Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 11:14

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

It was a seasonable word to stop the mouths of the insulting Jerusalemites, and to encourage the captives at Babylon.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,…. In answer to his prayer. The Targum calls it,

“the word of prophecy from the Lord;”

this was by way of comfort to the captives in Babylon, as the former was by way of threatening to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Promise of the Gathering of Israel out of the Nations

Eze 11:14. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 11:15. 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. Eze 11:16. 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. Eze 11:17. 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. Eze 11:18. And they will come thither, and remove from it all its detestable things, and all its abominations. Eze 11:19. 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; Eze 11:20. 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. Eze 11:21. 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 (Eze 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 nouns in Eze 11:15 are not “accusatives, which are resumed in the suffix to in Eze 11:16,” as Hitzig imagines, but form an independent clause, in which is the subject, and as well as sa llew sa the predicates. 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 (Hvernick), 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 . is the business, or the duty and right, of the Gol. According to the law, the Gol 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., Lev 25:25, Lev 25:48). The Gol therefore became the possessor of the property of which his brother had been unjustly deprived, if it were not restored till after his death (Num 5:8). Consequently he was not only the avenger of blood, but the natural supporter and agent of his brother; and 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 in . 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 Gol, were those who had been taken away from the land, his companions in exile; 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, and not the inhabitants of Jerusalem or those left in the land, who regarded the exiles as no longer a portion of the nation: 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. This shows the prophet where the remnant of the people of God is to be found. To this there is appended in Eze 11:16. a promise of the way in which the Lord will make this remnant His true people. , 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 (Eze 11:17). The two 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 before the two leading clauses in Eze 11:16 does not mean “because,” serving to introduce a protasis, to which Eze 11:17 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. Migdash 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 , 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 by the mission of prophets 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 Eze 11:17, that He will gather them again and lead them back into the land of Israel, appears to favour 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 (Rev 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 (Eze 11:15), will lose what they now possess. Those who are restored will then remove all idolatrous abominations (Eze 11:17), and receive from God a new and feeling heart (Eze 11:19), so that they will walk in the ways of God, and be in truth the people of God (Eze 11:20).

The fulfilment 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 Eze 11:19, Eze 11:20. 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 Eze 11:19 has for its basis the prediction in Deu 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. , which Hitzig is wrong in proposing to alter into , another heart, after the lxx, is supported and explained by Jer 32:39, “I give them one heart and one way to fear me continually” (cf. Zep 3:9 and Act 4:32). One heart is not an upright, undivided heart ( ), 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” (Isa 53:6). God gives one heart, when He causes all hearts and minds to become one. This can only be effected 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 word 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 Eze 36:26, where these figures, which are peculiar to Ezekiel, recur; and for the substance of the prophecy, Jer 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 (Eze 11:21). The first hemistich of Eze 11:21 is a relative clause, in which is to be supplied and connected with : “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 themselves in the worship of idols. Walking after the heart of the idols forms the antithesis to walking after the heart of God (1Sa 13:14). For ‘ , “I will give their way,” see Eze 9:10.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Judgments Predicted; Sufferings and Hopes of Pious Captives.

B. C. 593.

      14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,   15 Son 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.   16 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.   17 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.   18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.   19 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 a heart of flesh:   20 That 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.   21 But 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.

      Prophecy was designed to exalt every valley as well as to bring low every mountain and hill (Isa. xl. 4), and prophets were to speak not only conviction to the presumptuous and secure, but comfort to the despised and desponding that trembled at God’s word. The prophet Ezekiel, having in the former part of this chapter received instructions for the awakening of those that were at ease in Zion, is in these verses furnished with comfortable words for those that mourned in Babylon and by the rivers there sat weeping when they remembered Zion. Observe,

      I. How the pious captives were trampled upon and insulted over by those who continued in Jerusalem, v. 15. God tells the prophet what the inhabitants of Jerusalem said of him and the rest of them that were already carried away to Babylon. God had owned them as good figs, and declared it was for their good that he had sent them into Babylon; but the inhabitants of Jerusalem abandoned them, supposing those that were really the best saints to be the greatest sinners of all men that dwelt in Jerusalem. Observe, 1. How they are described: They are thy brethren (says God to the prophet), whom thou hast a concern and affection for; they are the men of thy kindred (the men of thy redemption, so the word is), thy next of kin, to whom the right of redeeming the alienated possession belongs, but who are so far from being able to do it that they have themselves gone into captivity. They are the whole house of Israel; God so accounts of them because they only have retained their integrity, and are bettered by their captivity. They were not only of the same family and nation with Ezekiel, but of the same spirit; they were his hearers, and he had communion with them in holy ordinances; and perhaps upon that account they are called his brethren and the men of his kindred. 2. How they were disowned by the inhabitants of Jerusalem; they said of them, Get you far from the Lord. Those that were at ease and proud themselves scorned their brethren that were humbled and under humbling providences. (1.) They cut them off from being members of their church. Because they had separated themselves from their rulers and in compliance with the will of God had surrendered themselves to the king of Babylon, they excommunicated them, and said, “Get you far from the Lord; we will have nothing to do with you.” Those that were superstitious were very willing to shake off those that were conscientious, and were severe in their censures of them and sentences against them, as if they were forsaken and forgotten of the Lord and were cut off from the communion of the faithful. (2.) They cut them off from being members of the commonwealth too, as if they had no longer any part or lot in the matter: “Unto us is this land given in possession, and you have forfeited your estates by surrendering to the king of Babylon, and we have thereby become entitled to them.” God takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the contempt which those that are in prosperity put upon their brethren that are in affliction.

      II. The gracious promises which God made to them in consideration of the insolent conduct of their brethren towards them. Those that hated them and cast them out said, Let the Lord be glorified; but he shall appear to their joy, Isa. lxvi. 5. God owns that his hand had gone out against them, which had given occasion to their brethren to triumph over them (v. 16): “It is true I have cast them far off among the heathen and scattered them among the countries; they look as if they were an abandoned people, and so mingled with the nations that they will be lost among them; but I have mercy in store for them.” Note, God takes occasion from the contempts which are put upon his people to speak comfort to them, as David hoped God would reward him good for Shimei’s cursing. His time to support his people’s hopes is when their enemies are endeavouring to drive them to despair. Now God promises,

      1. That he will make up to them the want of the temple and the privileges of it (v. 16): I will be to them as a little sanctuary, in the countries where they shall come. Those at Jerusalem have the temple, but without God; those in Babylon have God, though without the temple. (1.) God will be a sanctuary to them; that is, a place of refuge; to him they shall flee, and in him they shall be safe, as he was that took hold on the horns of the altar. Or, rather, they shall have such communion with God in the land of their captivity as it was thought could be had nowhere but in the temple. They shall there see God’s power and his glory, as they used to see them in the sanctuary; they shall have the tokens of God’s presence with them, and his grace in their hearts shall sanctify their prayers and praises, as well as ever the altar sanctified the gift, so that they shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock. (2.) He will be a little sanctuary, not seen or observed by their enemies, who looked with an evil and an envious eye upon that house at Jerusalem which was high and great, 1 Kings ix. 8. They were but few and mean, and a little sanctuary was fittest for them. God regards the low estate of his people, and suits his favours to their circumstances. Observe the condescensions of divine grace. The great God will be to his people a little sanctuary. Note, Those that are deprived of the benefit of public ordinances, if it be not their own fault, may have the want of them abundantly made up in the immediate communications of divine grace and comforts.

      2. That God would in due time put an end to their afflictions, bring them out of the land of their captivity, and settle them again, them or their children, in their own land (v. 17): “I will gather even you that are thus dispersed, thus despised, and given over for lost by your own countrymen; I will gather you from the people, distinguish you from those with whom you are mingled, deliver you from those by whom you are held captives, and assemble you in a body out of the countries where you have been scattered; you shall not come back one by one, but all together, which will make your return more honourable, safe, and comfortable; and then I will give you the land of Israel, which now your brethren look upon you as for ever shut out from.” Note, It is well for us that men’s severe censures cannot cut us off from God’s gracious promises. There are many that will be found to have a place in the holy land whom uncharitable men, by their monopolies of it to themselves, had secluded from it. I will give you the land of Israel, give it to you again by a new grant, and they shall come thither. If there be any thing in the change of the person from you to them, it may signify the posterity of those to whom the promise is made. “You shall have the title as the patriarchs had, and those that come after shall have the possession.”

