Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 11:16
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.
16. yet will I be to them ] Rather: and have been to them for a sanctuary but little in the countries where they are come. The expression “for a sanctuary but little” refers to the taunt of the dwellers in Jerusalem that the exiles were far from the sanctuary and had no part in Jehovah. It is true that he had not been to the exiles in great measure that which a “sanctuary” is, viz. a presence of Jehovah, a sanctification, and a religious joy. It is doubtful if “sanctuary” has anywhere (even Isa 8:14) the meaning of asylum, protection; the sanctuary is the abode of Jehovah, and his presence there sanctifies those in the midst of whom he dwells. The exiles longed to be near the sanctuary and mourned their distance from it (Psalms 84, 137); while those left in the land boasted of the possession of it and looked on the exiles as outcasts.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
As a little sanctuary – Rather, I will be to them for a little while a sanctuary. The blessing was provisional, they were to look forward to a blessing more complete. For a little while they were to be satisfied with Gods special presence in a foreign land, but they were to look forward to a renewal of His presence in the restored temple of Jerusalem. sanctuary means here strictly the holy place, the tabernacle of the Most High: Yahweh will Himself be to the exiles in the place of the local sanctuary, in which the Jews of Jerusalem so much prided themselves (compare the margin reference). Here is the germ from which is developed Ezek. 4048, the picture of the kingdom of God in its new form.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 11:16
Yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
God the sanctuary of the afflicted
Philosophers have frequently remarked what may be called the doctrine of compensation: by which they mean, the tendency there is in nature and providence to keep things in a kind of equality; so that, while, on the one hand, there are defects to counterbalance advantages, there are, on the other hand, advantages to counterbalance defects. In what condition can we be found that possesses no advantages? These a grateful mind will always look after; and, however severe the affliction, endeavour to say, It might have been worse. I have lost much; but I am not deprived of all. He has chastened me sore; but He has not given me over unto death. The stroke is painful: but it will be profitable. Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
I. The calamity: I have cast them far off, etc.
1. The event serves to display the agency of God. He therefore, in the words before us, claims the work as His own. In the dispersion of the Jews He employed instrumentality, and wicked instrumentality; but neither of these detracts from His agency. What does God, without the intervention of any cause between Him and the effect? He blesses us by means; He warms us by the sun; He refreshes us by sleep; He sustains us by food; and He even requires us to prepare, for our use, the supplies He gives us. In a similar way He inflicts evil. And hence an irreligious mind is detained from God by the persons or the events that injure him. He thinks only of the flood, or the fire; of the heedless servant, the uncertain friend, the cruel enemy.
2. The event displays the truth of God. It had been clearly foretold, it had been threatened, as early as the days of Moses. Every successive prophet in the name of God renewed the threatening. In consequence of these denunciations the calamity was identified with the Divine veracity, and became surer than heaven and earth. The Jews imagined that they had nothing to fear: they thought that such a mighty judgment was improbable, if not impossible; and presumptuously cried, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we. But the Lord is not a man, that He should lie, etc.
3. The event displays the holiness of God. His conduct towards this people seems severe; and it was severe. But the provocation was peculiar. Much was given, and much was required. Their offences were aggravated by their privileges. Sin is not to be judged of by its grossness, but by its guilt; and guilt arises from knowledge possessed, from obligations violated, from advantages abused.
4. The event displays the wisdom of God. By their dispersion the Scriptures were diffused, and the Desire of all nations was announced and expected.
5. The event displays His goodness. In the midst of judgment He remembered mercy. Though He punished them, it was not to destroy, but to correct and reform.
II. The alleviation. Thus saith the Lord God: Although I have cast them far off, etc. God is never at a loss to serve His people; and that He will compensate them for the want of those very things that seem essential to their welfare. Consider two cases in which this truth may be exemplified.
1. In the loss of outward comforts. God does not require us to be indifferent to our substance, to our health, to our friends and relations: yea, under the removal of them, He allows us to feel. But it is the duty and privilege of a Christian to be able to say, with the Church, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, etc. The believer may well display a superiority over those events that keep others constantly alarmed or distressed, since God is his portion; and in His unchangeableness and all-sufficiency he has a stock of happiness independent of the body and its diseases; time, and its vicissitudes; the world and its dissolution. The design of affliction is to wean us from creatures, and to bring us more entirely to make use of God. A good man, who had endured the wreck of fortune, being asked how he bore the change in his condition so cheerfully, replied, When I had these good things I enjoyed God in all; and now I am deprived of them, I enjoy all in God.
