Ezekiel 11

And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me in to the eastern gate of the house of the Lord, which looks toward the rising of the sun. Since the glory of the Lord had gone forth from the threshold of the temple and stood above the Cherubim, and afterward, as the Cherubim flew away, the glory itself stood at the entrance of the eastern gate of the house of the Lord, the prophet too — he could not go to it by himself — was lifted up by the spirit and led to the same eastern gate of the house of the Lord, which looks toward the sun of righteousness, of whom it is written: Behold a man, the Orient is his name, so that he should by no means remain in the temple, which was confounded by the cloud of ignorance, but, standing in the gate of the house of the Lord on the east, might come to know the mysteries that follow.

And behold, at the entrance of the gate twenty-five men, and I saw in their midst Jaazaniah the son of Azur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and handle a most wicked counsel in this city, saying: Were not the houses built long ago? This is the cauldron, and we are the flesh. Therefore prophesy concerning them; prophesy, son of man. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon me and said to me: Speak. Thus says the Lord: So have you spoken, house of Israel, and the thoughts of your heart I know. You have killed very many in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid in its midst, they are the flesh, and this is the cauldron; and I will bring you out of its midst. You have feared the sword, and the sword I will bring upon you, says the Lord God. And I will cast you out of its midst, and I will give you into the hand of enemies, and I will execute judgments upon you. By the sword you shall fall; in the borders of Israel I will judge you, and you shall know that I am the Lord. This shall not be to you for a cauldron, and you shall not be in its midst for flesh: in the borders of Israel I will judge you; and you shall know that I am the Lord. (What follows is not found in the Seventy but has been added from the Hebrew:) Because you have not walked in my precepts, and you have not done my judgments, but you have acted according to the judgments of the nations which are round about you. The prophet is taken up, according to what is written: The Lord taking up the meek, or he is lifted up from the earth and brought in to the eastern gate of the house of the Lord, so that he may come to know the mysteries of the twenty-five men who were at the entrance of the gate, and of Jaazaniah the son of Azur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

And since what is said is plain according to the letter, setting aside for a little while the names of Jaazaniah and Azur, Pelatiah and Benaiah, which we reserve for another time, this must be said: that to this day in the Church, which is the house of God, both before the eastern gate and at the entrance, or in the way, of the gate, which signifies the Savior, through whom we enter to the Father, there are twenty-five men, referring all things to the senses — and, so far as it does not escape my memory, I have never been able to find this number in a good sense, although in Leviticus men are chosen for the priestly ministry from twenty-five years of age; for in the Hebrew it does not have this number which is given in the Seventy, but the number thirty, which is contained in the opening of this prophet and in the age of the Lord when he came to the streams of the Jordan and was baptized by John; but if in the Gospel five wise virgins and five foolish are found, let us know that this number is placed in the middle and, according to the quality of those who use it, can be applied either to the good or to the bad side —. These men, then, who refer all things to the senses, and have two princes, of whom we spoke above, are contained in the dual number, which splits unity and, in the number of the second day, is not seen by the Lord, according to the Hebrew truth — whence also into the ark of Noah the unclean are brought in two and two; but the Lord, drawing the division together into one, made both one and loosed the middle wall, condemning the enmities in his flesh; whence also he says something more august and more sublime: I and the Father are one, so that he may call us back from the Jewish duality into the union of the Christian faith; finally, when the high priesthood of the Jews had been lost, the Lord suffers by no means under one prince, but under two, Annas and Caiaphas, so that he might show the divided error of their religion —.

These, then, who were at the entrance of the eastern gate of the house of the Lord, despairing of salvation and, from the consciousness of their crimes, ready for destruction, and unwilling to correct their sins through repentance, say: 'Although the houses which had earlier collapsed have lately, after the first captivity, been built, yet we know that this city is like a cauldron and we are for flesh, so that in it we may be consumed and burned up together, according to what is written in Isaiah: The tempest, if it passes through, will not take us'.

There are many at the entrance of this gate, before the eastern house of the Lord, who by their vices are compared to the nations, and from the consciousness of their sins despair of salvation, and say: 'The city in which we dwell is a cauldron, and we are all flesh, and we shall be consumed by the Babylonian burning, whose darts are fiery', unwilling to do penance and despairing of salvation; therefore they hear that they themselves are not the flesh of the past and lost city, but those whom they have scandalized, whom they have killed; and for that reason the sword is brought upon them: so that, after they have been judged in the borders of Israel, by no means among the nations but among Christians, then they may know that he himself is the Lord, according to what is read in the Psalms: When he slew them, they sought him, so that him whom they had not perceived through benefits, they may come to know through torments.

