Ezekiel 11:5 Komentář

This chapter concludes the vision which Ezekiel saw, and this part of it furnished him with two messages: - I. A message of wrath against those who continued still at Jerusalem, and were there in the height of presumption, thinking they should never fall (Eze 11:1-13). II. A message of comfort to those who were carried captives into Babylon and were there in the depth of despondency, thinking they should never rise. And, as the former are assured that God has judgments in store for them notwithstanding their present security, so the later are assured that God has mercy in store for them notwithstanding their present distress (Eze 11:14-21). And so the glory of God removes further (Eze 11:22, Eze 11:23). The vision disappears (Eze 11:24), and Ezekiel faithfully gives his hearers an account of it (Eze 11:25).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 11 This chapter contains an account of the sins of the princes of Judah; a prophecy of their destruction; some comfortable, promises respecting those of the captivity; and the chapter is closed with the finishing of the vision of the Lord's removing from Jerusalem; and the whole being ended, the prophet related it to the men of the captivity. In Eze 11:1; the prophet, is shown five and twenty men, among whom were two he knew, and are mentioned by name, and were princes of the people; and he is told that these men devised mischief, and gave bad advice to the people, Eze 11:2; wherefore he is bid to prophesy against them, Eze 11:4; which he accordingly did, the Spirit of the Lord falling upon him, Eze 11:5; declaring that their secret evils were known, as well as their public ones; and that, seeing they had multiplied their slain, and had feared the sword, the sword should come upon them; some should fall by it, and others should be carried captive; the consequence of which would be, that God would be known, and his justice acknowledged, it being what their sins deserved, Eze 11:6; upon this prophecy being delivered out, one of the princes before named died immediately; which filled the prophet with great concern, and put him upon expostulating with God, Eze 11:13; wherefore, for his comfort, he is told, that though the inhabitants of Jerusalem had insulted their brethren that were carried captive, and looked upon the land of Israel as their own possession, that God would be a little sanctuary to them; that he would gather them out of all lands, and give them the land of Israel; that they should come thither, and remove all idolatry from it, and should have regenerating and renewing grace given them, to walk in the statutes and ordinances of the Lord, by which they should appear to be his people, and he to be their God, Eze 11:14; but as for such that continued in their abominable idolatries, these should receive a just recompence of reward, Eze 11:21; after which follows an account of the entire removal of the glory of the Lord from the city of Jerusalem, Eze 11:22; and the prophet being, in vision, brought again to Chaldea, reports the whole he had seen to them of the captivity, Eze 11:24.

And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me,.... In an extraordinary manner, and afresh, and enlightened his mind, and showed him things that should come to pass; and filled him with boldness and courage to declare them. The Targum interprets it of the spirit of prophecy: and said unto me, speak; what I shall show and put into thy mouth, that speak out; be not afraid, but boldly declare all that I give thee in commission to say: thus saith the Lord, thus have ye said, O house of Israel; as in Eze 11:3; which perhaps was said in secret, and spoken privately, but known by the Lord; and it was not only the princes that said it, but the whole body of the people joined in with it, and agreed to it; though it is very probable they were influenced by the former: for I know the things that come into your mind, everyone of them; not only their scoffing words, but the thoughts of their hearts; not one of them escaped the knowledge of God; the consideration of which should command an awe on men, and engage them to a watchfulness over their thoughts, words, and actions.

