@Eze 11:1-25. PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CORRUPT "PRINCES OF THE PEOPLE;" PELATIAH DIES; PROMISE OF GRACE TO THE BELIEVING REMNANT; DEPARTURE OF THE GLORY OF GOD FROM THE CITY; EZEKIEL'S RETURN TO THE CAPTIVES.
1. east gate--to which the glory of God had moved itself
(@Eze 10:19), the chief entrance of the sanctuary; the portico or
porch of Solomon. The Spirit moves the prophet thither, to witness, in
the presence of the divine glory, a new scene of destruction.
five and twenty men--The same as the twenty-five (that is, twenty-four
heads of courses, and the high priest) sun-worshippers seen in
@Eze 8:16. The leading priests were usually called "princes of
the sanctuary" (@Isa 43:28) and "chiefs of the priests"
(@2Ch 36:14); but here two of them are called "princes of the
people," with irony, as using their priestly influence to be ringleaders
of the people in sin (@Eze 11:2). Already the wrath of God had
visited the people represented by the elders (@Eze 9:6); also
the glory of the Lord had left its place in the holy of holies, and,
like the cherubim and flaming sword in Eden, had occupied the gate into
the deserted sanctuary. The judgment on the representatives of the
priesthood naturally follows here, just as the sin of the
priests had followed in the description (@Eze 8:12,16) after the sin
of the elders.
Jaazaniah--signifying "God hears."
son of Azur--different from Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan
(@Eze 8:11). Azur means "help." He and Pelatiah ("God delivers"),
son of Benaiah ("God builds"), are singled out as Jaazaniah, son of
Shaphan, in the case of the seventy elders (@Eze 8:11,12), because
their names ought to have reminded them that "God" would have "heard"
had they sought His "help" to "deliver" and "build" them up. But,
neglecting this, they incurred the heavier judgment by the very relation
in which they stood to God [FAIRBAIRN].
2. he--the Lord sitting on the cherubim (@Eze 10:2).
wicked counsel--in opposition to the prophets of God
(@Eze 11:3).
3. It is not near--namely, the destruction of the city; therefore
"let us build houses," as if there was no fear. But the Hebrew opposes English Version, which would require the infinitive
absolute. Rather, "Not at hand is the building of houses." They sneer at
Jeremiah's letter to the captives, among whom Ezekiel lived
(@Jer 29:5). "Build ye houses, and dwell in them," that is, do
not fancy, as many persuade you, that your sojourn in Babylon is to be
short; it will be for seventy years (@Jer 25:11,12 29:10); therefore
build houses and settle quietly there. The scorners in Jerusalem reply,
Those far off in exile may build if they please, but it is
too remote a concern for us to trouble ourselves about
[FAIRBAIRN],
(Compare @Eze 12:22,27 2Pe 3:4).
this city . . . caldron . . . we . . . flesh--sneering at
@Jer 1:13, when he compared the city to a caldron with its mouth
towards the north. "Let Jerusalem be so if you will, and we the flesh,
exposed to the raging foe from the north, still its fortifications will
secure us from the flame of war outside; the city must stand for our
sakes, just as the pot exists for the safety of the flesh in it." In
opposition to this God says (@Eze 11:11), "This city shall not be
your caldron, to defend you in it from the foe outside: nay, ye
shall be driven out of your imaginary sanctuary and slain
in the border of the land. "But," says God, in @Eze 11:7, "your
slain are the flesh, and this city the caldron; but (not as you fancy,
shall ye be kept safe inside) I will bring you forth
out of the midst of it"; and again, in @Eze 24:3, "Though not a
caldron in your sense, Jerusalem shall be so in the sense of its being
exposed to a consuming foe, and you yourselves in it and with it."
4. prophesy . . . prophesy--The repetition marks emphatic earnestness.
5. Spirit . . . fell upon me--stronger than "entered into me"
(@Eze 2:2 3:24), implying the zeal of the Spirit of God roused to
immediate indignation at the contempt of God shown by the scorners.
I know--(@Ps 139:1-4). Your scornful jests at My word escape not
My notice.
6. your slain--those on whom you have brought ruin by your wicked counsels. Bloody crimes within the city brought on it a bloody foe from without (@Eze 7:23,24). They had made it a caldron in which to boil the flesh of God's people (@Mic 3:1-3), and eat it by unrighteous oppression; therefore God will make it a caldron in a different sense, one not wherein they may be safe in their guilt, but "out of the midst of" which they shall be "brought forth" (@Jer 34:4,5).
7. The city is a caldron to them, but it shall not be so to you. Ye shall meet your doom on the frontier.
8. The Chaldean sword, to escape which ye abandoned your God, shall be brought on you by God because of that very abandonment of Him.
9. out of the midst thereof--that is, of the city, as captives led into the open plain for judgment.
10. in the border of Israel--on the frontier: at Riblah, in the land
of Hamath (compare @2Ki 25:19-21, with @1Ki 8:65).
ye shall know that I am the Lord--by the judgments I inflict
(@Ps 9:16).
11. (See on Eze 11:3).
12. (@De 12:30,31).
13. Pelaliah--probably the ringleader of the scorners (@Eze 11:1)
was an earnest of the destruction of the rest of the twenty-five, as
Ezekiel had foretold, as also of the general ruin.
fell . . . upon . . .
face--(See on Eze 9:8).
wilt thou make a full end of the remnant--Is Pelatiah's destruction
to be the token of the destruction of all, even of the remnant? The
people regarded Pelatiah as a mainstay of the city. His name (derived
from a Hebrew root, "a remnant," or else "God delivers") suggested
hope. Is that hope, asks Ezekiel, to be disappointed?