      3. That God by his grace would part between them and their sins, v. 18. Their captivity shall effectually cure them of their idolatry: When they come thither to their own land again they shall take away all the detestable things thereof. Their idols, that had been their delectable things, should now be looked upon with detestation, not only the idols of Babylon, where they were captives, but the idols of Canaan, where they were natives; they should not only not worship them as they had done, but they should not suffer any monuments of them to remain: They shall take all the abominations thereof thence. Note, Then it is in mercy that we return to a prosperous estate, when we return not to the sins and follies of that state. What have I to do any more with idols?

      4. That God would powerfully dispose them to their duty; they shall not only cease to do evil, but they shall learn to do well, because there shall be not only an end of their troubles, but a return to their peace.

      (1.) God will plant good principles in them; he will make the tree good, v. 19. This is a gospel promise, and is made good to all those whom God designs for the heavenly Canaan; for God prepares all for heaven whom he has prepared heaven for. It is promised, [1.] That God will give them one heart, a heart entire for the true God and not divided as it had been among many gods, a heart firmly fixed and resolved for God and not wavering, steady and uniform, and not inconstant with itself. One heart is a sincere and upright heart, its intentions of a piece with its professions. [2.] That he will put a new spirit within them, a temper of mind agreeable to the new circumstances into which God in his providence would bring them. All that are sanctified have a new spirit, quite different from what it was; they act from new principles, walk by new rules, and aim at new ends. A new name, or a new face, will not serve without a new spirit. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. [3.] That he will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, out of their corrupt nature. Their hearts shall no longer be, as they have been, dead and dry, and hard and heavy, as a stone, no longer incapable of bearing good fruit, so that the good seed is lost upon it, as it was on the stony ground. [4.] That he will give them a heart of flesh, not dead or proud flesh, but living flesh; he will make their hearts sensible of spiritual pains and spiritual pleasures, will make them tender, and apt to receive impressions. This is God’s work, it is his gift, his gift by promise; and a wonderful and happy change it is that is wrought by it, from death to life. This is promised to those whom God would bring back to their own land; for then such a change of the condition is for the better indeed when it is accompanied with such a change of the heart; and such a change must be wrought in all those that shall be brought to the better country, that is, the heavenly.

      (2.) Their practices shall be consonant to those principles: I will give them a new spirit, not that they may be able to discourse well of religion and to dispute for it, but that they may walk in my statues in their whole conversation and keep my ordinances in all acts of religious worship, v. 20. These two must go together; and those to whom God has given a new heart and a new spirit will make conscience of both; and then they shall be my people and I will be their God. The ancient covenant, which seemed to be broken and forgotten, shall be renewed. By their idolatry, it should seem, they had cast God off; by their captivity, it should seem, God had cast them off. But when they were cured of their idolatry, and delivered out of their captivity, God and his Israel own one another again. God, by his good work in them, will make them his people; and then, by the tokens of his good-will towards them, he will show that he is their God.

      III. Here is a threatening of wrath against those who hated to be reformed. As, when judgments are threatened, the righteous are distinguished so as not to share in the evil of those judgments, so, when favours are promised, the wicked are distinguished so as not to share in the comfort of those favours; they have no part nor lot in the matter, v. 21. But, as for those that have no grace, what have they to do with peace? Observe, 1. Their description. Their heart walks after the heart of their detestable things; they have as great a minds to worship devils as devils have to be worshipped. Or, in opposition to the new heart which God gives his people, which is a heart after his own heart, they have a heart after the heart of their idols; in their temper and practice they conformed to the characters and accounts given them of their idols, and the ideas they had of them, and of them they learned lewdness and cruelty. Here lies the root of all their wickedness, the corruption of the heart; as the root of their reformation is laid in the renovation of the heart. The heart has its walks, and according as those are the man is. 2. Their doom. It carries both justice and terror in it: I will recompense their way upon their own heads; I will deal with them as they deserve. There needs no more than this to speak God righteous, that he does but render to men according to their deserts: and yet such are the deserts of sin that there needs no more than this to speak the sinner miserable.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

THE PLEDGE TO SPARE THE REMNANT

Verses 14-16:

Verse 14 recounts that the word of the Lord came again to Ezekiel, in response to his cry to the Lord, when Pelatiah the prince fell down dead before him, and the 25 rulers, before the eastern gate in the city of Jerusalem. The Lord confirmed to him that th6 doom of Jerusalem was irrevocable, but the Lord’s people, the few with a broken and contrite heart, would not be despised, Psa 34:18; Psa 51:17; Isa 57:15; Isa 66:2. “Is thy heart right with God?”

Verse 15 indicates that the remnant of Israel yet dwelling in Jerusalem, not having gone into captivity, were haughty, proud, and obstinate against God, considering themselves the true children of the covenant of Israel, though engaging in idolatry, cruel, and oppressing the poor, showing no mercy to their own people. Jeremiah was among those poor whom the proud in Jerusalem had pushed forward to be carried into captivity by the Chaldaeans. They were to be the true vindicators of the Lord, though in captivity, as a type of the Messiah, Deu 33:9; In that captive land he had been called, lifted up, transported to Jerusalem in a vision, and given a vision of the pollution of Jerusalem, the city of peace, and of the temple, and of the land, so that he could relate the same to the children of the Mosaic covenant, in their captivity, assuring them that through true repentance and obedience they could one day be restored to their own land in peace, Eze 20:33-44; Zec 12:8-9. Until then, though despised, they were to be His, 1Co 1:26-28.

Verse 16 directed Ezekiel to prophesy to the captivity, that He had cast them far off from, out of, and away from their homeland, among the heathen, and later, after they rejected their Messiah, among the countries, other continents of the world, Luk 1:32-33; Luk 21:24. However, He confirmed to them, hope and courage, assuring that He would be to them as a “little sanctuary,” a place of retreat for holy and solemn worship, in the countries, nations and continents where they should be scattered, Joh 4:24; by a penitent, contrite, and broken spirit one may yet find peace and hope in God among them, wherever he be, See Joe 2:32; Isa 1:9; Rom 11:5. See also Psa 90:1; Psa 91:9; Isa 8:14. They shall yet abide in Canaan, their covenant land, in peace, Jer 24:6.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Here God seems to rebuke the thoughtlessness of his servant, or rather the error of the people, because we said that the Prophet announced not what he privately thought, but what was commonly received. Whatever it is, God answers his complaint as we saw, and shows that even if he takes away from the midst the eminent and conspicuous, and those who seem to be the supports of a city and kingdom, yet the Church does not perish on that account, because he has hidden reasons why he preserves it, not in splendid and magnificent pomp, as men call it, but that its safety may at length excite admiration. The sum of the matter is, therefore, although not only Phalatias, but all the councillors of the king, and all the leaders of the people should perish, yet that God can work in weakness, so that the Church shall nevertheless remain safe: and so he teaches that the remnant must not be sought in that rank which was then conspicuous, but rather among men ordinary and despised. Now we understand the intention of God in this answer.

He says therefore, thy brethren, thy brethren, and the men of thy relationship. H e here recalls his servant to the exiles and the captives, of whom he himself was one, as if he would say that they were not cast out of the Church, as they were still in some estimation. For God seemed to east them off when he banished them from the promised land; but he now shows that they were reckoned among his sons although disinherited from the land of Canaan. Hence he twice repeats the name of brethren, and adds, men of thy relationship, that the Prophet might rather reckon himself also to be among the number. Those who refer this to the three exiles, weaken the vehemence of the passage, whilst they obtrude an inappropriate comment, and turn away the reader from the genuine sense of the Prophet. But rather, as I lately hinted,. God here chastises the Prophet because he perversely restricts the body of the Church to the citizens at Jerusalem; as if he said, although the Israelites are captives, yet do they seem to you foreigners? and so will you not leave them a place in the Church? They are, therefore, thy brethren, thy brethren, says he, and the men of thy relationship Hence the repetition is emphatic, and tends to this purpose, that the Prophet may cease to measure God’s grace by the safety of the city alone, as he had done. Because one man had suddenly died, he thought that all must perish. Meanwhile he did not perceive how he injured the miserable exiles, whom God had so expelled from the land of Canaan, that yet some hope of pity remained, as all the Prophets show, and as we shall soon see. This passage then is worthy of observation, that we may learn not to estimate the state of the Church by the common opinion of mankind. And so with respect to the splendor which too often blinds the eyes of the simple. For it will so happen, that we think we have found the Church where there is none, and we despair if it does not offer itself to our eyes; as we see at this day that many are astonished by those magnificent pomps which are conspicuous in the Papacy. There the name of “The Church” keeps flying bravely in the face of all: there also its marks are brought forward: the simple are attracted to the empty spectacle: so under the name of the Church they are drawn to destruction; because they determine that the Church is there where that splendor which deceives them is seen. On the other hand, many who cannot discern the Church with their eyes and point to it with the finger, accuse God of deceiving them, as if all the faithful in the world were extinct. We must hold, therefore, that the Church is often wonderfully preserved in its hiding — places: for its members are not luxurious men, or such as win the veneration of the foolish by vain ostentation; but rather ordinary men, of no estimation in the world. We have a memorable example of this, when God recalls his own Prophet from the chief leaders at Jerusalem, not to other leaders, who should attract men to wonder at themselves, but to miserable exiles, whose dispersion rendered them despicable. He shows therefore that some remnants were left even in Chaldea.

