CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Ezekiel 11 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/ezekiel/11.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ezekiel/11.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/ezekiel/11-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../ezekiel/">Ezekiel</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ezekiel/10.htm" title="Ezekiel 10">◄</a> Ezekiel 11 <a href="../ezekiel/12.htm" title="Ezekiel 12">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">XI.</span><p>This chapter continues and concludes the vision; yet its scenes are not to be considered as consecutive with those which have gone before. In Ezekiel 9 all who had not the Divine mark upon their foreheads were slain by the destroying angels; in Ezekiel 10 the city itself was given up to fire; but here the evil-doers are again seen, and again made the subject of the prophetic denunciation. It is, therefore, rather a looking at the same things from another point of view than an account of them in historical sequence. The prophetic vision shifts as in a dream, without any attempt to be consecutive.<p>The first part of the chapter (<a href="/context/ezekiel/11-1.htm" title="Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of the LORD's house, which looks 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.">Ezekiel 11:1-12</a>) is occupied with judgment upon the sins of the princes, while the latter part (<a href="/context/ezekiel/11-13.htm" title="And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?">Ezekiel 11:13-21</a>) foretells the Divine blessing upon the repentant and restored remnant of the exiles. At the close (<a href="/context/ezekiel/11-22.htm" title="Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.">Ezekiel 11:22-25</a>) the glory of the Lord is seen to depart altogether from the city, and the prophet is restored to Chaldæa to communicate the vision to the captives.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-1.htm">Ezekiel 11:1</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">Brought me unto the east gate of the Lord’s house.</span>—This is the same place, the main outer entrance to the whole Temple enclosure, to which the prophet had seen the cherubim go (<a href="/ezekiel/10-19.htm" title="And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.">Ezekiel 10:19</a>). It is not expressly said where he was brought from; but the last place mentioned was the court of the priests (<a href="/ezekiel/8-16.htm" title="And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.">Ezekiel 8:16</a>), and so far the vision appears to be consecutive. Standing in that innermost court, he had seen the Divine presence go forth to the outer entrance; and he also is now transported thither.<p>Here he sees twenty-five men, the same number whom he had seen worshipping the sun in the inner court. They appear, however, to have been priests, while these seem to be secular leaders. Hence they are generally supposed to be a different set of men. It is nevertheless by no means impossible that they may be the same idolatrous priests, who, by prostituting their holy office to idolatry, gained an ascendancy over a sinful people. Otherwise, the number twenty-five may represent the king, with two princes from each of the twelve tribes; or is possibly a number without any other especial significance than as representing a considerable array of the most prominent people of the nation. Two of these are mentioned by name. If the Jaazaniah here is the same with the Jaazaniah of <a href="/ezekiel/8-11.htm" title="And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the middle of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.">Ezekiel 8:11</a>, it settles the point that the men here are not to be understood of the priests, since he there represented a different class (see Note on <a href="/ezekiel/8-11.htm" title="And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the middle of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.">Ezekiel 8:11</a>). The names are significant: Jaazaniah = Jehovah hears, son of Azur = the helper; Pelatiah = God rescues, son of Benaiah =Jehovah builds. Names of this sort were common enough among the Jews, but they seem here intended to bring out the false hopes with which the people beguiled themselves; and in view of this, the sudden death of Pelatiah (verse. 13) was particularly impressive. These princes were active in misleading the people to their destruction.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-3.htm">Ezekiel 11:3</a></div><div class="verse">Which say, <i>It is</i> not near; let us build houses: this <i>city is</i> the caldron, and we <i>be</i> the flesh.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">It is not near; let us build houses. </span>-Neither the text nor the marginal reading of the Authorised Version quite accurately represent the original. The expression is literally <span class= "ital">not near to build houses; </span>and it is to be explained by the prophecy and narrative of Jeremiah 29. After the 10,000 (among whom was Ezekiel) had been carried captive—and apparently shortly after—Jeremiah had sent word to the captives to build houses and make themselves comfortable. because the captivity would be long (<a href="/context/ezekiel/11-5.htm" title="And the Spirit of the LORD fell on me, and said to me, Speak; Thus said the LORD; Thus have you said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.">Ezekiel 11:5-10</a>). This greatly offended the captives; and Shemaiah, a false prophet among them, had consequently sent letters to Jerusalem asking that Jeremiah might be punished for thus prophesying (<a href="/context/ezekiel/11-24.htm" title="Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.">Ezekiel 11:24-25</a>). The princes of the people now appear in Ezekiel’s vision as taking up this prophecy of Jeremiah’s and contradicting it: “this need of building houses for a long captivity is not near!” In <a href="/context/ezekiel/7-2.htm" title="Also, you son of man, thus said the Lord GOD to the land of Israel; An end, the end is come on the four corners of the land.">Ezekiel 7:2-3</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/7-12.htm" title="The time is come, the day draws near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is on all the multitude thereof.">Ezekiel 7:12</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/12-23.htm" title="Tell them