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. And those should remember this remark who, by accident or sickness, or the care of young children, or the duties of servitude, are wholly or partially denied the privileges of the sanctuary. When we cannot follow Him, He can follow us. (W. Jay.)
The little sanctuary
Sanctuaries–i.e., houses of God, churches and abbeys, and ecclesiastical houses–have always been places of shelter for criminals, for vanquished enemies, for persons in debt. The Jews had cities of refuge; and we may say, in general, that by the ecclesiastical laws of Christendom, through many ages, provision was made by means of church, or abbey, or consecrated ground, to receive criminal and distressed persons into shelter and safety. It is curious, and not without some tender interest, to hear of some places still left in our own land, such as the Sanctuary of Holyrood, in Edinburgh, which retain something of the old virtue, and open a refuge where honourable debtors and distressed persons may live in peace.
I. The idea of asylum and protection. I will be as a little sanctuary–I will be the shield and protector and sure refuge of trusting souls. Asylum! Is not this what every awakened soul needs and seeks? Some safe, sure refuge, from all that threatens, afflicts, alarms; from the thunders, loud or deep, of broken law; from the accusations of conscience, from the troubles of life, from the terrors of death–asylum from them all? When one has been living, or dreaming, in sin, and then awakes, and sees things as they are, and knows himself, and looks with rapid, startled glance at what is coming, and may be near, he feels at first just like one in an enemys country. Look which way he will, there is no shelter or safety for him; none that he can see. He must flee; he must escape for his life. But whither? In what direction does safety lie? In this great strait God reveals Himself as a little sanctuary–a place of protection and safety; and says, Flee, you have need to flee. Life is full of harms, and death broods in the air. In a scene that might have been all friendly to you, you have made yourself many enemies. Flee, but flee to Me: I am the refuge. I am the last asylum of your soul. Those thunders are Mine, but if you pass through them to Myself they will soften and roll away, and leave you in coolness and safety. Turn your face but Godwards, and let your steps be as your face is, and nothing can then surprise or hurt you. Not a hair of your head shall perish.
II. But a sanctuary means something more than a refuge and place of safety. It means, at least in the nomenclature of the Scriptures, a place of purification, where we may wash and be clean: and may so avail ourselves of the helps to goodness which are provided, that the rest of our time may be pure and holy. Our very words tell us this. Sanctity, sanctification,–a sanctuary is not equal to its name if it does not promote these. The whole hunger and thirst of the renewed creature is for righteousness–a righteousness always loved and striven for, yet never perfectly attained–a righteousness no sooner attained in measure, than, in some mysterious manner, it seems to waver, and fail, and begin to pass away; as the snow-white garment quickly loses its purity in a dusty or smoky air; or as the living branch when it is not freshly growing, soon loses the brightness of its green. The heart is deceitful, and the world is defiling, and no enterprise of human life were half so hopeless as the endeavour to be wholly pure and holy, if means of purification were not provided, and brought so closely to hand as to be within the reach of our daily and deepest needs. Would a man be considered very kind and hospitable who, knowing that some travellers were coming to his house, along rocky paths and across burning sands, should send a message to them while yet they are miles off, to say–Do not come any nearer until you have washed and made you clean. Come: by all means come: I am not inhospitable: but be sure you come with ointment on your head, all fragrant with myrrh and spice, and clad in rich evening dress, ready for the banquet. What would the pilgrims think on receiving such a message? They would say in a moment–He doesnt want us. We must seek some other gates than his. The case is even so as between us and God. He does not send a mocking message to frail, disabled men in this dusty, defiling, wilderness world, sinful although they be, by the offer of salvation to them under utterly impossible conditions. He does not say, Come to Me for salvation, but be more than half-saved before you come. He comes to us with a whole salvation, with healing, cleansing, vivifying grace, which will grow in us, and develop us into perfectness.
