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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 11:14 - 11:25
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The Promise to Save a Remnant
v. 14. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
v. 15. Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men. of thy kindred, a very close relationship being implied, more than that of the flesh only, as the repetition shows, and all the house of Israel wholly, or "the whole house of Israel," it wholly, those who are Israelites in truth, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord; unto us is this land given in possession. These were the contemptuous words spoken by time inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time the exiles were carried away with Jeconiah. They believed themselves to be secure in die possession of the land and despised the men whom they considered outcasts of Jehovah.
v. 16. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, this punishment being indeed administered by the hand of Jehovah, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come, so that, in the midst of the dispersion, He would be the refuge of them who trusted in him.
v. 17. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. This is spoken in the Messianic vein of the gathering of the Church of God from the dispersion everywhere, just as we find it in the other prophets. The believing Jews who returned from the exile became the nucleus of the band of believers, many of whose descendants afterwards accepted the Messiah in simple faith, while also the heathen, among whom they spread time knowledge of the living God, retained some knowledge of Him, many of whose descendants were afterward gathered into Christian congregations.
v. 18. And they shall come thither, back to the land of Israel, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence, all the evidences of idolatrous worship and customs, making ready for the worship in spirit and in truth which was taught by Jesus Christ.
v. 19. And I will give them one heart, one united in his fear, and I will put a new spirit within you, by a conversion in truth; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, their obstinate and perverse spirit, and will give them an heart of flesh, one filled with time true fear of the Lord, pliable and yielding with respect to His will,
v. 20. that they may walk in My statutes, to fashion their behavior in accordance with the manner pleasing to Him, and keep Mine ordinances and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, true regeneration thus restoring the right relation between God and man.
v. 21. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God, thereby pronouncing sentence upon the willful idolaters and all those who persist in their enmity against God.
v. 22. Then did the cherubim lift up their wings and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above, occupying the magnificent throne above, as described before.
v. 23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, where it had been stationed at the East Gate of the Temple, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city, that is, the Mount of Olives. Thus the Lord had entirely abandoned His city, thereby definitely designating it as ripe for destruction.
v. 24. Afterwards the spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God, under whose influence the entire happening was engineered, into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me, this being the end of the present revelation.
v. 25. Then I spake unto them of the captivity, for whom this message was really intended, all the things that the Lord had showed me. It was in itself no easy task to proclaim these facts to the exiles, but the true servant of the Lord is not influenced by considerations of weak expediency, his sole object being to make known the will of the Lord.