Ezekiel 11
OUTLINE:
I. \\#Eze 1:1-23:49\\ Before the Siege (c.593-587)
A. \\#Eze 1:1-3:15\\ The First Message
1. \\#1:1-28\\ God
2. \\#2:1-3:15\\ The Commission of Ezekiel
B. \\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message
1. \\#3:16-21\\ Go as God's Watchman
2. \\#3:22-3:27\\ Hardships for Ezekiel
3. \\#4:1-5:17\\ Signs of Jerusalem's Siege
4. \\#6:1-14\\ Preach to the Mountains and Stomp
5. \\#7:1-27\\ Preach to the Land and Make A Chain
C. \\#Eze 8:1-11:25\\ The Third Message
1. \\#8:1-18\\ Secret Sins of Jerusalem
a. \\#1-6\\ The False Worship of the Priests
b. \\#7-13\\ The False Worship of the Sanhedrin
c. \\#14-15\\ The False Worship of the Women
d. \\#16-17\\ The False Worship of the Men
e. \\#17-18\\ The Results of Jerusalem's False Worship
2. \\#9:1-10:7\\ God Destroyed Jerusalem
a. \\#9:1-4\\ Decrees of Judgment and Mercy upon the
People
b. \\#9:5-11\\ The Judgment Executed
c. \\#10:1-7\\ The City Destroyed
3. \\#10:8-22\\ The Divine Image
a. \\#8\\ The Hand of the Cherubims
b. \\#9-10\\ The Wheels with the Cherubims
c. \\#11-12\\ The Cherubims Themselves
d. \\#15-19\\ Things Were Moving
e. \\#10:20-22\\ Ezekiel's Clarification
4. \\#11:1-25\\ The Message
a. \\#1-13\\ To the Leaders
b. \\#14-21\\ To the Lead
c. \\#22-25\\ The Message Ends
\\#11:1-25\\ The Message
I. \\#1-13\\ To the Leaders
A. \\#1\\ "five and twenty men" - It is likely that these are the
"about five and twenty men" who were worshipping the sun in
the temple's inner court.
Eze 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court
of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of
the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the
altar, were about five and twenty men, with their
backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their
faces toward the east; and they worshipped the
sun toward the east.
1. We still do not know who they were but two names were
given, and we are told they are "princes," rulers of
the people.
2. Regardless, God had a message for them and perhaps for the
whole nation.
3. Here, they are standing at the "east gate of the Lord's
house, which looketh eastward." Whether we are talking
of the gate that leads to the outer court or out to the
city is unclear, but they appear to still be standing
inside the temple area.
B. \\#2\\ "these are the men that devise mischief and give wicked
counsel in this city."
1. These men were a part of the leadership in Jerusalem. It
is likely that they lead all of Israel from the capitol
city.
2. Sadly, their counsel and leadership were evil.
C. \\#3\\ "Which say…" - These men lead Israel to believe that:
1. "It is not near" - "It" being judgment. These men told
Israel that Babylonians would be defeated and turned
back instead of what God's prophets were proclaiming.
2. "let us build houses" - As opposed to preparing to be
conquered, killed, and taken captive, the evil leaders
were telling the people that they had a long and happy
life ahead of them.
3. "this city is the caldron and we be the flesh"
a. An obviously poor picture of self-encouragement!
b. The thought of the wicked leaders in giving the image
was that the walls of an iron pot provide protection
to the meat while it cooks.
(1) That is true but what makes the analogy a poor
choice is that the meat is cooking while in the
cauldron and will soon be devoured.
(2) Even in their only foolish minds, these men were
demonstrating how foolish they were to hope for
anything other than destruction from the coming
army of Babylon.
c. Yet, as this message will reveal, since the leaders
had thought Jerusalem to be a place of safety from
Babylon, God would be sure they were executed in
judgment elsewhere. \\#11\\
D. \\#4-13\\ "Therefore prophesy against them" - So God had a
message for the twenty-five leaders.
1. \\#5\\ "the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me" - Ezekiel was
still in a vision but even in the vision, he required the
filling, fueling, and firing of the Holy Ghost to speak
\\#Eze 3:26\\.
2. "I know the things that come into your mind" - God told
the twenty five that He knew even their most private
thoughts.
3. \\#6\\ YOU! These men, with their wicked counsel, had
perpetrated a terrible act against the people of Israel.
a. "Ye have multiplied the slain in this city"
(1) Their wicked counsel had not just added to the
number that would die in Jerusalem, but had
"multiplied" it.
(2) The implication is that some would have repented
had these evil leaders not been encouraging them
to rebel against God.
b. "ye have filled the streets… with the slain."
Because of their evil counsel, the streets of
Jerusalem would be littered with dead.
4. \\#6-7\\ "Your slain" - God called those who would die
the slain of the twenty five men, as if they had
personally executed the citizens of Jerusalem.
5. "they are the flesh, and this city is the cauldron"
a. God acknowledged that the city was, in fact, a
cauldron and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were the
flesh inside of it; but not in the same way the
leaders had portrayed it.
b. God also acknowledged that the Jews were the flesh
within the cauldron.
6. "but I will bring your forth out of the midst of it"
a. Yet, as a meal is not eaten from the pot in which it
is cooked, neither will the God allow all of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to be devoured within the
city.
b. He would pour the people out of the city-after they
had stewed in the cauldron for a time-and the
Babylonian army would seek them out and devour them
throughout the nation.
c. It is possible that God was still speaking directly to
the twenty-five men who were Jerusalem's leaders.
(1) Some might flee from the city, either before or
during the siege, but Babylon would want to find
and either imprison or kill as many Jewish
leaders as possible to prevent them from
mounting a counter-attack.
