Ezekiel 11

The chapter moves from a scene of judicial condemnation in the heart of the city to a scene of promise for the exiles, concluding with the departure of God's presence as the city's security dissolves.

• I will be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come (v. 16).
• I will even gather you from the people... and I will give you the land of Israel (v. 17).
• I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you (v. 19).
• They shall be my people, and I will be their God (v. 20).

• Prophesy against them (v. 4).
• Speak; Thus saith the Lord (v. 5).
• Say, Thus saith the Lord God (v. 16, 17).

• The sword will come upon you (v. 8).
• I will recompense their way upon their own heads (v. 21).

• Jerusalem in the years immediately preceding the final Babylonian siege (586 BC).
• The political leadership (princes) felt a false sense of security behind the walls.

• The 'cauldron' (סִיר H5518) metaphor suggested that just as meat inside a pot is protected from the fire outside, the inhabitants were safe within the city walls despite the surrounding Babylonians.
• The 'princes' (שַׂר H8269) were likely the local political leaders holding authority after the initial deportations.

• This chapter concludes the vision of the departure of God’s glory that began in chapters 8-10.
• The shift from Jerusalem to the exiles highlights the contrast between the self-assured leaders and the faithful remnant.

• The promise of gathering and a new heart echoes the covenant renewal described in Deuteronomy 30 and the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31.
• The departure of the glory from the temple has a future typological parallel in the New Testament when Christ departs from the Mount of Olives, though the context here is judgment rather than ascension.

• Ezekiel 11:19 reflects the 'circumcision of the heart' theme found in Deuteronomy 30:6.
• The promise 'I will be their God' (v. 20) is the recurring covenant formula throughout the Pentateuch and the Prophets.

• Spirit (רוּחַ H7307): Used here to denote the divine, active, and driving force of God behind the prophetic vision.
• Cauldron (סִיר H5518): A pot; significantly, it can also mean a 'thorn,' creating a potential irony in the text: they think they are in a pot, but they are among thorns.
• Devise (חָשַׁב H2803): Literally to weave or plait; used here of weaving together malicious plots or 'wicked counsel' (v. 2).
• Meat/Flesh (בָּשָׂר H1320): Used in the cauldron metaphor to represent the people themselves (the 'meat').

• The 'twenty-five men' (v. 1) are likely the same group mentioned in Ezekiel 8:16 who were bowing to the sun, indicating their ongoing apostasy.
• Matthew Henry observes that sinners often flatter themselves with the idea that judgment is 'not near' (v. 3), a common tactic of false security.

• The nature of Pelatiah's death (v. 13) is debated: it may have been a literal, immediate sign to Ezekiel, or a prophetic account of an event that occurred later.
• Theological debate exists regarding the 'new heart' (v. 19): historically, Reformed theology (as represented by Matthew Henry) emphasizes this as an act of sovereign, irresistible grace, while other traditions view this as a conditional promise contingent on human reception and cooperation. The text states it as a divine action ('I will give'), but scholars weigh its relation to human response differently.