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E Z E K I E L
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ezek 11:1-13 Bible Text
11:1 MOREOVER, THE Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the Lord's house,
which faces east. And behold, at the door of the gateway there were twenty-five men; and I saw
in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the
people. 2 Then [the Spirit] said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and
give wicked counsel in this city, 3 Who say, [The time] is not near to build houses; this city is the
boiling pot and we are the flesh. 4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man! 5
And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, Speak. Say, Thus says the Lord: This
is what you thought, O house of Israel, for I know the things that come into your mind. 6 You
have multiplied your slain in this city and you have filled its streets with the slain. 7 Therefore
thus says the Lord God: You’re slain that you have laid in your midst; they are the flesh and this
city is the boiling pot, but you shall be brought forth out of the midst of it.
8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring a sword upon you, says the Lord God. 9 And I will
bring you forth out of the midst of it and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and execute
judgments among you. 10 You shall fall by the sword; I will judge and punish you [before your
neighbors] at the border or outside the land of Israel, and you shall know (understand and
realize) that I am the Lord. 11 This city shall not be your boiling pot, neither shall you be the
flesh in the midst of it; I will judge you at the border or outside of Israel; 12 And you shall know
(understand and realize) that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed
My ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you. 13 And
while I was prophesying, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face and
cried with a loud voice, Ah, Lord God! Will You make a complete end of the remnant of Israel?
AMP
11:1. leaders. All of these names appear on seals from this period, but with the exception of
Pelatiah, it is unlikely that the seals should be related to the individuals named in this verse. The
Pelatiah seal possibly refers to this individual, but there can be no certainty. For more about seals
and persons named on them, see the sidebar in Jer 32. (IVP Bible Background Commentary)
11:3, 7, 11. Metaphor of cooking pot and meat. Ezekiel refutes the claims of Jerusalem's new
rulers that they have created a safe haven in the city for the people. He turns this around,
transforming the pot (Jerusalem) from a tightly sealed storage jar into a cooking pot in which the
people (see Micah 3:3) and their false rulers will be broiled over the flame of Yahweh's anger
(compare Ezekiel 22:18-22). (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)
11:1-13 Ezekiel continues to employ the image of sacrifice to prophesy judgment for the
people.
11:1-4: The spirit or “wind” transports Ezekiel to the east gate of the Temple where he sees
twenty-five officials, apparently the same men who were worshipping the sun in (8:16). His
earlier position in the inner court allowed him to see only their backs. Now that he is at the
eastern gate, he can see their faces as they face the sun. [Jewish Study Bible]
Question Matthew 4:5 Was that literal or spiritual?
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11:3 Their statement, there is no need now to build houses, rejects Jeremiah‟s call to build and to
plant (Jeremiah 1:10; 31:28). Their statement, this [city] is the pot, and we are the meat,
indicates their belief that Jerusalem is to be sacrificed since sacrificial meet was cooked in pots
(24:1-14; Jeremiah 1:13-19; 1 Samuel 2:12-17). Because they conclude that judgment is final,
they have rejected God to worship the sun. [Jewish Study Bible]
Note: I don‟t always accept the interpretation of a verse because the Jews see it so, but I also
understand that the Old Testament was written for them in there language and studied by them
for many centuries in fact much more that we could ever study it. Paul the Learner
Ezek 11:1
[At the door of the gate five and twenty men] The same persons, no doubt, who appear, Ezek
8:16, worshipping the sun.
[Jaazaniah the son of Azur] In Ezek 8:16, we find a Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. If Shaphan
was also called Azur, they may be the same person. But it is most likely that there were two of
this name, and both chiefs among the people. (Adam Clarke)
Ezek 11:3
[It is not near] That is, the threatened invasion.
[This city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.] See the vision of the seething pot, Jer 1:13.
These infidels seem to say: "We will run all risks; we will abide in the city. Though it is the
caldron and we the flesh, yet we will share its fate: if it perishes, we will perish with it." Or they
may allude to the above prediction of Jeremiah, in order to ridicule it: "We were to have been
boiled long ago: but the fulfillment of that prediction is not near yet."(Adam Clarke's Comm.)
(General Information - Ezekiel 11:1-13 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me
unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of
the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah
the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.) Threatening of Judgment and Promise of Mercy.
Conclusion of the Vision. - This chapter contains the concluding portion of the vision; namely:
1. First, the prediction of the destruction of the ungodly rulers (vv. 1-13);
2. Secondly, the consolatory and closing promise, that the Lord would gather to Himself a
people out of those who had been carried away into exile, and would sanctify them by
His Holy Spirit (vv. 14-21);
3. And, thirdly, the withdrawal of the gracious presence of God from the city of Jerusalem,
and the transportation of the prophet back to Chaldea with the termination of his ecstasy
(vv. 22-25).