III. The idea of nourishment. A hospice for the entertainment of strangers, or any hospitable house, is never without bread. Washing is before eating. Dressing is for the banquet. Every living thing must have something to live upon. Even in the far country where men degrade themselves, and spend their substance, there is something to eat–husks, if nothing better–sapless roots dug out of the sand–some-thing that will dull if not satiate the craving of appetite. And will not God feed His refugees? Will He be a little sanctuary in which they may die? Is there no bread on His table? Yes, bread enough, and to spare. Is there no wine in His cups? Yes, the sweet wine of love and strength and consolation. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
A little sanctuary
The text begins with therefore. There was a reason for Gods speaking in this way. Upon reading the connection, we observe that those who had been carried captive were insulted by those who tarried at Jerusalem. The Lord hears the unkind speeches of the prosperous when they speak bitterly of those who are plunged in adversity. Many a time the cruel word of man has been the cause of a tender word from God. Because of the unkindness of these people, therefore God, in loving kindness, addressed in words of tender grace those whom they despised. Let us take all sharp speeches and cutting criticisms to God. It may be that He will hear what the enemy has said, and that He will be very pitiful to us. Because of the bitterness of the oppressor, He will bring home to our heart by the Spirit, with greater tenderness and power, some sweet word of His which has lain hidden from us in His Book.
I. Where Gods people may be.
1. They may be under chastisement. We may be in great spiritual darkness, and may be compelled to confess that our own sins have procured this unto ourselves. And yet, for all that, the Lord may have sent the chastisement in love, and in nothing else but love; and He may intend by it, not our destruction, but the destruction of the flesh; not our rejection, but our refining; not our curse, but our cleansing.
2. But wherever they are, whether they are under chastisement or not, they are where the Lord has put them. Although I have cast them far off, etc. It is well to look beyond all second causes and instrumentalities. Do not get angry with those who are the nearer agents, but look to the First Cause. Though your trials be peculiar, and your way be hedged up, yet the hand of the Lord is still in everything; and it behoves you to recognise it for your strengthening and consolation.
3. The people of Cod may dwell in places of great discomfort. The Jews were not in those days like the English, who colonise and find a home in the Far West, or even dwell at ease beneath sultry skies. An ancient Hebrew out of his own country was a fish out of water: out of his proper element. It must have been a great discomfort to Gods people to dwell among idolaters, and to be forced to witness obscene rites and revolting practices. Gods own favoured ones in these days may be living where they are as much out of place as lambs among wolves, or doves among hawks.
4. The beloved of God may yet be in a place of great barrenness as to all spiritual good. Our education for eternity may necessitate spiritual tribulation, and bereavement from visible comforts. To be weaned from all reliance on outward means may be for our good, that we may be driven in upon the Lord, and made to know that He is all in all.
5. Worse still, the Lords chosen may be under oppression through surrounding ungodliness and sin. Is it not still true of us, as well as of our Saviour, Out of Egypt have I called My Son?
II. What God will be to his people when they get into these circumstances. Yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. In using the word little the gracious God would seem to say, I will condescend to them, and I will be as they are. I will bow down to their littleness, and I will be to each little one of them a little sanctuary.
1. A sanctuary was a place of refuge. In past ages, churches and abbeys and altars have been used as places of sanctuary to which men have fled when in danger of their lives. Now, beloved fellow believer, wherever you are, wherever you dwell, God will be to you a constant place of refuge. You shall flee from sin to God in Christ Jesus. You shall flee from an accusing conscience to His pardoning love. You shall flee from daily cares to Him who careth for you. You shall flee from the accusations of Satan to the advocacy of Jesus. You shall flee even from yourselves to your Lord, and He will be to you in all senses a place of refuge. This is the happy harbour of all saints in all weathers.
2. A sanctuary signifies also a place of worship. It is a place where the Divine presence is peculiarly manifested–a holy place. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the true place of worship for saved souls.
