Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.
Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had showed me - literally, 'all the words?' an appropriate expression; because the word communicated to him was not simply a word, but one clothed with outward symbols 'shown' to him as in the sacrament, which Augustine terms 'the visible word' (Calvin).
Remarks: Remarks:
(1) It is a common thing for men to put away from them, as Jaazaniah and Pelatiah did (Ezekiel 11:1-3), serious thoughts of the judgment to come, by persuading themselves that "it is not near." There is no need, they think, of our making immediate preparation for eternity, or of our seeking the "house not made with hands, the buildings of God, eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1). It is too remote a contingency for us to trouble ourselves about now. Thus, Satan cheats men out of all their time, by cheating them out of the present time, and robs them of salvation by inducing them to put off seeking it.
(2) God knows accurately each one of the self-deceits 'that come into men's minds' (Ezekiel 11:5). He knew the scornful jests which the ungodly in Ezekiel's day uttered against His prophets and their prophecies. They had sneered at Jeremiah's comparison of Jerusalem to a caldron, saying, If it be so, it will secure us within its walls, even as the caldron preserves the flesh in it from being burnt by the fire outside. But sinners deceive themselves, not God, by such calculations. No defenses, no hiding-place can shield sinners from being brought forth by God to judgment (Ezekiel 11:7).
(3) Sin in the midst of a people is sure to bring upon them foes from without (Ezekiel 11:6-7). The hostile sword, through fear of which they have compromised religious principle, shall fall upon them as it did upon the Jews, just because of that compromise (Ezekiel 11:8; Ezekiel 11:10; Ezekiel 11:12). Since men will not recognize God in His dealings of mercy, they shall be forced to "know God by the judgments which He executeth" (Ezekiel 11:10; Psalms 9:16).
(4) God sometimes singles out individual sinners for judgment as a warning to others. The sudden death of Pelatiah, the ring-leader of the scorners, is a sample of the awful, end of all who "sit in the seat of the scornful." Such cases are calculated to strike terror into sinners; yet, though we read of the prophet being so deeply affected that he fell down upon his face (Ezekiel 11:13), we do not read of a similar effect being worked upon Pelatiah's companions in guilt. How sad it is that the godly should be concerned for the coming doom of transgressors, and yet the transgressors themselves remain unmoved! Let believers imitate Ezekiel, and when judgments descend on some, "lift up their prayer for the remnant that is left" (Isaiah 37:4).
(5) There should be, however, a limit to the believer's intercessions for the ungodly. Though the ties of connection, as being of the same order, might seem to require Ezekiel to intercede for his fellow-priests, yet there is a tie more obligatory than that of order and relationship-namely, the bond of union which subsists between all the godly. This tie, God tells him, ought to constrain him to regard as his brethren, and vindicate the cause of the despised Jewish exiles at the Chebar, rather than that of their proud and self-satisfied fellow-countrymen still remaining in Jerusalem. Similarly we ought to cherish greater sympathy for the children of God, however afflicted and despised, than for the people of the world, however high and exalted. No tie of kindred is so strong as that which binds together believers in union with the same God and Saviour, and with one another.
(6) However much believers be treated as outcasts by the world (1 Corinthians 4:13), God will not cast them off. They may be even shut out from church ordinances, as the exiles at the Chebar were debarred from temple-worship, but God's promise always holds good to His people (Ezekiel 11:16): I will be to them as a sanctuary in all places where they shall come; and their time of chastizement shall be but a "little" time (note, Ezekiel 11:16), as compared with the everlasting joys that are before them. Even as God promises to Israel, "In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer" (Isaiah 65:8).
(7) The full and final restoration of Israel out of all the countries of their long-continued dispersion is to be accompanied by their spiritual restoration to the favour of God through a true repentance and living faith. These graces are not men's work in themselves, but God's free gift to them - "I will give them one heart" (Ezekiel 11:19) - a heart no longer halting between two opinions-a heart wholly delivered from its past craving after "abominations and detestable things" (Ezekiel 11:18) - the hearts of all as the heart of one man devoted singly to the Lord. Instead of the "heart of stone," God by His Holy Spirit puts within His people a "heart of flesh" and a "new spirit," so that "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The outward fruit corresponds to this inward new principle of life: Walking in God's statutes, and keeping and doing His ordinances, they show that they are indeed "His people," and that "He is their God" (Ezekiel 11:20). Mere outward change of position and circumstances would be no real blessing without the inward change unto holiness, which is the spring of all happiness.
(8) As there is a future of hope to the elect remnant, so there is a future of punishment to the impenitent. Assimilated in heart to the detestable objects to which they give their hearts (Ezekiel 11:21), they have appointed to them, as their just sentence from God, "I will recompense their way upon their own heads" (Ezekiel 11:21). The visible symbol of the glory of the Lord departed from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, and it is on the same mount the Lord's glory will be manifested in His return to Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:4). Let us pray for His speedy visible return, and let us meanwhile see that we do not, by a careless and inconsistent walk, provoke Him to withdraw His invisible and spiritual presence from us!