Now it follows, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, depart, ye far from the sanctuary of Jehovah, the land is given to us Here God inveighs against the arrogance of the people, which remained at home quiet and careless. For he here relates the words of the citizens of Jerusalem, because, forsooth, they preferred themselves to the exiles, nay boasted that they were alienated from the holy people because they had been dragged into exile, or had left the city of their own accord. As to their saying, depart afar off, it ought not to be taken strictly in the imperative mood; but the speech ought so to be understood, that while they depart far from the sanctuary, the land will remain as an inheritance for us. We see, therefore, that the citizens of Jerusalem pleased themselves, and were satisfied with their own ease, since they still enjoyed their country, worshipped God in the temple, and the name of a kingdom was still standing. Since therefore they so enjoyed themselves, God shows that on the contrary they were blinded with pride, since he had not entirely cast away his captives, although he afflicted them with temporal punishment. But this their boasting was very foolish, in congratulating themselves on their escape from exile. For meanwhile what was their state? In truth their king’ was treated with ignominy, and we know what happened to themselves afterwards; for they were reduced to such straits, that mothers devoured their children, and those nourished in great, luxury consumed their dung. Nay even before the city was besieged, what reason was left them for boasting in themselves! but we here perceive how great was their obstinacy in which they hardened themselves against the scourge of God. Hence they stupidly supposed that God could not subdue them. Now what is their ferocity, that they insult over the miserable exiles as if they were cast away far from God? since Ezekiel and Daniel and their companions were among these exiles. We know that Daniel’s piety was so celebrated at Jerusalem, that they all acknowledged him as the peculiar gift and ornament of his age. When, therefore, Daniel was in such estimation for superior piety, how could they erect their crests against him — since they were Conscious of many crimes, profane, full of all defilements, addicted to cruelty, fraud, and perjury, being foul in their abominations, and infamous in their intemperance?

Since therefore we see that they so boldly insulted their brethren, can we wonder that at this day the Papists also are fierce, because they retain the ordinary succession and the title of the Church, and that they say that we are cast away and cut off from the Church, and so are unworthy of enjoying either a name or a place among Christians? If, therefore, at this day the Papists are so hot against us, there is no reason why their haughtiness should disturb us; but in this mirror we may learn that it always was so. But there was another reason why the citizens of Jerusalem said that their captives were cast far away. For it was clear that their exile was the just penalty for their crimes; but meanwhile how did they dare separate themselves from others, when their life was more wicked? Lastly, since God had already passed sentence upon them, their condition could not be really different from theirs, concerning whom the judge had pronounced his opinion, but they were deaf to all the Prophets’ threats, so that they despised God, and hence that boasting which treated all as foreigners who did not remain in the land of Canaan. This passage also teaches us, that if God at any time chastises those who profess the same religion with us, yet there is no reason why we should entirely condemn them, as if they were desperate; for opportunity must be given for the mercy of God. And we must diligently mark what follows. For after the Prophet has related that the citizens of Jerusalem boasted when they thought themselves the sole survivors, God answers on the contrary, because they were cast away far among the nations, and dispersed among the lands, or through the lands, therefore I shall be to them as a small sanctuary

We see that God even here claims some place for sinners in the Church, against whom he had exercised the rigor of his judgment. He says, by way of concession, that they were cast away and dispersed, but he adds, that he was still with them for a sanctuary; nay, because they bore their exile calmly and with equanimity, they pronounce this to be a reason why he should pity them. For neither is their sentence so general that God overlooked his own elect. This promise then ought not to be extended to all the captives without discrimination, because we shall see that God included only a few. Without doubt then, this was a peculiar promise which God wished to be a consolation to his elect. He says, because they bore exile and dispersion with calmness and composure, therefore God would be a sanctuary to them But this was a gracious approval of their modesty and subjection, because they not only suffered exile but also dispersion, which was more severe. For if they had all been drawn into a distant region this had been a severe trial, but still they might have united more easily, had they not been dispersed. This second punishment was the sadder to them, because they perceived in it the material for despair, as if they could never be collected together again in one body.

thus their wrestling with these temptations was a sign of no little piety; and as some of the faithful did not demonstrate their obedience at once, yet because God knows his own, (2Ti 2:19,) and watches for their safety, hence he here opposes to all their miseries that protection on which their safety was founded. Because, therefore, they were dispersed through the lands, hence, says he, I will be to them a small sanctuary

The third person is here used. Interpreters make מעט , megnet, mean the noun toar, and understand it as “a small sanctuary,” although it may be taken for a paucity of men, and we may, therefore, fairly translate it “a sanctuary of security.” Although the other sense suits the passage best, that God would be a small sanctuary to the captives, so there will be an antithesis between the splendor of the visible temple and the hidden grace of God, which so escaped the notice of the Chaldeans that they rather trod it under foot, and even the Jews who still remained at Jerusalem despised it. The sanctuary, therefore, which God had chosen for himself on Mount Zion, because it deservedly attracted all eyes towards it, and the Israelites were always gazing at it, since it revealed the majesty of God, might be called the magnificent sanctuary of God: nothing of the sort was seen in the Babylonish exile: but God says, that he was to the captives as a small or contracted sanctuary This place answers to the 90 Psalm, where Moses says, Thou, O God, hast always been a tabernacle to us, (Psa 90:1,) and yet God had not always either a temple or a tabernacle from which he entered into a covenant with the fathers. But Moses there teaches what God afterwards represented by a visible symbol, that the fathers really thought that they truly lay hid under the shadow of God’s wings, and were not otherwise safe and sheltered unless God protected them. Moses, therefore, in the name of the fathers, celebrates the grace of God which was continual even before the sanctuary was built. So also in this place God says by a figure, that he was their sanctuary, not that he had erected an altar there, but because the Israelites were destitute of any external pledge and symbol, he reminds them that the thing itself was not entirely taken away, since God had his wings outstretched to cherish and defend them. This passage is also worthy of notice, lest the faithful should despond where God has no standard erected: although he does not openly go before them with royal ensigns to preserve them, yet they need not conclude themselves altogether deserted; but they should recall to remembrance what is here said of a small sanctuary. God, therefore, although he does not openly exhibit his influence, yet he does not cease to preserve them by a secret power, of which in this our age we have a very remarkable proof. The world indeed thinks us lost as often as the Church is materially injured, and the greater part become very anxious, as if God had deserted them. Then let this promise be remembered as a remedy, God is to the dispersed and cast away a small sanctuary; so that although his hand is hidden, yet our safety proves that he has worked powerfully in our weakness. We see then that this sense is most suitable, and contains very useful doctrine. Yet the other sense will suit, that God is “the sanctuary of a few,” because in that great multitude but few remain who are really the people of God, for the greater part was ignorant of him; since then God does not regard that multitude of the impious which was already within the Church, but only here directs his discourse towards his own elect, it is not surprising that he asserts them to be but few in number. Now it follows —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5.) MERCY PROMISED TO THE EXILES, AND CONCLUSION OF THE VISION (Eze. 11:14-25)

EXEGETICAL NOTES.Eze. 11:14-21. Ezekiel receives, for answer to his urgent appeal, an intimation that the doom of Jerusalem is irrevocable, but that the Lords people will not be forsaken. Amongst the exiles, who are contemptuously treated by dwellers in the capital, are found tokens of the broken, contrite heart which He does not despise. He will put an end to their captivity, and settle them again in the land of their fathers.

