Ezekiel 11

1-13 Judgment on Wicked Counselors

• The spirit lifts up Ezekiel and takes him to the east gate of the temple, where he sees 25 men, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur (see Chapter 8) and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, city officials.
• The spirit tells Ezekiel that these are the men who give wicked counsel to the people, telling them not to build houses. Jeremiah (29:5), on the other hand, has told them when they are carried captive to Babylon, they might as well build houses there, because they’ll be there for a long time.
• “This city is the pot, and we are the meat.” In other words, they will be protected from outside influences.As Jamieson, Fausset and Brown put it, “the city must stand for our sakes, just as the pot exists for the safety of the flesh in it.” How God hates arrogance, and how self-destructive it is!
• And this is what Ezekiel is to say to these men:
  • I know what you’re thinking.
  • You have filled the city with those you have killed.
  • The slain will be the meat; you will be taken out of the city.
  • I will bring the sword against you and put you in the hands of foreigners.
  • You shall know I am the LORD.
  • This city shall not be your pot, and you shall not be the meat in it.
• While Ezekiel is speaking, Pelatiah suddenly dies.
• Ezekiel falls on his face and cries out, “LORD, will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

14-25 God Will Restore Israel

• God replies to Ezekiel that though the inhabitants of Jerusalem believe the exiles have left the city for them to possess, it will be the opposite.
• He will provide sanctuary for the exiles in the countries to which they have been scattered, and he will return them to Jerusalem and give them the land of Israel.
• The exiles will remove all the abominations from the land and will serve and obey God.
• The idolaters will pay the consequences of their sins.
• Then [in the vision] the cherubim, with the glory of the LORD, ascends from the city and stops on the mountain east of the city.
• The spirit lifts up Ezekiel and takes him back into Chaldea, where he tells the exiles everything he has seen.