therefore, Thus said the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.">Ezekiel 12:23</a>, Ezekiel expressly declares that it is very near. The princes further confirmed the people in their fancied security by comparing the city to a caldron, the strong walls of which should protect the flesh within it, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>the people, from the fire of all hostile attack. In the prophecy of <a href="/ezekiel/24-6.htm" title="Why thus said the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall on it.">Ezekiel 24:6</a> this figure is taken up, and a very different application given to it; it is also turned against them immediately in <a href="/ezekiel/11-7.htm" title="Therefore thus said the Lord GOD; Your slain whom you have laid in the middle of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the middle of it.">Ezekiel 11:7</a>. In consequence of this attitude and these sayings of the princes, the prophecy of <a href="/context/ezekiel/11-5.htm" title="And the Spirit of the LORD fell on me, and said to me, Speak; Thus said the LORD; Thus have you said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.">Ezekiel 11:5-12</a> is now directed against them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-6.htm">Ezekiel 11:6</a></div><div class="verse">Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Ye have multiplied your slain.</span>—Crimes of violence, as well as of licentiousness, are always the fruit of defection from God. In this case the apostacy of the people had produced its natural result; and the abundant crimes against life formed a prominent feature of the terrible indictment against the city.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-7.htm">Ezekiel 11:7</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they <i>are</i> the flesh, and this <i>city is</i> the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Your slain . . . they are the flesh.</span>—They had boasted of the protection of their strong city: it should be a security only to the dead who had fallen by their own violence. The living who vainly trusted in its strength should be brought out of it, and delivered as captives to the stranger. The prophecy here takes up their own simile of <a href="/ezekiel/11-3.htm" title="Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.">Ezekiel 11:3</a>, and shows that it shall not avail them. On the contrary, in <a href="/ezekiel/11-11.htm" title="This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in the middle thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:">Ezekiel 11:11</a> it is expressly said that the figure, in their sense of it, shall not be true. The use of and repeated recurrence to this singular figure may illustrate the familiarity of the people with language of this kind, and help us to appreciate the figurative character of many of Ezekiel’s expressions.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-10.htm">Ezekiel 11:10</a></div><div class="verse">Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I <i>am</i> the LORD.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">In the border of Israel.</span>—The judgment should be cumulative: first, the sword should come upon them (<a href="/ezekiel/11-8.htm" title="You have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword on you, said the Lord GOD.">Ezekiel 11:8</a>); then they should be driven out of the city in which they trusted, and delivered into the hands of strangers (<a href="/ezekiel/11-9.htm" title="And I will bring you out of the middle thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.">Ezekiel 11:9</a>); and then, finally—what was most terrible to a Jew—they were to be arraigned and punished “in the border,” <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>at the extremity or outside of the land of Israel. Historically, it appears from <a href="/context/2_kings/25-20.htm" title="And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:">2Kings 25:20-21</a>, and <a href="/context/jeremiah/52-9.htm" title="Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment on him.">Jeremiah 52:9-11</a>, that the general of Nebuchadnezzar, after the capture of the city, carried the people of the land to the king at Riblah, just on the northern confines of Palestine. There Nebuchadnezzar pronounced his cruel judgments upon them, slaying the king’s sons before his eyes, and executing many others, and then, putting out Zedekiah’s eyes, carried him and the rest captive to Babylon. By all this, not in repentance, but through the experiencing of the Divine judgments, they should be at last forced to recognise Jehovah as the Almighty Ruler and Disposer of events. This place of the judgment, and this consequence of it, are emphatically repeated in <a href="/context/ezekiel/11-11.htm" title="This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in the middle thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:">Ezekiel 11:11-12</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-13.htm">Ezekiel 11:13</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell 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?</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Pelatiah . . . died.</span>—This Pelatiah was one of the “princes of the people” mentioned in <a href="/context/ezekiel/11-1.htm" title="Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of the LORD's house, which looks 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.">Ezekiel 11:1-2</a> as “those that devise mischief and give wicked counsel.” The prophet’s mind is greatly affected by his sudden death, and he earnestly intercedes that in the judgments God will not “make a full end of the remnant.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-14.htm">Ezekiel 11:14</a></div><div class="verse">Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Again the word.