(2) Either way, as a meal is poured onto a plate to
eat, God would pour out at least some of the
inhabitants of the evil Jerusalem to be devoured
by Babylon's' army.
7. \\#8-13\\ God elaborated more.
a. \\#8\\ "Ye have feared the sword" - God would bring
the thing that these evil leaders had feared the most
upon them. They would die by sword.
b. \\#9\\ "I will… deliver you into the hands of
strangers and will execute judgments" - God will
punish them at the hands of the Babylonians.
c. \\#10\\ "I will judge you in the border of Israel"
Although they would flee, they would not make it out
of Israel before they would be executed by God.
d. \\#11\\ "This city shall not be your caldron" - God
will NOT allow them to even die in Jerusalem because
they had thought it to be a place of safety.
e. \\#12\\ "ye shall know that I am the Lord" - As this
prophecy begins to be fulfilled on some of the
members of this group, the others would know and
understand that Jehovah is the Lord!
f. This was fulfilled by God:
Jer 52:7 Then the city was broken up, and all
the men of war fled, and went forth out of the
city by night by the way of the gate between the
two walls, which [was] by the king's garden;
(now the Chaldeans [were] by the city round
about:) and they went by the way of the plain.
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after
the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains
of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from
him.
Jer 52:10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons
of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all
the princes of Judah in Riblah.
g. \\#13\\ "when I prophesied… Pelatiah… died"
(1) Ezekiel was still in Babylon-in a vision-but I
think that even while Ezekiel was in the vision,
Pelatiah died in Jerusalem.
(2) While it might be months before word got back to
the captives of Pelatiah's death, this was God's
way of demonstrating that the vision was
certain.
h. "wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?"
(1) Ezekiel continued to be concerned that God would
execute His fierce wrath upon so many, that
Israel would cease to be. \\#Eze 9:8\\
(2) Perhaps Ezekiel's prayer was the reason God gave
a second message.
II. \\#14-21\\ To the Lead
A. \\#14\\ "Again" - God had a second message.
B. \\#15\\ "unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said"
1. This verse pits the people of Jerusalem and all of the
house of Israel, here called "thy brethren," against
Ezekiel.
2. Why?
a. Jerusalem was the capitol, the city of leadership over
all the people of Israel. Unfortunately, the capitol
city wanted to people to "Get you far from the Lord."
b. When leaders lead their people contrary to God, they
become the people's greatest enemy.
c. Because of this:
(1) God singled out Jerusalem and the leaders for a
certain and extreme death.
(2) The nation, while they would also be punished for
following the leaders, would be shown some mercy.
C. \\#16-18\\ Near-Future Prophecies
1. \\#16\\ "Although I have cast them off"
a. "them/they" - Notice God now spoke only of Israel,
separating Ezekiel from them.
b. The followers of Jerusalem were not without blame for
THEY chose the path that THEY took.
c. So God cast them away from Him and out of the land.
2. "yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary" - But God
will not forsake the remnant all together. God will meet
and watch over them in a limited fashion.
3. \\#17\\ I will even gather you… and assemble you out of
the countries" - God had already told Jeremiah this, even
telling the number of years they would be scattered
before God would release them to return, 70 years
\\#Jer 25;11-12, 29:10\\.
4. "and I will give you the land of Israel." - After their
scattering, God promised to give them the land once
again.
5. \\#18\\ "and they shall take away all the detestable thing
and all the abominations" - This was fulfilled in large
part when Israel returned. At that time, Israel put out
and kept out the false idols.
D. \\#19-20\\ Still-Future Prophecies
1. \\#19\\ "I will give them one heart"
a. If the thought was a heart of unity, the prophecy has
largely been fulfilled for the nation stands united
against Jesus the Christ.
b. But if, as the context suggests, the prophecy is a
heart of singleness toward God, it has not even begun
to be fulfilled.
2. "I will put a new spirit within you" - Again, the context
seems to speak of a righteous and godly fulfillment.
While the Holy Ghost has been offered to Israel for 2,000
years, they still have not received Him.
3. "I will take the stone heart… and will give them a heart
of flesh"
a. Here, the heart of flesh means a heart tender to God.
b. \\#20\\ "That they may walk in my statues" - A heart
that will know and obey the Word of God.
E. \\#21\\ Near-Immediate Prophecy
1. To - "them whose heart walketh after… their detestable
things"
2. What - "I will recompense their way upon their own heads"
3. That prophesy would be fulfilled in a short period of time.
III. \\#22-25\\ The Message Ended
A. \\#22\\ "Then did the cherubims lift their wings" - Ezekiel
had heard the sound of the wings \\#Eze 10:5\\, but here he
actually saw the wings lift in preparation for flight.
B. "the glory of the God of Israel was over them above" - This
was where God's glory had moved to in \\#Eze 10:18-19\\.
C. \\#23\\ "the glory of the Lord went up from the… city, and
STOOD upon the mountain which is on the east side of the
city"
1. The mountain on the east side was be the Mount of Olives.
2. Ezekiel then saw "the glory of the Lord" leave the city.
a. Although it seemed possible that the divine image
did not always stay together earlier, here I suppose
that the entire image moved out of the city.
b. Some believe the presence of God kept moving and left
the nation of Israel to their own demise.
c. However, I notice the text says that He STOOD over the
mountain on the east. That would indicate that God
did not leave Israel but would no longer abide within
the temple and capital city.
3. Neither the glory of the Lord nor any aspect of the divine
image will be mentioned again until \\#Eze 43:1-4\\.
D. \\#24\\ "Afterward the spirit… brought me… into Chaldea"
Ezekiel was taken back-in the vision-to Babylon and the
captives.
E. \\#25\\ "I spake unto them" - And he told them what he had
seen.
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