Ezekiel 11
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week God tied Ezekiel up in body and tongue. He would speak only when God opened his mouth (3:27).
Chapters 4–7: The message is the siege.
God has Ezekiel act out Jerusalem's fall:
He builds a model of the city under siege and lies on his sides for over a year, bearing their iniquity.
He eats siege rations by weight, baked over dung. That means famine and defilement. It's the only time we hear Ezekiel object.
He shaves his head with a sword: a third burned, a third cut down, a third scattered. Even the few hairs he saves aren't all safe (5:1–4, 12).
None of this is new. It's the covenant curse of Leviticus 26 coming true. Compare:
Leviticus 26:26 “26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.”
Ezekiel 4:16 “16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:”
Then chapters 6–7 say it plainly: Ezekiel 7:2 “2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.”
Chapters 8–10: Ezekiel's temple vision.
Ezekiel is sitting in his house in Babylon when God takes him in vision to Jerusalem (8:1–3):
He's shown abominations inside the temple itself, each worse than the last. The leaders' excuse is "The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth" (8:12).Ch. 8:
The faithful who mourn are marked, and judgment begins at the sanctuary. Ezekiel falls on his face: "Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel?" (9:8)Ch. 9:
The glory of the LORD lifts from the temple and pauses at the east gate (10:18–19).Ch. 10:
That's where chapter 11 opens: at the east gate, where God's presence is on its way out.
Ezekiel 11
Ezekiel 11
1 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD’S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city: 3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
Ezekiel is taken in the vision to the eastern gate of the temple in Jerusalem where he sees 25 public leaders, specifically Jaazaniah and Pelatiah, princes of the people
What are these 25 leaders, specifically mentioning Jaazaniah and Pelatiah, guilty of?
We’re not totally sure due to the difficulty of what vs 3 means.
Is it telling the people “there’s no siege coming so just keep building houses, we’re the meat (the best part) of the people, after all, Yahweh left us here. Better the pot than the fire.”?
telling them “it’s not time to build houses, hunker down; Yahweh’s here and Jerusalem will keep us safe”?
If that's what they meant, it's ironic — they're counting on God's presence at the very gate where Ezekiel just watched it leave.
Whatever the meaning, the point is the people of Jerusalem should have been driven to repentance and these guys are leading them to believe all is good.
4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. 5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them. 6 Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
Ezekiel’s prophecy to them ought to shake us a little too — God telling them “I know the things that come into your mind, EVERY one of them”
These leaders have killed their own people left in Jerusalem — maybe by court execution or by oppression, however they did it, they filled the streets of Jerusalem with the slain
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it. 8 Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD. 9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. 10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel: 12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
Yahweh says the city the leaders are relying on for protection, won’t. He takes their own picture and turns it on them.
Yes, the city is a pot, and there is meat in it, but the meat is the people you murdered (v.7). You won't get to stay in the pot. I'm pulling you out."
The sword that they fear will come on them and they will fall by it (11:8, 10). The land will not be their possession; rather, the Lord will bring them out of the city to judge them at the very edge of the land, at the “border of Israel” (11:10–11).
They WILL know Yahweh is God! Everybody will, either by His mercy or His judgement. They didn’t keep the judgements of Yahweh, so they’ll get them.
The promised judgements of God are just as sure as the promised blessings! If they want to live like the nations around them, they'll be judged like the nations around them.
13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
The name Pelatiah likely means — “Yahweh rescues” or “Yahweh delivers”.
He was one of the ones saying "we're the meat, we're the ones God kept." If even he dies, everybody must.
As Ezekiel prophesied, Pelatiah died and this makes Ezekiel question if there will be a remnant left at all?
This is Ezekiel’s 2nd cry. the first was in Ezekiel 9:8 “8 And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?”
He’s preaching judgement but it’s not in pride. Twice he’s collapsed and pleads to God. He’s doing it but it’s with a broken heart crying out to God for mercy.
If we don’t get that, we’re missing Ezekiel completely.
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 an 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.
Yahweh’s answer to Ezekiel in 9 was short and firm — no pity for the city:
Ezekiel 9:9–11 “9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not. 10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. 11 And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.”
Here though, God’s answer is the mercy, Ezekiel’s pleading for: The future of Israel is with the exiles, not those left in Jerusalem.
They trusted the pot. The exiles got something better — God Himself. He hasn’t just taken His presence from the temple for judgement. The Jerusalem crowd said the exiles were far from the LORD. God says: I'll be their sanctuary right where they are."
But it’s only temporary:
Ezekiel 11:17 “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.”
The land Ezekiel can’t redeem for his relatives, will be redeemed for them by Yahweh
And the idols that were worshipped there, will be torn down by the true remnant. And why?
Same as the idols in our lives — God will change their heart toward Him and away from them!
Ezekiel 11:19 “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 an heart of flesh:”
They get the same kind of heart change God gives us in salvation:
Ezekiel 11:20 “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.”
Following the law of God because of “heart surgery” not “heart medication”
All of us who are saved strive to keep the statutes of God because we’re saved, not because keeping them saves us!
There is a warning though in vs 21: New hearts for the remnant — but for those who keep chasing their idols, the judgment of chapter 9 still stands.
22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city. 24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.
Ezekiel’s temple vision ends: The glory departs from the temple and moves off onto the Mount of Olives, across from Jerusalem, as if waiting to see the judgment on the rebellious city completed, while the prophet is returned to his own people in exile.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God's presence isn't secured by where you stand or what you claim. Those who trusted the city were judged, and the exiles they wrote off received God Himself and a new heart.