Verse 1-4. Judgment upon the rulers of the nation. –
V. 1. And a wind lifted me up, and took me to the eastern gate of the house of Jehovah, which
faces towards the east; and behold, at the entrance of the gate were five and twenty men, and I
saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the chiefs of the
nation.
V. 2. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and counsel evil
counsel in this city;
V. 3. Who say, it is not near to build houses; it is the pot, and we are the flesh.
V. 4. Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man. –
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Ezekiel is once more transported from the inner court (Ezekiel 8:16) to the outer entrance of the
eastern gate of the temple (ruwach tisaa° spirit lifted me, as in Ezekiel 8:3), to which, according
to ch. 10:19, the vision of God had removed. There he sees twenty-five men, and among them
two of the princes of the nation, whose names are given. These twenty-five men are not
identical with the twenty-five priests mentioned in Ezekiel 8:16, as Hävernick supposes. This is
evident, not only from the difference in the locality, the priests standing between the porch and
the altar, whereas the men referred to here stood at the outer eastern entrance to the court of
the temple, but from the fact that the two who are mentioned by name are called
haa±aam saareey (princes of the people), so that we may probably infer from this that all the
twenty-five were secular chiefs.
These twenty-five (according to v. 2) were simply the counselors of the city. The twelve tribe-
princes (princes of the nation) and the twelve royal officers, or military commanders (1
Chronicles 27), with the king himself, or possibly with the commander-in-chief of the army; so
that these twenty-five men represent the civil government of Israel, just as the twenty-four
priest-princes, together with the high priest, represent the spiritual authorities of the covenant
nation. The reason why two are specially mentioned by name is involved in obscurity, as
nothing further is known of either of these persons. The words of God to the prophet in v. 2
concerning them are perfectly applicable to representatives of the civil authorities or temporal
rulers, namely that they devise and give unwholesome and evil counsel.
This counsel is described in v. 3 by the words placed in their mouths: "house-building is not
near; it (the city) is the caldron, we are the flesh." These words are difficult, and different
interpretations have consequently been given.
1. The rendering, "it (the judgment) is not near, let us build houses," is incorrect.
2. It is inadmissible also to take the sentence as a question, "Is not house-building near?" in
the sense of "it is certainly near," as Ewald does, after some of the ancient versions.
3. For even if an interrogation is sometimes indicated simply by the tone in an energetic
address, as, for example, in 2 Samuel 23:5, this cannot be extended to cases in which the
words of another are quoted.
The only way in which the words can be made to yield a sense in harmony with the context, is by
taking them as to Jeremiah 29:5. Jeremiah had called upon those in exile to build themselves
houses in their banishment, and prepare for a lengthened stay in Babylon, and not to allow
themselves to be deceived by the words of false prophets, who predicted a speedy return; for
severe judgments had yet to fall upon those who had remained behind in the land. This word of
Jeremiah the authorities in Jerusalem ridiculed, saying "house-building is not near," i.e., the
house-building in exile is still a long way off; it will not come to this, that Jerusalem should fall
either permanently or entirely into the hands of the king of Babylon. On the contrary, Jerusalem
is the pot, and we, its inhabitants, are the flesh. The point of comparison is this: as the pot
protects the flesh from burning, so does the city of Jerusalem protect us from destruction.
On the other hand, there is no foundation for the assumption that the words also contain an
allusion to other sayings of Jeremiah, namely, to Jeremiah 1:13, where the judgment about to
burst in from the north is represented under the figure of a smoking pot; or to Jeremiah 19,
where Jerusalem is depicted as a pot about to be broken in pieces by God; for the reference in
Jeremiah 19 is simply to an earthen pitcher, not to a meat-caldron; and the words in the verse
before us have nothing at all in common with the figure in Jeremiah 1:13. The correctness of
our explanation is evident both from Ezekiel 24:3, 6, where the figure of pot and flesh is met
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with again, though differently applied, and from the reply which Ezekiel makes to the saying of
these men in the verses that follow (vv. 7-11).
This saying expresses not only false confidence in the strength of Jerusalem, but also contempt
and scorn of the predictions of the prophets sent by God. Ezekiel is therefore to prophesy, as he
does in vv. 5-12, against this pernicious counsel, which is confirming the people in their sins.
(Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)
Remember in a Commentary the writer will sometimes show an idea of some one and then take
it apart and show his own views. Many times he is only guessing and he could be wrong and the
other one right. It is good to look at different ideals to see how they form there conclusions. In
fact you may have even a different one than they have. Paul the Learner
[General Information - 11:5-13] God instructs Ezekiel to hold the twenty five leaders
responsible for the deaths of the people in Jerusalem. [Jewish Study Bible]
11:7: In stating that the dead will become the meat and the city the pot, God turns their
statement against them and thereby continues the metaphorical portrayal of the destruction of
Jerusalem with sacrificial imagery. Because the city of Jerusalem is to be purified by the
process of sacrifice, they will be excluded from the pot. [Jewish Study Bible]
Ezek 11:7
[Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh] Jerusalem is the caldron
and those who have been slain in it, they are the flesh; and though ye purpose to stay and share
its fate, ye shall not be permitted to do so; ye shall be carried into captivity. (Adam Clarke)
Ezek 11:9
[And deliver you into the hands of strangers] This seems to refer chiefly to Zedekiah and his
family. (Adam Clarke)
11:10-11: God alludes to their fear of foreign invaders, and again turns their fears against them
by stating that they will die at the border of Israel (see 2 Kings 25:18-21; Jeremiah 52:24-27)
[Jewish Study Bible]
11:13: The immediate death of Pelatiah son of Benaiah confirms Ezekiel‟s word and proves that
he is a true prophet (see Amos 7:10-17; Isaiah Chapters 36-37; Jeremiah Chapters 27-28).
[Jewish Study Bible]
Ezek 11:11
[I will judge you in the border of Israel.] Though Riblah was in Syria, yet it was on the very
frontiers of Israel; and it was here that Zedekiah's sons were slain, and his own eyes put out.
(Adam Clarke)
Ezek 11:13
[Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died.] Most probably he was struck dead the very hour in which
Ezekiel prophesied against him. His death appears to have resembled that of Ananias and
Sapphira, Acts 5:1, etc. (From Adam Clarke’s Commentary).
(General Information Ezekiel 11:1-13) Verse 5-12.
V. 5. And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and said to me: Say, Thus saith Jehovah,
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So ye say, O house of Israel, and what rises up in your spirit, that I know.
V. 6. Ye have increased your slain in this city, and filled its streets with slain.
V. 7. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Your slain, whom ye have laid in the midst of it,
they are the flesh, and it is the pot; but men will lead you out of it.
V. 8. The sword you fear; but the sword shall I bring upon you, is the saying of the Lord
Jehovah.
V. 9. I shall lead you out of it and give you into the hand of foreigners, and shall execute
judgments upon you.
V. 10. By the sword shall ye fall: on the frontier of Israel shall I judge you; and ye shall learn
that I am Jehovah.
V. 11. It shall not be as a pot to you, so that you should be flesh therein: on the frontier of Israel
shall I judge.
V. 12. And ye shall learn that I am Jehovah, in whose statutes ye have not walked, and my
judgments ye have not done, but have acted according to the judgments of the heathen who are
round about you. –
For yy° ruwach ±aalay tipol (hand of the Lord God), compare Ezekiel 8:1. Instead of the
"hand" (ch. Ezekiel 8:1), the Spirit of Jehovah is mentioned here; because what follows is
simply a divine inspiration, and there is no action connected with it. The words of God are
directed against the "house of Israel,' whose words and thoughts are discerned by God, because
the twenty-five men are the leaders and counselors of the nation. Ruwach ma±alowt,
thoughts, suggestions of the mind, may be explained from the phrase leeb al ±aalaah, to come
into the mind. Their actions furnish the proof of the evil suggestions of their heart. They have
filled the city with slain; not "turned the streets of the city into a battle-field," however, by
bringing about the capture of Jerusalem in the time of Jeconiah, as Hitzig would explain it. The
words are to be understood in a much more general sense, as signifying murder, in both the
coarser and the more refined signification of the word.
(Note: Calvin has given the correct explanation, thus: "He does not mean that men had been
openly assassinated in the streets of Jerusalem; but under this form of speech he embraces all
kinds of injustice. For we know that all who oppressed the poor, deprived men of their
possessions, or shed innocent blood, were regarded as murderers in the sight of God.")
Those who have been murdered by you are the flesh in the caldron (v. 7). Ezekiel gives them
back their own words, as words which contain an undoubted truth, but in a different sense from
that in which they have used them. By their bloodshed they have made the city into a pot in
which the flesh of the slain is pickled. Only in this sense is Jerusalem a pot for them; not a pot to
protect the flesh from burning while cooking, but a pot into which the flesh of the slaughtered is
thrown. Yet even in this sense will Jerusalem not serve as a pot to these worthless counselors (v.
11). They will lead you out of the city the sword which ye fear, and from which this city is to
protect you, will come upon you, and cut you down-not in Jerusalem, but on the frontier of
Israel.
This threat was literally fulfilled in the bloody scenes at Riblah (Jeremiah 52:24-27). It contains
the general thought that the wicked who boasted of security in Jerusalem or in the land of Israel
as a whole, but were to be led out of the land, and judged outside. This threat intensifies the
punishment, as Calvin has already shown.
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(Note: "He threatens a double punishment:
1. First, that God will cast them out of Jerusalem, in which they delight, and where they say
that they will still make their abode for a long time to come, so that exile may be the first
punishment.
