Глава 11

Ezek.11:1–3. And he lifted up my spirit and brought me to the gates of the house of the Lord, which look straight to the east: and behold, at the threshold of the gates there were twenty and five men, and among them I saw Jezoniah the son of Ezekiah 13 and Phaltiah the elders of the people. And the Lord said to me: Son of man, these are men who think in vain, and give evil counsel in this city, saying, Are you not built together in a new house? This is konob, you are 14 meat. He accuses both superiors and subordinates of conspiring to act contrary to God, contradicting the prophets, not wanting to be sure that they will be betrayed to their enemies, but hoping to live in the city and there reach the end of their lives. For they say: the houses were built recently, we will live in them, and we will end our lives in them. Indignant at this, God predicts through the Prophet a future invasion of enemies. For the Prophet says: Ezek.11:5. The spirit of the Lord came upon me, and said to me: This says the Lord: that is, filled with the effectiveness of the Spirit of God, I received the command to speak this on behalf of God. This is how you honor the house of Israel, and the plans of your spirit. Ezek.11:6–8. Multiply the dead in this city, and fill its paths with plagues. For this reason the Lord says this: your dead men, even those who were killed among him, are meat, and this one is: and I will bring you out from among him. Fear the sword, and I will bring the sword against you, says the Lord Adonai. You have made the city a konob, filling it with thousands of dead, says God; Therefore, you will not achieve what you hope for, and the end of your life will not be careless, but you will soon be betrayed to the enemies whom you feared, and you will become prey to their sword. Ezek.11:9. And I will bring you out from among him, and will deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will bring judgment upon you. I will punish you truthfully, says God. since you killed your fellow tribesmen, you will rightfully be handed over to strangers and enemies. Ezek.11:10. On the mountains of Israel I will judge you, and you will know that I am the Lord, that is, outside the city you will suffer punishment for your wickedness, and you will know by experience that I am the Master. Ezek.11:11. It shall not be for you to eat, neither shall you be for meat in the midst of it: I will judge you on the mountains of Israel. Ezek.11:12. And you will know that I am the Lord, You will not die in the city, says God, and you will not be worthy of burial in it, according to your hopes, but you will be killed far from it. And explaining the reasons, he continues: for you did not walk according to My commandments, and did not create My judgments, but rather according to the judgments of the tongues that are around you, you created them. The extreme measure of lawlessness and the greatest denunciation of wickedness is not only to violate the law of God, but even to act more wickedly than the nations living in wickedness. Ezek.11:13. And it came to pass that we prophesied, and Phaltias the son of Vane died, and fell on his face, and cried out with a great voice, saying: Woe is me, woe is me, Adonai, Lord, are you creating the remains of Israel to the end? The Prophet sees the power of those who were commanded, without sparing anyone, to cut off everyone in the city with a sword and, fearing that by killing everyone he would not suffer final death (for out of sadness he forgot that many had taken upon themselves the sign of salvation), he begs the humane-loving Lord to dissolve the truth with mercy. He learns that those who remain in the city for their great deceit will be betrayed to the enemies, and those who have already been taken into captivity and on a foreign side will find consolation for themselves and will be returned. For God says: Ezek.11:15. Son of man, thy brethren, and the men of thy captivity, and all the house of Israel have passed away, that is, some who became captives and suffered punishment for what they dared to do, I will keep for Myself as a people. They say, you who live in Jerusalem, move far from the Lord; we have been given the land as an inheritance. Mocking those taken into captivity, those now living in Jerusalem dared to say: The Master has removed you from Himself, but has given us the land of promise as an inheritance. Therefore, says God, the opposite will happen, and I will give you over to beating, but for those I will have providence. Ezek.11:16. For this reason: this is what the Lord Adonai says: I will cast it into the tongues, and I will scatter it throughout the whole earth, and I will be a little for their sanctification in the countries, but they will go in there. Although I made them captives, and migrants, and wanderers; however, even in the resettlement I will give them consolation with the expectation of an end to disasters and the hope of blessings. He expressed this