When you read the prophecy of Jeremiah, you discover that the civil and religious leaders of the kingdom of Judah, as well as the rulers of Jerusalem, were not interested in knowing and doing the will of God. When one of the kings inquired of Jeremiah, he did it secretly because he was afraid of what his advisers might do (Jer. 37:17). During Judah’s last years, the people were ruled by weak men who promoted idolatry and would not call the people to repentance and prayer (2 Chron. 7:14). By publicly wearing a yoke, Jeremiah had made it clear that the only way to spare the city and the temple from destruction was for the Jewish leaders to surrender to the Babylonians (Jer. 27). Instead, the Jewish leaders secretly made an agreement with the Egyptians, asking them to rescue them from Babylon, but the Egyptians were helpless to do anything. God had decreed the fall of the nation, and He was using Nebuchadnezzar as His servant to accomplish His will (Jer. 25:9; 27:6; 43:10).
The city is like a cauldron (vv. 1–13). Ezekiel was still having his vision of Jerusalem and the temple, and the Lord showed him twenty-five men at the eastern door of the temple, worshipping the sun. (See 8:15–18.) Among them were the leaders of the people, Jaazaniah and Pelantiah. (This is not the Jaazaniah of v. 11.) These men were giving wicked advice to the king and other leaders in Jerusalem, but their counsel was not from the Lord. How could it be wise counsel when they were idolaters who worshipped the sun? At the same time, they were plotting evil so that they could benefit personally from the Babylonian attack on the city. In every crisis, you will find “opportunists” who seek to help themselves instead of helping their country, and they usually hide behind the mask of patriotism.
Not only were these leaders idolaters and wicked counselors, but they cultivated a philosophy that gave them and the other leaders a false confidence in their dangerous situation. “Is not the time near to build houses?” they asked. “This city is the pot and we are the flesh” (11: nasb). Jeremiah had told the exiles to build houses in Babylon and settle down and raise families, because they would live there for seventy years (Jer. 29:4ff.). But it was foolish for the people in Jerusalem to build houses, for the Lord had ordained that the Babylonian army would destroy the city and slaughter most of the inhabitants. These evil leaders were sure that Jerusalem was as safe for them as a piece of meat in a cooking pot. The innuendo in this metaphor was that the people in Jerusalem were choice cuts of meat, while the exiles in Babylon were just the scraps and rejected pieces. Of course, just the opposite was true! Had the leaders in Jerusalem listened to Jeremiah’s message about the baskets of figs, they would have seen their philosophy completely reversed. The good figs were the exiles and the bad figs were the people left in Jerusalem (Jer. 24:1–7). God would preserve a remnant from among the exiles, but the idolaters in Jerusalem would be slain.
The Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy against those evil leaders and point out that they weren’t the meat—they were the butchers! They had killed innocent people in Jerusalem and stolen their possessions, and even if the leaders weren’t slain in Jerusalem, they would not escape judgment. They might flee the city, but the Babylonians would catch them at the border, pass sentence on them, and kill them; and that is exactly what happened (2 Kings 25:18–21; Jer. 39:1–7; 52:1–11, 24–27). Then the Jewish officials would learn too late that Jehovah alone is Lord of heaven and earth.
In his vision, Ezekiel preached this message and Petaliah fell down dead! The Lord gave the sun-worshippers a vivid proof that their evil thoughts and plans could only lead to disaster. Once again, Ezekiel revealed his shepherd’s heart as he fell on his face before the Lord and prayed for the people. As in Ezekiel 9:8, he prayed that the Lord would spare a remnant of the people so Israel would have a future.
Jehovah, the sanctuary of His people (vv. 11:14–21). This is God’s word of encouragement to His servant that He would fulfill His promise and spare a remnant of the people. The people in Jerusalem were sure that God would deliver them and give back their land, because the exiles had left the land and were far from Jerusalem and the temple. In ancient days, people believed that each nation had its own gods, and when you left your home country, you left your gods behind. Of course, Jehovah had revealed Himself to Abraham as “possessor of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:22), so the Jewish leaders shouldn’t have had such a narrow view of God. What they said was probably just an excuse for confiscating land that belonged to some of the exiles.