2. He then adds, secondly, that He will not be content with exile, but will send a severer
punishment, after they have been cast out, and both home and land have spued them out
as a stench which they could not bear. I will judge you at the frontier of Israel, i.e.,
outside the holy land, so that when one curse shall have become manifest in exile, a
severer and more formidable punishment shall still await you.")
In v. 11 the negation (lo°) of the first clause is to be supplied in the second, as, for example, in
Deuteronomy 33:6. For v. 12, compare the remarks on Ezek 5:7. The truth and the power of
this word are demonstrated at once by what is related in the following verse. (Keil & Delitzsch)
Verse 13 And it came to pass, as I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died: then
I fell upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said: Alas! Lord Jehovah, dost Thou make
an end of the remnant of Israel? - The sudden death of one of the princes of the nation, while
Ezekiel was prophesying, was intended to assure the house of Israel of the certain fulfillment of
this word of God. So far, however, as the fact itself is concerned, we must bear in mind, that as it
was only in spirit that Ezekiel was at Jerusalem, and prophesied to the men whom he saw in
spirit there, so the death of Pelatiah was simply a part of the vision, and in all probability was
actually realized by the sudden death of this prince during or immediately after the publication of
the vision.
But the occurrence, even when the prophet saw it in spirit, made such an impression upon his
mind, that with trembling and despair he once more made an importunate appeal to God, as in
Ezekiel 9:8, and inquired whether He meant to destroy the whole of the remnant of Israel.
Kaalaah ±aasaah, to put an end to a thing, with °eet before the object, as in Zephaniah
1:18 (see the comm. on Nah 1:8). The Lord then gives him the comforting assurance in vv. 14-
21, that He will preserve a remnant among the exiles, and make them His people once more.
(Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)
Ezekiel 11:14-25
14 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 15 Son of man, your brethren, even your
kindred, your fellow exiles, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they of whom the
[present] inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, They have gone far from the Lord [and from this
land]; therefore this land is given to us for a possession. 16 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord
God: Whereas I have removed [Israel] far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered
them among the countries, yet I have been to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries
to which they have come. 17 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the
peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give
back to you the land of Israel.
18 And when they return there, they shall take away from it all traces of its detestable things and
all its abominations (sex impurities and heathen religious practices). 19 And I will give them one
heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally
hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to
the touch of their God], [Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26; 2 Corinthians 3:3.] 20 That they may walk in My
statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their
God. 21 But as for those whose heart yearns for and goes after their detestable things and their
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loathsome abominations [associated with idolatry], I will repay their deeds upon their own
heads, says the Lord God.
22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels which were beside them, and the
glory of the God of Israel [the Shekinah, cloud] was over them. 23 Then the glory of the Lord
rose up from over the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is on the east side of
the city. 24 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into
Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25 And I told the exiles
everything that the Lord had shown me. AMP
[General Information - 11:14-21 Oracles concerning the restoration of Israel.] The first of
fourteen oracles associated with Ezekiel‟s vision of God‟s departure from Jerusalem anticipates
the future restoration of Israel once the punishment is complete. It thereby attempts to point to
divine mercy as the ultimate outcome of the process of judgment. [Jewish Study Bible]
11:15: The reference to your brothers, the men of your kindred can also be read as “your
brothers, the men of your redemption.” The Hebrew term “go’uletekha” has a background in
the Priestly laws of redemption whereby a family member, “go’el,” must redeem land sold to
pay a debt in the jubilee year (Leviticus 25:23-55; Ruth 2:20). Ezekiel apparently envisions that
those exiled from the land of Israel will redeem the land following the destruction of those who
defiled it. Ironically, those who remain in the land claim that the exiles (which would include
Ezekiel) must keep far from God because they are no longer entitled to the land.
[Jewish Study Bible]
Ezekiel 11:15
[Get you far from the Lord] These are the words of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, against those
of Israel who had been carried away to Babylon with Jeconiah. Go ye far from the Lord; but as
for us, the land of Israel is given to us for a possession; we shall never be removed from it, and
they shall never return to it. (Adam Clarke)
11:16: God claims to be a diminished sanctity: God‟s presence in the world, rather than the
Temple‟s presence in Jerusalem, insures their future. Jewish tradition reads into “mikdash
me’at,” “a little sanctuary,” a reference to the origins of synagogues; based especially on the
translation of Targum Jonathan, “and I have become for them synagogues, second to My
Temple.” Although the origins of synagogues are obscure, they can first be traced to the 3rd
century BCE, and only emerged as the primary Jewish centers for study and worship following
the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE [Common Era]. [J.S.B.]