As they say these things, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon the prophet, and commanded him a second time to prophesy and to say: 'Since you have said these things, and the secrets of your hearts do not escape me, I will interpret to you how the city is to be reckoned a cauldron and you flesh, not according to the sense in which you spoke, but according to another which you do not fear: the city is indeed in the likeness of a cauldron, but it will not be filled with your flesh, but with that of those whom you have killed; you, however, who think that you will die in this city, I will bring out of the midst of the city and hand over into the hands of enemies, and I will execute judgments upon you, so that, when you have fallen by the sword, by no means in the city nor outside the bounds of Israel but in the borders of your own province, then too you may know that I am the Lord'.

And a second time it is said: 'In the borders of Israel I will judge you, and you shall know that I am the Lord; and all these things you will suffer, because you have not walked in my precepts and have not done my judgments, but have wrought the crimes of the other nations round about'.

And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died; and I fell on my face, crying out with a loud voice, and I said: Alas, alas, alas, Lord God, you are making a consummation of the remnant of Israel. As the prophet prophesies, one of the two princes, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, dies, whose name means 'a fall turning aside', and he is the son of a 'builder' or 'mason' — for οἰκοδόμος cannot be rendered into our language otherwise —; the other of the princes, Jaazaniah, is kept safe — Jaazaniah signifies 'his ear', by which 'of the soul' is understood; Azur, however, 'support' or 'help' —. He, then, who by falling had turned aside from the Lord and was of a most wicked building, rightly falls while he whom God strengthened is prophesying; but he who obeyed the precepts of God and was sustained and supported by his help rightly remains in command of the people — we read in Exodus that, when Pharaoh king of Egypt had died, the sons of Israel groaned from the works of clay, of straw and of brick, and cried out to the Lord, upon whom, while he lived, they could not call; Isaiah also, when Uzziah the leprous king had died, saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the Seraphim standing around him, and, understanding that he had unclean lips and dwelt among a people having unclean lips, he merits that a coal be sent from the altar and purge his unclean lips; here, however, as the strength of God prophesies, the prince who had turned aside from the service of the Lord falls, so that he may be raised up by Christ: for if the Lord is the resurrection, the devil is the fall; in which it is asked how it is said of the Savior: Behold, this one is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel: for the fall of those who stood most wickedly, and the resurrection of such as had fallen —. When the prophet had seen this, he fell on his face, not by the desert of one who sins but with the feeling of one who mourns, and with a loud voice, which came from the great ardor of faith, he cried out three times and said: Alas, alas, alas, Lord God, you are making a consummation of the remnant of Israel; and the sense is: 'Even the very remnant which seemed to be among the people is being destroyed in your indignation'.

The word of the Lord, therefore, came to Ezekiel, who had said: Alas, alas, alas, Lord God, you are making a consummation of the remnant of Israel, namely in the death of Pelatiah and of those who were killed with him: that by no means were those the remnant which the prophet supposed in Jerusalem, but those who were seen to be captives in Babylon; and the sense is: 'O son of man, your brothers, begotten of the same stock with you, your brothers, I say, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said: You have gone away from the Lord, because you are captives and have handed yourselves over with Jeconiah, but to us the land of Israel has been given for an everlasting possession — say, therefore, to them that I have indeed made them far off from the land of Israel and dispersed them into the nations and ordered them to be in foreign lands, but, because they have obeyed my command, I shall be among them, even in strange and hostile places, for a little sanctification, while very many are found among them who by no means submit their necks to idolatry but are mindful of the commandments of God', as Daniel and the three youths were, and it must be believed that others were, after the likeness of such great princes as Scripture now shows. From all of which we learn that we must not insult those who by the judgment of God have been handed over to punishments, nor reproach a man converted from his sins, nor ever say to those who do penance and have gone out of the Church: You have gone far away from the Lord; to us the land has been given for a possession, because thus says the Lord: 'Although I have separated them for a little while from my Church and dispersed them among the nations, yet I will be to them for a small sanctification while they remember their sins, and those who had departed from the land of God because of their vices, may hasten, because of repentance, to return to their former seats'.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, your brothers, your brothers, the men your kinsmen and the whole house of Israel, all to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said: Go far away from the Lord; to us the land has been given for a possession. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because I have made them far off among the nations, and because I have scattered them into the land, I will be to them for a small sanctification in the lands to which they have come. (LXX: "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, your brothers, your brothers and the men of your captivity and the whole house of Israel is consummated, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said: You have gone far away from the Lord; to us the land has been given for an inheritance. Therefore say: Adonai the Lord says: Because I will drive them away into the nations, and I will sow them abroad into every land, and I will be to them for a little sanctification in the regions into which they shall have entered there.") First we must speak of the variety in translation. Where the Hebrew has 'men your kinsmen' — for this is what 'goolathach' means —, the Seventy translated 'men of your captivity'; then, where there follows: All to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, in place of 'all' they put 'is consummated', because of the ambiguity of the letters and of the word: for 'chollo', which Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion translated 'all', they rendered 'is consummated', which does not accord with the sense at all.

