In showing the prophet Ezekiel how the Glory of the Lord finally leaves the Jerusalem Temple, and even before this, God...
In showing the prophet Ezekiel how the Glory of the Lord finally leaves the Jerusalem Temple, and even before this, God speaks exceptionally important words, recorded by the prophet in chapter 11. The beginning of the chapter concerns an idea of the Jerusalemites that seems strange to us: of their city they say, ‘It is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ Most likely these words were a common saying, meaning that people are what matters most in Jerusalem and are protected by its walls like the contents of a cauldron. But God again says that nothing can protect the people from the consequences of their own sin.
Then, beginning with verse 14, God answers the prophet’s renewed question about the fate of Israel’s remnant: ‘Do You really wish to destroy it completely?’ The prophet is commanded to address the children of Israel living in exile—that is, precisely those who have gathered at this moment in the prophet’s house. These people, rightly regarded as the flower of the nation, had been taken captive by the Babylonians so that no one would remain not merely to lead resistance, but even to think of it. Among them are the people’s princes and elders, priests and members of the royal family, descendants of David; among them are scribes, students of Scripture, sages and scholars; among them are experts in the languages and customs of many peoples who, in just a few years, created the first ‘transnational corporations’ and international banks in Babylon. In today’s language we call this society’s elite. Many of them, judging by the prophet’s words, had not stained themselves with idolatry and grieved over ‘Israel’s abominations’.
The politically, religiously and morally undistinguished crowd remaining in Jerusalem quickly appreciated the opportunity to rule in the absence of the best people. Their unbridled pride led them to erase those taken into captivity from Israel’s life. Most likely the exiles were denied the right to participate ‘in absentia’ in the religious and political life of their homeland. This is precisely what the words the Lord quotes in verse 15 indicate. In effect, they have been deprived of more than their homeland: they have been deprived of the possibility of communion with God, since worship of Him is possible only in the Jerusalem Temple. And now the Lord addresses the exiles, rejected even by their own people.
People deprived of everything, uprooted from every foothold, are given an astonishing promise that makes them richer than anyone else. ‘I Myself,’ says the Lord, ‘will be something of a sanctuary for them.’ Alongside these words we should place Christ’s words: ‘The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father... But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth...’ (Jn 4:21–23). ‘I Myself will be something of a sanctuary for them’ is a prophetic anticipation of worship ‘in Spirit and truth’.
The Lord then answers an unspoken question, one of the central questions for the prophets of that era: the problem of people’s inability to be righteous before God, of which the prophet Jeremiah spoke at length. God’s saving action, described in Ezek 11:16–21, will bring renewal to those who have walked the path of suffering and purification. ‘I will put a new spirit within them,’ says the Lord, promising to give the faithful a new, truly living heart. Thus, at a moment of catastrophe, against a background of tragic spiritual degradation, a prophecy of Pentecost and human deification is heard.
11 God's message of wrath to those who remained secure at Jerusalem, Eze 11:1-13.
A message of comfort to the dejected captives at Babylon, Eze 11:14-21.
The glory of God removes farther, Eze 11:22-23.
The vision disappears, of which Ezekiel gives an account, Eze 11:24-25.
11:1 Jaazaniah - Not him that is mentioned chap.Eze 8:11.Pelatiah - Named here for that dreadful sudden death, whereby he became a warning to others.
11:2 He - The Lord sitting on the cherub.
11:3 It - The threatened danger and ruin by the Chaldeans.The caldron - This is an impious scoff, yet mixt with some fear of the prophet, Jer 1:13.
11:6 Ye - Many murders have you committed yourselves, and you are accountable to God for all those whom the Chaldeans have slain, seeing you persuaded them, thus obstinately to stand out.
11:7 Bring you forth - Not in mercy, but in wrath, by the conquering hand of Babylon.
11:9 Deliver you - Defeating all your projects for escape.
11:10 Will judge - My just judgments shall pursue you, whithersoever you fly.
11:11 Your caldron - The place of your sufferings; greater are reserved for you in a strange land. Judge you - I will do more against you at Riblah, where the captive king had his children, and others with them, first murdered before his eyes, and then his own eyes put out; Riblah is called the border of Israel: for Syria was adjoining to Israel on the north, and Riblah was on the frontiers of Syria.
11:13 Pelatiah - Mentioned ver. Eze 11:1, a principal man among the twenty - five princes, who made all the mischief in Jerusalem.It should seem this was done in vision now, (as the slaying of the ancient men, chap.Eze 9:6,) but it was an assurance, that when this prophecy was published, it would be done in fact. And the death of Pelatiah was an earnest of the compleat accomplishment of the prophecy.A full end - By slaying all, as this man is cut off.
11:15 Thy brethren - Thy nearest kindred, which it seems were left in Jerusalem. Their degeneracy is more noted in the repetition of the word brethren. Gone far - Ye are gone far from the Lord; as much as the Heathens accused the Christians of atheism.
11:16 Say - In vindication of them. Although - The obstinate Jews at Jerusalem will call them apostates; but I the Lord sent them thither, and will own them there. Scattered - Dispersed them in many countries which are under the king of Babylon: yet they are dear to me.A little sanctuary - A little one in opposition to that great temple at Jerusalem. To him they shall flee, and in him they shall be safe, as he was that took hold on the horns of the altar. And they shall have such communion with God in the land of their captivity, as it was thought could be had no where but in the temple.
11:18 They - They who assemble upon Cyrus's proclamation first, and then upon Darius's proclamation, shall overcome all difficulties, dispatch the journey, and come safely to their own land. Take away - They shall abolish superstition and idolatry from the temple.
11:19 One heart - Cyrus shall give them leave, and I will give them a heart to return; and on their way shall there be great utility; and, when come to Jerusalem, they shall own me, and my laws, and with one consent, build Jerusalem and the temple, and restore true religion.The stony - That hard, inflexible, undutiful, incorrigible disposition.
11:21 Heart - Soul and affections. Walketh - Either secretly adhere to, or provide for the service of idols, called here detestable things.
11:23 Went up - The glory of the Lord removes now out of the city, over which it had stood some time, waiting for their repentance.The mountain - Mount Olivet. He removed thither, to be as it were within call, and ready to return, if now at length in this their day, they would have understood the things that made for their peace.
11:24 The spirit - The same spirit which carried him to Jerusalem, now brings him back to Chaldea. Went up - Was at an end.