Ezekiel · chapter 11 of 48
Updated on
Ezekiel 11 tells how the Spirit takes Ezekiel to the east gate, where twenty-five men give bad counsel to Jerusalem and one of them, Pelatiah, dies as the prophet speaks. The Lord promises the exiles that he will gather his people and give them a new heart and a new spirit, and the glory of the Lord leaves the city and stands on the mountain to the east.
Ezekiel 11 closes the great vision of chapters 8 to 11. The prophet has seen the temple's abominations, the judgment and the beginning of the glory's departure. Here comes a final scene of judgment on the city's leaders and, above all, one of the most beautiful promises of the book: God will not abandon the exiles.
The Spirit lifts Ezekiel and brings him to the east gate of the house of the Lord. There he sees twenty-five men, and among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. The Lord says these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in the city, saying it is not the time to build houses and that the city is the cauldron and they the meat. Ezekiel must prophesy against them: they have multiplied their slain in this city, and he will bring them out of it.
While Ezekiel is prophesying, Pelatiah dies. The prophet falls on his face and cries out loudly, fearing for the remnant of Israel. Then the word of the Lord comes: the inhabitants of Jerusalem say of the exiles that they are far from the Lord and that the land has been given to them, but God declares that he has been a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries where they have gone.
The Lord promises to gather them from the peoples and give them the land of Israel. They will remove from it all its abominations. He will give them one heart and a new spirit: he will take out the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh, so that they will walk in his statutes and be his people, and he their God. But those who follow their abominations he will repay with their way on their own heads.
The cherubim lift up their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel is over them. The glory goes up from the midst of the city and stands on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. The Spirit takes Ezekiel in a vision to the exiles in Chaldea, and the vision leaves him. Ezekiel tells the exiles everything the Lord had shown him.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
While Ezekiel prophesies, Pelatiah, one of the leaders of the people, dies. The prophet falls on his face, and his cry shows that he takes no joy in the destruction but intercedes for the remnant of Israel.
God says that, although he has scattered them, he has been a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries where they went. The exiles believed they were far from God; in reality he was with them.
The Lord promises to remove the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh and a new spirit. The change will not be a human effort of reform but a work of God that prepares them to obey sincerely.
The glory of the Lord goes up from the midst of the city and stands on the mountain to the east. The presence that was in the temple moves away, but it stops, as if waiting, and does not disappear entirely.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Twenty-five, among them Jaazaniah and Pelatiah. — Ezekiel 11:1
Answer: He died. — Ezekiel 11:13
Answer: A sanctuary in the countries where they went. — Ezekiel 11:16
Answer: A heart of flesh and a new spirit. — Ezekiel 11:19
Answer: So that they walk in his statutes and keep them, and be his people, and he their God. — Ezekiel 11:20
Answer: On the mountain on the east side of the city. — Ezekiel 11:23
Ezekiel 11 shows that God works even when his people seem lost. The exiles felt far from God, but he himself declared that he was their sanctuary in exile. Whoever is going through a time of distance, illness or loss can remember that the Lord is still accompanying them.
The promise of a new heart is one of the foundations of the Christian life: true obedience is born of an inner change that only God can give. In the group, talk about the difference between striving to keep rules and asking God for a heart that wants to please him.
Ezekiel 11 leaves the glory of the Lord on the mountain, waiting, and Ezekiel back among the exiles with a message of judgment and hope. In chapter 12 he will return to sign-acts to show what the departure into exile will look like.
The leaders said that inside Jerusalem they would be protected like meat inside the pot, and that it was not time to build houses because they were safe. Ezekiel reverses the image: the dead they have caused are the meat, and God will bring them out of the pot to judge them.
The New Testament connects this promise with the new covenant and with the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer (for example, John 3 and 2 Corinthians 3). Many Christians see it already fulfilled in part in the church and complete when God restores all things.