Ezekiel 11 - Introduction

XI.

This chapter continues and concludes the vision; yet its scenes are not to be considered as consecutive with those which have gone before. In Ezekiel 9 all who had not the Divine mark upon their foreheads were slain by the destroying angels; in Ezekiel 10 the city itself was given up to fire; but here the evil-doers are again seen, and again made the subject of the prophetic denunciation. It is, therefore, rather a looking at the same things from another point of view than an account of them in historical sequence. The prophetic vision shifts as in a dream, without any attempt to be consecutive.

The first part of the chapter (Ezekiel 11:1) is occupied with judgment upon the sins of the princes, while the latter part (Ezekiel 11:13) foretells the Divine blessing upon the repentant and restored remnant of the exiles. At the close (Ezekiel 11:22) the glory of the Lord is seen to depart altogether from the city, and the prophet is restored to Chaldæa to communicate the vision to the captives.