God, in Ezekiel 8, gave Ezekiel several visions about the evil in which the Israelites were involved. In verses 10-11, Ezekiel saw elders of the Israelites worshipping false gods. They were worshipping every kind of animal and creeping thing. These men were seen with censers in their hands. These censers held incense that was burned to the gods.
In Chapter 7, God made reference to a rod that had blossomed. This rod was a rod of violence and wickedness. This was to remind the Israelites about the rod of Aaron being chosen by God in Numbers 17. That was done because of Korah and others wanted to be important like Moses and Aaron.
The censers here are very possibly mentioned as another reminder of Korah. God had told all those aligned with Korah to bring a censer to the Tabernacle. Aaron and Moses were to bring their censers as well. God killed Korah and his family. He killed with fire the 250 that had their censers. He then had those censers made into broad plates to cover the altar of God. This was supposed to be a warning and a reminder to the Israelites that no one except the priests was to approach God in the Tabernacle to offer incense.
In Ezekiel 8, not only were non-priests offering incense on censers, but they were offering the incense to false gods. They were compounding their sins. This made God very angry. God was going to punish Israel for wickedness.
Today, God only accepts spiritual offerings from His priests. All Christians are priests (1 Peter 2:9). The prayers of Christians are censers of incense in God’s eyes (Revelation 5:8). Make sure you become a priest. Study your Bible and learn what is necessary to become a priest under the New Testament. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