3. Now, go a little further. Our God is to us a place of stillness. What was the sanctuary: of old? The sanctuary was the most holy place, the third court, the innermost of all within the veil. It was the stillest place that ever was on earth: a closet of absolute silence. Once in the year the high priest went in, and filled it full of the smoke of incense as he waved his censer in the mystic presence; but otherwise it was a chamber in which there was no footfall of living thing, or voice of mortal man. The stillness within the Holy of Holies of the temple must have reached the intensity of awe. What repose one might enjoy who could dwell in the secret place of the Most High! If you can baptize your spirit into the great deeps of Godhead, if you can take a plunge into the fathomless love of the covenant, if you can rise to commune with God, and speak with Him as a man speaketh with His friend, then will He be unto you as a little sanctuary, and you shall enjoy that solemn silence of the soul which hath music in it like the eternal harmonies. The presence of the Lord will be as a calm hand for that fevered brow, and a pillow for that burdened head. Use your God in this way, for so He presents Himself to you.
4. The sanctuary was a place of mercy. When men have no mercy on you, go to God. When you have no mercy on yourself–and sometimes you have not–run away to God.
5. The sanctuary was the house of mercy, and hence a place of condescension – a little sanctuary. To suit our needs the blessings of grace must be given in little forms. When the Lord communes with the greatest of men, He must become little to speak with him.
6. That sanctuary was a place of great holiness. Holiness becometh Thy house. This applied to the whole temple, but the inner shrine was called sanctum sanctorum–the Holy of Holies, for so the Hebrews make a superlative. It was the holiest place that could be. What bliss to enter into the Holy of Holies! Now, you cannot do that by getting into a ceil, or by shutting yourselves up in your room; but you can enter the most holy place by communion with God. Here is the promise; the text means this–I will be to them as a little sanctuary–a little Holy of Holies. I will put them into Myself as into the most holy place, and there will I hide them. In the secret of My tabernacle will I hide them. I will set them up upon a rock.
7. We may regard the Sanctuary as a place of cleansing. That may be gathered, from the other rendering of my text: I will be unto them a little sanctification. We want not only the great blood washing, but also the lesser washing of the feet with water; and the Lord Himself wilt give us this blessing. Did not Jesus take a towel, and gird Himself for this very purpose?
8. God will be to us a place of communion and of revelation. In the Holy of Holies God spoke with man, on that one day in the year, in a wondrous manner; and he that had been there, and came forth alive, came out to bless the congregation. Every day of the year the teaching of the sanctuary was that in God there was everything His people wanted. The joys of this life are like the ice palace of Montreal, which is fair to look upon while the winter lasts, but it all dissolves as the spring comes on. All things round about us here are myths and dreams. This is the land of fancies and of shadows. Pray God to get you out of them, and that you may find in Him your sanctuary, and indeed all that you want. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God a sanctuary
I. To those who are deprived of the means of grace. Sufferers in sick rooms, travellers in lonely and distant places, missionaries amongst the heathen. How often to such comes the vision of the country church, when the summer air stole into the open window, bringing the breath of flowers; or of the great city church, with the well-known voice of a beloved minister. They long for these again. But God will be all and more.
II. To those who cannot derive benefit from the services they attend. The clergyman is broad in his views, and unsympathetic with the deeper moods of the spirit. Still, it may be your duty to attend for examples sake; but whilst waiting before the Lord, He will draw near and become your sanctuary.
III. To those who are exposed to danger and persecution. In the olden time the sanctuary was a place of refuge. All who fled thither were in safeguard. So let the driven soul haste to the folds of the Tabernacle of Gods presence, None can pursue it into that secret place. No weapon shall smite; and even envying voices shall die into subdued murmurs. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. Yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary] Though thus exiled from their own land, yet not forgotten by their God. While in their captivity, I will dispense many blessings to them; and I will restore them to their own land, Eze 11:17, from which they shall put away all idolatry, Eze 11:18.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore; in apology and vindication of them, backed with excellent promises in the following verses.
Say; say to them, and of them in Babylon.
Although I have cast them far off: the obstinate Jews at Jerusalem will call them apostates and renegades; but let such false accusers know that they were sent thither, and that I the Lord sent them thither, and will own them there too.
Far off; not from myself, but from you, your polluted land, and dreadful approaching judgments.
Among the heathen; the Chaldeans, or such as the Chaldeans placed them among.
Scattered them; dispersed and separated them from one another in many countries which were under the king of Babylon. Yet they are dear to me, and my purposes are for them more gracious than yours are for them, or than mine are for you.