15. thy brethren . . . brethren--The repetition implies, "Thy real
brethren" are no longer the priests at Jerusalem with whom thou art
connected by the natural ties of blood and common temple service,
but thy fellow exiles on the Chebar, and the house of Israel whosoever
of them. belong to the remnant to be spared.
men of thy kindred--literally, "of thy redemption," that is, the
nearest relatives, whose duty it was to do the part of Goel, or
vindicator and redeemer of a forfeited inheritance (@Le 25:25).
Ezekiel, seeing the priesthood doomed to destruction, as a priest, felt
anxious to vindicate their cause, as if they were his nearest kinsmen
and he their Goel. But he is told to look for his true kinsmen in those,
his fellow exiles, whom his natural kinsmen at Jerusalem despised, and
he is to be their vindicator. Spiritual ties, as in the case of Levi
(@De 33:9), the type of Messiah (@Mt 12:47-50) are to supersede
natural ones where the two clash. The hope of better days was to rise
from the despised exiles. The gospel principle is shadowed forth here,
that the despised of men are often the chosen of God and the highly
esteemed among men are often an abomination before Him
(@Lu 16:15 1Co 1:26-28). "No door of hope but in the valley of
Achor" ("trouble," @Ho 2:15), [FAIRBAIRN].
Get you far . . . unto us is this land--the contemptuous words of those
left still in the city at the carrying away of Jeconiah to the exiles,
"However far ye be outcasts from the Lord and His temple, we are
secure in our possession of the land."
16. Although--anticipating the objection of the priests at Jerusalem,
that the exiles were "cast far off." Though this be so, and they are far
from the outer temple at Jerusalem, I will be their asylum or sanctuary
instead (@Ps 90:1 91:9 Isa 8:14). My shrine is the humble heart: a
preparation for gospel catholicity when the local and material temple
should give place to the spiritual
(@Isa 57:15 66:1 Mal 1:11 Joh 4:21-24 Ac 7:48,49). The trying
discipline of the exile was to chasten the outcasts so as to be meet
recipients of God's grace, for which the carnal confidence of the
priests disqualified them. The dispersion served the end of
spiritualizing and enlarging the views even of the better Jews, so as to
be able to worship God everywhere without a material temple; and, at
the same time, it diffused some knowledge of God among the greatest
Gentile nations, thus providing materials for the gathering in of the
Christian Church among the Gentiles; so marvellously did God overrule a
present evil for an ultimate good. Still more does all this hold good
in the present much longer dispersion which is preparing for a more
perfect and universal restoration (@Isa 2:2-4 Jer 3:16-18). Their
long privation of the temple will prepare them for appreciating the
more, but without Jewish narrowness, the temple that is to be
(@Eze 40:1-44:31).
a little--rather, "for a little season"; No matter how long the
captivity may be, the seventy years will be but as a little season,
compared with their long subsequent settlement in their land. This
holds true only partially in the case of the first restoration; but as
in a few centuries they were dispersed again, the full and permanent
restoration is yet future (@Jer 24:6).
17. (@Eze 28:25 34:13 36:24).
18. They have eschewed every vestige of idolatry ever since their return from Babylon. But still the Shekinah glory had departed, the ark was not restored, nor was the second temple strictly inhabited by God until He came who made it more glorious than the first temple (@Hag 2:9); even then His stay was short, and ended in His being rejected; so that the full realization of the promise must still be future.
19. I will give them--lest they should claim to themselves the
praise given them in @Eze 11:18, God declares it is to be
the free gift of His Spirit.
one heart--not singleness, that is, uprightness, but oneness of heart in all, unanimously seeking Him in contrast to their state
at that time, when only single scattered individuals sought God
(@Jer 32:39 Zep 3:9)
[HENGSTENBERG]. Or, "content with one God,"
not distracted with "the many detestable things"
(@Eze 11:18 1Ki 18:21 Ho 10:2) [CALVIN].
new spirit--(@Ps 51:10 Jer 31:33). Realized fully in the "new
creature" of the New Testament (@2Co 5:17); having new motives, new
rules, new aims.
stony heart--like "adamant" (@Zec 7:12); the natural heart of
every man.
heart of flesh--impressible to what is good, tender.
20. walk in my statutes--Regeneration shows itself by its fruits
(@Ga 5:22,25).
they . . . my people, . . . I . . . their God--(@Eze 14:11 36:28 37:27 Jer 24:7). In its fullest sense still future
(@Zec 13:9).
21. whose heart . . . after . . . heart of . . . detestable things--The
repetition of "heart" is emphatic, signifying that the heart of those
who so obstinately clung to idols, impelled itself to fresh
superstitions in one continuous tenor
[CALVIN]. Perhaps it is implied
that they and their idols are much alike in character (@Ps 115:8).
The heart walks astray first, the feet follow.
recompense . . . way upon . . . heads--They have abandoned Me, so will
I abandon them; they profaned My temple, so will I profane it by the
Chaldeans (@Eze 9:10).
23. The Shekinah glory now moves from the east gate (@Eze 10:4,19) to the Mount of Olives, altogether abandoning the temple. The mount was chosen as being the height whence the missiles of the foe were about to descend on the city. So it was from it that Jesus ascended to heaven when about to send His judgments on the Jews; and from it He predicted its overthrow before His crucifixion (@Mt 24:3). It is also to be the scene of His return in person to deliver His people (@Zec 14:4), when He shall come by the same way as He went, "the way of the east" (@Eze 43:2).
24. brought me in a vision--not in actual fact, but in ecstatic vision. He had been as to the outward world all the time before the elders (@Eze 8:3) in Chaldea; he now reports what he had witnessed with the inner eye.
25. things . . . showed me--literally, "words"; an appropriate expression; for the word communicated to him was not simply a word, but one clothed with outward symbols "shown" to him as in the sacrament, which AUGUSTINE terms "the visible word" [CALVIN].