Ezekiel 11

Chap. XI. Ver. 1—22. Judgments announced against those who neglected the Divine warnings; particularly against those rulers who made a mock of the types and predictions of the Prophets. (Comp. ver. 3, with (Jeremiah 1:13).) When sinners go to the length of scoffing at religion, the judgments of God seldom slumber. Pelatiah, who is an example of this in the 1st verse, is suddenly cut off in the 13th.—God promises to favour those who were gone to captivity, and intimates the general restoration and conversion of the nation in aftertimes. Ver. 23. The Shechinah, or symbol of the Divine presence, is then represented as forsaking the city, as in the foregoing

Notes on the verses

Chap. XI. Ver. 1. At the door (or entrance) of the gate five and twenty men.—See note on ch. viii. 16. Ver. 3. It is not near—That is, the destruction of the city. “Let us, therefore,” say they, “repair and rebuild the ruins.”—This city is the caldron, &c.—“This is an impious scoff, yet mixed with some fear. They deride the prophets, yet secretly dread the thing. Jerusalem is the pot, we the flesh that are to be boiled therein, but this will take up some time however; we were better to be so destroyed than to fall by the hands of the Chaldeans, who may perhaps roast what is not boiled here.”—Pool. The proverb means, “We will share her fate, whether we are preserved or perish.”—Michaelis.

This is an evident allusion to the manner of preparing the Jewish sacrifices, (1 Samuel 2:13-14). Ver. 6. Multiplied your slain, &c.—That is, many murders, and great ones, have you committed, either by fraud or violence, and sometimes under pretence of law. You have left them in the streets. Such was their iniquity. Ver. 7. Your slain, &c.—That is, many of you shall perish in the city; but others shall be carried away to a foreign land, and there slain. See Jer. liii. 27. Ver. 12, For.—Newcome, “Because” ye have not, &c. Ver. 13. When I prophesied.—It appears, from this verse, that Jeremiah did prophesy to these men, as commanded, ver. 4, and that Pelatiah died as he was addressing them. See (Acts 5:5).—Whilst the prophet, in vision, was delivering this message to the princes, Pelatiah suddenly died; and it is highly probable, that he was actually struck dead at this very time, in so remarkable a manner as to render the vision much noticed. The prophet, alarmed and distressed for the welfare of his people, anxiously enquired whether the Lord meant to destroy the remnant of Israel.—Bagster. Ver. 15. Thy brethren, even thy brethren.—Mr. Levi understands this of those of Judah and of the ten tribes. But we rather understand the term brethren, 1. Of his countrymen the Jews, who had been carried captive into Babylon; and, 2. more strictly, of his immediate kin: “Thy brethren, the men of thy kindred.”

These having left Jerusalem, were treated by the Jews who remained as having no farther interest in the holy city. Ver. 16. A little sanctuary—In their absence from the temple; or, as Newcome, a sanctuary for “a little time,” even to the end of the 70 years’ captivity. The word is used (Psalms 8:5). er. 19. Within you—The ancients, many MSS. and Editions, read, “Within them.” Newcome. Ver. 21. After the heart—That is, in the true spirit of their detestable idolatries. D. Levi. Ver. 23. On the east—namely, the Mount of Olives. (Zechariah 14:4). Ver. 24. The vision that I had seen—Namely, in the two preceding chapters.