(Verse 2 onwards) And behold, at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and in their midst I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the princes of the people. And he said to me, Son of man, these men devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city, saying, 'The houses have been recently built. This is the pot, but we are the meat.' Therefore, prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon me, and he said to me, speak: Thus says the Lord: So you have spoken, O house of Israel, and I know the thoughts of your heart. You have killed many in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat, and this city is the pot, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you. I will judge you with the sword of the Chaldeans; you shall know that I am the Lord. This will not be a pot for you, and you shall not be in the midst of it as flesh. I will judge you at the borders of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. The following is not found in the Septuagint, but is added from the Hebrew: Because you have not walked in my commandments and have not kept my judgments, but have acted according to the judgments of the nations that surround you. The prophet is assumed according to what is written: The Lord raises the meek (Ps. 146:6); whether he is lifted up from the earth and brought into the eastern gate of the Lord's house, so that he may know the oaths of the twenty-five men who were at the entrance of the gate, and the sons of Jezaniah the son of Azur, and Paltheiah the son of Benaiah, the princes of the people. Therefore, those who were at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord's house, despairing of salvation and prepared for destruction by the consciousness of their crimes, and not desiring to correct their sins through repentance, say: Although recently houses have been rebuilt that had fallen, yet we know that this city is like a pot, and we are like the flesh in it, to be consumed and burned, according to what is written in Isaiah: If a tempest passes by, it will not harm us (Isa. 28:15). While they were saying these things, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon the prophet; and for a second time he commanded him to prophesy and say: Because you have spoken these things and the secrets of your hearts are not hidden from me, I will interpret for you how the city will be transformed into a cauldron, and you yourselves will be considered as meat: not according to the sense in which you spoke, but according to another sense which you do not fear. Indeed, the city is like a cauldron, but it will not be filled with your flesh; rather with the flesh of those whom you have killed. But you, who consider yourselves to be dying in this city, I will bring out from the midst of the city and deliver into the hands of the enemy. I will execute judgments against you. And when you have fallen by the sword, you shall not be in the city, nor outside the boundaries of Israel, but rather in the borders of your own province, then you will know that I am the Lord. And it is furthermore said: In the borders of Israel I will judge you, and you will know that I am the Lord. But you will endure all these things because you have not walked in my commandments, and you have not observed my judgments, but have committed the abominations of the surrounding nations. And when it is clear according to the literal sense of what is said, omitting for a moment the names of Jezoniah, Azur, Phaltiah, and Benaiah, which we reserve for another time, it must be said that even to this day in the Church, which is the house of the Lord, and before the gate, and at the entrance, or at the way of the gate, which signifies the Savior, through whom we enter to the Father, there are twenty-five men who represent everything concerning the senses. And as far as my memory serves me, I have never been able to find this number in a positive sense; although in Leviticus twenty-five years are chosen for the priestly ministry; for in Hebrew it does not have this number, which is said in the Seventy, but thirty, which is contained in the beginning of this prophet and the age of the Lord, when He came to the banks of the Jordan and was baptized by John (Luke 3). But in the Gospel there are found five wise virgins and five foolish ones (Matthew 25), let us know that this number is placed in the middle and can be applied to either the good or the bad, depending on the users. Therefore, these men, who refer everything to the senses and have two principles, as we mentioned above, are contained in the dual number, which divides unity, and in the number of the second day, does not seem to be from the Lord, according to the Hebrew truth. And in Noah's Ark, two by two unclean animals are brought in (Genesis 6). But the Lord, restricting division into one, made both one, and broke down the middle wall, condemning enmities in His flesh (Ephesians 2). Therefore, He speaks more augustly and sublimely: I and the Father are one (John 10:30), so that He may bring us from the Judaic duality into the unity of the Christian faith. Finally, with the priesthood of the Jews being lost, the Lord suffered not under one ruler, but under two, Annas and Caiaphas, to show the dividedness of their religion (False). There are many at the entrance of this gate in front of the house of the Lord of the East, who are compared to their own nations in vices, and in the conscience of sins despair of salvation, and say: The city in which we live is a cauldron, and we are all flesh, and we will be consumed by the burning Babylon, whose fiery arrows are: unwilling to repent and despairing of salvation; therefore they hear that they themselves are not the flesh of the past and lost city, but those whom they have scandalized and killed. And so the sword is drawn against them, so that after they have been judged not among the nations, but among Christians in the land of Israel, they may then know that He Himself is the Lord, according to what is read in the Psalms: When He killed them, they sought Him (Psalm 77:34), so that by the torments they may come to know Him whom they did not recognize through His blessings.

This chapter denounces the judgments of God against those wicked persons who remained in Jerusalem and made a mock of the types and predictions of the prophets, Eze 11:1-13; compare Eze 11:3 with Jer 1:13. God promises to favour those who were gone into captivity, and intimates their restoration from the Babylonish yoke, Eze 11:14-21. Then the shechinah, or symbol of the Divine Presence, is represented forsaking the city, as in the foregoing chapter it did the temple, Eze 11:22, Eze 11:23; and the prophet returns in vision to the place from which he set out, (Eze 8:1. etc.), in order to communicate his instructions to his brethren of the captivity, Eze 11:24, Eze 11:25.

PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CORRUPT "PRINCES OF THE PEOPLE;" PELATIAH DIES; PROMISE OF GRACE TO THE BELIEVING REMNANT; DEPARTURE OF THE GLORY OF GOD FROM THE CITY; EZEKIEL'S RETURN TO THE CAPTIVES. (Eze. 11:1-25) east gate--to which the glory of God had moved itself (Eze 10:19), the chief entrance of the sanctuary; the portico or porch of Solomon. The Spirit moves the prophet thither, to witness, in the presence of the divine glory, a new scene of destruction. five and twenty men--The same as the twenty-five (that is, twenty-four heads of courses, and the high priest) sun-worshippers seen in Eze 8:16. The leading priests were usually called "princes of the sanctuary" (Isa 43:28) and "chiefs of the priests" (Ch2 36:14); but here two of them are called "princes of the people," with irony, as using their priestly influence to be ringleaders of the people in sin (Eze 11:2). Already the wrath of God had visited the people represented by the elders (Eze 9:6); also the glory of the Lord had left its place in the holy of holies, and, like the cherubim and flaming sword in Eden, had occupied the gate into the deserted sanctuary. The judgment on the representatives of the priesthood naturally follows here, just as the sin of the priests had followed in the description (Eze 8:12, Eze 8:16) after the sin of the elders. Jaazaniah--signifying "God hears." son of Azur--different from Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan (Eze 8:11). Azur means "help." He and Pelatiah ("God delivers"), son of Benaiah ("God builds"), are singled out as Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan, in the case of the seventy elders (Eze 8:11-12), because their names ought to have reminded them that "God" would have "heard" had they sought His "help" to "deliver" and "build" them up. But, neglecting this, they incurred the heavier judgment by the very relation in which they stood to God [FAIRBAIRN].

