Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
The spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate - to which the glory of God had moved itself (Ezekiel 10:19); the chief entrance of the sanctuary-the portico or porch of Solomon. The spirit moves the prophet there, to witness, in the presence of the divine glory, a new scene of destruction.
Behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men. The same as the 25 (i:e., 24 heads of courses and the high priest) sun-worshippers seen in Ezekiel 8:16. The leading priests were usually called "princes of the sanctuary" (Isaiah 43:28), and "chiefs of the priests" (2 Chronicles 36:14); but here two of them are called "princes of the people" with irony, as using their priestly influence to be ringleaders of the people in sin (Ezekiel 11:2). Already the wrath of God had visited the people, represented by the "ancients," elders (Ezekiel 9:6, with which cf. Ezekiel 7:11); also the glory of the Lord had left its place in the holy of holies, and, like the cherubim and flaming sword in Eden, had occupied the gate into the deserted sanctuary. The judgment on the representatives of the priesthood naturally follows here, just as the sin of the 25 priests had followed in the description (Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 8:16) after the sin of the 70 ancients or elders.
Jaazaniah - signifying, 'God hears.'
Son of Azur - a leader among the 25 priests, different from Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, who was a leader among the 70 elders (Ezekiel 8:11). Azur means 'help.' He and Pelatiah ('God delivers'), son of Benaiah ('God builds'), are singled out-as Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan, in the case of the 70 elders (Ezekiel 8:11-12) - because their names ought to have reminded them that 'God' would have 'heard,' had they sought His 'help' to 'deliver' and 'build' them up. But, neglecting this, they incurred the heavier judgment by the very relation in which they stood to God (Fairbairn).