Eze. 11:15. The utterance of the Lord must have been unexpected. The prophet supposed that they who remained in Jerusalem were the real representatives of Israel, and his yearning for their deliverance was thus intensified. His mistake springs from a common tendency in regard to the kingdom of God. Men look at its externalities. Those who have antiquity and ritual on their side are counted the chosen to good, while they who suffer and are decried are regarded as of no account. Yet in the latter are the germs of mercy from God laid: thy brethren, thy brethren, the twice-told designation emphatically indicating that Ezekiel is to find his true relations in those with whom he is connected as an exile, however unfavourable their condition: men of thy kindreda translation which apparently causes a tautology, for brethren are kindred; but is grounded on the fact that the Hebrew word refers to the duties of the goel,the blood-relation who took up the responsibilities, poverty, injuries of his kindred (Lev. 25:25; Lev. 25:48). Some propose to employ the primary meaning, and translate the phrase, men of thy redemption, those whom thou art bound to ransom, or intercede for to deliver from evil. The ascription of the duties of goel to Ezekiel seems far-fetched and forced; but is defended for the reason that it conveys a peculiar reproach to the proud Jews who have been so ready to cast off the claims of blood-relationship, and at the same time a hope of restoration to those who have been unduly thrown aside (Speakers Com.) The reading of the LXX is, the men of thy captivity, obviously translating the same Hebrew word that is found in Eze. 11:24, and which differs from that read here by a single letter: and all the house of Israel, all of it, including in this title all Israel wheresoever they were scattered abroad, and who by the phrase seem counted by God as those who constituted the whole house of Israel, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem say, Remove far off from the land; to us the land is given for a possession. Captivity, in the eyes of the Jerusalemites, was a cutting off from the covenants and promises; but their residence in the city was a participation in them. They concluded that Israel was to be known by external signs. Thereby they show how inexperienced they are in the ways of God, how far they are from having the heart of true Israelites, how little they deserve that the prophet should take an interest in them (Heng.)

Eze. 11:16. Therefore, seeing that the inhabitants of Jerusalem treat the captives as thrust out from the Lord, He causes His prophet to refer to this despisal and say, Though I have removed them far off among the nations, and though I have scattered them in the lands, that which their depreciators say is so far true; but the exile is not comfortless and irreversible, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while: they are deprived of that which was once My sanctuary, where I manifested My presence, but they shall have one notwithstanding. I Myself will be with them for a season. The A. V., by its translation a little sanctuary, makes it seem as if the Lord would give to the captives, in some minor degree, what He had given in the temple. No doubt this was the case. But there is more involved. The exiles would be comforted with the promise of a far greater boon than that of entering within the walls of an earthly temple, and also with the assurance that the duration of their banishment from the temple would be limited. Canaan was still the land of the covenant; and the presence of the Lord among His people, at a distance from that land, could be only a temporary thing. But by this dealing with them the captives were prepared to give weight to the eternal truth that God dwells not in temples made with hands, that they could worship Him acceptably anywhere, and so new advances were taken towards the coming of Him in whose resurrection-body was seen the temple not made with hands, and through whom all men may come to the Father.

In what way did the Lord prove Himself to be the sanctuary of the people in their captivity? First of all by sending the prophet himself, a preacher of repentance and salvation, and one so richly endowed. That which made the temple itself into a temple, the presence of God, dwelt in him. Again, He proved this by the outward protection which He afforded them, by inward consolations, &c. Every event that transpired,the elevation of Daniel, the fall of the Babylonian and rise of the Persian power,pointed to this end. How different was the Babylonian exile from that of the present day! In the latter there are no signs of the presence of God. The nation can do nothing but celebrate memorial feasts and dream of the future (Heng.)

The dispersion, besides being a just chastisement on account of sin, and a salutary discipline to lead the heart of the people back to God, had an important end to accomplish as a preparatory movement in providence for opening the way for Messiahs kingdom. It was very far from being an unmixed evil. It was of great service in diffusing the knowledge of God, and providing materials for the first foundations of the Christian Church. But it was still more important and necessary in spiritualising the views of the Jews, and training to the knowledge and service of God without the help of a material temple. The devout worshipper at Babylon, Alexandria, Rome, found himself a partaker of Gods presence and blessing. What a mighty advance did the kingdom of God thus make toward the possession of the world! And the Lord manifested His power to overrule a present evil for the accomplishment of an ultimate good (Fairbairn).

Eze. 11:17-18. A reply to the assertion of men of Jerusalem that the land was their exclusive possession. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, and, besides being a sanctuary, I will gather you and give to you the territory of Israel; but the restoration will not be to the state of things which existed prior to the exile; and they, whom the Lord thus favours, come thither and take away all its detestable things and all its abominations therefrom; first of all they cease to do the evil things which had provoked their Almighty King; they no longer halt between the Lord and Baalim. But that they have eschewed idolatry ever since their return from Babylon, is a statement to be qualified by the remarks of Hengstenberg. That Satan should drive out Satan, or a refined system of idolatry (even Jehovah can become an idol) make war upon one of a grosser kind, is a matter of no religious importance. It is also evident that the outward removal of idols, in the period immediately following the restoration and in the time of the Maccabees, is included in the prophecy only so far as God Himself was the principium movens on those occasions. But this can be regarded as only a very small beginning. If the idols had all been banished from the country along with the idolatrous images, the people would have had some ground for charging God with unfaithfulness in not performing His promises. The external removal of the things, by which the land of the Lord had been defiled, was thought of by the prophet only so far as it was the result of the unconditional surrender of the heart to the Lord.

Eze. 11:19-20. And I give them one heart, a heart in which will, thought, feeling are in unison, and which finds itself in harmony with other hearts. The method by which this grace will be brought about is the Lords; and a new spirit will I put within you, the same for substance, but altered in the frame, renewed in the qualities thereof (Trapp); and I will take away the heart of stone from their flesh, and give them an heart of flesh. There is generally more said than ought to be said according to Gods word, that in its natural state mans heart is hard as a stone. It becomes the heart of stone only by hardening. By nature it is rather an heart of flesh, which grace confronts with spirit of Spirit (Joh. 3:6). With the fleshy state of the heart manifold gifts of God are conceivable, as was the case of Israel from their fathers (hereditary blessings). The New Testament interpretation must not, as a matter of course, be put upon Eze. 11:19-20. In comparison with the stony heart which Gods judgments broke in pieces, this was to be an heart of flesh; but yet it was merely an heart of flesh. The heart of stone stands in relation to the idols, so the heart of flesh, the new spirit, the one heart, stands in relation to the only true God. The keeping apart of flesh and stone is as important as that of flesh and spirit (Lange). Israel had gone into a position that was unnatural to it, but was to return, by divine working, into that which was natural, that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them, &c.

Eze. 11:21. The promise is accompanied with a dark shadow. Whosoever there be whose heart goes after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, who continue a devotion full of interest in the idols which their evil hearts attach themselves to, they shall reap the fruit of their own ways. If the idols represent merely illusions, yet they exercise a mastering sway over individuals, while the full nature of sin is manifested by their worship. What power has Mammon now, as a national god, over Jewish minds, although he is in himself a mere shadow! (Heng.) The moral bearings of the Lords statement fasten on every man his own responsibility for his own conduct. Mercy to a people does not shut off personal agency. The promise of a return to Canaan was not given to the exiles as an absolute and unconditional good. And comparing the promise of what should have been, with the record of what actually was, we find that the word received but a partial fulfilment, and Canaan as occupied by the restored remnant was not a region of holiness. Still the promise did not fail; the Lord did provide for Himself a spiritual offspring from the captivity, and plant them anew as a seed of blessing in the land of their fathersenough to furnish a pledge that the sum of all promise, the work of reconciliation in Christ, would, in due time, be brought to completion (Fairbairn).

HOMILETICS

THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO THE FEELINGS

There had been a general deterioration in the life of the Jewish people. Religion was corrupted into superstition, and all that was purifying and rightening in it got rid of. Then, as a matter of course, their morals became depraved, and then came political degradation and national ruin. In their hopeless plight as exiles, what was it that they really needed?
The answer cannot be far to seek. The spirit of revolt had been stirred up against the power which dominated them. Of what use had that been? If God should intervene by some wonderful providence, and with a strong arm bring them out of Chaldea and restore them to their own land, of what avail could even that be? If the same people, animated by the same spirit, had been all reinstated in their properties possessed before, what would have been gained? The one essential thing of all was for the men and women, the young men and maidens, to love and choose right and goodbe obedient to God, and righteous and loving toward one another; for, if the inmost character of the people remained unchanged, the same wretched consequences would once more follow. To try this experiment over again would simply have been waste of time and waste of everything. A corrupt and bad nation can never be for long a prosperous nation. Evil still clings to it, and will produce its own fruits of course. So it would have been utterly vain to have shown a false compassion to them and brought them back from captivity just as they were.

The promise of renewed prosperity is here made dependent on renewed rightness. The religious promise is the grand and basal one (Eze. 11:20). The people must become a right people, must have a right heart and a new spirit, or prosperity is out of the question. The national character is the main thing to be looked to if a people would enjoy national welfare. Righteousness exalteth a nation. If the love of righteousness be general and strong, that will purge the eyesight of a people, and they will see what they ought to do. All those members of a nation who sap the robust righteousness of the people; all those who countenance and promote the neglect of religion, who weaken the faith of others in God, who lessen reverence and piety, by word or deed or by the power of example, are helping to undermine the national well-being. While all who help righteousness, truth, goodness, the fear of God, and the love of men, are doing best for their countrys stability and progress. In order to the accomplishment of such a result, there must be a heart renovated by religion. And so we learn that the very core of this true religion is a power over the heart. As the heart stands principally for the feelings, we may say that religion is chiefly having the feelings right.

