For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Jerusalem’s Leaders  :

Ezek  11:1-15

Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the Lord that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. ² The Lord said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city. ³ They say, ‘Haven’t our houses been recently rebuilt? This city is a pot, and we are the meat in it.’ ⁴ Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and he told me to say: “This is what the Lord says: That is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind. ⁶ You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead.

⁷ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is the pot, but I will drive you out of it. ⁸ You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. ⁹ I will drive you out of the city and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and inflict punishment on you. ¹⁰ You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. ¹² And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”

¹³ Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?”

¹⁴ The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁵ “Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.’

A. Find Out

1. Who did Ezekiel next see and what were they saying? v.1-3
2. What did the Lord first say to them? v.5,6
3. What did the Lord say He was doing? v.7-11
4. Why was He doing it? v.12
5. What then happened? v.13
6. What was the Lord’s answer? v.14,15

B. Think:

1. How had the leaders been thinking positively?
2. How did the Lord say that was wrong thinking?
3. How else had they been thinking wrongly?

C. Comment:

In 10:19 we saw the glory of the Lord stopping over the east gate of the temple. Now the Lord shows Ezekiel Jerusalem’s leaders gathered at this same gate. These appear to be the same twenty five men mentioned in 8:16 who were worshipping the sun. Now we are shown what they are saying.  They believe peace is soon coming, a time for building and establishing the city, a time of prosperity. They see themselves as the good part of the nation (meat as against offal), they consider the rest of the country has been sent away but they are safe (v.3 & 15). In this they are completely deceived!

First of all the Lord has things against them: they have killed many people in Jerusalem (v.6), and they have rejected the ways of the Lord and followed the ways of other nations (v.12).

The Lord is quite clear as to what will happen: the sword will come on Jerusalem and many will die. In the vision Ezekiel sees one of the leaders fall dead. His heart cry is a fear that none will be left to carry the name of the Lord.  The Lord reassures him: you are the remnant, not the people left in Jerusalem. The Lord has already put His remnant aside to preserve them. The fact that they are in exile means that they will be preserved. It is those in Jerusalem who will be destroyed.  As we have noted a number of times already, the Lord works in the long-term.

D. Application:

1. The Lord sees the minds of all men and will judge accordingly.

2. The Lord will always have a remnant who preserve His name.

Promise of Return 

Ezek 11:16-25

¹⁶ “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’

¹⁷ “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’

¹⁸ “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. ¹⁹ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. ²⁰ Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

²² Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. ²³ The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. ²⁴ The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia^[a] in the vision given by the Spirit of God.

Then the vision I had seen went up from me, ²⁵ and I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.

A. Find Out

1. What has the Lord done and been for some of His people? v.16
2. What will he do with them? v.17
3. What will He do in them? v.19
4. With what result? v.20
5. Where did the glory of the Lord next go? v.22,23
6. And what then happened to Ezekiel? v.24,25

B. Think:

1. Who is the Lord mainly speaking about and what will happen to them?
2. Yet how is there no let-out for continuing idol worshippers?
3. What further indication is there of the end of Jerusalem?

C. Comment:

Previously we saw that it was the exiles who were to be saved and the people of Jerusalem to be destroyed. In today’s reading we have seen the Lord continue to speak about the exiles. The Lord acknowledges that He has sent them away but now He promises that He will bring them back to the Promised Land.  When they come back He will have done such a work in them (implied) that they will clear away all the false idols and purge the land.  Yet even more than this, the Lord will give them a new heart and a new spirit whereby they will be completely committed to Him, and they will be able to feel and understand again spiritual realities. They will be careful to follow all God’s instructions and they will enter into a new relationship with the Lord.

Yes, in case there were any who felt they could carry on worshipping idols if God is going to be lenient to them (because they wrongly understand what He has said so far), the Lord reiterates that those who hearts are set on idol worship WILL die, there will be no escape for them.  The message is very clear!

Finally we see the glory of the Lord move away from the temple, leave Jerusalem and stop on a nearby mountain. It is as if the Lord is moving out to watch the outcome of Jerusalem. Terrible!

D. Application:

1. Those who set their hearts against God will die. Fear Him.
2. Christians have been given a new heart and a new spirit. Thank Him.