Ezekiel 11:18

And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. THEY SHALL TAKE AWAY ALL THE DETESTABLE THINGS ... AND ALL THE ABOMINATIONS THEREOF FROM THEM. They have eschewed every vestige of idolatry ever since their return from Babylon. But still the Shechinah glory had departed, the ark was not restored, nor was the second temple strictly inhabited by God until He came who made it more glorious than the first temple (); even then His stay was short, and ended His being rejected; so that the full realization of the promise must still be future....

Here he adds something more important — that when the Israelites had returned to their country they would be sincere worshippers of God, and not only offer sacrifices in the temple, but purge the land of all its pollutions. Here also the Prophet admonishes them how great and detestable was the impiety of the ten tribes, because they had contaminated the land with idols. He does not here allude to the idols of the Gentiles, but rather reproves the Israelites because they had contaminated with their defilements the land which had been dedicated to God. Hence the Prophet exhorted his countrymen to repentance, when he shows that they were not cast out of the land before it was polluted; and therefore that they were justly punished for their sacrilege. This is one point. Afterwards we must remark, that we then truly and purely enjoy God’s blessings, when we direct their use to that end which...

14-21 The pious captives in Babylon were insulted by the Jews who continued in Jerusalem; but God made gracious promises to them. It is promised, that God will give them one heart; a heart firmly fixed for God, and not wavering. All who are made holy have a new spirit, a new temper and dispositions; they act from new principles, walk by new rules, and aim at new ends. A new name, or a new face, will not serve without a new spirit. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. The carnal heart, like a stone, cannot be made to feel. Men live among the dead and dying, and are neither concerned nor humbled. He will make their hearts tender and fit to receive impressions: this is God's work, it is his gift by promise; and a wonderful and happy change is wrought by it, from death to life. Their practices shall be agreeable to those principles. These two must and will go together. When the si...

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 11:1 MOREOVER THE SPIRIT LIFTED ME UP, etc. It is noticeable that the position to which Ezekiel was thus transported in his vision from his place in the inner court (Ezekiel 8:14), was identical with that which he had just seen occupied by the cherub chariot before its departure (Ezekiel 10:19). What he is about to see will throw light on the significance of their departure. The gate is probably, here as there, that of the court of the temple. FIVE AND TWENTY MEN. The number at first reminds us of the worshippers of the sun, in Ezekiel 8:16; but tha

AND THEY SHALL COME THITHER,.... That those of the captivity shall come to the land of Israel, they or their posterity: AND THEY SHALL TAKE AWAY ALL THE DETESTABLE THINGS THEREOF; the idols of the nations, that had been there introduced, detestable to God and all good men: AND ALL THE ABOMINATIONS THEREOF FROM THENCE; idols, as before, even all of them, so that idolatry should be wholly rooted out; this had its accomplishment under Zerubbabel, Ezra, Haggai, c. when the worship of God was restored, and there was a reformation of many abuses in religion and again in the times of the Maccabees; and will have a greater fulfilment at the time of the conversion of the Jews; when everything that is detestable and abominable among that people will be removed; of which conversion the following words are a prophecy....

Ezekiel 11:1. The priests and the leaders of the nation were steeped in wickedness, defied God and the judgments His prophets had announced. They devised mischief (or iniquity) and gave wicked counsel. Their wicked counsel consisted in disobedience against Jehovah and His Word. In regard to the judgment they said, “It is not the time to build houses; this is the cauldron and we are the flesh.” They knew of Jeremiah's letter which he had sent to the elders who were carried away captives. In that letter, Jeremiah, believing God's Word concerning the long duration of the captivity, gave the advice, “Build ye houses and dwell in them” Jeremiah 29:1. They ridiculed that divinely given advice. They still thought themselves safe in Jerusalem. The phrase “this is the cauldron” means the city of Jerusalem; and we are

A GLIMMER OF HOPE. The people who, at the first deportation (597 B.C.), were allowed to remain in the land, clearly thought themselves superior to those who, like Ezekiel, had been taken to Babylon far from Yahweh's land and therefore far from Yahweh (Ezekiel 11:15, read _they are far)._ Ezekiel undeceives them: the future lies with the exiles, not with them. True, Yahweh had been (see _mg._) to the exiles but little of a sanctuary_ i.e._ their religious privileges had been inevitably curtailed but some day they would come back to the land, and establish upon it the true worship of Yahweh. First they would sweep it clean of every idolatrous thing, and then for their callous obstinate hearts God would give them soft impressionable hearts on which His laws would be easily written (Ezekiel 36

But this time of privation for the exiles shall come to an end. They shall be gathered out of the countries, and the land of Israel given to them; from which they shall remove all its abominations. They shall receive a new heart to walk in the Lord's commandments; and he shall be their God and they his people. _give you the land of Israel_ Those left in the country said: The land is given unto us. They shall be cast out and the land again given to those now in exile. The flower of the nation had been carried away in the captivity of Jehoiachin. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel regard the exiles as the hope of the nation and speak bitterly against the population remaining at home; comp. the former's parable of the very naughty figs (ch. 24), and the latter's scornful questions, ch. Ezekiel 33:24-26. Cp. ch....

III. DECLARATIONS BY THE PROPHET 11:1-25 Chapter 11 sets forth two declarations by the prophet in his vision. The first (Ezekiel 11:1-13) denounced the leaders in Jerusalem. The second brought comfort to the exiles in Babylon (Ezekiel 11:14-21). To these declarations is attached a note about the conclusion of this vision (Ezekiel 11:22-25)....

THE DOOM OF THE LEADERS OF JERUSALEM'S WICKEDNESS. COMFORT FOR THE EXILES The slaughter in Ezekiel 9 was only the visionary rehearsal of a judgment still in the future. The vision now takes another turn, and shows the wicked inhabitants still alive. Ezekiel is brought to the outer eastern gate of the Temple where he finds a group of the leaders of Jerusalem's sinful policy, two of whom are mentioned by name (Ezekiel 11:1). A proverb by which they express their light-hearted security is turned into a parable of the doom that awaits them (Ezekiel 11:3). The warning is ratified by the sudden death of one of the leaders (Ezekiel 11:13), afte