As a little sanctuary; for a little while, i.e. during the seventy years captivity; or for a few of them, the remnant was ever little: or, as it refers to the sanctuary, a little one in opposition to that great, rich, splendid, and admired temple at Jerusalem, which when they need most, shall help least; but I, saith God, will be really to my captives what the proud self-deceiving Jews promise their temple shall be to them, both for glory, defence, and for worship, which shall with heart and love be given by these I have sent away; and wherever they are, their prayers, synagogue worship, and obedience shall be to me as well-pleasing as they shall desire. They at a distance weep on Chebar banks; you, O rebellious! pollute the temple by your idolatries. I will comfort the mourners; I will punish you polluters of my temple and worship.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Althoughanticipating theobjection of the priests at Jerusalem, that the exiles were “castfar off.” Though this be so, and they are far from the outertemple at Jerusalem, I will be their asylum or sanctuary instead(Psa 90:1; Psa 91:9;Isa 8:14). My shrine is thehumble heart: a preparation for gospel catholicity when the local andmaterial temple should give place to the spiritual (Isa 57:15;Isa 66:1; Mal 1:11;Joh 4:21-24; Act 7:48;Act 7:49). The trying disciplineof the exile was to chasten the outcasts so as to be meet recipientsof God’s grace, for which the carnal confidence of the priestsdisqualified them. The dispersion served the end of spiritualizingand enlarging the views even of the better Jews, so as to be able toworship God everywhere without a material temple; and, at thesame time, it diffused some knowledge of God among the greatestGentile nations, thus providing materials for the gathering in of theChristian Church among the Gentiles; so marvellously did God overrulea present evil for an ultimate good. Still more does all this holdgood in the present much longer dispersion which is preparing for amore perfect and universal restoration (Isa 2:2-4;Jer 3:16-18). Their longprivation of the temple will prepare them for appreciating the more,but without Jewish narrowness, the temple that is to be (Eze40:1-44:31).
a littlerather, “fora little season”; No matter how long the captivity may be, theseventy years will be but as a little season, compared with theirlong subsequent settlement in their land. This holds true onlypartially in the case of the first restoration; but as in a fewcenturies they were dispersed again, the full and permanentrestoration is yet future (Jer24:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore say, thus saith the Lord God,…. Since they were so insulted and ill treated by their brethren the Jews:
although I have cast them afar off among the Heathen; both the ten tribes, even all the house of Israel, who were carried into Assyria, and placed in the cities of the Medes, in Halath and Habor, by the river Gozan, 2Ki 17:6; and those of the Jews in Jeconiah’s captivity, among whom were Ezekiel, and his brethren, and his kindred:
and although I have scattered them among the countries; and therefore, what with the distance of the place where they were, and the dispersion of them among the people where they resided, their case might seem to be desperate; and that there was no probability, and scarce any possibility, of their being preserved as a people, and of their restoration to their own land:
yet will I be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come; their dwelling place, as he has been to his people in all generations their protection from all their enemies, in whom, and by whose power, they should be safe; and whose presence they should enjoy, though deprived of public ordinances, of temple worship and service; though they were at a distance from the great sanctuary, the temple, the inhabitants of Jerusalem boasted of, yet the Lord would make up the want of that to them with himself. The Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi m interpret this of the synagogues, which were second to the temple, the Israelites had in foreign countries, where they prayed to the Lord, and worshipped him, and enjoyed his presence. It may be rendered, “the sanctuary of a few” n; they being but few, especially that were truly godly, that were carried captive: or, “a sanctuary for a little while” o; that is, during seventy years, and then they should be returned, as follows. The Targum is,
“I have given them synagogues, second to my sanctuary, and they are as few in the provinces where they are carried captive.”
m Ex T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 29. 1. n “ad sanctuarium paucitatis”, Calvin; “in sanctuarium paucorum”, Cocceius. So Ben Melech says the word is a substantive in some copies. o Paulisper, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Castalio.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) Therefore say.These words, again repeated in Eze. 11:17, refer to what the people of Jerusalem had said in Eze. 11:15. Their saying these things was a reason, not for what God would do, but for His declaring His merciful purpose beforehand.