by saying: “I will be little for their sanctification.” In a short time I will restore them again and return them to their native land. For God says: Ezek.11:17. And I will gather from the tongue, and I will take from the countries where I have scattered in them, and I will give them the land of Israel, Ezekiel 11:18. and they will go in there and reject all her abominations, and all her iniquities from her. This is shown both by the story of Ezra and the book of Maccabees. For upon returning from Babylon, leaving the service of idols, they continued to carefully serve the God of all. Ezek.11:19. And I will give them another heart, and a new spirit I will give them. God did not express by this that He would take away freedom, but that He Himself would help them and assist them in doing good. “New spirit” he called the soul’s desire for beauty. since they were inclined towards the opposite, he called the change for the better a new spirit. Just as when he said: “the heart is different” he did not mean a change in nature, but the inclination of the heart for the better, so with the words: “the spirit is new” he expressed the same thing. This is confirmed by what is added, for God says: And I will pluck out the heart of stone from their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh. No sane person will understand that a heart of stone is a real stone, but on the contrary, he will understand by it a rebellious, stubborn heart that does not want to obey God; Likewise, under the heart of flesh there is a heart that is submissive and obedient. Ezek.11:20. For let them walk in My commandments, and keep My justifications, and let them do them, and I will become men, and I will be their God. Since they will lead life according to My laws, I will call them God, and they will be called My people. Having said this about those already taken into captivity, he again turns the word to those then living in Jerusalem. Ezek.11:21. Their hearts walked in their abominations and in their iniquities: I have laid their ways on their heads, says the Lord Adonai. But these, says God, since they were not wised by the disasters of the first, but continue to indulge in wickedness, I will subject them to punishment worthy of their insolence. Ezek.11:22. And the cherubim raised up their wings, and the wheels that held them, and the glory of the God of Israel was upon them from above them. Ezek.11:23. And the glory of the Lord arose from the midst of the city, and a hundred on the mountain that was right next to the city. When this was spoken, says the Prophet, the Cherubim, bearing the glory of God, retreated from the city and stood on the mountain opposite Jerusalem. And this is the Mount of Olives, on which the ascension in the flesh of our Savior took place. Therefore, not without reason, and then, having appeared in human form and showing two natures in a single person, and the Divine nature being hidden in the fire, and depicting the human as an “electrom”, after pronouncing the sentence on Jerusalem, he retires to this mountain and from there ascends to heaven. For even after the cross in death, having again pronounced the sentence on Jerusalem that there would not be left one stone upon another that would not be destroyed, and having ascended with his disciples to this mountain, carried by intelligent and invisible forces, he was caught up into heaven. Therefore, what was shown to the Prophet served as a prototype of the future. Having seen this, he says: Ezekiel 11:24. The Spirit took me and brought me to the land of the Chaldeans, in a vision by the Spirit of God. Not in reality itself and not physically, says the Prophet, I was transported, now to Judea, now to the land of the Chaldeans, but in a “vision,” that is, my gaze was transported, and “by the Spirit of God,” that is, I contemplated all this, because my mind was enlightened by the effectiveness of God, and I received the prophetic eyes. And, presenting this more clearly, the Prophet added: Ezek.11:25. And I sighed from the vision that I saw, and spoke to the captives all the words of the Lord, even showing me. I came to my senses, says the Prophet, when this spiritual contemplation ended, and I no longer matured beyond this, but saw only the elders who were with me, to whom I told everything that I saw and heard. But by the way, now say the gospel word: “Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). For this was sufficiently taught to us by what was said: many sat together, but only the Prophet enjoyed this spiritual contemplation. Let us also strive to achieve this purity and we will pray to God so that, having gotten rid of all defilement, throughout our present life we ​​will continuously have the remembrance of God in our souls, and on the day of His appearance we will be worthy to see Him with boldness. To Him be glory forever and ever! Amen. The correct reading is: “Jechoniah the son of Jezer.” According to the correct reading: “we are.”