</span>—This does not mark the beginning of a separate prophecy, but only the Divine answer to the prophet’s intercession. This answer differs entirely from the denunciations that have gone before, because it no longer relates to the people of Jerusalem (for whom intercession was in vain: <a href="/context/ezekiel/9-9.htm" title="Then said he to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the earth, and the LORD sees not.">Ezekiel 9:9-10</a>), but turns to the exiles, and foretells God’s mercy and blessing upon them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-15.htm">Ezekiel 11:15</a></div><div class="verse">Son of man, thy brethren, <i>even</i> thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, <i>are</i> they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Thy brethren—</span><span class= "ital">i.e., </span>those who were with Ezekiel in the Captivity. The expression is made emphatic by repetition, and by the addition, “men of thy kindred.” The people remaining in Jerusalem, with arrogant confidence in themselves, and without sympathy for the exiles, had said to them, by words and by deeds, “We are holier than you; we dwell in the chosen city, we have the Temple, the appointed priesthood and sacrifices, and we have in possession the land of the Church of God; you are outcasts.” The prophet is taught that these despised exiles, deprived of so many privileges, are yet his true brethren, and that he is to regard these as his true kindred rather than the corrupt priests at Jerusalem. In this word there is an allusion to the office of <span class= "ital">Göel, </span>the next of kin, whose duty it was in every way to assist his impoverished or unfortunate kinsman. Still further, these exiles are called “all the house of Israel wholly; “the others, not these, are cast out, and God will make His people from those who are now undergoing His purifying chastisement. This contrast is carried out in the following verses.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-16.htm">Ezekiel 11:16</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Therefore say.</span>—These words, again repeated in <a href="/ezekiel/11-17.htm" title="Therefore say, Thus said the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.">Ezekiel 11:17</a>, refer to what the people of Jerusalem had said in <a href="/ezekiel/11-15.htm" title="Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: to us is this land given in possession.">Ezekiel 11:15</a>. Their saying these things was a reason, not for what God would do, but for His declaring His merciful purpose beforehand.<p><span class= "bld">As a little sanctuary.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">as a sanctuary for a little. </span>The original word is to be taken as an adverb rather than an adjective, and in itself may refer either to time or to amount: either a sanctuary for a little time, or a sanctuary in some degree. The connection points to the former as the true sense; for a little while, during the term of their captivity, God’s presence with them spiritually would be instead of the outward symbolical presence in His Temple. The contrast is striking. God has already said that he would abandon the Temple, and give up Jerusalem to destruction, and cast out its people; but now to the exiles, scattered among the heathen, He would Himself be for a sanctuary.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-17.htm">Ezekiel 11:17</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather 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.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">I will give you the land of Israel.</span>—Again in contrast to the people of Jerusalem, who claimed the land as their own exclusive possession. They shall be cast out; the exiles whom they despised shall be gathered again and possess the land. (Comp. <a href="/numbers/14-3.htm" title="And why has the LORD brought us to this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?">Numbers 14:3</a>; <a href="/context/numbers/14-31.htm" title="But your little ones, which you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.">Numbers 14:31-32</a>, where when the people refused the Divine command to take possession of the land, and feared that their little ones should be a prey, the doom came that they should all themselves perish in the wilderness, but their little ones should inherit the land.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-18.htm">Ezekiel 11:18</a></div><div class="verse">And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">They shall take away.—</span>Chastened and purified by their chastisement, they should return to the land to do away utterly with the abominations which had caused their exile. Historically, this was fully realised in the abomination in which idolatry, the great sin of the people, was ever after held among the Jews. The change of person from <span class= "ital">you </span>to <span class= "ital">they, </span>though so common as not necessarily to call for remark, may yet here possibly indicate that what is foretold was to belong rather to their children than to themselves.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-19.htm">Ezekiel 11:19</a></div><div class="verse">And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:</div>(19, 20) Here follows one of those germinant and ever developing prophetic promises which in fuller and fuller degree have formed from the very first, and still form, the hope of the future. True religion and a service acceptable to God must spring from a subjection of the affections of the heart to His will. Accordingly, the promise to Israel of old was: “The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul” (<a href="/deuteronomy/30-6.htm" title="And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.">Deuteronomy 30:6</a>). This, too, had been the prayer of the devout penitent, “Create in me a clean heart “(<a href="/psalms/51-10.htm" title="Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.">Psalm 51:10</a>). But this change is necessarily the most difficult to effect in man, and consequently the promise, though with some degree of accomplishment as the ages roll by, still looks forward to the future. Ezekiel here, and with more fulness in <a href="/context/ezekiel/36-26.htm" title="A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.">Ezekiel 36:26-27</a>, speaks of it as a part of the blessing of the restoration. A marked progress was then made towards it in the hearty abandonment of idolatry, and the better Appreciation of religion as a matter of internal heart. service; but the prophecy of <a href="/jeremiah/31-33.htm" title="But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, said the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.">Jeremiah 31:33</a>, given about the same time, shows that it looked forward to the Messianic days for a more complete realisation. And certainly under the Christian dispensation a great advance has been made in this respect; but even the closing Book of Revelation still points forward to the future state of existence, when this promise shall attain its full realisation (<a href="/revelation/21-3.htm" title="And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.">Revelation 21:3</a>). It is remarkable that this closing prophecy of the inspired volume follows exactly the plan here laid out, of adding to this glorious promise the warning to “the fearful and unbelieving.” What Ezekiel foretells of the time of the restoration must therefore be considered as not expected then to receive its ultimate and complete fulfilment, but only a fulfilment in a degree, to be ever after more and more realised, until it shall reach its consummation in the heavenly state.