Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 11

The gate - The gate of the temple court. The gate was the place of judgment.

Twenty-five men - Not the same men as in (Ezekiel 8:16). There they were representatives of the “priests,” here of the “princes.” The number is, no doubt, symbolic, made up, probably, of 24 men and the king. The number 24 points to the tribes of undivided Israel.

Jaazaniah ... Pelatiah - We know nothing more of these men. The former name was probably common at that time (Ezekiel 8:11). In these two names there is an allusion to the false hopes which they upheld. “Jaazaniah” (Yahweh listens) “son of Azur” (the Helper); “Pelatiah” (Yahweh rescues) “son of Benaiah” (Yahweh builds). In the latter case, death (Ezekiel 11:13) turned the allusion into bitter irony.

It is not near – In contradiction to Ezekiel 7:2.

Let us build houses – “To build houses” implies a sense of security. Jeremiah instructed the exiles to “build houses” in a foreign land because they would not soon leave it (Jeremiah 29:5; Jeremiah 35:7). These false counselors promised their countrymen a sure and permanent abode in the city which God had doomed to destruction. No need, they said, to go far for safety; you are perfectly safe at home.

The Hebrew, however, is difficult: literally it means, “It is not near to build houses,” which may be explained as spoken in mockery of such counsel as that of Jeremiah: matters have not gone so far as to necessitate “house-building” in a foreign land. The same idea is expressed by the image of the “caldron:” whatever devastation may rage around the city, we are safe within its walls, as flesh within a caldron is unburned by the surrounding fire .

All that will remain in the city are the buried dead. Bloodshed and murder were at this time rife in Jerusalem, and these were among the chief crimes that were bringing down judgment upon the city. All the inhabitants who were to survive were destined to be carried away into exile.

In the border of Israel - Hamath was the northern border of Israel (margin reference). At Riblah in Hamath the king of Babylon judged and condemned Zedekiah and the princes of Judah (Jeremiah 52:9–10).

The death of Pelatiah was communicated in this vision, which symbolically represented the idolatry in which Pelatiah had actually been foremost.