Religion is made by many a quite outward affair, one of rites and ceremonies and observances. With others a correct religious creed is everything, and not a few weed their creed of all positive statements and reduce it to negativesto denying this, and contradicting that, and arguing against the other. These are in great danger of making religion consist in notions, i.e., chiefly a matter of intellect.

The intellect and the feelings are often put in opposition; but it ought not to be so. The use of the intellect in religion is to help the heart. We want both brought into the highest condition of health and vigour. It is ever bad to divorce them, and undesirable to cultivate one at the expense of the other. But if we were obliged to confine ourselves, then there is no question the heart, the feeling, must have the vast pre-eminence. The understanding is addressed in Scripture as the way to the conscience and the heart. Right knowledge is good even for its own sake; but if it be alone, a man may be a devil. Intellect without love is one definition of the devil.
Why are the feelings of this importance in religion?

I. Because they govern the man. A man may love to flatter himself that he is governed by his intellect, by pure reason. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred he is governed by his feelings, by his inclinations, by his likings, and then he calls in reason! He employs his intellect to find him useful arguments by which he may vindicate himself to himself and to others!

The afterthoughts

Which reason coins to justify excess
And passions disappointment.

It was the feelings which impelled John and Peter, Martha and Mary, to Christ; which made Annas and Caiaphas seek His death; it was a certain class of feelings which urged Judas to betray Him. So now. Some men love the Revealer and believe in Him; they find the evidences which they ask for satisfactory, and may be able to give a reason to others. Some do not love that Life which claims to be divine, it rebukes their life too much; they scan the evidences and find them insufficient, and are glad to be able to say so. The feelings are seen to be supreme as the active power in human life. Hence God seeks to enlist them on the side of righteousness, and has so put Truthembodied it in a personas to make right affections possible and easy. Therefore, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, &c. Lovest thou Me?

II. Because the feelings form a ground common to all men on which religion can act. With many the intellect is very feeble, and only the fewest can have a well-furnished and well-disciplined intellect. But all can have strong feelings, strong likings and dislikings. Ought not religion to be an affair of that on which all classes can stand on pretty equal terms? The feelings enlisted, what is too hard in any rank of life?

III. Because the feelings decide the character. A man is what his chief love or liking is, what his allowed and cherished feelings are. As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. And Christ is the supreme test. For there is, in happiest proportions, all goodness embodied in His life which has special claims on men. If the feelings towards Him are those of indifference, unconcern, to say nothing of opposition, then is the heart a heart of stone indeed; and the one first and great need for such a man is to get rid of his heart of stone and acquire a heart of flesh.

We see how wisely God has made religion to be primarily an affair of the heart and not of the intellect. We recognise the pains He hath taken to win the heart for the right, to awaken and stimulate and direct the feelings. This is to a great extent the rationale of the Gospel, the logic of Christianity. We are interested to see how the promise of one heart was fulfilled to the captives as represented in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Important also to see how the matter bears on us (2Co. 6:17; 2Co. 7:1).

Counsel and promise meet here. We are to get the heart of flesh of ourselves; God will give it to us. Both needed. He will give; we must concur. If we prize the promise, we shall do all we can to get rid of one kind of heart and to obtain the other. How many means are found to be provided; how many things, habits, &c., to be sedulously avoided, and others to be sedulously observed. If you will try honestly to make you a heart of flesh, God will command success, will secure the result.H. H. D.

GOD THE SANCTUARY OF THE AFFLICTED (Eze. 11:16)

There is a tendency in nature and providence to keep things in a kind of equality. There are compensations. In what condition can we be found that possesses no advantages? Let us consider from this verse

I. The calamity. I have cast them off, &c. The event serves to display

1. The agency of God. He asserts His dominion and influence over all the sufferings of nations, families, and individuals. An irreligious mind is detained from God by the persons or events which injure Him. A pious man can say, It is the Lord. He acts by the intervention of means. He did not carry away the Jews by miracle, but by the effect of war; and we are not to conclude that God has nothing to do in any work because of the vileness of those who are engaged in it. He makes the very wrath of man to praise Him.

2. Displays the truth of God. The evil had been foretold and threatened by successive prophets, and the calamity was identified with the Divine veracityHath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?

3. Displays the holiness of God. The offences of this people were aggravated by their privileges. Sin is not to be judged of by its grossness, but by its guilt. No wonder that He punished the Jews.

4. Displays the wisdom of God. By their dispersion they were in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord.

5. Displays His goodness. He punished not to destroy, but reform. Their captivity was limited in duration, and He did not leave them comfortless in the meantime.

II. The alleviation. Yet will I be to them, &c. He engages to be to them a temple, so that He should be found of them, and they would see His power and glory. He compensates them for the want of those very things which seem essential to their welfare.

1. In the loss of outward comforts. He does not require us to be indifferent to substance, health, friends; but as He is the unchangeable and all-sufficient, we have a security independent of the world, diseases, associates. At first we may murmur when affliction comes, but it is to wean us from creatures and draw to trust in the living God. How many can bear witness that He has made that condition comfortable which they once deemed insupportable, and that the joy of salvation and the comforts of the Holy Ghost are effectual substitutes for every deficiency in creature good!

2. In the want of gracious ordinances. God will never countenance the neglect of the means of grace; but He will make up for the want of them. When we cannot follow Him, He can follow us. The superstitious should remember this as well as the afflicted. He can meet with His people in any place, and wherever He holds communion with them the place becomes sacred.

What a place, then, is heaven! What a natural world must that be where there is needed no light of the sun! What a moral world, where we can dispense with Sabbaths, with preaching, with temples! Even religion will cease there, and only the dispositions it formed and the state to which it led remain.

What a being, then, is God! He enables us to live a life of dependence upon Him and communion with Him. No want but He can relieve, no hope but He can accomplish. He is accessible by Christ. Let us come to Him, and say, I am continually with Thee. &c. (Jay, abridged.)

EXEGETICAL NOTES.Eze. 11:22-23. With the promise of good to the exiled Jews the vision immediately draws to its close. The cherubim and their associated wheels (chap. Eze. 10:16-17) underneath the divine glory prepare to move away. And the glory of the Lord rose up from the midst of the city: it had been resting at the gate opening to the city (chap. Eze. 10:4)considered to be its central pointnow it will leave entirely the temple and its precincts, as also the city, and make a stand over the mount, which is to the east of the citythe Mount of Olives, commanding an outlook over all Jerusalem. There it waited, betokening that the city was no longer defended by the Lorda defence was no more upon all the gloryand when Ezekiel had traced thus far its movements, he felt himself withdrawn from any further sight of it. The rabbis, commenting on this passage, said that the Shechinah retired eastward to the Mount of Olives, and there for three years called in vain to the people with human voice that they should repent (Speakers Com.) On this mount Jesus wept, and predicted the second overthrow of Jerusalem (see Mat. 19:21; Mat. 24:3); from it He went up into heaven (see Eze. 24:5; Act. 1:12); and Zechariah prophesied (chap. Eze. 14:4) that on it the Lord shall stand to fight against hostile nations, and bring blessings to His own. What Ezekiel saw was a withdrawal of the divine glory, and yet a continuance of it in the neighbourhood. Jehovahs external protection and blessing may have been withdrawn, but still the invisible power of the Spirit will remain near them, and probably manifest itself the more gloriously on that account. It is Ezekiel who has discerned, set forth, and described in the most touching manner the quickening and awakening power of the Spirit of Jehovah on the whole people (see 37.) In a similar way Jesus, in whom the divine glory resides bodily, withdraws Himself from the Jews (Joh. 8:21); but His standing on the Mount of Olives, on the east side of Jerusalem, is a sign that, though invisible, He is still near to bless them (Act. 3:26).Baumgarten.

