Ezekiel 11 Footnotes

11:1 Recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed the historicity of the background for this vision. Two leaders were mentioned by name from among the twenty-five seen previously in 8:16—Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah. These names were found in a collection of two hundred bullae (clay seals) found in excavation of the city of David area of Jerusalem. These seals were used on official documents sent to the king and contained the name of the sender. Pelatiah was apparently a common name. Seals bearing at least two other Pelatiahs are among those found, one the son of Hoshea and the other the son of Heleq. Another seal contains the name Benaiah, the father of the Pelatiah mentioned here and again in v. 13. One seal also contained the name of Baruch the son of Neriah, Jeremiah’s personal scribe.

11:23 God’s departure from the temple showed that he had distanced himself from the abominable practices described in 8:1-18. His glory left the temple and the city and went eastward to the Mount of Olives. Rabbinic sources trace the movement of the Lord’s glory in ten steps: (1) from one cherub on the ark to the other (9:3); (2) from the ark to the threshold of the temple (10:4); (3) back to the cherubim to be transported (10:18); (4) accompanied by the cherubim to the east gate (10:19); (5) the glory entered the court of the temple (10:4); (6) then moved to the altar of sacrifice (Am 9:1); (7) then moved to the roof of the temple (Pr 21:9); (8) then moved to the temple wall (Am 7:7); (9) then moved to the city (Mic 6:9); and (10) to the Mount of Olives (Ezk 11:23), where the glory remained for three-and-a-half years, as if waiting for a change in the hearts of the people.