The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 11
Chapter XI · Vol. III, pp. 1323–1325
1 The presumption of the princes of Judah. 4 Their sin and judgment declared. 13 Ezekiel complaining, God showeth him his purpose in saving a remnant, 21 and punishing the wicked. 22 The glory of God leaveth the city. 24 Ezekiel, carried back by the Spirit, prophesieth to them of the captivity.
1 Moreover, thea spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the beast gate of the LORD's house, which looketh eastward: and, behold, at the door of the gate cfive and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, dprinces of the people.
a ch.3.12,14,22; 8.3; ver.24. Ac.8.39. 1 Ki.18.12.
b ch.10.19; 43.4.
A.M. cir. 3411. B.C. cir. 593.
c ch.8.16.
d ch.22.27. Ho.5.10. Is.1.10,23. Mi.3.1. Je.5.3. Da.9.8.
2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that edevise mischief,1 and give wicked counsel in this city;
3 Which say, gIt is not near; let us build houses:2 thish city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.3
g ch.12.22,27. Am.6.3. 2 Pe.3.4, with Je.16.2,3, &c.
2 Or, It is not for us to build houses near.
h Je.1.13. ch.24.3-6, with ver.7,8,11. 2 Ch.36.16. Is.28.22.
3 As if they had said, 'The destruction of the city—the judgment of God—is not near. When this city shall become a caldron, and we the flesh, then, but not till then (that is, never), will the prophecy of Ezekiel be fulfilled.' Thus mocking Ezekiel by a reference to Jeremiah, who had compared the judgments of Jerusalem to a seething-pot, Je.1.13.—C.
5 And the Spirit of the LORD jfell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD, Thusk have ye said, O house of Israel: for lI know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
6 Yen have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, oYour slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron; but Ip will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
o ver.6; ch.24.3-13. Mi.3.3.
p ver.9-11. Je.52.24-27; 39.6. 2 Ki.25.18-22.
9 Andr I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the shands of strangers, and will execute judgments tamong you.
r ver.7,10,11. 2 Ki.25.18-22. Je.39.6; 52.24-27, with 1 Ki.8.65. 2 Ki.14.25.
s De.28.36. Ne.9.36,37. Ps.106.41.
t ch.16.38.
10 Ye shall ufall by the sword: I will judge you in the vborder4 of Israel; and xye shall know that I am the LORD.
u Je.52.10.
v 2 Ki.14.25.
4 Hamath on the 'border,' Nu.34.8,11, was the place where the sons of Zedekiah and all the princes were slain, Je.52.9,10.—C.
11 Thisy city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:5
y ver.7,9,10, with ver.3.
5 At Riblah, Je.39.6; 52.10,24,27, with Nu.34.11. 1 Ki.8.65. 2 Ki.14.25. ver.10.
12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye zhave not walked6 in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but ahave done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
z 2 Ki.18.12. Ezr.9.7. Ne.9.34.
6 Or, who have not walked.
A.M. cir. 3411. B.C. cir. 593.
a 2 Ch.13.9. 2 Ki.16.3. Ps.106.35-39. ch.8.10,14,16; xvi. xx. xxii.-xxiv. Je.ii.-xix. Is.i.-v. ix. lix. 2 Ki.17.7-23. Le.18.3,24. De.12.29-31.
13 And it came to pass, bwhen I prophesied, that cPelatiah, the son of Benaiah, ddied:7 then efell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah, Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
b 1 Ki.13.4. ch.37.7; 14.23,25. Ho.6.5. Nu.14.35-37.
c ver.1. De.7.4. Pr.6.15. Ac.5.5,10.
d 1 Ki.19.17. Ho.6.5.
7 The death of Pelatiah may have been a reality corresponding to the time when the prophet was commanded to denounce the sins of the princes.—C.
e ch.9.8; 22.30. Ps.106.23. De.9.18,19. Jos.7.6-9. 1 Ch.21.16. 2 Sa.6.9. Ps.119.120.
14 Againg the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
g Ps.103.13,14. La.3.32,33. Hab.3.2, with ver.13.
15 Son of man, thy brethren,8 even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, hGet you far from the LORD; unto us is this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD, Although iI have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as ja little sanctuary9 in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD, I will even kgather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.1
* This prophecy in its full sense is essentially Messianic. The return from the Babylonish exile was a partial fulfilment; but that fulfiment was in itself a type of a greater—the final ingathering of the Jewish nation to their God and Saviour. The new heart and new spirit mentioned in ver.19 must signify a total and radical change of national character, which has never yet taken place, but which we may with confidence look for.—P.
k Je.30.18. Am.9.14. ch.36.7,16,23,24; 28.25; 34.13. Je.3.12,18. Ho.1.10,11.
1 See note * in first column.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall ltake away all the detestable things thereof, and all the abominations thereof, from thence.
l Col.3.5-8. Tit.2.12. ch.37.23; 5.11. Joel 3.17. Mi.5.10-14. Is.1.25,27. Ho.2.16; 14.8.