Ezekiel 11:16
[Yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary] Though thus exiled from their own land, yet not
forgotten by their God. While in their captivity, I will dispense many blessings to them; and I
will restore them to their own land, Ezekiel 11:17, from which they shall put away all idolatry,
Ezekiel 11:18. (Adam Clarke's Commentary)
(General Information - Ezekiel 11:14-21 Again the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,) Promise of the gathering of Israel out of the nations. –
V. 14. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
V. 15. Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren are the people of thy proxy, and the whole house of
Israel, the whole of it, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem say, Remain far away from
Jehovah; to us the land is given for a possession.
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V. 16. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Ye, I have sent them far away, and have
scattered them in the lands, but I have become to them a sanctuary for a little while in the lands
whither they have come.
V. 17. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
And I will gather you from the nations, and will collect you together from the lands in which ye
are scattered, and will give you the land of Israel.
V. 18. And they will come thither, and remove from it all its detestable things, and all its
abominations.
V. 19. And I will give them one heart, and give a new spirit within you; and will take the heart of
stone out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh;
V. 20. That they may walk in my statutes, and preserve my rights, and do them: and they will be
my people, and I will be their God.
V. 21. But those whose heart goeth to the heart of their detestable things and their abominations,
I will give their way upon their head, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. –
The prophet had interceded, first of all for the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 9:8), and then
for the rulers of the nation, and had asked God whether He would entirely destroy the remnant
of Israel. To this God replies that his brethren, in whom he is to interest himself, are not these
inhabitants of Jerusalem and these rulers of the nation, but the Israelites carried into exile, who
are regarded by these inhabitants at Jerusalem as cut off from the people of God. The repetition
of "thy brethren" serves to increase the force of the expression: thy true, real brethren; not in
contrast to the priests, who were lineal relations (Hävernick), but in contrast to the Israelites,
who had only the name of Israel, and denied its nature. These brethren are to be the people of his
proxy; and toward these he is to exercise g°ulaah. Transliterated this word is g-°ulaah and it
means is the business, or the duty and right, of the Goël [redeemer].
According to the law, the Goël was the brother, or the nearest relation, whose duty it was to
come to the help of his impoverished brother, not only by redeeming (buying back) his
possession, which poverty had compelled him to sell, but to redeem the man himself, if he had
been sold to pay his debts (vid., Leviticus 25:25, 48). The Goël therefore became the possessor
of the property of which his brother had been unjustly deprived, if it were not restored till after
his death (Numbers 5:8). Consequently he was not only the avenger of blood, but the natural
supporter and agent of his brother; and g-°ulaah signifies not merely redemption or kindred,
but proxy, i.e., both the right and obligation to act as the legal representative, the avenger of
blood, the hair, etc., of the brother. The words "and the whole of the house of Israel" are a
second predicate to "thy brethren," and affirm that the brethren, for whom Ezekiel can and is to
intercede, form the whole of the house of Israel.
The term "whole" being rendered more emphatic by the repetition of kol in kuloh. A contrast is
drawn between this "whole house of Israel" and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who say to those
brethren, "Remain far away from Jehovah, to us is the land given for a possession." It follows
from this, first of all, that the brethren of Ezekiel, towards whom he was to act as Goël, were
those:
1. Who had been taken away from the land, his companions in exile;
2. And, secondly, that the exiles formed the whole of the house of Israel, that is to say, that
they alone would be regarded by God as His people,
3. And not the inhabitants of Jerusalem or those left in the land,
4. Who regarded the exiles as no longer a portion of the nation.
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5. Simply because, in their estrangement from God, they looked upon the mere possession
of Jerusalem as a pledge of participation in the grace of God.
6. This shows the prophet where the remnant of the people of God is to be found.
To this there is appended in v. 16 ff. a promise of the way in which the Lord will make this
remnant His true people. laakeen, therefore, viz., because the inhabitants of Jerusalem regard the
exiles as rejected by the Lord, Ezekiel is to declare to them that Jehovah is their sanctuary even
in their dispersion (v. 16); and because the others deny that they have any share in the possession
of the land, the Lord will gather them together again, and give them the land of Israel (v. 17).
The two laakeen (therefore) are co-ordinate, and introduce the antithesis to the disparaging
sentence pronounced by the inhabitants of Jerusalem upon those who have been carried into
exile.
The kiy before the two leading clauses in v. 16 does not mean "because," serving to introduce a
protasis, to which v. 17 would form the apodosis, as Ewald affirms; but it stands before the
direct address in the sense of an assurance, which indicates that there is some truth at the bottom
of the judgment pronounced by their opponents, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The thought is this:
the present position of affairs is unquestionably that Jehovah has scattered them (the house of
Israel) among the Gentiles; but He has not therefore cast them off. He has become a sanctuary to
them in the lands of their dispersion. Migdâsh (sanctuary) does not mean either asylum or an
object kept sacred (Hitzig), but a sanctuary, more especially the temple. They had, indeed, lost
the outward temple (at Jerusalem); but the Lord Himself had become their temple.