Eze. 11:24-25. The same force which had rapt the seer away brings him back to a consciousness of the presence of the elders in his house in Chaldea. And I spake to the exiles all the words of the Lord which He had made me see. The elders did not see the visionary journey on which Ezekiel had been taken; but probably they had observed an astonished appearance, as if he were absent in mind, and so they were the more susceptible to the report he gave of the revelation in a vision, not of his own heart, but in a striking degree from Him with whom all words are acts. Ezekiel had been called to be a prophet to the exiles (chap. Eze. 2:5), urged to be an instructor as to right and wrong (Eze. 3:17), and under poignant feelings had taken the place of a mediator (Eze. 11:15). These several positions had been defined by visions of a glory infinitely surpassing all Levitical symbols, and which assured him that the Lord was not confined to the locality of the temple, or worshipped only by its forms. Thus, though he could not serve as priest in the ritual of the temple at Jerusalem, he could do that which was more than an equivalent; he could be the medium of declaring to the banished Jews that the Holiest would be present with them; maintain intercourse with them without the instituted sacrifices and offerings, notwithstanding that they were in the wilderness of the nations, and were sometimes proud and reviling, sometimes cast down and despairing; and prepare them for the future constitution of their life as a community in the land promised to their fathers, so as to accomplish the original and prospective vocation of Israel. The exiles, however, needed much teaching before they could be fit for their destiny, and in that teaching the further prophesying of Ezekiel will hold no little share.

HOMILETICS

A DEPARTING GOD (Eze. 11:22-23)

The movement of the appearance which Ezekiel had the eyes of his understanding opened to see signifies

I. That God is not bound to any place or form of worship. He would remove from the sacred city to the idolatrous Chaldea; from the prescribed forms of Levitical service to the free forms of hearts prompted by need. There is no land, no denomination, no single church, which has a monopoly of His power and grace. He may have dwelt amongst them so that they beheld His glory; but if they forsake His laws they forfeit His presence. They may retain the name of Christian, keep up cathedrals and chapels, use prayer-book and hymn-book, acknowledge articles, confessions, declarations, and the glory and power have gone from them all; and, alas! many of the people never suspect that so it is.

II. That He does not remove all at once. He may go with His power and glory to another land, denomination, church, regarded as poor and despised, but in which souls humble themselves under His mighty hand, and spread His great goodness. Yet He does not hastily leave the scene where once He had manifested Himself. He goes to the threshold before going out, and when He goes out, He does not go out of sight. He waits near, within reach of a cry, if so be that before the night falls, which results from His departure, men may call and He will answer them.

When God has departed, formality, temptation to go into deeper darkness, reproach to His name, all follow; and what shall the end of these things be? Let us see that we do not, by a careless and inconsistent walk, provoke Him to withdraw His invisible and spiritual presence from us. In fear of such a state let us say

Take anything Thou wilt away,
But go not Thou away!

RETURNING FROM THE PRESENCE (Eze. 11:24-25)

The vision that I had seen went up from me. Jacob seeth a ladder reaching up to heaven, angels ascending and descending, and the Lord at the top of the ladder, but this was only for a night; Moses saw the Lord in the burning bush, but the sight lasted not; Peter, James, and John saw the transfiguration of Christ, but the vision went up from them. They who strive faithfully to follow Jesus come into seasons of a clear shining of His face. They may not have gone back from His footprints, they may not have lost a sense of their dependence on Him, and have not failed to recognise His abiding nearness; but seasons arrive in which the vapour and dust hanging over their daily pathway thin exceedingly. More vivid is their consciousness of the grace and glory and truth manifested in God in Christ. Fresh hope, joy, peace, vigour, enter; they realise that there are possibilities of insight for their spiritual life transcending all they ask or think. They would not care to say, My willing soul would stay in such a frame as this, &c. They do wish to understand the lessons of such upliftings.

I. They find them variable. The visions are diverse. Always pervaded by Christ, sometimes one of His aspects, sometimes another, is most impressive, yet His glory illuminates one and all.

They are transitory. They are drinks from the brook in the way. The sparkle and coolness go, transmuted into recruited strength and hope. We may often regret that such experiences pass away. Perhaps we charge ourselves with a fault as having occasioned their disappearance. But that may be an error. For our hearts are not framed so as to sustain a prolonged unchanging feeling. That would be insanity. We must calculate on frames and feelings reviving and decaying, on our turning from communion with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to communing, it may be, with elders or juniors, with fellow-sufferers in the conflicts of life, and still, through all our moods, have our feet set upon a rock and our goings established.

II. They find they have furthered insight. In Thy light we see light. The sense of God deepened the sense of sin. The chief who, in days before Christ, exclaimed, I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself; the apostle who, in the presence of Christ, cried, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; the seer who, in days after Christ, fell as one dead at the feet of the manifested living Lord, are examples of the effect of the realised presence of the All Holy upon the heart of mankind. We hear then what we had not expected to hear about evil. We see then the irrefragable penalty inflicted on persistent unrighteousness.

The sense of God inspires hope. His Word declares that He is full of compassion and gracious, that He looks to the man who is of a poor and contrite spirit and trembles at His word, that a Deliverer comes from Him to turn from ungodliness, and that after we have suffered for a while we shall be established, strengthened, settled. A nearer fellowship with the Unseen thus affecting us, we come away lowlier than before, but more confident that God has prepared things unspeakable for them that love Him.

III. They find themselves emboldened to act for God. Men lifted by the Spirit of God see and believe in His thoughts and ways. Then, when their souls are irradiated and strengthened, they are enabled to tell the things of death and life without fear and without reserving one needed truth. Such men will never be feeble servants to their fellow-men. The kind of saplessness manifested by certain professed Christians, and which has given force to the somewhat cynical term goodiness, rises out of faulty ways of hearing the voice of the Son of God. Let us be bold for the truth and love of Jesus, and we shall be known as having been with Jesus. If truth and love impel us to shatter the hopes of a life, to fling the solemn accusation, Thou art the man, to affirm, when the storms of trial are beating down and washing over the sailors on lifes heaving sea, that there is nothing to fear, nothing really evil where Christ manifests Himself to be with us, then we must seek grace for each diverse duty from a clearer sight of the glory and grace of the Christ of God. He will enable us for whatever ministry He calls us to, we shall declare all that He shows to us for others, adding nought, subtracting nought, and be qualified by His presence in a way which no rules and no resolutions are capable of accomplishing.

Let Christians be ready for every approach of the Spirit to carry them to a more conscious apprehension of the glory of God in the face of Jesus; then they will make, and only then, good and faithful servants. They will return from His presence strengthened with all might in the inner man.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

B. The Jewish Exiles Encouraged 11:1421

TRANSLATION

(14) And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, (15) Son of man, your brethren, your kinsmen, and all the house of Israel all of these are they of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Go far away from the LORD; the land has been given to us for a possession. (16) Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Although I have removed them far among the nations, and although I have scattered them among lands, yet I shall be a sanctuary for a little while for them in the lands where they have come. (17) Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples, yes I will assemble you from the lands where you have been scattered, and I will give to you the land of Israel. (18) And they shall come there and they shall remove all her horrible things and all her abominations from her. (19) And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them, and I will take away the heart of stone from their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh, (20) in order that they will 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 goes after horrible things and abominations, I will recompense their way upon their head (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

In response to the desperate prayer-question of Ezekiel concerning the future of Israel, God granted to the prophet a special revelation of comfort (Eze. 11:14). Ezekiel was first reminded that the remnant of Israel about which he was concerned embraced others besides those who still inhabited Jerusalem. The exiled Israelites were also his brethren and kinsmen. Indeed, all the house of Israel included the exiles of the Northern Kingdom as well as those of Judah. All the exiles were looked down on and despised by those who remained in Jerusalem. The fact that they were left in possession of the land and Temple was interpreted as being an evidence of Gods blessing on them. Conversely, they regarded those who had been carried away to foreign lands as being cursed of God because they were far from the land, i.e., His domain and presence (Eze. 11:15).

The Lord speaking through Ezekiel rebuked the haughty attitude of the Jerusalemites. The proof that the exiles were Gods people is seen in what He had done already for them, and what He promised yet to do for them. While it was true that the exiles had been scattered among the nations by the Lord, yet this in no way implied that He had cast off these people. Though they were separated by miles from Mt. Zion and Gods house, yet God Himself would serve as their sanctuary during the little while[261] they were in captivity (Eze. 11:16). Those exiles were really nearer to the presence of God than those who worshiped in the Jerusalem Temple from which the Lord had now departed. He was their protection and source of strength. The phrase little while suggests that the captivity was transient and provisional. For Ezekiel, as for Jeremiah, the people in exile were the good figs (cf. Jer. 24:1), and those in Jerusalem the rotten figs. They were the remnant for whom there was a hope of better things.

[261] The charming translation little sanctuary (KJV) is not accurate. Even today Jews call their synagogues a little sanctuary in allusion to this verse.

A major theological thought emerges here. It is the presence of the Lord that makes the sanctuary, not the sanctuary that secures the presence of God. The physical Temple was not absolutely essential to the relationship between God and His people. Although the exiles had lost the Temple, they had not lost the presence of God.

