Ezekiel 11 Commentary
Of course, Jaazaniah and Pelatiah had other problems, but wealth and social status topped the list. There was something they thought they needed to protect. They were the cream of society. They needed to maintain the status quo albeit at the expense of obedience to the word of the LORD. Wealth can be a real hindrance!
The message of the LORD: “You have killed many people in this city,” referring to Jaananiah and Pelatiah. The LORD didn’t just look at Jaazaniah’s bank account and pass judgment. The LORD is interested in the details. How didn’t Jaazaniah get to the top? Murder? Yes. We could guess there was also injustice and greediness since these are accessories of murder.
The people we admire for their wealth, how did they get it? The LORD has an interest in the processes. Was there murder, injustice, or greediness? And what drove the entire process – greediness and vanity? The things we admire!
Pelatiah’s immediate and sudden death meant sorrow for Ezekiel. The LORD wasn’t joking. But is death really the best punishment for wickedness? Don’t we all die, eventually? Well, without Jesus Christ, we are all walking dead. We can as well die!
Importantly though is the mention of a rebirth – a time when the LORD gives us an undivided heart and a new spirit; when the LORD replaces the heart of stone with the heart of flesh. Then Pelatiah doesn’t have to die; he could die physically but still live. He will have been equipped with the tools to live righteously.
Physical death remains a symbol of what we are; walking dead even while we are busy. The life we know is simply a window of resuscitation only possible through the renewal that comes with a new spirit and a heart of flesh. Jaazaniah and Pelatiah did enough to convince the LORD that they were beyond resuscitation.
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.’” Then the question to you is; “Do you believe this?” John 11 verse 25.
The LORD and His entourage, the impossible angelic creatures, “went up from the city.” The saddest part of this chapter. No one wants this to happen. But we understand. The LORD has no home among the people. His house, the temple, is now hosting the goddess Asherah and countless other gods, among them Tammuz and the sun god. What is in your heart?
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