What made the temple into a sanctuary was the presence of Jehovah, the covenant God, therein.
This even the exiles were to enjoy in their banishment, and in this they would possess a
substitute for the outward temple. This thought is rendered still more precise by the word
m±aT, which may refer either to time or measure, and signify "for a short time," or "in some
measure." It is difficult to decide between these two renderings. In support of the latter, which
Kliefoth prefers (after the LXX and Vulgate), it may be argued that the manifestation of the
Lord, both:
1. By the mission of prophets
2. And by the outward deliverances and inward consolations which He bestowed upon the
faithful,
Was but a partial substitute to the exile for His gracious presence in the temple and in the holy
land. Nevertheless, the context, especially the promise in v. 17, that He will gather them again
and lead them back into the land of Israel, appears to favor the former signification, namely, that
this substitution was only a provisional one, and was only to last for a short time. Although it
also implies that this could not and was not meant to be a perfect substitute for the gracious
presence of the Lord. For Israel, as the people of God, could not remain scattered abroad; it must
possess the inheritance bestowed upon it by the Lord, and have its God in the midst of it in its
own land, and that in a manner more real than could possibly be the case in captivity among the
Gentiles.
This will be fully realized in the heavenly Jerusalem, where the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb will be a temple to the redeemed (Revelation 21:22). Therefore will Jehovah gather
together the dispersed once more, and lead them back into the land of Israel, i.e., into the land
which He designed for Israel; whereas the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who boast of their
possession of Canaan (v. 15), will lose what they now possess. Those who are restored will then
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remove all idolatrous abominations (v. 17), and receive from God a new and feeling heart (v.
19), so that they will walk in the ways of God, and be in truth the people of God (v. 20).
The fulfillment of this promise did, indeed, begin with the return of a portion of the exiles under
Zerubbabel; but it was not completed under either Zerubbabel or Ezra, or even in the
Maccabean times. Although Israel may have entirely relinquished the practice of gross idolatry
after the captivity, it did not then attain to that newness of heart which is predicted in vv. 19, 20.
This only commenced with the Baptist's preaching of repentance, and with the coming of Christ;
and it was realized in the children of Israel, who accepted Jesus in faith, and suffered Him to
make them children of God. Yet even by Christ this prophecy has not yet been perfectly fulfilled
in Israel, but only in part, since the greater portion of Israel has still in its hardness that stony
heart which must be removed out of its flesh before it can attain to salvation. The promise in v.
19 has for its basis the prediction in Deuteronomy 30:6.
"What the circumcision of the heart is there, viz., the removal of all uncleanliness, of which
outward circumcision was both the type and pledge, is represented here as the giving of a heart
of flesh instead of one of stone" (Hengstenberg). I give them one heart. °echaad leeb, which
Hitzig is wrong in proposing to alter into °aacheer leeb, another heart, after the LXX, is
supported and explained by Jeremiah 32:39, "I give them one heart and one way to fear me
continually" (cf. Zephaniah 3:9 and Acts 4:32). One heart is not an upright, undivided heart
(shaaleem leeb), but a harmonious, united heart, in contrast to the division or plurality of hearts
which prevails in the natural state, in which every one follows his own heart and his own mind,
turning "every one to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). God gives one heart, when He causes all
hearts and minds to become one.
This can only be affected by His giving a "new spirit," taking away the stone-heart, and giving a
heart of flesh instead. For the old spirit fosters nothing but egotism and discord. The heart of
stone has no susceptibility to the impressions of the word of God and the drawing of divine
grace. In the natural condition, the heart of man is as hard as stone. "The words of God, the
external leadings of God, pass by and leave no trace behind. The latter may crush it, and yet not
break it. Even the fragments continue hard; yea, the hardness goes on increasing"
(Hengstenberg). The heart of flesh is a tender heart, susceptible to the drawing of divine grace
(compare Ezekiel 36:26, where these figures, which are peculiar to Ezekiel, recur; and for the
substance of the prophecy, Jeremiah 31:33).
The fruit of this renewal of heart is walking in the commandments of the Lord; and the
consequence of the latter is the perfect realization of the covenant relation, true fellowship with
the Lord God. But judgment goes side by side with this renewal. Those who will not forsake
their idols become victims to the judgment (v. 21). The first hemistich of v. 21 is a relative
clause, in which °Asher is to be supplied and connected with libaam: "Whose heart walketh after
the heart of their abominations." The heart, which is attributed to the abominations and
detestations, i.e., to the idols, is the inclination to idolatry, the disposition and spirit which
manifest them in the worship of idols. Walking after the heart of the idols forms the antithesis to
walking after the heart of God (1 Samuel 13:14). For wgw° daarkaam, "I will give their
way," see Ezekiel 9:10. (Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)
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Remember The commentaries that I am using from the 1800 know nothing about Israel
returning to there own land in 1948 AD and so they look forward to the restoration of Israel
when Jesus comes back to earth and restores them to there land. Also there are two perspectives‟
to consider in these prophecies:
1. The immediate outlook, of Israel returning to there land under Cyrus of Persia even
though in this case there were still under bondage not under Babylon but under Persia.
