CHAPTER 11 Sep. 15 
Judah’s Leaders Condemned
Moreover the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh’s house which looks eastward. At the door of the gate were twenty-five men; and I saw in their midst Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked advice in this city; 3who say, The time is not near to build houses: this is the cauldron, and we are the meat. 4Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man. 5The Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and He said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: ‘Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind. 6You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain. 7Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are indeed the meat, and this is the cauldron; but you shall be brought out of its midst. 8You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you, says the Lord Yahweh. 9I will bring you out of its midst and deliver you into the hands of foreigners, and will execute judgments among you. 10You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 11This shall not be your cauldron, neither shall you be the meat in its midst; I will judge you in the border of Israel; 12and you shall know that I am Yahweh: for you have not walked in My statutes, neither have you executed My ordinances, but have behaved  like the nations that are around you’. 13It happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of those remaining of Israel? 14The word of Yahweh came to me saying, 15Son of man, the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and those of your nation who are with you in exile. They say, The exiles are too far away to worship Yahweh. He has given us possession of the land. 
Judah’s Return Promised
16Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come. 17Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18They shall return, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations. 19I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; 20that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. 21But as for those whose heart walks after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh. 22Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 23The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city. 24The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25Then I repeated to those of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.

Commentary

11:1 The wheels of the cherubim represented God’s people Israel on earth. If they had kept in step with the Spirit-Angel, following Him both to Babylon and back to Judah at His bidding, they would have been in step with God’s plan for them, and all would have prospered. This passage appears to be behind Paul’s appeal to us to walk in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). Ezekiel himself was the great example of this, for he was “lifted up” by the Spirit just as the wheels were lifted up, and went wherever he was taken, backwards and forwards between Babylon and Judah (8:3; 11:1). He became part of the Cherubic system.
11:15 I will judge you in the border of Israel- Babylon and Assyria were located at the borders of the land promised to Abraham.
11:19 Sitting there in captivity, God offered His people a new covenant (:19,20,25 cp. Heb. 10:16); they could have one mind between each other, and a heart of flesh. But Israel would not, and the whole offer was rescheduled and reapplied, so that it is now accepted by those who turn to Jesus Christ. Their being of “one heart” after baptism (Acts 4:32) was a direct result of their acceptance of this same new covenant which Judah had rejected. In our hearing of the offer of the new covenant, we are essentially in the position of those of the captivity, hearing Ezekiel’s words, and deciding whether or not to believe it- or just continue to be obsessed with just trying to make the best of a rather dumb life.  
11:22-24 When the cherubim lifted up, so was Ezekiel lifted up. Judah should have left Jerusalem when the Spirit told them to; and they should have upped and left Babylon when the Spirit told them to. But they were out of step with the Spirit, despite Ezekiel’s acted parable of literally being lifted up and going where the Cherubim went. The equivalent of this for us is surely our sense of doing all for God’s glory, of having this as the final deciding factor in all our decisions.