As a little sanctuary.Rather, as a sanctuary for a little. The original word is to be taken as an adverb rather than an adjective, and in itself may refer either to time or to amount: either a sanctuary for a little time, or a sanctuary in some degree. The connection points to the former as the true sense; for a little while, during the term of their captivity, Gods presence with them spiritually would be instead of the outward symbolical presence in His Temple. The contrast is striking. God has already said that he would abandon the Temple, and give up Jerusalem to destruction, and cast out its people; but now to the exiles, scattered among the heathen, He would Himself be for a sanctuary.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary R.V., “and have been to them a sanctuary for a little while.” For a time Ezekiel and the exiles were to find the presence of Jehovah manifested as in the vision of Chebar (Eze 1:4-28), or felt spiritually, and this would make the spot where they found themselves as fully a holy place as the temple had been. There also they would have a “house of God.” But this was not to be their permanent lot. There was to be a restoration to the “land of Israel” (Eze 11:17; Eze 37:21), to the visible sanctuary, to a sacred temple no longer desecrated by the pollutions that had defiled the first. “The thought that it is the presence of Jehovah that makes the sanctuary, not the sanctuary that secures the presence, Ezekiel may have learned from the fate of Shiloh (Psa 78:60). In the fact that in John’s vision of the heavenly Jerusalem there is no temple, but the presence of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (Rev 21:22), we find the crowning development of Ezekiel’s thought.” Plumptre.
Where’er they seek Thee Thou art found,
And every place is hallowed ground.
The above explanation seems better than that which would translate this difficult phrase, “and have been to them for a sanctuary but little,” and would thus minimize the privileges given to the exiles (Kautzsch, Davidson, etc.).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, 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 have gone.’ ”
‘Therefore say.’ Yahweh was clearly angry at their attitude and His reply to the people of Jerusalem was that the opposite was the case. Those who were scattered, both of Israel and Judah, wherever they were, would find that Yahweh would be a sanctuary to them. He would be their temple. They would find that they had a sanctuary provided by Yahweh, even while His sanctuary in Jerusalem would be deserted. He would watch over them and protect them in all the countries to which they had gone. He had not forgotten them and would continue to plead with them. And for a little while this would be the situation. Immediate restoration was not an option. But then things would change.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 11:16 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.
Ver. 16. Although I have cast them. ] What a cornucopia of comfort may this promise be to poor prisoners, forlorn exiles, and such as by sickness or otherwise are necessitated to keep from public ordinances, that they shall have God’s presence and protection, the comfort and conduct of his Spirit, &c.
Yet I will be to them as a little sanctuary.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I have scattered, &c. Compare Jer 30:11; Jer 31:10, &c.
will I be = will become.
as a little sanctuary = a sanctuary for a little while.
sanctuary = as a holy place, or asylum, as in Isa 8:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
scattered
(See Scofield “Jer 15:21”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Thus saith: Lev 26:44, Deu 30:3, Deu 30:4, 2Ki 24:12-16, Psa 44:11, Jer 24:5, Jer 24:6, Jer 30:11, Jer 31:10
as a: Psa 31:20, Psa 90:1, Psa 91:1, Psa 91:9-16, Pro 18:10, Isa 4:5, Isa 8:14, Jer 26:7, Jer 26:11, Jer 42:11
Reciprocal: Deu 28:64 – scatter Ezr 9:9 – yet our God Est 3:8 – scattered abroad Isa 4:6 – tabernacle Isa 11:11 – set his hand Isa 24:13 – there Isa 26:20 – enter Jer 16:19 – my strength Jer 29:14 – and I will turn Eze 37:26 – set Zec 2:6 – spread Mat 2:19 – an Joh 11:52 – that were
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A SANCTUARY FOR A LITTLE WHILE
I will be to them as a little sanctuary
Eze 11:16
Our Authorised Version reads thus: 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. The Revised Version makes one slight but noticeable change; it reads, I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while.