<p>(19) <span class= "bld">One heart.</span>—Unity of purpose among the restored exiles was to be at once a consequence and a condition of their improved moral condition. The opposite evil is spoken of as one of the sins of the people in <a href="/isaiah/53-6.htm" title="All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.">Isaiah 53:6</a> : We have turned every one to his own way.” Self-will, which leads to division, and submission to God’s will are necessarily contradictory terms. Hence the corresponding promise in <a href="/jeremiah/32-39.htm" title="And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:">Jeremiah 32:39</a> : “I will give them one heart and one way,” and the blessed realisation of this, described in the first fervency of the early Church (<a href="/acts/4-32.htm" title="And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.">Acts 4:32</a>): “The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.”<p><span class= "bld">Stony heart . . . heart of flesh.</span>—This phraseology is peculiar to Ezekiel, but the same thing is often described in other terms. The figure here seems to be that of a <span class= "ital">stony </span>heart as unnatural, in the higher sense of that word, unfitting, and incongruous; this is to be removed, and in its place is to be substituted “an heart of flesh “—one that can be moved by the Divine appeals, and is suitable to the whole being and condition of the people. (Comp. <a href="/ezekiel/36-26.htm" title="A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.">Ezekiel 36:26</a>.) The effect of this change will be obedience to the Divine will, and consequently a realisation of the covenant relation in a fellowship with God.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-21.htm">Ezekiel 11:21</a></div><div class="verse">But <i>as for them</i> whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">I will recompense their way.</span>—In striking contrast to the mercy granted to the repentant, is set forth here, as in <a href="/revelation/21-8.htm" title="But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.">Revelation 21:8</a>, the Divine wrath upon the impenitent. It has never been promised that all men shall be brought to a true sense of their relations to God, for human responsibility, and consequently power of choice, is not removed; but God’s grace is never in vain, and if it does not lead to blessing through its acceptance, must result in greater condemnation through its rejection. (Comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/2-16.htm" title="To the one we are the smell of death to death; and to the other the smell of life to life. And who is sufficient for these things?">2Corinthians 2:16</a>.)<p>The heart of their detestable things, is a figurative expression. Idols in themselves are inanimate things, but the heart of the people was so given to the spirit of idolatry and alienation from God, that the abstract, as usual with this prophet, is represented in this concrete, figurative form.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-22.htm">Ezekiel 11:22</a></div><div class="verse">Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel <i>was</i> over them above.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">And the wheels beside them.</span>—These are the wheels described as with the cherubim, and animated in their movements by one common impulse with them and, as all along, the Divine glory was above.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/11-23.htm">Ezekiel 11:23</a></div><div class="verse">And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which <i>is</i> on the east side of the city.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">Stood upon the mountain.</span>—This mountain, on the east of the city, is that which was afterwards known as the Mount of Olives. It is considerably higher than the city, and commands a view over its entire extent. Here the Divine glory rested after taking its departure from the Temple and the city in the vision of the prophet. Here, in the vision of a later prophet (<a href="/zechariah/14-4.htm" title="And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split in the middle thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.">Zechariah 14:4</a>), the Lord is represented as standing in the day of final judgment. Here, not in vision, the incarnate Son of God proclaimed the second destruction of the obdurate city (Matthew 24; <a href="/luke/21-20.htm" title="And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near.">Luke 21:20</a>); and from the same mountain He made His visible ascension into heaven (<a href="/context/luke/24-50.htm" title="And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.">Luke 24:50-51</a>; <a href="/context/acts/1-11.htm" title="Which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.">Acts 1:11-12</a>). The vision is now closed, and the prophet is transported in spirit back into Chaldæa, to declare what he had seen to his fellow-captives, and show them the vanity of their trust in the preservation of the guilty city.<p> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. Used by Permission. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../ezekiel/10.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Ezekiel 10"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Ezekiel 10" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../ezekiel/12.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Ezekiel 12"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Ezekiel 12" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/ezekiel/11-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="/commentaries/ellicott/sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><br /><br /><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></body></html>