Therefore speak: Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, and I will assemble you from the lands in which you have been scattered, and I will give you the soil of Israel. And they shall enter there, and shall take away all the offenses, and all the abominations from it; and I will give them one heart (or another), and a new spirit I will bestow, in their inward parts; and I will take away the stony heart from their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my precepts, and keep my judgments and do them, and be to me for a people and I be to them for God. But those whose heart walks after their stumbling blocks and their abominations, their way I will set upon their own head, says the Lord God. The divine word speaks to those who were captives in the land of Babylon, and to the brothers of Ezekiel the prophet and to his kinsmen, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said: You have gone far away from the Lord; to us the land has been given for a possession; and it speaks these things which follow: 'I will gather you from the peoples, and I will restore to you the land of Israel; and when you have entered, you will take away all the idols on account of which you had offended God, and I will give you one heart, of the fear and the service of God, so that you may by no means serve diverse idols, or another than the one you had before; and I will bestow a new spirit in your inward parts, according to what is written: Create a clean heart in me, and renew a holy spirit in my inward parts; and I will take away from you the stony heart — that is, a hard heart, according to what Stephen, the first martyr in Christ, says: Hard of neck and uncircumcised in heart —; and the heart of Pharaoh is hardened, so that he may not let the people of Israel go; and I will give you', he says, 'a heart of flesh, soft and tender, and one which can receive the commandments of God, so that they may be written on the fleshly tablets of the heart' — for this reason a soft heart is given and the hard heart is taken away: so that they may walk in his precepts and keep his judgments and be in the people of God, and the Lord, who before had been an adversary, may be to them for God —; 'but those who have by no means corrected their former sins by repentance, but have walked after their abominations, I will repay', he says, 'with what they deserve: let their ways be set upon their heads'. Most think that these things happened under Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and under Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the great priest, and under Ezra and Nehemiah, to the tribe of Judah and to those who returned with them, and that the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were captured under Zedekiah king of Judah, or who fled with Jeremiah into Egypt, were dispersed into all lands, so that they by no means returned to the city of Jerusalem. But the full conversion, of those who were captives and of the remnant of Israel, is understood in Christ, when the remnant was saved, and in one day three thousand believed, and again five thousand, and others, of whom James speaks to the apostle Paul: You see, brother, so many thousands of believing Jews. These are all zealous for the law. But also daily the proud inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, whose heart walks after their stumbling blocks and their abominations, earn the displeasure of God, and those who were outside, the stony heart having been taken away and a most soft heart received, return through repentance to the Church, and walk in the precepts of the Lord, and keep his judgments, and become the people of the Lord, and the Lord, whom they had previously offended, becomes God to them.

Truly great and mighty is the power of God's word. For the word of God has changed the "offspring of vipers" into children of God. So let us constantly sow it within the hard soil of our heart, waiting for [the word] to soften [our heart] so that the wheat ear of life may sprout up in it. For the word of God is at the same time the seed and the water; and even though we have a "heart like stone," it will be softened and split up by the water of the Spirit, so that it can bring forth holy fruit that is pleasing to God.Therefore let no one neglect meditation on the divine words or the labor of reading the appointed measure. As our honored teacher said, from such meditation the soul acquires great benefit and finds salvation.

For by the heart of flesh and the fleshy tables is not meant a carnal understanding: but as flesh feels, whereas a stone cannot, the insensibility of stone signifies an unintelligent heart, and the sensibility of flesh signifies an intelligent heart.

If God is not able to remove from the human heart even its obstinacy and hardness, he would not say, through the prophet, "I will take from them their heart of stone and will give them a heart of flesh." … Now can we possibly, without extreme absurdity, maintain that there previously existed in any person the good merit of a good will, to entitle him to the removal of his stony heart, when all the while this very heart of stone signifies nothing else than a will of the hardest kind and such as is absolutely inflexible against God?

Those and other divine testimonies, which it would take too long to enumerate, show that God by his grace takes away the stony heart from unbelievers and forestalls merit in people of good will in such a way that their will is prepared by prevenient grace, but not that grace is given through prevenient merit of the will. This is shown both by thanksgiving and by prayer: prayer for unbelievers; thanksgiving for believers. Prayer is to be made to him that he may do what we ask; thanksgiving is to be offered when he has done it.

Flesh is not mentioned in this passage in order to signify carnal desire but rather in the way in which the prophet says that a heart of stone is taken away from the people and a heart of flesh is given them.

This grace, which from divine generosity is bestowed secretly in human hearts, is rejected by no one, no matter how hard-hearted he may be. For it is given so that hardness of the heart may first be taken away. Therefore, when the Father is heard within and teaches, so that one may come to the Son, he takes away the heart of stone and bestows a heart of flesh, as he promised by the word of the prophet. For it is thus that he makes them children of the promise and vessels of mercy that he has prepared for glory.