But the Lord made it clear that He had not forsaken the Jews in Babylon, for the “I will” statements in Ezekiel 11:16–20 declare His promises to the exiles. First, God Himself would be to them “a sanctuary for a little while” during their captivity. “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations” (Ps. 90: nkjv). The self-confident Jews in Jerusalem thought they were secure as long as they had the temple, but the true temple was with the exiles in Babylon! Long before there ever was a tabernacle or a temple, the patriarchs had God as their refuge and strength, their sanctuary, and their abiding place. Wherever Abraham pitched his tent, he also built an altar to the Lord, because he knew that God was with him (Gen. 12:8; 13:1–4, 18). The New Testament equivalent of this experience is to abide in Christ (John 15:1–10).
His second promise is “I will even gather you” (Ezek. 11:17). A remnant of Jews would one day return to the land and rebuild the temple. No matter where the Jews had been scattered, the Lord would find them and bring them home. This promise goes far beyond the restoration after the captivity, for the Lord has promised that in the end times He will gather His people back to their land (28:25–26; 34:11–16; 36:24–38; 37:11–28; Isa. 11:11–16; Jer. 24:4–7). His third promise is, “I will give you the land of Israel” (Ezek. 11:17). Since God had already given this land to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 12:7; 13:14–17; 15:7), nobody else could successfully lay claim to it. When the exiles returned to their land, they would be cured of idolatry and would remove all the pagan worship.
The promises in Ezekiel 11:19–21 go beyond the return of the Jewish exiles after the Babylonian captivity, for Scripture records no evidence of this kind of spiritual renewal in the post-exilic period. In fact, the account given in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Malachi is just the opposite. The promises apply to the end times when God’s people Israel will be regathered to their land, will repent of their sins and trust their Messiah (Zech. 12—14), and welcome Him as their King. They will experience a spiritual regeneration, a new birth. However, those who will not believe will be judged (Ezek. 11:21). Later in this book, Ezekiel will describe in greater detail the glorious blessings God has prepared for the Jewish nation (chaps. 33—48). Jeremiah had also announced a “new covenant” for the people of Israel (Jer. 31:33; 32:38–39), a covenant not written on stones but engraved on the human mind and heart; and Christian believers today share in that covenant (2 Cor. 3; Heb. 9—10).
The glory departs (vv. 22–25). The chariotthrone had been lingering at the threshold of the east gate of the temple, with the glory of God above it (10:18–19). Now the glory of God departed and rested over the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. Ezekiel could have written “Ichabod” over the east gate, for indeed, “the glory has departed” (1 Sam. 4:19–22). However, Ezekiel saw the glory return, this time to the new temple that will stand during the reign of Christ in His kingdom (Ezek. 43:1–5).
After the temple was destroyed in 586 BC, the glory of God disappeared from the earth and didn’t return until the birth of Christ in Bethlehem (Luke 2:9, 32; John 1:14). Wicked men crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8), but He arose again and ascended back to heaven from Bethany (Luke 24:50–51; Acts 1:9–12), which is on the eastern slope of Mount Olivet. One day Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4) to deliver His people and establish His kingdom. The glory will have returned!
When the vision ended, Ezekiel found himself back in his own house in Babylon, and he told the Jewish elders and the other exiles what the Lord had shown him. Some no doubt believed and prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, while others preferred to listen to the deadly, soothing words of the false prophets. But four years later (Ezek. 24:1), Ezekiel would get the message that the siege of Jerusalem had begun. The date was January 15, 588 BC. Three years later (January 8, 585 BC), a fugitive would arrive in Babylon with the news that the city had fallen (32:21).
God’s Word never fails.