2. And what is stated in Chapters 40-48 with the restoration of the New Jerusalem and the
new leader the Messiah Yeshua [Jesus of Nazareth] as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. And in this situation they will be free from all bondage and will rule over the
earth for 1,000 years. Paul the Learner
11:17: God promises to gather the people from exile, to give them the Land of Israel so that they
might purify it from abominations. [Jewish Study Bible]
Ezekiel 11:18
11:18. images and idols. See the comments on images in 8:5 and 8:10. (IVP Commentary)
Ezekiel 11:19
11:19. heart of stone. The concept of a heart of stone would have had a couple of associations in
the ancient world, mostly from Egypt.
1. First of all, in Egyptian beliefs it was the heart that was weighed in judgment to
determine whether or not the afterlife could be attained. If it was weighed down with
guilt and sin, the results could be disastrous (see comment on Exodus 8:11). A heart of
stone would be a heavy heart.
2. More important is the imagery connected to the mummification process. From New
Kingdom times on, the heart was removed from the mummy and placed in a canopic jar,
as the other important organs were. This was done because the Egyptians believed that
the heart might betray the individual when he came to judgment and thereby jeopardize
the afterlife.
3. The heart was replaced with a stone carved in the shape of a dung beetle. In Egypt this
insect was the symbol of eternal life. By transplanting it inside the mummy in place of
the heart, they believed they were securing the renewal of the person's life and vitality.
4. In contrast, Yahweh is going to bring his people back to life by returning to them hearts
of flesh that will not betray them. The imagery of an unhardened heart would be apt in
that verses 17-20 suggest a new exodus and a new covenant. (IVP Commentary)
11:19 The promise of one heart (some manuscripts read “a new heart”) and a new spirit in them
(“you”) takes up a theme from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:39; see also Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26)
concerning a new covenant in which God‟s “torah” is written upon their hearts (Jeremiah
31:33-34; see also Ezekiel 16:59-63). These chapters offer a radical solution to prevent Israel
from sinning again and experiencing another exile: Free choice is replaced by a new heart which
is pre-programmed for obedience. [Jewish Study Bible]
Ezek 11:19
[And I will give them one heart] A whole system of renewed affections.
[And I will put a new spirit within you] To direct and influence these new affections.
[And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh] That which would not receive the
impressions of my Spirit.
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[And will give them a heart of flesh] One that is capable of receiving and retaining these
impressions. (Adam Clarke)
11:20 They shall be My people, and I will be their God, a formulation which characterizes the
covenant between God and Israel / Judah (14:11; 36:28; 37:23; Jeremiah 7:23; 31:33; 32:38;
Hosea 2:23; Zechariah 8:8):
1. Christianity understands this new covenant as a reference to the coming of Jesus (New
Testament means “new covenant”).
2. Judaism understands it as a continuation of the original covenant in which the people
will renew their commitment to God.
Targum Jonathan translates (verses 19-20), “and I will break the heart of wickedness, which is
as strong as stone, from their flesh, and I shall give them a fearing heart before Me to perform
My will.” [Jewish Study Bible]
Note: The Targum Jonathan is what we call a „paraphrase a restatement of a text, passage or
work giving the meaning another form.‟ It is like our different translations of the scriptures,
which is put in modern language so that it is easy for us to understand what was said.
Paul the Learner
Let me give you some examples from Targum Jonathan.
1. In Isaiah 63:7-10, The Targum of Jonathan recognizes an identity of a person in the Angel,
the Redeemer, the Memra [Word], and Jehovah: “I will remember the kindness of the Lord,
and the praise of the Lord…for they are My people, said the Lord, children who do not lie; and
His Memra was their Redeemer…‟ [So the Word ‘Jesus Christ‟ was there Redeemer See
John 1:1-14].
2. And in the last Old Testament oracle, (Malachi 3) the same Targum makes the Coming One
to be in Himself the Angel of the Covenant and the Memra [Word] of the Lord. [So the Coming
One is none other than the Memra or Jesus Christ. (The Targums by J.W. Etheridge)
These examples are selected from a multitude. In reading only the Targum of Onkelos on the
Pentateuch, I have made a memorandum of more than a hundred and fifty places in which the
Memra da Yeya (Word of the Lord) is spoken of in one way or another. When John wrote the
first verses of his Gospel, communicating to the Gentile churches a mystery of the truth which
had long been held sacred by the ancient people of God. “In the beginning was the Memra, and
the Memra was with God, and the Memra was God.‟ John 1:1 Paul the Learner
If Israel is going to use the Targums then they will have to accept the Memra Jesus Christ.