Behold, therefore, we have been refashioned, as again He says in another prophet, "Behold, saith the Lord, I will take away from these, that is, from those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw, their stony hearts, and I will put hearts of flesh within them," because He was to be manifested in flesh, and to sojourn among us.

Quite obviously all this teaches us that the first good stirring of the will in us comes under the Lord's inspiration. He brings us along the road to salvation, either himself or by way of the exhortation of some person or through necessity. And our virtues are perfected also as a gift from him. Our task is, whether laxly or zealously, to play a role that corresponds to his grace, and our reward or our punishment will depend on whether we strove or neglected to be at one, attentive and obedient, with the kindly dispensation of his providence toward us.

In all these Scriptures there is a declaration of the grace of God and the freedom of our will, because even if by our own volition we can be led to the quest of virtue, we always stand in need of the help of the Lord.

This might lead one to suppose that it was God who gave the power to walk in his commandments and to keep his judgments, if it was he who removed the stony heart, which hindered them from keeping the commandments, and who implanted in them the better and more sensitive one, which is here called a heart of flesh.

Now this is what is said by those who wish to prove by the authority of Scripture that nothing lies within our own power. We shall reply to them that these words must not be understood in that sense but as follows. It is as if an uneducated and uninstructed person becoming conscious of the disgrace of his condition, whether by being stirred at the exhortation of another or by a desire to rival those who are wise, should entrust himself to one by whom he is confident that he can be carefully trained and competently instructed. If then he, who had formerly hardened himself in ignorance, entrusts himself, as we have said, with full purpose of mind to a master and promises to obey him in everything, the master, on seeing clearly his purpose and determination, will on his part undertake to take away from him his lack of education and to implant in him education, not promising, however, to do this if the disciple withholds his assent and co-operation but only if he offers and pledges himself to entire obedience.

He calls it a new heart, as a force in the soul for honorable things. When they are disposed to contrary things, they refer to a change toward better things as a new spirit. Just as he spoke of another heart and did not mean a change in nature, but a disposition towards better things, so this is shared through a new spirit.

It is possible for us to see this literally fulfilled in another way even today, since believers in Christ all congregate from all parts of the world, not as of old time because of the glory of Jerusalem or that they may worship in the ancient temple at Jerusalem; but they rest there that they may learn both about the city being taken and devastated as the prophets foretold and that they may worship at the Mount of Olives opposite to the city, whither the glory of the Lord migrated when it left the former city.

And the Cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels with them, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them; the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is to the east of the city. Little by little the glory of the Lord withdraws from Jerusalem: first, deserting the temple, it stands in the court or at the threshold of the house, and afterward at the entrance of the eastern gate; lastly, its wings lifted and the wheels following, it stands upon the mountain which is to the east of the city — no doubt it signifies the Mount of Olives, from which the Savior ascended to the Father; and the glory of the Lord, which had departed from the city of Jerusalem, stood upon the Mount of Olives as a sign of resurrection and of light, so that from there it might behold Jerusalem about to perish and about to burn —.

And as for his saying: The glory went up from the midst of the city, in other words the Lord speaks to the disciples: Arise, let us go hence, and to the Jews: Your house will be left to you desolate; Josephus also relates that there was heard in the temple a voice of the angels and of the heavenly strength, which had previously been the city's defense: Let us go away from these seats. And, in a wondrous manner, to the present day the glory of the Lord, which deserted the temple, stands upon the Mount of Olives and, gleaming in the sign of the cross, looks upon the once Jewish temple, dissolved into embers and ashes.

And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to the exile, in a vision, in the spirit of God; and the vision which I had seen was taken away from me. And I spoke to the exile all the words of the Lord which he had shown me. Where we translated from the Hebrew truth: And the vision which I had seen was taken away from me, the Seventy translated: And I went up from the vision which I had seen; and both signify that the prophet was carried over to Jerusalem from Babylon not in the body but in the spirit, and, when the vision had been taken away which had led him in the spirit to Jerusalem and had shown him all the things which the preceding discourse narrated, he returned from himself, and spoke to the exile all the things which had been shown to him, namely to those of whom it is written above: I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting beside me, and the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there, and I saw. And, in a wondrous manner, while those who had come to visit him were sitting there, the prophet was beholding mystical visions, and he was absent from those who sat before him: absent in spirit, present in body. And all things happen so that those who were captives might receive consolation, in that they are to be led back into the land of Israel, and are to walk in the precepts of the Lord, and to be to him for a people, and he is to be to them for God; but those who have not been converted to repentance, but have walked after their abominations, are to receive what they have done. That in the holy Scriptures words are spoken in place of things, we have often pointed out.