‘Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice (‘bending' of justice). For they say, “Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh sees not.” '
These men left in Jerusalem and its surrounds had seen the previous judgments of God and the carrying away of the cream of the people, first of Israel and then of Judah. But they had not taken warning. Instead of repenting and turning to God they had increased their sinfulness. Instead of recognising that He had done what He had always promised they had interpreted it as meaning that God had forsaken the land and the people in it. That God no longer noted their behaviour. Thus instead of becoming better they had become worse. Murder was rife. True justice was unobtainable. Might was right. There was only one thing to do. Begin with those who in exile had learned to be humble and to seek God. And that was why Ezekiel was here.
Note in passing that God saw the inhabitants of Jerusalem and its surrounds as representing in fact the whole of Israel, ‘the house of Israel and Judah'. There were no ‘lost tribes' to Him.