For those despised exiles God had something wonderful in store. God would gather and assemble His people from among the nations where they had been driven. Furthermore, to these presently despised and disheartened exiles He would give the land of Israel (Eze. 11:17). This prophecy began to be fulfilled in the work of restoration achieved by Zerubabbel, Ezra and Nehemiah. But the work of gathering Gods people goes on today wherever and whenever the Gospel is preached. Men and women baptized into Christ become part of the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16) and inherit the Jerusalem which is from above (Gal. 4:26).

Those exiles brought home by God would be spiritual persons. Immediately upon returning they would remove all horrible things and abominations, i.e., idols, and the paraphernalia of idolatry (Eze. 11:18). Repentance must precede Gods work in the heart of men. God can do nothing for the man who will not recognize his sins and turn from them.

In the new Israel God would give His people one heart (Eze. 11:19). Here Ezekiel is introducing the great prophetic theme of unity among the people of God, a theme which he will later amplify by a symbolic action (Eze. 37:15-22). The long-standing cleavage between north and south, Israel and Judah, would disappear. Oneness of purpose and of action would characterize the new Israel of God. The unity in Christ of Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond and free is a grand theological fact which, unfortunately, in practice Gods people do not display before the world.

The means of achieving this grand unity of Gods people is the divine gift of a new spirit (Eze. 11:19). The prophet speaks here of the spirit of loyalty, obedience and unselfishness.[262] Thus God not only sets up His covenant, He also provides all the qualifications for living under the covenant. The new spirit is Gods spirit. The New Israel of God would be infused with new divine energy. Such a prediction can only be fully understood in the light of the gift of the Holy Spirit to Gods people on Pentecost.

[262] In this prophecy of the new spirit Ezekiel echoes the thoughts and even the words of Jer. 31:31-33; Jer. 32:37-39 and Deu. 30:11-16.

A new heart as well as a new spirit would be given to the individual members of the New Israel (Eze. 11:19). The stony heart is that which is hardened (Eze. 3:7) against inducements to repentance, to all spiritual aspirations.[263] The heart to the Hebrews was the center of the will and the mind, the intellectual basis for emotion and action.

[263] Zec. 7:12 speaks of those who made their hearts harder than an adamant stone.

The new spirit and new heart manifest themselves in a new life a life of righteousness. In sincere obedience the members of New Israel would live by the statutes and ordinances of God (Eze. 11:20). In acts of formal worship and in their daily dealings they would act in accordance with Gods revealed will.

The new spirit, new heart and new life make possible a new or perhaps more accurately, a renewed relationship with God. They will be His people; He will be their God (Eze. 11:20). Ultimately this theme reaches its fulfillment in the blessed state of eternity (Rev. 21:3-5).

The glorious promises of this oracle come to an end with a stern warning to those Israelites who may be hardened in unbelief. Certainly the inhabitants of Jerusalem are in view in Eze. 11:21; but the warning is not limited to them. Those who continued to walk after idolatry would face the judgment of God. He would bring their way upon their own heads, i.e., He would give them their just deserts (Eze. 11:21). In the economy of God, every set of promises has a corresponding set of punishments which fall upon those who do not through faith and obedience appropriate those promises (cf. Deu. 11:26; Mat. 7:13 f).

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(14) Again the word.This does not mark the beginning of a separate prophecy, but only the Divine answer to the prophets 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: Eze. 9:9-10), but turns to the exiles, and foretells Gods mercy and blessing upon them.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Son of man. Your brothers, even your brothers, the men related by blood (kindred) to you, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, “You get far from Yahweh, this land is given for a possession to us.”

This emphasises the attitude of the men of Jerusalem. They considered that the exiles were unclean and no longer had any part in Yahweh’s promises, but that those promises all now belonged to those in Jerusalem who had had the land handed over to them as their possession. (And this in spite of their rampant idolatry, for they still saw Yahweh as the official God of Judah. He was simply ignored in practise).

Note the stress by repetition on the fact that all the exiles are excluded by the men of Jdrusalem, both Ezekiel’s own blood relatives, his fellow-priests, and all the house of Israel in exile. In fact, however, He will now point out, this is far from the truth.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Promise to Save a Remnant

v. 14. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

v. 15. Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men. of thy kindred, a very close relationship being implied, more than that of the flesh only, as the repetition shows, and all the house of Israel wholly, or “the whole house of Israel,” it wholly, those who are Israelites in truth, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord; unto us is this land given in possession. These were the contemptuous words spoken by time inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time the exiles were carried away with Jeconiah. They believed themselves to be secure in die possession of the land and despised the men whom they considered outcasts of Jehovah.

v. 16. 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, this punishment being indeed administered by the hand of Jehovah, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come, so that, in the midst of the dispersion, He would be the refuge of them who trusted in him.

v. 17. 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. This is spoken in the Messianic vein of the gathering of the Church of God from the dispersion everywhere, just as we find it in the other prophets. The believing Jews who returned from the exile became the nucleus of the band of believers, many of whose descendants afterwards accepted the Messiah in simple faith, while also the heathen, among whom they spread time knowledge of the living God, retained some knowledge of Him, many of whose descendants were afterward gathered into Christian congregations.

v. 18. And they shall come thither, back to the land of Israel, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence, all the evidences of idolatrous worship and customs, making ready for the worship in spirit and in truth which was taught by Jesus Christ.

v. 19. And I will give them one heart, one united in his fear, and I will put a new spirit within you, by a conversion in truth; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, their obstinate and perverse spirit, and will give them an heart of flesh, one filled with time true fear of the Lord, pliable and yielding with respect to His will,

v. 20. that they may walk in My statutes, to fashion their behavior in accordance with the manner pleasing to Him, and keep Mine ordinances and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, true regeneration thus restoring the right relation between God and man.

v. 21. But 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, thereby pronouncing sentence upon the willful idolaters and all those who persist in their enmity against God.

v. 22. 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, occupying the magnificent throne above, as described before.

v. 23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, where it had been stationed at the East Gate of the Temple, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city, that is, the Mount of Olives. Thus the Lord had entirely abandoned His city, thereby definitely designating it as ripe for destruction.

v. 24. Afterwards the spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God, under whose influence the entire happening was engineered, into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me, this being the end of the present revelation.

v. 25. Then I spake unto them of the captivity, for whom this message was really intended, all the things that the Lord had showed me. It was in itself no easy task to proclaim these facts to the exiles, but the true servant of the Lord is not influenced by considerations of weak expediency, his sole object being to make known the will of the Lord.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

It should seem, that this is not only a new sermon, but delivered at a different period from the former, though the interval was not perhaps long. And it is a very sweet and gracious sermon, and full of the most blessed promises. And what is here said is truly gospel, and evidently delivered with an eye to Christ. The Reader will observe, not only what the promises are, but how they are assured and confirmed in covenant faithfulness: they all run up, and are founded in this grand security; they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Eze 11:14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Ver. 14. Again the word of the Lord came unto me. ] In answer to my prayer, though there was something in it of unbelief and human frailty. See Psa 31:22 . See Trapp on “ Psa 31:22 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 11:14-21

14Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 15Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the LORD; this land has been given us as a possession.’ 16Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, Though I had removed them far away among the nations and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.’ 17Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ 18When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it. 19And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God. 21But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads, declares the Lord GOD.

Eze 11:15

NASB, NRSVyour fellow exiles

NASB marginthe men of your redemption

NKJVyour kinsmen

NRSV footnotepeople of your kindred

NJB, REBto your kinfolk

LXXthe men of thy captivity

The MT has the men of your kindred (BDB 35 construct BDB 145), which seems to refer to other exiles, possibly of the same tribe clan or family.

Go far from the LORD; this land has been given us as a possession Go far (BDB 934, KB 1221) can be a Qal IMPERATIVE or a Qal PERFECT. This is related to Eze 11:3. The current residents of Jerusalem were saying they were the new chosen seed and the exiles (the royal family, the civil and religious leaders, and the artisans) had been rejected. But in reality just the opposite was true. This can be seen in Eze 11:16, where God says, I am going to dwell with the exiles and Eze 11:17, where He says He will restore them to the land. Both Eze 11:16-17 start with an IMPERATIVE!

Although it is true that Ezekiel focuses on Judah’s destruction and exile through chapter 24 (chapters 25-32 are oracles against the nations, except for Eze 28:25-26), there are hints here and there in these early chapters of Ezekiel’s message of restoration to the faithful remnant.

1. Eze 5:3

2. Eze 6:8-9

3. Eze 11:14-21

4. Eze 12:16

5. Eze 16:60-63

6. Eze 17:22-24

7. Eze 20:39-44

8. Eze 28:25-26

Eze 11:16 I was a sanctuary for them YHWH is described as a place of sacredness and safety to the faithful exiles (cf. Isa 8:14, in Isa 25:4 He is a refuge). These are all powerful metaphors for care and protection! The physical sanctuary in Jerusalem will be destroyed, but the true sanctuary (i.e., YHWH) was with them in exile as the visions of Ezekiel would clearly reveal. YHWH had left Jerusalem and moved east (cf. Eze 11:22-25), but He would return with the exiles.