19 And nI will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the ostony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an pheart of flesh;
20 Thatq they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: rand they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21 But as for them whose sheart walketh after the heart of their tdetestable things and their abominations, uI will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
22 Thenv did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
v ch.1.19,26; 10.19.
23 Andx the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.2
x ch.8.4; 9.3; 10.4,18,19; 43.2. Zec.14.4.
2 The Shekinah glory which had so long rested on the ark, between the cherubims, in the most holy place, is here represented as taking a final departure from Jerusalem. It went, so to speak, in stages:—first, it left the holy of holies and stood over the threshold of the temple or shrine (ch.10.4); then it rose up from the threshold and rested on the cherubims (ver.18); then it was conveyed until it stood over the great east gate which opened from the inner to the outer court (ver.19); then it rose out of the city altogether, was wafted across the Kidron valley, and stood on the summit of the Mount of Olives, as stated in this 23d verse. How sad is this whole recital! The Lord withdrawing gradually, and as if reluctantly, from his temple, his city, and his chosen people, and thus delivering them over to the fury of their enemies.—P.
24 Afterwards the spirit ytook me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into zChaldea, to them of the captivity: so the vision that I had seen awent up from me.
25 Thenb I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had showed me.
b Ac.20.20,21,26,27. ch.3.4,17; 2.7, with viii.-xi.
Notes
Ver. 2, 3. They contrive schemes for the defence of the city, and encourage the people to rebel in defiance of God's threatenings, pretending that the Chaldeans will not in their times be able to take the city, or pluck them out of it. 6-11. Since you have seduced the people to stand out against the Chaldeans, contrary to the direction of God, therefore the most of them are slain, and become like flesh in a pot; and the Chaldeans shall carry you ringleaders in wickedness out of Jerusalem to Riblah in Syria, or to Babylon, and there barbarously kill you. 15-19. It is for these your brethren in Chaldea you should pray, who are ridiculed by the Jews at Jerusalem as voluntary forsakers of the Lord, his land and worship, and forfeitors of their property to such as maintained their station and interest in Canaan.—To these, in their scattered condition, will I be a protector, and will accept their worship as well as if at Jerusalem. These will I gather together and restore to their country in due time; purge from their idolatries; renew in all the faculties of their souls, and change their stubborn, rebellious, and incorrigible dispositions into those which are tender, tractable, and pliable.
Ver. 1. Five and twenty men. The Jewish senate, or Sanhedrim, consisted of six representatives or heads of each tribe, in all seventy-two, but usually called the Seventy; these were all discovered to have secretly turned idolaters, ch. 8. 11, 12. Next, the LORD discovered to the prophet twenty-five (more than one-third of the whole) who had turned their backs upon the temple, and openly and avowedly become sun-worshippers and abettors of violence and bloodshed, ch. 8. 16, 17. See ver. 6. These seem to be the twenty-five evil counsellors, now discovered and denounced. C.
Ver. 7. Your slain, &c. The prophets and other innocent persons slain in the times of Manasseh—they have found Jerusalem indeed a caldron—but 'I will bring you forth out of the midst of it,' ver. 11, and adjudge you to many deaths—the living death of cowards, ver. 8, the drudgery of slaves, ver. 9, the vain regrets of exiles, and the pitiless execution of a foreign sword, ver. 10. C.
Ver. 15. The idolatrous citizens of Jerusalem, so far from desiring the return of their exiled brethren, 'their kinsmen according to the flesh,' were averse to their return, and determined to retain the entire possession of the land. Such is covetousness—defacing every record even of divine right, and tearing asunder every tie of relationship and affection. C.
Ver. 17. This prediction began to be fulfilled in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra; which partial gathering was a type or specimen of that great and final restoration to their land, and conversion to Jesus, with which the prophecies so constantly abound. C.
Reflections.—The higher men are in office, the more criminal is their unfaithfulness. Wicked counsellors hurry a deluded people to the precipice of ruin. But they who put far from them the evil day, will find it terribly surprise them before they are aware. Mockery at God's words will quickly end in misery. It is common for Satan to make sinners look on their punishment as either doubtful or distant. Ministers have therefore need to be exceedingly bold and faithful, in warning self-flatterers and deceivers of others. And for this God sometimes renders some unexpected monuments of his justice, that others may hear and learn, and do no more so wickedly.—Proud transgressors often disclaim and detest their inferiors in guilt, and insult such as, in obedience to God, have given place unto wrath. To be banished from public ordinances is heavy to gracious souls; but God's presence and acceptance can more than balance the want. And great is the mercy when remarkable pardons, regeneration, and reformation coincide with and prepare for remarkable outward deliverances. But however loath God be to proceed, the obstinately wicked shall never pass unpunished. When sinners have filled up the measure of their iniquity, he will be glorified in their torment.—The most remarkable visions of God here are but short-lived. But it is of great use when ministers faithfully impart to others what themselves have heard and learned of the Father.