Ezekiel 11

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Dave Burnette's Commentary

Ezekiel Chapter 11

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Ezekiel
Date Penned: (571 BC)
Overview: To Announce God's Judgement and Salvation (c 1-5)
Theme: Messages of Doom (c 1-24)
Message: God Will Regather Israel (v 1-25)

Ezekiel 11 Commentary

(11:1) The City Gate - God had abandoned his altar and temple (Ezekiel 9-11). As his glory stopped above the mountain east of the city, his judgment was complete (11:23). The city gate was where merchants and politicians conducted business, so the 25 men may have been the nation's rulers. Because of their leadership positions, they were responsible for leading the people astray. They had wrongly said that the people were secure from another attack by the Babylonians. "This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh" means they believed that they were the elite, the influential, the ones who would be protected from all harm. Without God, however, a person's situation is always precarious. We are safe only in him.

(11:5) God Sees All - God knew everything about the Israelites, even their thoughts. He also knows everything about us, even the sins we try to hide and the sins we only imagine. Instead of worrying about people noticing how we look or what we do, we should care more about what God thinks, for he sees everything. Trying to hide our thoughts and actions from God is futile. "Secret" sins are never secret from God. To deal with sin, bring it into God's light, confess it, and ask him to help you overcome it.

(11:12) Follow the Lord - From the time they entered the Promised Land, the Israelites were warned not to copy the customs and religious practices of other nations. Disobeying this command and following pagan customs instead of God's laws always got them into trouble. Today, believers are still tempted to conform to what society considers is right. But we must get our standards of right and wrong from God, not from the world.

(11:14-21) The Exiles - God promised the exiles in Babylonia that he would continue to be with them even though they were not in Jerusalem. This would have been a surprise to the concerned Jews left behind in Jerusalem because they believed that God was present only in their land and primarily in the temple. But God assured the exiles that he would continue to be their sanctuary regardless of where they were. Even more, he would bring back the godly few to their homeland and restore their hearts to be faithful and their land to be fruitful. God's arms are always open to receive those who want to be faithful to him. The day is coming when God will restore the whole earth to be a perfect world where evil will no longer reign and only those who desire to follow God will reside. Will you be one of those?

(11:15-21) Irony - God's messages through Ezekiel are full of irony. Here God says that the Jews in captivity were the faithful ones and those in Jerusalem were the sinful and wicked ones. This was the opposite of the people's perception. Appearances can be deceiving. God will evaluate your life by your faith and obedience, not by your apparent earthly success. Furthermore, we should not judge others by outward appearances.

(11:16) A Sanctuary - God was a sanctuary for the righteous remnant. Idolatrous people, even though they worshiped in the Jerusalem temple (11:15), would find no true sanctuary; but the faithful exiles, though they were far from home, would be protected by God. Likewise, our external circumstances do not truly indicate our standing with God. Those who appear safe, healthy, wealthy, or secure may be far from him, while those going through difficult times may be safely under his spiritual protection. We can depend on God to keep us safe if we pledge ourselves to his care.

(11:18-19) One Heart - Having "one heart" means having oneness of purpose. God promises here that the time will come when God's people will no longer seek many gods; they will be content with the one true God. Their stony, stubborn hearts will be radically replaced with tender, responsive hearts (see Jeremiah 32:39; Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26). The giving of this new life will be the unique work of the Holy Spirit. Although it is God's work, we must recognize and turn from our sin. When we do, God will give us new motives, new purpose, and a new guiding presence. Have you received your new heart from him?

(11:23) God's Glory - God's glory left Jerusalem and stood above a mountain on the east side of the city, almost certainly the Mount of Olives. Ezekiel 43:1-4 implies that God will return the same way he left, when he comes back to earth to set up his perfect kingdom.

David Burnette's Life Application

Restoration Follows Judgement

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue the Book of Ezekiel with Chapter 11. In our text today we see how God will regather Israel after executing judgment on the wicked. In making application we see that the Loves us but will have to execute judgment on our sins. Today many believe that God will overlook their sin but the truth is that sin is sin, God will purge your sin through judgment, and God will regather and restore those who have faced judgment. How about you? Do you see how God will restore those who go astray? Let us learn from our text today and the lives of Israel to see that God must judge sin but keeps his promises to restore His People.

Ezekiel 11

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Ezekiel 11

¹Moreover 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.

²Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:

³Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.

⁴Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.

⁵And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.

⁶Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.

⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

⁸Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.

⁹And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

¹⁰Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

¹¹This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:

¹²And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.

¹³And 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?

¹⁴Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹⁵Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.

¹⁶Therefore 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.

¹⁷Therefore 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.

¹⁸And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.

¹⁹And 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:

²⁰That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²¹But as for them 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.

²²Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

²³And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

²⁴Afterwards 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.

²⁵Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.

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