I. The words are the Lords message by His servant to a certain group of the Hebrew captives, those of whom Ezekiel was one, a group transported to the Babylonian realm earlier than the mass of the people. The people who were as yet undisturbed in Jerusalem seem to have sent a strange message of contempt and rejection to this banished company (Eze 11:15). As a fact their banishment seems to have begun already to work for their spiritual good, and the Lord takes their part in this gracious promise of our text. Let the proud, blind citizens of the capital say what they would. Let them dream that their nearness to Jehovahs Temple kept them near to Jehovah, while their far-off brethren were far from the Lord. His mind is otherwise. He will Himself supply to them the place of His own shrine, and altar, and sacrifices, and incense. He will be their sanctuary. Only for a little while shall there be need of the promise in that form; for the calamity shall be overpast ere very long. But while they need the promise, it is theirs. I will be their sanctuary.
II. What says this passage to us, in view of missionary work?It suggests a special line of prayer for our missionaries in the countries where they shall come. It gives us a ground and plea for our believing claim for them, from the faithful Promiser, that His most special presence shall surround them, and be a sanctuary to them, in the little while of their exile for His Names sake.
May we not apply the words to their case with a strong, confident, loving expectation? If the Lord had a special sanctuary-promise for the exiles of Ezekiels company, has He not much more such a promise for those who have, for the Names sake, gone forth, taking nothing of the heathen (3Jn 1:7), but giving their whole selves to them? Those Jewish exiles were self-banished for their sins. Our missionary brethren and sisters are Christ-banished for His glory. He will not care less for them!
III. Think, then, of the reality of their need of a special sanctuary-promise.To be sure, their circumstances widely differ. There are missionaries who are indeed remote, unfriended. Think of a Paton on the isle of Tanna, a Mackay, a C. T. Wilson, quite alone in Uganda, a Gobat in Abyssinia, a Henry Martyn in the solitude of his last journey, to be terminated in the grave at Tokat. On the other hand, there are missionaries who are grouped together in little companies, a miniature Christian Church in themselves. Sometimes too, they are placed, as at some treaty-port in China, or some Indian city, or in old Jerusalem itself, where a certain fragment of Christendom surrounds them, a community not missionary perhaps, yet nominally Christian, and in many of its members really so. Yet in all these varying cases there is this likeness, that at the very best it is but a fragment of Christendom. There may be an oasis. But the vast desert is around it. They have to look face to face, day by day, on a mighty world, rolling around their lives, which in the most literal sense knows not the Lord.
Have we never heard any of these servants of God telling us what the trial of all this is? Nothing has impressed me more in talking with missionaries, than their allusions, often from the depths of a burdened heart, to the awful trials of a life lived where Satans seat is.
Here is a line for the prayers of us at home who try to hold the rope. Here in England we, many of us, are almost spoilt with spiritual privileges. The abundant worship of the Lords Day, the frequent meetings for prayer and Bible-study, Conferences, Conventionswhat have we not? And around all this is the large fact of a general society which, with all its grave faults, has Christian leaven in it everywhere. Our dear devoted brethren and sisters in the field have to do without our sanctuaries.
So we will fall back for them upon this peculiarly tender promise of their Lord and ours. Be Thou, Lord, their sanctuary! So manifest to them Thy covenant presence that it shall surround them as with a better privacy than even the veil of the Temple could give the High Priest of old. For the little while of their need more than supply to them all holy aids with Thy manifested Self.
Illustration
It is the very thing which, in such a world as this, we want. It is not only to be under a kind providence, which is over-ruling for us the outer worldthough that is reposebut it is to have something which, in the midst of motion, is always at rest; something which, though all outer things are changing, changeth not; something gathered in from the wildernesspurer than the scenes around you: that where we can always turn trustingly and lovinglywhere we may be alone with God, and be quite happy. Never go forth to anything till you have first taken your privilege of going in and refreshing yourself, for a little season, in that little sanctuary.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE LORDS DAY
This text gives the true secret of a happy Sunday in a sick-room. It is a promise to Israel when they could not go to the Temple, and in it God undertakes to supply the wants of Temple services, and to be Himself a little Sanctuary to His scattered people. So that when the sick man cannot go to church to the public worship of God, God comes to him, and is Himself a little Sanctuary to his soul.
Consider what there was in the Sanctuary.
I. There was the candlestick.There was no window in the tabernacle, and the only light came from the candlestick. This was supplied with oil, typifying the Holy Ghost, and it lighted up the chamber.