Ezek 11:20
[That they may walk in my statutes] The holiness of their lives shall prove the work of God
upon their hearts. Then it shall appear that I am their God, because I have done such things in
them and for them; and their holy conduct shall show that they are my people. See the note at
Ezek 36:25, etc. (Adam Clarke)
Ezek 11:21
[But as for them whose heart walketh] Them whose affections are attached to idolatry, they
shall have such reward as their idols can give them, and such a recompense as divine justice
shall award them. (Adam Clarke's Commentary)
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Ezekiel 11:23
11:23. Mountain east of the city. The mount to the east of the temple complex would be the
Mount of Olives. From here one can look down on the temple mount and the city. From a
vantage point in Jerusalem, this would be the limit of how far one could look to the east.
Whether the implication is that God is going to sit outside the city and watch (compare Jonah
4:5), or whether it is from here that he returns to heaven (it is the traditional site of the ascension
of Christ as well, though New Testament support is slight). (IVP Bible Background Comm.)
[General Information - 11:22-24: the Presence of the Lord departs from the city.] [JSB]
11:23: Rabbinic tradition identifies the hill east of the city as the Mount of Olives, and claims
that the divine Presence remained there for three and a half years hoping that Israel would repent
(Talmud Lam. Rab. 25). [Jewish Study Bible]
Note: So according to there tradition God goes to the Mount of Olives and waits for 3 ½ years
hoping that the nation of Israel would repent and come back to Him. I think of another time that
God sends His Son on earth to minister for a period of 3 ½ years again hoping that the nation of
Israel would repent and come to acknowledge Yeshua [Jesus of Nazareth] as there Messiah
[Christ] and follow Him. Paul the Learner
Ezek 11:23
[The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city] This vision is no mean proof of the
long-suffering of God. He did not abandon this people all at once; he departed by little and
little.
FIRST, he left the temple.
SECONDLY, he stopped a little at the gate of the city.
THIRDLY, he departed entirely from the city and went to the Mount of Olives, which lay on
the east side of the city. Having tarried there for some time to see if they would repent and turn
to him,-
FOURTHLY, he departed to heaven. The vision being now concluded, the prophet is taken
away by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, and there announces to the captive Israelites what God
had showed him in the preceding visions, and the good that he had spoken concerning them; who
at first did not seem to profit much by them, which the prophet severely reproves.
(Adam Clarke's Commentary)
24: Ezekiel is returned to Chaldea (Babylonia) to report to the exiles. [Jewish Study Bible]
(General Information - Ezekiel 11:22-25 then did the cherubim’s lift up their wings, and
the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.) The
promise that the Lord would preserve to Himself a holy seed among those who had been carried
away captive, brought to a close the announcement of the judgment that would fall upon the
ancient Israel and apostate Jerusalem. All that is now wanting, as a conclusion to the whole
vision, is the practical confirmation of the announcement of judgment. This is given in the two
following verses. –
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V. 22. And the cherubim raised their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the
God of Israel was up above them.
V. 23. And the glory of Jehovah ascended from the midst of the city, and took its stand upon the
mountain which is to the east of the city.
V. 24. And wind lifted me up, and brought me to Chaldea to the exiles, in the vision, in the Spirit
of God; and the vision ascended away from me, which I had seen.
V. 25. And I spoke to the exiles all the words of Jehovah, which He had shown to me. –
The manifestation of the glory of the Lord had already left the temple, after the announcement of
the burning of Jerusalem, and had taken its stand before the entrance of the eastern gate of the
outer court, that is to say, in the city itself (Ezekiel 10:19; 11:1). But now, after the
announcement had been made to the representatives of the authorities of their removal from the
city, the glory of the God of Israel forsook the devoted city also, as a sign that both temple and
city had ceased to be the seats of the gracious presence of the Lord. The mountain on the east of
the city is the Mount of Olives, which affords a lofty outlook over the city. There the glory of
God remained, to execute the judgment upon Jerusalem. Thus, according to Zechariah 14:4,
will Jehovah also appear at the last judgment on the Mount of Olives above Jerusalem, to
fight thence against His foes, and prepare a way of escape for those who are to be saved.
It was from the Mount of Olives also that the Son of God proclaimed to the degenerate city the
second destruction (Luke 19:21; Matthew 24:3); and from the same mountain He made His
visible ascension to heaven after His resurrection (Luke 24:50; cf. Acts 1:12); and, as Grotius
has observed, "thus did Christ ascend from this mountain into His kingdom, to execute judgment
upon the Jews." After this vision of the judgments of God upon the ancient people of the
covenant and the kingdom of God, Ezekiel was carried back in the spirit into Chaldea, to the
river Chaboras. The vision then vanished; and he related to the exiles all that he had seen.
(Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)
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