Ezekiel 11
Dear RTB’ers,
Ezekiel’s vision that began in Ez. 8 (recall the abominations in that chapter) ends today. The glory of the Lord departs Jerusalem and rests above the Mount of Olives (Ez. 11:23). In the first half of the chapter the Lord reiterates that Jerusalem and its leaders are doomed: And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you. You shall fall by the sword. (vv. 9-10a)
Then in the second half of the chapter the Lord assures the exiles that He is in their midst; verse 16 is today’s key verse: Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’ Verses 19a and 20b together constitute a good memory verse for today: And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. … And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Verse 3b in today’s chapter is confusing: This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat. That sounds like a bad situation for Jerusalem, that the city is being cooked! But in the previous verse we read that it’s the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city (v. 2b) who are speaking. That is, their statement is misguided. Our STS companion book explains that these “false prophets” are misleading the people by suggesting that the meat in the cauldron is safe from the fire. My Study Bible adds that the meat is the good portion in the soup and that the bones are the exiles who have been discarded from the soup (i.e., from Jerusalem). So the statement from these wicked counselors is completely wrong – those residents who have remained in the city are not safe, This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. (v. 11a) Instead, it’s the slain in the city who are the meat and the city itself is the cauldron. (Ez. 11:7)
And they shall be My people, and I will be their God. And WE are His people and He is our God! Glory!!
Blessings.
See also: July 27 (2023) / II Chronicles 36:13-16; Ezekiel 8-11 (again).