Now a sick-room is a dark place, and a sick body is like a dark tabernacle. There is very little of the light of the world there. But even though there is not much power of thinking, God the Holy Ghost can speak to the heart, and shine there with the light of a fathers love.
II. There was the table of shew-bread.There was always a supply there. He fed Israel in the wilderness, and He can, and will, feed us wherever we are. Other sources of supply fail, but the bread of life never does. The weak body cannot always receive food. But the heart in its hour of deepest weakness, and even when things look dark all round, can quietly feed on Christ and be satisfied.
III. There was the altar of incense.This was never used for sacrifice. But in certain cases the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on it, and so presented before God. When God is our Sanctuary we may present, or plead, the precious blood of Christ. At other times it was used for the burning of incense. This represented prayer and praise; and prayer and praise are not limited to the day of health and prosperity. They may find their place in the darkened chamber, and even when we are ill, though dull and heavy and unable to think, we may spend our little strength in praising His name.
IV. Behind the Veil there was the Shechinah resting over the Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Covenant.God was not seen, but He was there. He was there on the mercy seat, there presiding over the Covenant. And so He is with you. He is the little Sanctuary in your room, and He is in the midst of it resting on the mercy seat. So, though you cannot go to the House of God, and though you find it hard to be vigorous at home, you may rest in His arms, and come to Him just as you are, that you may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Canon Edward Hoare.
Illustration
See how prayer prevails with God, and ponder these exquisite promises. If you are unable to go to the house of God, either through sickness or far journeying, ask Him to be Himself your sanctuary. Plead for the united heart, and the new spirit; for the removal of the heart of stone, with its insensibility and obduracy; and for grace that you may walk in His statutes, keep His ordinances and do them, so that you may be His people, and know Him as your God.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Eze 11:16. Them is a pronoun that stands for the people in general who had been imposd upon by the leaders in Jerusalem. At Ihe very time Ezekiel was seeing this vision, be and the bulk of the nation were already in the land of Babylon, and that by the decree of the Lord. But He was not going to forsake them entirely while in the heathen land. Sanctuary means a place or means of security. Among those who had to go into captivity were many who were personally righteous and who were assured of the care of the Lord. It is appropriate the reader again see the note at 2Ki 22:17.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 11:16. Therefore say In vindication of the captives; Although I have cast them far off Not from myself, but from you and your polluted land, and out of the way of the dreadful judgments which are approaching; among the heathen The Chaldeans, or those among whom the Chaldeans have placed them; and have scattered them among the countries Have separated them from each other, and dispersed them in many countries; yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary A sanctuary, or a refuge and protection for a short time, (so Bishop Newcome,) that is, during the seventy years captivity; or a little one in opposition to the great temple at Jerusalem; which, when its inhabitants were in the greatest need, should afford them the least help. But I, says God, will really be to my captives what the proud, self-deceiving Jews promise themselves from their temple, namely, their defence, support, and comfort. To me shall they flee, and in me shall they be safe, as he was that took hold on the horns of the altar. Or rather, they shall have such communion with me in the land of their captivity, as it was thought could be had nowhere but in the temple. They shall have the tokens of my presence with them, and my grace in their hearts shall sanctify their prayers and praises, as truly as ever the altar at the temple sanctified the gift. Observe, reader, they that are deprived of the benefit of public ordinances, if it be not their own fault, may have the want of them abundantly supplied in the immediate communications of divine grace and comforts.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11:16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little {h} sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
(h) They will be yet a little church: showing that the Lord will ever have some to call on his Name, whom he will preserve and restore, though they are for a time afflicted.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Ezekiel was to respond to these Jerusalem Jews by saying that though God had driven the exiles from their land He would be with them and would provide a refuge for them in Babylon. He Himself would be a sanctuary for them even though they were far from the temple sanctuary in Jerusalem. Israel’s future did not lie with the Jews still in Jerusalem but with those in Babylon.
"Even in drastic judgment, as in the case of the dispersion of Israel, God provides for His people a place of refuge. This refuge, called here ’a little sanctuary [AV],’ is the LORD Himself (cp. Psa 90:1; Psa 91:9; Isa 4:6). So with all of God’s own, Gentile as well as Jew, in the midst of deserved judgment there is still a sanctuary of refuge and peace in Him." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 848.]