This phrase may have been the OT background for Jesus’ statement in Joh 2:19, quoted in Mar 14:58; Mar 15:29; and Act 6:14. Jesus saw Himself as the new temple! He is our sanctuary!

The term little (BDB 589), depending on context, can mean a little, a few. It can denote numbers, kinds, or time. In this context time (i.e., the exile) fits best. YHWH Himself cannot be described as a little sanctuary!

Eze 11:17 the land of Israel See note at Eze 7:2. For the name Israel see Special Topic following.

SPECIAL TOPIC: ISRAEL (THE NAME)

Eze 11:18 Notice that they will remove (BDB 693, KB 747, Hiphil PLURAL) follows Eze 18:31-32. However, this has been the problem of fallen humanity, they cannot keep God’s covenant! Therefore, YHWH will act on their behalf (cf. Eze 36:22-38).

1. I will give, Eze 11:19, BDB 678, KB 773, Qal PERFECT SINGULAR

2. I shall put, Eze 11:19, BDB 678, KB 773, Qal IMPERFECT SINGULAR

3. I shall take out, Eze 11:19, BDB 693, KB 747, Hiphil PERFECT SINGULAR

4. I will give, Eze 11:19, BDB 678, KB 773, Qal PERFECT

Notice that human response is still required (cf. Eze 11:20).

1. they will walk, Eze 11:20, BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERFECT PLURAL

2. they will keep, Eze 11:20, BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal IMPERFECT PLURAL

3. they will do, Eze 11:20, BDB 793, KB 889, Qal PERFECT PLURAL

The covenant will be restored (they will be My people, and I shall be their God), but it still required obedience (cf. Eze 11:21; Deu 30:2; Deu 30:10).

The returning exiles were meant to remove all the idolatrous evil from the land. By reading Ezra and Nehemiah this hope was only partially fulfilled. Idolatry was forsaken, but other evils returned.

The termsdetestable (BDB 1055) and abominations (BDB 1072) are used together in Eze 5:11; Eze 7:20; Eze 11:18; Eze 11:21; and Jer 16:18.

Eze 11:19 I shall give them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them The MT has one heart, but note the following translations.

1. LXX – another heart

2. Peshitta – a new heart

3. REB – singleness of heart

4. NIV – an undivided heart

If one, then it denotes

1. loyalty to YHWH

2. unity of Jacob’s children (cf. Eze 37:15-23)

Because of (1) the parallelism within Eze 11:19 and the textual parallel of Eze 36:26-27, I think the concept of new fits best. This is the new covenant of Jer 31:31-34. Not just restoration, but reorientation from an outward performance standard to an inner motivation based on divine performance (cf. Deu 30:3-9). It is not just a new day for the children of Jacob, but for the children of Adam!

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEART

SPECIAL TOPIC: Election/predestination and the Need for a Theological Balance

SPECIAL TOPIC: Predestination (Calvinism) vs. Human Free Will (Arminianism)

Eze 11:20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them Obedience is crucial! It is not optional. These are conditional covenants! Notice the repetition used for emphasis.

1. walk, BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERFECT, cf. Deu 5:33; Deu 8:6; Deu 10:12; Deu 11:22; Deu 13:4-5; Deu 19:9; Deu 26:17; Deu 28:9; Deu 30:16

2. keep, BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal IMPERFECT, cf. Deu 2:4; Deu 4:2; Deu 4:6; Deu 4:9; Deu 4:15; Deu 4:23; Deu 4:40

3. do, BDB 793, KB 889, Qal PERFECT, cf. Deu 4:1; Deu 4:3; Deu 4:6; Deu 4:13-14; Deu 4:16; Deu 4:23; Deu 4:25

Then they will be my people and I will be their God These are covenant terms (cf. Exo 6:7; Eze 14:11; Eze 34:30; Eze 36:28; Eze 37:27). This was so important for these exiled people to hear because they wondered if God would keep His covenant with Israel’s descendants. They wondered if they had been rejected. They wondered if their sin had totally altered their relationship with YHWH.

Eze 11:21 I shall bring their conduct down on their heads See note at Eze 9:10.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Eze 11:14-17

Eze 11:14-17

“And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from Jehovah; unto us is this land given for a possession. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”

The mention of Ezekiel’s brethren in Eze 11:15 is clarified so as to leave no doubt that the exiles are meant. The true Israel are identified in Eze 11:15 as distinguished from the dwellers in Jerusalem. They are the despised exiles.

“Get you far from Jehovah, this land is given to us for a possession …” (Eze 11:15). What an arrogant, cruel, selfish people were the Jerusalemites. They were willing to write off as lost forever the deported thousands who had already been removed from Jerusalem. They had preempted for themselves the lands and houses and wealth of the exiles, and are here represented as saying to the exiles, “God is through with you!” How wrong they were.

Ezekiel’s temptation to look for the “true Israel” in Jerusalem instead of among the exiles, “Sprang from the common tendency of people to judge God’s kingdom upon the basis of externalities. Those in Jerusalem were wealthier; they had tradition on their side; they still had the impressive temple, etc.; and men today, no less than then, are tempted to seek the truth in the same manner, where the externals are most impressive, where wealth and tradition flourish, etc.

“Far from having become outcasts, the exiles had now become the true Israel of God. In the light of this, Ezekiel is here instructed that his principal concern must be with the Babylonian exiles, and not with any events whatsoever in Jerusalem.

“A sanctuary for a little while …” (Eze 11:16). Cooke is sure that this should be rendered “a sanctuary in small measure, because the reference is to degree, rather than to time.

Israel was indeed restored to Palestine, and a token fulfillment of the glorious promises in the following verses actually occurred; but the complete fulfillment did not take place at all in the secular history of Israel. “The more complete fulfillment appears in the Church of Christ (Gal 6:16), and in the Jerusalem which is above (Gal 4:26).

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Eze 11:14. This action or remark of the prophet, brought another message from God.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eze 11:14-15. Again the word of the Lord came unto me A seasonable word, to stop the mouths of the insulting Jerusalemites, and to encourage the captives at Babylon. Son of man, thy brethren The men of thy kindred, or, of thy redemption, as may be rendered: that is, thy fellow-captives, as Bishop Newcome reads it; unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get ye far from the Lord, &c. The Jews who were left in Judea thought themselves more the favourites of God than those who had been carried away captives, looking upon the latter as outcasts, and such as had no right, either to the privileges of Jews or to the land of Judea. The words, , rendered, Get you far from the Lord, may be translated, They have departed far from the Lord, that is, they have more grievously sinned and offended God than we. So thought and so said the inhabitants of Jerusalem, concerning those who had been carried into captivity. Unto us is this land given in possession This promised, holy land, where our fathers dwelt, is exclusively ours, and we shall never be put out of possession of it, but it shall always be our inheritance.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Eze 11:14-25. A Glimmer of Hope.The people who, at the first deportation (597 B.C.), were allowed to remain in the land, clearly thought themselves superior to those who, like Ezekiel, had been taken to Babylonfar from Yahwehs land and therefore far from Yahweh (Eze 11:15, read they are far). Ezekiel undeceives them: the future lies with the exiles, not with them. True, Yahweh had been (see mg.) to the exiles but little of a sanctuaryi.e. their religious privileges had been inevitably curtailedbut some day they would come back to the land, and establish upon it the true worship of Yahweh. First they would sweep it clean of every idolatrous thing, and then for their callous obstinate hearts God would give them soft impressionable hearts on which His laws would be easily written (Eze 36:25-27). (It is worth noting here how great prophetic thought is crossed by ritual interests.) In Eze 11:19 for one read, with LXX, another.

Then, in good earnest, the Divine chariot begins to move (Eze 11:22-25): it passes away from the guilty city across the Kidron to the Mount of Olives, awaywe are not told where; and we hear no more of it till we reach the reconstruction sketched at the end of the book (Eze 44:1-3). Then Ezekiel awoke from his trance.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

The assurance of restoration in the future 11:14-21

Block entitled this modified disputation speech "The Gospel according to Ezekiel." [Note: Block, The Book . . ., p. 341.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The Lord then replied that many of the Jews in Jerusalem were saying that the Judahites who had gone into captivity were the ones that God was judging. They believed that the Jews left in Jerusalem were the remnant that God would preserve and bless. They incorrectly believed that Israel’s future lay with the Jews in Jerusalem rather than with the Jews in exile.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)