Spirit . . . fell upon me--stronger than "entered into me" (Eze 2:2; Eze 3:24), implying the zeal of the Spirit of God roused to immediate indignation at the contempt of God shown by the scorners. I know-- (Psa 139:1-4). Your scornful jests at My word escape not My notice.

And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and said to me: Say, Thus saith Jehovah, So ye say, O house of Israel, and what riseth up in your spirit, that I know. Eze 11:6. Ye have increased your slain in this city, and filled its streets with slain. Eze 11:7. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Your slain, whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and it is the pot; but men will lead you out of it. Eze 11:8. The sword you fear; but the sword shall I bring upon you, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 11:9. I shall lead you out of it and give you into the hand of foreigners, and shall execute judgments upon you. Eze 11:10. By the sword shall ye fall: on the frontier of Israel shall I judge you; and ye shall learn that I am Jehovah. Eze 11:11. It shall not be as a pot to you, so that you should be flesh therein: on the frontier of Israel shall I judge. Eze 11:12. And ye shall learn that I am Jehovah, in whose statutes ye have not walked, and my judgments ye have not done, but have acted according to the judgments of the heathen who are round about you. - For תּפּל עלי , compare Eze 8:1. Instead of the "hand" (Eze 8:1), the Spirit of Jehovah is mentioned here; because what follows is simply a divine inspiration, and there is no action connected with it. The words of God are directed against the "house of Israel,' whose words and thoughts are discerned by God, because the twenty-five men are the leaders and counsellors of the nation. מעלות, thoughts, suggestions of the mind, may be explained from the phrase עלה על לב, to come into the mind. Their actions furnish the proof of the evil suggestions of their heart. They have filled the city with slain; not "turned the streets of the city into a battle-field," however, by bringing about the capture of Jerusalem in the time of Jeconiah, as Hitzig would explain it. The words are to be understood in a much more general sense, as signifying murder, in both the coarser and the more refined signification of the word. (Note: Calvin has given the correct explanation, thus: "He does not mean that men had been openly assassinated in the streets of Jerusalem; but under this form of speech he embraces all kinds of injustice. For we know that all who oppressed the poor, deprived men of their possessions, or shed innocent blood, were regarded as murderers in the sight of God.") מלּאתים is a copyist's error for מלּאתם. Those who have been murdered by you are the flesh in the caldron (Eze 11:7). Ezekiel gives them back their own words, as words which contain an undoubted truth, but in a different sense from that in which they have used them. By their bloodshed they have made the city into a pot in which the flesh of the slain is pickled. Only in this sense is Jerusalem a pot for them; not a pot to protect the flesh from burning while cooking, but a pot into which the flesh of the slaughtered is thrown. Yet even in this sense will Jerusalem not serve as a pot to these worthless counsellors (Eze 11:11). They will lead you out of the city (הוציא, in Eze 11:7, is the 3rd pers. sing. with an indefinite subject). The sword which ye fear, and from which this city is to protect you, will come upon you, and cut you down - not in Jerusalem, but on the frontier of Israel. על־גּבוּל, in Eze 11:10, cannot be taken in the sense of "away over the frontier," as Kliefoth proposes; if only because of the synonym אל־גּבוּל in Eze 11:11. This threat was literally fulfilled in the bloody scenes at Riblah (Jer 52:24-27). It is not therefore a vaticinium ex eventu, but contains the general thought, that the wicked who boasted of security in Jerusalem or in the land of Israel as a whole, but were to be led out of the land, and judged outside. This threat intensifies the punishment, as Calvin has already shown. (Note: "He threatens a double punishment; first, that God will cast them out of Jerusalem, in which they delight, and where they say that they will still make their abode for a long time to come, so that exile may be the first punishment. He then adds, secondly, that He will not be content with exile, but will send a severer punishment, after they have been cast out, and both home and land have spued them out as a stench which they could not bear. I will judge you at the frontier of Israel, i.e., outside the holy land, so that when one curse shall have become manifest in exile, a severer and more formidable punishment shall still await you.") In Eze 11:11 the negation (לא) of the first clause is to be supplied in the second, as, for example, in Deu 33:6. For Eze 11:12, compare the remarks on Eze 5:7. The truth and the power of this word are demonstrated at once by what is related in the following verse.