Ezekiel 11

Verse 1. Me. The prophet in Chaldea, saw in spirit what was doing at Jerusalem. Worthington.—Men. Magistrates. Prado. Tirinus. Menochius.—Jezonias, perhaps mentioned Calmet. 8:11. Calmet.

Verse 3. Built, and so forth These men despised the predictions and threats of the prophets; who declared them to be from God, that the city should be destroyed and the inhabitants carried into captivity: and they made use of this kind of argument against the prophets, that the city so far from being like to be destroyed, had lately be augmented by the building of new houses; from whence they further inferred, by way of a proverb, using the similitude of a cauldron, out of which the flesh is not taken till it is thoroughly boiled and fit to be eaten, that they should not be carried away out of thier city, but there end their days in peace. Challoner.—They thought themselves secure, ( Worthington.) and laughed at the menaces of Jeremias, 1:15. Calmet.—Hebrew “The destruction is not soon coming. Let us build;” (Pagn. Menochius.) or, “It is not time to build.” Calmet.

Verse 6. Slain, under Manasses, and so forth Tirinus.

Verse 7. Cauldron. I will explain the prediction, which you turn to ridicule. Those whom you have slain, are like the flesh ( Calmet.) boiled. Bible.—But you shall be treated still worse, being led captives and slain. Calmet.—They feared wars, but had no dread of captivity. Worthington.

Verse 10. Israel. They pretended that they should die in peace in Jerusalem: God tells them it should not be so, but that they should be judged and condemned, and fall by the sword in the borders of Israel; that is in Reblatha, in the land of Emath, where all their chief men were put to death by order of Nabuchodonosor. 4 Kennicott. 25 and Jeremiah 52:10. 27. Challoner.

Verse 12. But you. Some copies of Septuagint have, “neither have you done.” Calmet. 5:7.

Verse 13. Pheltias, the prince, (verse 1. Bible.) or false prophet, whose death Ezechiel does not bewail, but fears the great destruction of the people; ( Worthington. Menochius.) though, if Pheltias died impenitent, his death might justly call for tears. Bible.—This happened in a vision. Yet ( Calmet.) he probably died suddenly about his time. Lyran.

Verse 15. Thy brethren, and so forth He speaks of them that had been carried away captives before, who were despised by them that remained in Jerusalem; but, as the prophet here declares to them from God, should be in a more happy condition than they, and after some time return from their captivity. Challoner.—David had been insulted in like manner. 1 Kennicott. 26:19. Calmet.

Verse 16. A little. Hebrew “for a short time, a sanctuary,” or temple. They shall find all things in me. The Christian Church was never more pure than during the first persecutions, when her children could not assemble freely, or build temples. Calmet.—God will never totally abandon her. Jeremiah 4:27. and so forth Worthington.

Verse 18. Scandals: idols. They relapsed no more into idolatry, ( Calmet.) as a nation, though some fell in the persecution of Epiphanes. Bible.

Verse 19. One. Septuagint “another.” They have read ( Calmet.) acher for echad, “one.” Bible.

Verse 21. Head. I will punish them as their crimes deserve. Calmet.

Verse 23. Mount Olivet, whence he might behold the conflagration of the city, before his ascent into heaven. Menochius.—He leaves his habitation by degrees, to shew how Jerusalem would be treated, and the Jews suffer after the ascension of our Saviour. Theodoret well observes, that the person on the throne represented Him, the upper part of the body being different from the lower, (Calmet. 1:26) to denote the two natures. Calmet.