Then he showed him the women gathered in their court worshiping the fertility goddess Tammuz (v.13-14), and finally in front of the altar of burnt offering, the most sacred place in the inner court of the temple, he saw 25 priests, the head of each course along with the high priest himself, facing away from the altar and toward the east, bowing down and worshiping the sun (v.16).

So in v.17 the Lord asks what can only be rhetorical questions of Ezekiel. Has he seen these abominations? Of course. Is it a trivial thing for the people of Judah to commit such grossly offensive acts within the temple precincts and even the temple itself? Of course it isn’t. Any faithful follower of Yahweh would be rightly scandalized seeing their leaders, both political and religious, involved in such outrageous sins. God is clearly angry, and he has every right and reason to be. And rather than repenting of their sins, they have leveraged them into even greater sins: filling the land with violence and returning to provoke the Lord to anger.

It is at this point that God mentions that the house of Judah has “put the branch to their nose.” While it is clear that the act of putting the branch to their nose has been done to provoke the Lord, the act itself is not entirely clear. For instance, Charles Feinberg states that Jewish commentators interpret it as some vile form of idol worship, but he admits there is no such rite known among the Middle Easter peoples. He offers several other alternatives, namely, that it may be an act of defiance against God akin to thumbing your nose at him, or it may refer to the sacred trees which were used as symbols in idolatry, or to the practice of holding a bundle of tamarisk branches to your nose first thing in the morning to ward off evil spirits. He concludes by saying, “there is no room here for dogmatism since there is no certainty in the matter; it has not been satisfactorily explained as yet.”

Other commentators are likewise stymied in offering a definitive explanation. For instance, Charles Dyer notes that some have suggested an alternative translation. He says, “Early Jewish commentators translated ‘branch’ as ‘stench.’ Some scholars feel that ‘their’ was a later scribal change for an original reading of ‘my.’ In this case the phrase would read ‘putting the stench to My nose,’ that is, idolatry is a putrid, offensive smell to God.” Delitzsch offers two other possibilities in addition to some that have already been mentioned. He says that the phrase may be part of an ancient proverb meaning “to add fuel to the fire,” in the sense that the house of Judah has continued to stir up God’s anger by their idolatry and violence, or it might be a part of another proverb that reads “Indeed they put the sickle to their nose.” He explains the proverb this way: “by seeking to injure Me, they injure themselves.” But commentators generally agree that these are only possible meanings of the phrase, and no one can be certain about its interpretation.

Rather than be frustrated or dismayed by the difficulty of this phrase, we may consider this an opportunity to remember that the meaning of words and phrases is determined by their usage in context, and the context in Ezekiel 8 couldn’t be more clear. God’s people have provoked him to anger with their idolatry and violence which they have committed knowing fully that their actions were stirring up his jealous wrath. They have not made a mistake but have been engaging in outright rebellion against Yahweh. Whatever specific practice this phrase may refer to, it is clear that the Israelites had sinned greatly and were bringing severe judgment on themselves as a result. In v.18 the Lord says that, in response to their provocations, he will pour out fury on them without pity. Clearly God hates idolatry and violence, but he hates even more that spirit of rebellion which shows contempt for his merciful warnings and delayed punishments. May we hear the warning and repent of our sin, seeking mercy rather than foolishly stirring up God’s anger.